I just purchased two three gallon "Seto" Satsumas at my local Lowe's. They are about four feet tall. I live in Leesville, SC, which is borderline zone 8b. I plan on planting one in the ground and growing the other one in a container. The trees appear to be grown from a cutting rather than grafted. Based on the information on the container I believe they came from Hines Nursery out of Texas. If any one has any experience,advice, or information with this variety planted inground or container grown it would be greatly appreciated. I have a grafted Owari,Kimbrough, La Early,and St. Anne planted inground and they are doing well. Since this Seto appears to be grown from a cutting and not grafted I don't know how hardy it will be in my zone.

Thanks in advance,
Bruce

Hi Bruce. I'm in Charleston & bought the same tree last year (Also from Hines) It is doing great. The benefit of having it on it's own roots is that if you ever get a hard freeze, it should come back from the roots. All Satsuma are very cold hardy. Last winter (2004-2005) we had a few hours at 17 degrees & all my satsumas came through great.

It is true that when a tree is grafted onto a cold hardy rootstock variety, such as Flying Dragon, the rootstock can and does impart some of it hardiness to the scion making the entire tree more cold hardy. However, your tree being a Satsuma, and your location being in Leesville, you should be fine. An occational protection might rarely be needed. - Millet

We had an arctic freeze almost two decades ago which stayed below 20 for over a week and dipping to all time record low of 12 deg F in the field, and wiped out all unprotected grapefruits and lemons in the Davis area. I have seen Valencias and Satsumas that survived the brutal cold (relatively speaking) and I can see them all over town. Planting in the ground have risks but mostly have more benefits if you have space to plant.