Here is how I protect my trees from severe freezes:



I even do it for the mature ones. In the event of a prolonged freeze the ground will save the rootstock and graft. The tree will be making fruit the 2nd year after. I wish I'd have done this in 1983 and 1989! In 1989 the Christmas freeze killed my large kumquat and satsuma trees, even the rootstock. From 1989 to 2000 I sat out growing citrus being so discouraged about freezes. Since 1989 we have had only one bad freeze to 19F in March for a few hours!
Most years we have freezes but a couple years there were none and even the bananas survived! 90 miles east of Houston, TX

Nice idea. Looks to be easy to apply and remove. - Millet (1,123-)

Are you putting just a ground soil in the pot surrounding the tree? May be a sand or perlite would be better?

at first i was not sure what was the protection. is that tree planted in the ground and then you put a pot without a bottom around it. then filled with dirt to keep it warm above the graft.

Good adaptation of the classic soil bank. I'll probably borrow your idea if that 100 year freeze hits here, too.

Yes, take an empty pot and make a slit in the side, slide around the tree trunk and fill with dirt. Hmm, you never know when the next 100 year freeze might fit. I've pro-actively protected my 25 trees from freeze taking a few hours to do it. Actually protects from all freezes.

In 1969 I met an older gentleman at DeRidder Louisiana,his age was 69. His family had a large planting of citrus and was shipping fruit to the North East in the 1920s. They lost most of their trees to the severe freeze of 1929. When I met him he was growing a large number of nursery stock. He planted the Trifoliata seed in the spring and grew them until fall. They were t-budded in late September or Early October. The buds were covered with soil Thanksgiving and then the soil was removed Good Friday and topped. They were sold for $1.00 each the following fall. The buyer had to buy the complete row and dig the plants and be gone by Nov 10th. His permanent plants were banked with sandy loam each fall. Fletcher died in 1971 at the age of 71, it was a pleasure to know him, I will alway be indebted to him for the info he passed on. The fall of 1971 Starfarm, Belle Chase LA bought all his nursery stock, bare root, for 50 cents each for the small ones and $1.00 for the nicer ones.

I haven't used the soil filled pot method, but it sounds like a great idea. What I have done is more the "soil bank" approach, mulching around trunks up to a foot deep and a foot or more out from the trunk. I use free mulch from the recycling center. Then, in the spring, I just rake the mulch across the bed to begin a new organic mulch layer. So far, so good. But I haven't suffered through a hundred year freeze with my citrus yet.

I buy 1 or 2 bags of composted cow manure for each of my trees and lay them beside each tree in the fall. In case of a hard freeze, I pile or wrap the bag around the trunk of small trees or pile 2 bags against the trunk for larger trees. Very quick, very easy. In the spring, I empty the bags around the tree's drip line.

Mr. Texas, what size pot do you use for your soil bank?

I use 3 gallon pots since I have several hundred. For the big trees I have some large molasses barrels I've cut the bottom out of. They are probably 50 gallons.