Suggestions for Zone 9 Fruit Trees in Jax

[mspink]

There's a place in Mandarin called Flying Dragon Citrus. I can't vouch for them yet, but we'll be shopping there once our house is done. They take standard citrus and graft it with some Japanese stock that's more hardy. I think it's on Loretto, fairly near Old St. Aug?

My parents in SC have several friends with patio lemons and limes, and they keep a string of Christmas lights in them all the time. When it gets too cold, the lights get plugged in for the night and it's just enough heat to keep them happy.

[slimsim]

Citrus grows just fine here. If you are planning on planting citrus do yourself a favor and at least visit the Flying Dragon nursery. My kids love it, you will get to try all the different varieties before you plant. I tasted THE best orange I have ever tasted in my life when I visited. (Pineapple orange, fresh from the tree). I believe the naval oranges (more sour) prefer hot dry weather which is why the commercial naval's usually come from California, where as the thin skinned oranges that are sweeter and better for juice (valencia, hamlin) do better in the hot humid florida weather.

I have a grapefruit tree that is less than one year in the ground, bought from Lowes for around 30$ and it was about 3ft tall. The tree did fine in the ground this winter, until we got hit with the warm weather in January (It got into the 80's). The tree started to bloom and it was beautiful (just too early), but that was followed by some cold weather (down to around 25 for 4+hours 2 straight days). We covered the plant, but the second of the two consecutive cold days hurt it and it lost all of its leaves. I had to cut it back at least a foot in mid March. Right now the tree has almost all of its leaves back and looks healthy again and will soon (within a month) be back to its original size. I think a few more years in the ground and the tree will be able to weather the cold better on its own.

My wife's grandmother has a grapefruit tree that is over 25 years old (with delicious grapefruit), so citrus can survive here. (Commercial nursery's used to be up here until they moved a little further south)

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by mspink

There's a place in Mandarin called Flying Dragon Citrus. I can't vouch for them yet, but we'll be shopping there once our house is done. They take standard citrus and graft it with some Japanese stock that's more hardy. I think it's on Loretto, fairly near Old St. Aug?

My parents in SC have several friends with patio lemons and limes, and they keep a string of Christmas lights in them all the time. When it gets too cold, the lights get plugged in for the night and it's just enough heat to keep them happy.

Flying Dragon is a fun place to visit. But the citrus it sells can still have problems here. I bought a Meyer lemon there maybe 5-6 years ago (for about $35). First year (tiny fruit was already on the tree when I bought it) was fine. Second year we had a northeaster when the tree was in bloom and lost all the fruit for a year. Third year was one of those very cold years - and the tree froze below the graft line. End of tree. I use Meyer lemons for cooking - and it's easier and cheaper to buy the fruits in season and juice them. Then freeze the juice. I can get enough juice for cooking for < $5/year. Robyn

[mississippimagnolia]

We have a key lime tree and a mandarin orange tree in our back yard. Both have done great with no special care. Our neighbor's lemon tree and orange trees make more fruit that they can give away! We also have a friend with a very healthy fig tree.