Thank you so much for sharing your world and wisdom. I have a lemon and avocado tree that are four years old that I bring in for the Illinois winter. I have them both in very large pots. My neighbor has a banana tree 🌴 that he mulches layers and layers to keep the roots from dying off completely but I have not seen any bananas yet. There is so much more to learn. Much love to all 💚
Hi I have a Ponderosa lemon tree that I have had for 29 years. It was just a baby when I received it. I live in Knoxville, TN and I have kept it in a greenhouse during the winter and have always had lots of success with it until this past winter. We had temps that dropped to 4 degrees about a month ago. I have a infared heater in my greenhouse that went off during one of the controled power outages here. I did not know the heater would not come back on when the power came back on and failed to realize it until the lemons on my tree were frozen. Needless to say I lost all of them. The tree was absolutely beautiful and I had made at least 11 lemon pies as gifts for my family and friends. Now my lemon tree is bare. All the leaves curled up and died and fell off. I threw away a bucket full of lemons. I am hoping that when spring finally gets here it will revive and come back. I feel like I lost a friend. I loved my lemon tree and treated it like a best friend. I will wrap my pot if it comes back next year. Thank you for the information and your web sight. PS: My tree has always flowered and bore lemons all these years.
I have a volunteer orange tree I found in my compost bin and I’m testing it before I purchase a confirmed variety. This is its 3rd winter. Fist winter in am unheated green house buried its pot in the ground and it dropped some leaves (temps to - 10 C). Second winter still in greenhouse not buried and it dropped most of its leaves. This year moved it up a two pot sizes to increase insulation around the roots and put it in my garage (temp + 5C , only light from widows in garage doors) held all its leaves and grew new ones. I’m about a zone 7 towards, as I’m towards the middle of Vancouver Island, BC , away from the coast and in a higher elevation.
I was thinking, find a pot the same size as your plants. Dig in the soil and place the pot underground with no soil in the pot. So the pot is buried to the rim but empty inside. Place your plants into the pot for heat retention. The pots should easily slide in and out of the underground pots. So in summer, lift the pot out, and return to outside… just a thought
I am moving my citrus into the glasshouse this year. I have a Meyer lemon and a mandarin in pots. I think i will surround the pots with thick layers of peastraw. Thought the insulation idea could work too and roll back up in the summer.
Hi, I farm citrus and tropical fruits in a Grennhouse. (Look at my channel fordplants) I had the same problems with citrus. but now I fixed the problem. I drilled about 2 M deep into the soil and filled it with gravel. So cool air in summer, and warm air in winter will keep the roots about at the same temperature. ( I am from Germany in Zonen 6)
Very nice setup man! And yes, if people bury their pots then that will help keep the root ball a consistent temperature. I've also found that by increasing air intake during the warmer parts of the day when the suns out really helps minimize the temperature fluctuations. Many people try to get the greenhouse too warm during the day like its summertime, and then allow the temperature to drop down to 40 degrees at night. That's a quick way to stress the plants out. It looks like you keep your greenhouse always above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, yes?
@@PlantFanatics citrus actually do no need cool temperatures in winter. They just need a temperature und moisture level difference between winter and summer. I keep my plants all year long between 75 (night in winter) and 90 degree (day in summer) degree. It works Perfektly for every citrus. Even Kumquats and lemons.
@@samuelford9384 Absolutely! I agree 100%. It would be ideal to keep citrus above 50 degrees Fahrenheit day and night to continue the active growth (they are evergreens after all). Most people I've come in contact with try to not rack up the electric or gas bill by keeping their greenhouses at tropical temperatures day and night. Its more economical for most people to meet minimum standards for tree health during the winter months. I love your setup though! Looks amazing!
I also use a foil insulation roll and cover the lower 4' walls at night and it makes a big difference in the cold temperatures and reduces heat loss at night. I am in zone 3 with a geo thermal greenhouse but it still got down to -12 C in the greenhouse when it was -40 C out side. We do of course have to heat and we have a wood stove but it is very hard to keep up the temp at night on the coldest snaps. The variety is everything. My kumquat did get a bit of leaf damage but will recover and my yuzu did just fine but I forgot to get the foil blanket against the window were the kumquat was the night it got some leaf damage on the youngest leaves. We are still working on getting it set up just right and the additional layer that we added after the last cold snap should make a big difference keeping it warmer at night when the next cold snap happens. We now have 2 ,2layer poly carbonate on the roof but only had one layer when we hit -40 C last time.
Good advice. I will try to pay attention to the root temperature. However, when you talk about "northern climate" in zone 7, it makes me smile. Try Quebec (zone 4) with -25 or -30°C (around -15 F). Still, good video. Cheers! :)
Haha, I know it sounds funny. It’s like when someone from zone 9 says cold hardy. I guess the fact is there’s always someone colder. But botanically speaking for fruiting plants, zone 5 is pretty cold hardy. There are of course a few exceptions. But that’s typically the cutoff. 😀 Thanks for watching! Glad to hear from you.
Hey! Thanks for sharing your experience. I also have seed grown citrus, how old is yours and has it flowered yet? Mine is about 8 years old and it still hasn’t flowered. 😅
I have to bring citrus in from cold weather. What do you think of a heavy mulch layer in the pot, then putting the whole pot in a 2-3x larger pot filled with mulch for installation?
If the tree is brought inside the house for winter then there is no need to take these extra safety precautions. If instead it was brought into an unheated garage or shed that wouldn't fall below 25 degrees Fahrenheit, I would definitely recommend a method like that. It would help to stabilize root temperature. I hope this helps you! Thank you so much for the great idea and question!
Hi there, Is there any way you could even out that temp fluctuation by some kind of supplementary heating at night, maybe a small solar panel? A small soap stone wood burner, they hold their heat for hours after the fire goes out Also, maybe try putting in raised beds that have some insulation around the bases over night. It really wouldn't take much heat at all to close that temp gap a bit more and you should see a huge difference. You could also get insulation panels that go over the glass at night. Even a safe small heater on a timer if such an animal exists that pops on periodically over night, preferably that runs on solar or propane. And barring all that, wrap up those pots with lovely pot cozies, like some of our Grannies or Great Grannies used to dress their tea pots in! lol If you were able to keep the temp consistently similar to the southern states, probably with the help of grow lights and pot cozies,:-) is it possible to keep on producing citrus fruit during the winter months up north? Have you had much success with them producing or are you merely keeping them healthy and alive until they go back out in the spring? Sorry for all the rambling but I'm working on selling off the city home, buying a property with some land and water etc.. and I fully intend to grow at least some of my own food with heirloom seeds, non GMO'S, pesticides etc. About as organic as possible but manageable. Or, last resort, just wrap up the entire greenhouse with an electric blanket!! lol OK, my very last idea...promise lol What if you got a large tray, big enough to put all the pots, fill the bottom with water and use a livestock water trough heater that prevents the water from freezing but may heat up a bit more. That may cost a tad less that putting in radiant floor heating!!! lol Don't you just love it when some pseudo-know it all bombards the comment section with solutions you don't want!! But fyi, I did grow up on a farm and was very involved though we personally didn't have a greenhouse but it's my dream, to grow healthy food and stay connected to nature. The best way to heal the mind, body, heart and soul!! Cheers, I wish you many cozy roots, happy plants and lot's of fresh food !!
Absolutely, there are many ways to deal with the temperature fluctuations. Probably the cheapest way would be to simply bury the pots in the soil to keep the temperatures constant on the root balls.
I am zone 3b, I bring the trees back in to the house each fall. My extra cost is power that goes to all the grow lights that I have for the trees. Ouch! Lol
Thats dedication! I love to hear when people are doing whatever it takes to grow their favorite plants. Thanks so much for the great comment! Happy growing!
I live in Oklahoma zone 7b and I had no problem with leaves dropping on my citrus with nighttime temps down to 43 or 44 degrees if it was supposed to be colder than that I took all of them in the house,the daytime temps were still in the 80s I think, I don't remember the highs as well as the lows because I didn't have to worry about those. The temp in the house will range from 80 to 60 because of the way I am heating my house this year due to bills last winter being double or more what I was paying the year before. Has your seed grown lemon tree produced fruit for you and was it from seed from grocery store fruit? Are you growing and mango trees? Thanks
I have a lemon tree. Inside the house in the winter it blooms, but the flowers and fruits are small and fall. Now outside the house because the temperature is high, the fruits have also fallen. They are the size of a bean. I have done everything from fertilizing and watering, but nothing works.
You need a heat cable in the ground all mine do just fine with that and a chicken heat lap left on all winter I have a myer lemon in the ground in my green house with a avacado year 3 pnw
