It was green & not getting any bigger since I bought it March 1st. Just last 3 days it's turning yellow & ripening. Do they get an orange/yellow coloring when fully ripe? Can they stay on tree when ripe, or should I pick it off then. Thanks, I'm excited!!!!

I too would be so excited. I only have calamondins in fruiting stages right now... they've grown a fair ammount but have stopped. about the size of a large grape. I cant wait for them to get a tad bigger and start the color change process. I'm so new to citrus, I've never seen it first hand. I was lucky enough to see the greenhouse in full bloom and various fruiting stages when I bought my initial trees... but I've yet to watch the changes over time. I sure keep an eye out on my calamondins. watching, measuring, wanting to see growth

Patty they stay yellow until they rot. When I lived in Pompano Bch. we had a huge Ponderosa tree in the back yard. We had so many fruit we couldn't give them away... A little bit of a off taste compared to true lemon but still makes a great lemonade...

patty,

could you post a pic? I'd love to see. my ponderosa is just a seedling so it'll be a few moe years till I see anything. be great to *see* what I have to look forwards to

Thanks Laaz.

I'll try to get a pic on Thurs -- gonna rain tomorrow AGAIN

I know all tooooo well about the rain thing

we went from 40-55 degree weather top almost 100 degree weather with no getting used to it... now back in the 50-60's with pouring rain. sure bites when you are trying to get your trees used to being out in the sun... kinda need sun first!

Looking forwards to seeing the pic

The high's have never been above 72* here this year..& that's just a few days. Finally they are calling for near 80 & sunny all this weekend!!! You got 100*...WOW. Pretty extreme ups & downs!
BTW Betty, it's easier for you to grow citrus... where you are is zone 7 or 8? which is same as S Carolina. Me in southern Wisc, & Joe & Millet in Co. are in zone 5!!! Hehh ....LOL

I'm a zone 4 or 5... I'd kill to be in a 7! whered you get that from? I'm way up in canada in the mountains... theres nowhere near me thats a zone 7 unless you get the coast and theres a few micro climates that get a zone 8 even... yep, in canada!

I wish it were easy to grow citrus here. I'd kill to live in a climate where I could grow my trees year roiund outside


I dont know this, but my dad says here, we get a climate the same as southern IL. My parents are from the states... just happy I was born here... they were from north MN where it gets so cold you can drive over lakes, spit in the air and have it freeze.... its just crazy cold. I spent one christmas there and will never go back during the winter... its just inssane

I was just looking at the charts to truly figure out my zone. I know this past winter we rarly got below -10C usually hover around 3-7c I know when I was a kid, we definatly were a zone 3/4 Hmm maybe I'm a zone 6. I just dont get it

It has been that cold here too. We had (not past winter) temps -20 below zero w/ winds chills to - 80* (degrees)..."spit in air & it freezes"-- I like that!
Don't you live near BC like just north of Washington state? Where do you live?
Southern Illinois has to be zone 6-7. Chicago is Z6 & Ill is a LONG state. So, if your dad says you are same as So. Ill., you must be zone 7 (?)You can look up your zone.
Very strange weather here too. Broke records for cold last Dec & broke records for warm in Jan-Feb. Go figure! Just wonder what this summer will bring. Gonna spray paint my black pots an almond color but only on 1 side so sun doesn't bake soil in them. If it gets cold, turn black side to sun. (Millet's idea)

I'm about 2 hours north of Spokane Wa

Our weather is just so crazy, its insane. imagine going from 50 degree weather to 94 the following day and for a week. your body goes mad.


When I look up on zone charts... a lot of the ones with canada tend to be different than the states. We have gotten down to -20C I think just once this year... I remember there was this one nasty day... car wouldn't start, gave up and crawled back into bed for several more hours.

I'm going to say a zone 5 or 6. I just dont see being a zone 7. in winter we get snow, constantly covered in frost when theres not snow. I would not trust puting a citrus outside after the end of sept. I'd love to have them outside more than not... I just wont risk it. If I find it cool... in they come. I can kill the trees myself easily enough, dont need mother nature helping!

I figured out the possibility of doing a greenhouse over my deck, I just might get away with doing it cheaper than I thought. good layer of plastic, and I could get by with just heating at night. get good enough plastic, seal it up good, keep it open to the house at night for heat. eh, whose to say. If I can ever get my act together I want to move back to the coast. PPL down there grow em outside year round, actually in the round, just throw a blanket over during a frost. How cool is that... growing citrus INground in Canada!!!!??

ok, I'm going to shut up now

Betty ... if you ever get out to the BC coast or Vancouver Island (where I am) you'll find citrus grown in ground. It's still experimental in many cases since the climate isn't a traditional citrus growing region. But here we can run trials on citrus.

Cheers, Barrie.

thats what I had said, many ppl in vancouver and the island that grow citrus in ground. I think its so cool. but here... its just not possible without a lot of work, I'm not about to go through. I live in a rental unit, no way am I going to plant a tree outside!

I'm heading out to the island next month, cant wait, cause hitting tiny toms tangering farm on the way home, hoping to get 5 new varieties... but have a list of 16 I want. heh. odds he carries all I want, unlikly... but eventually I'll get them!

Well Betty, you didn't give me much info on where you live...I'm not going to hunt down & kill your citrus LOL. You say 2 hr drive north of Spokane. Depends on how fast you drive!!! I looked up Spokane & they are in zone 6. You said you got down to -20C...that's only -4 F here. ..we got colder than that. You know, mid - north Fl gets frost in March many times.
As Barrie said, they have citrus growing inground in Vancouver Island...and that's in Canada!
My point is...it's not harder for you to grow citrus than us 'guys' in zone 5.

I have a friend in alaska who has 2 citrus trees growing in ground during summer and in house during winter its funny to pick oranges and lemons off a tree in the house ..Tammy.