Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
From what I’ve read about this year’s historic cold snap…oranges can take about four hours of temps between 28 and 30 F without much damage. After that, citrus damage becomes progressively worse.
Florida produces 75% of all oranges in the USA…so they have a lot of weapons at their disposal when the rare frost threatens. From what I understand, although there are many different types of oranges growing in worldwide – they normally harvest oranges right after a cooler period (this sweetens them supposedly). In Florida, many oranges are ready for harvest from mid January to mid February…normally the time when the threat of frost in greatest. So often orange producers harvest their oranges early if they think the cold will damage the fruit. An early harvest will lead to small fruit - but often the economic hardship is not so bad. This year’s historic frost in the citrus districts of central Florida was a good example: Frosty temps in mid January in central Florida had little real effect to orange production for the most part, Florida still had less than 5% citrus loss… and produced 68 million boxes or oranges and grapefruits .
Actual citrus foliage doesn't get burn't until you get into the low 20s, but the fruit spoils a few degrees below freezing. Where did you get the idea that coconuts are more hardy then citrus fruit? The actual foliage can take a few degrees below freezing, but they drop their fruit right around the freezing mark.
The citrus belt goes all the way up to Orlando in Florida and includes Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, and a few other South Texas counties. During mild years, I'm able to harvest oranges in Houston, TX. About 50% of the citrus fruit sold here is from the Rio Grande Valley.
The most interesting differences between regions located close to the same latitude is often what the difference is in average lows... instead of the average highs:
According to the NWS McAllen site…the average overnight low for Padre Island in January is 51 F…close to the average low of 50 F for Orlando and 48 F for Daytona Beach – but fairly far from the average low of 60 F for Miami/Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and 65 F for Key West. I think that’s really the biggest difference between deep south Texas and deep south Florida…the nights are signifcanly cooler on average in south Texas than in south Florida. Still, beyond south Florida…nights are warmer in deep south Texas than in places like north Florida, San Diego, CA, or Phoenix, AZ.
Padre Island and South Padre Island are two different locations, they're about 100 miles(guess) apart.
Actual citrus foliage doesn't get burn't until you get into the low 20s, but the fruit spoils a few degrees below freezing. Where did you get the idea that coconuts are more hardy then citrus fruit? The actual foliage can take a few degrees below freezing, but they drop their fruit right around the freezing mark.
The citrus belt goes all the way up to Orlando in Florida and includes Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, and a few other South Texas counties. During mild years, I'm able to harvest oranges in Houston, TX. About 50% of the citrus fruit sold here is from the Rio Grande Valley.
We have numerous orange, lemon, lime, and other citrus that grows VERY WELL here. In fact, many stores here sell the "local" crop. We are not in the Valley either. Last fall, I ended up with 3 33-gallon bags FULL of lemons and oranges from my brother's yard (he lives down the street from me).
I definately want to try the coconut idea though. I would be willing to bet I could grow one here pretty well.
Actual citrus foliage doesn't get burn't until you get into the low 20s, but the fruit spoils a few degrees below freezing. Where did you get the idea that coconuts are more hardy then citrus fruit? The actual foliage can take a few degrees below freezing, but they drop their fruit right around the freezing mark.
The citrus belt goes all the way up to Orlando in Florida and includes Cameron, Hidalgo, Willacy, and a few other South Texas counties. During mild years, I'm able to harvest oranges in Houston, TX. About 50% of the citrus fruit sold here is from the Rio Grande Valley.
So citrus production is pretty much limited to frost-free regions?
How frequently do Orlando and Houston see frosts?
In regions that average only a handful of frosts per year are they able to grow citrus with the aid of some sort of crop heater?
According to their NWS –site…Orlando averages 2.5 days per year with frost. I would guess some years are frost free. Most of the citrus districts are south of Orlando...so on average they are frost-free.
I would guess that Houston gets a good bit more frost days…maybe 10 or 15 per year.
We have numerous orange, lemon, lime, and other citrus that grows VERY WELL here. In fact, many stores here sell the "local" crop. We are not in the Valley either. Last fall, I ended up with 3 33-gallon bags FULL of lemons and oranges from my brother's yard (he lives down the street from me).
I definately want to try the coconut idea though. I would be willing to bet I could grow one here pretty well.
Ian
I wouldn't be too confident about the coconut idea, it's still very risky to grow them on North Padre Island, let alone Portland...citrus is still MUCH MUCH more hardy then coconuts.
Another interesting thing about South Texas, although the averages for winter are about the same as Central Florida's, Deep South Texas warms up in the spring faster then Central Florida.
Are there a lot of jacarandas, Eucalyptus or Hibiscus in deep south TX? Or even Plumeria and Traveller's Trees?
Jacaranda is common but not as flamboyant as the Royal Poincianas which are also common. A lot of common tropical plants like the Poincianas, Ficus/Rubber Trees, Seagrapes and Scheffleras (all common zone 10 tropical landscape plants) froze back to varying degrees in the 2011 freeze (some streets were filled with Ficus benjamina trees that had completely frozen to the ground) but these plants all grow relatively quickly and should look like they did pre-2011 after a few more mild winters. Saw some traveller's palms and small tree sized plumerias back in 2010. I imagine the plumerias froze back quite a bit. Royal palms and foxtail palms are popping up everywhere too, should be a lot of giant royal palms in the Brownsville area in a few years.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
