Has anyone tried some of the cold hardy citrus varieties( other than the Kumquat and Satusmi) ? Which ones taste the best? Seems like some folks are growing the hardier varieties and I am wonering if you all have tasted them yet,

thanks Frank

I will attempt to answer your question from my experience. Here in my opinion are some of the better ones: Thomasville citrangequat: Tart if you like tart fruit, no bitter aftertaste at all, US119 Orange: worth growing just for the beauty of the fruit, will crack if there is a wet season. fruit quality not up to par with grocery store oranges but I enjoy them. Taste is somewhat unique and hard to describe. Citremon: a cross between trifoliate and lemon.. mine fruited this year for the first time with a grand total of 1 fruit! The fruit was very sour but I detected none of the awful trifoliate bitterness. TRee has proven itself to be pretty cold hardy surviving 13F with no protection. Taiwanica lemon and the resluting Taichang lemon.. both very good lemon substitutes and both very hardy... Now for the bad news! Carrizo citrange and Swingle citrumelo. Make nice ornamentals for folks too cold to grow edible citrus but Ned and I agree that the Swingle citrumelo should have a name change to sh-trumelo! The taste is unbearable! Finally, I have a dragon lime that Im trialing.. I didnt even know I had fruit until last week I noticed a small green fruit on the bush. A friend came over on Saturday and we decided to give it a try. My opinion on this one is that its 99 percent dragon and 1 percent lime. My friend almost puked on the spot! If you want to fool someone into thinking theyve been poisoned... give them a spoonful of this juice! Hope my few descriptions is of some help. Maybe some of the other panel members can jump in on their experiences.

thanks for the laugh Mr. Stan!

I tried something at the end of the citrus judging, I think it was an Ichang lemon, it was tart, but none of the bitter off flavors.... pretty interesting tasting.

I should have brought a lil notepad for observations

Thanks!!

Stan have you or anyone tried the Yuzo lemon or Ichang lemon and the 10 degree tangerine?

THanks Frank

I had a yuzu sent to me by Citrus Joe (Co) last yr & I loved it. I hear that chefs are using them more & more in cooking.
I don't know if satsumas are considered cold hardy (Stan?) but they are very good - not sour at all.

I like Thomasville citrangequat and Nippon Orangequat. Taste wise, I think Nippon OQ is the better of the two. Thomasville may be hardier, based on what I know about the old tree near Savannah, but some folks have found that young plants should be protected from the cold.

As Stan said, I like Taichang lemon. It is sour/sweet but pleasant tasting. There are others, I just haven't had first hand experiences with them.

Yuzu is ok if you like a very sour taste. Same with C. Tawanica.

I got 2 Morton citranges from the expo. I had never even tried to taste a citrange because I had heard how bad they tasted.....but I thought the Morton was pretty good sweetened with sugar and they were extremely juicy. An unknown variety of citrange (grown at Charlestown Landing in Charleston) was fine for an 'ade drink but had a hint of a "fishy" aftertaste. I tried an unknown variety of Citrumello and found it to be edible peeled like an orange (but I love tart grapefruit). But....the best hardy citrus I've tried is the Thomasville citrangequat. Taichang lemon and yuzuquat were also pretty good lemon-like fruit.

Thanks for the info on Orangequat Ned- I have a fondness for small fruits.

I think we tried 10 degree tangerines at the Citrus Expo- it was not bitter at all, but kinda watery. like a navel orange that got wet.

Are calamondins & satsuma considered cold hardy?
When my cals got ripe, I was surprised how tiny they where 'till I saw them at expo. They were just as small & TOO TART for me...yuk. Benny says they make good marmalade. I used mine for marinade.
Luv those satsuma's!

My Meyer Lemons are cold hardy and they taste great. A cross between a lemon and an orange, it tastes like a lemon but is a bit sweeter. Very tasty.

Hi
THe Meyer lemon sounds great and I have read that they are cold hardy also, any idea how cold............15 F?

thanks Frank

Well this is the first winter for my Meyer Lemon and I'm new at this, but I understand it doesn't suffer damage till about 23F and then only if it's a prolonged cold. In my case (zone 8b), the low so far this winter is about 23F (-5C), which is the coldest temperature we've had here in 6 years.

My tree is in a mini greenhouse and I've wrapped it in Xmas lights. See this thread for more details:

http://citrus.forumup.org/about1213-citrus.html


My cold weather set-up should keep the temperature at about 45F if the outside temperature dropped to 15F.