Cold Hardy Citrus and Avocados

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

The coldest hardy avocados anywhere are available from Bill Schneider at Devine Avocados in Devine, TX. His avocados withstand temperatures in the high teens with no added heat. His trees are also available from Fanick Nursery in San Antonio, TX. By wrapping the trees in the old style Christmas lights you can really do well. My Meyer Lemon have lived through temps as low as 6 degrees, the same for my Satsuma Mandarin oranges. As I said before I have a lime tree called a Devine Lime which shook off 6 degrees 2 years ago and three days with nights around 10 degrees this past year. If/when I get fruit from the lime this year I can send a fruit to whomever wants to try growing it out from seed.

[Betho]

Very good to know! I have citrus trees that I grow indoors but I really really want an avocado and maybe a mango tree. I'd probably need a greenhouse though. If I had a greenhouse I might even try macadamia. Who knows!

[oregon woodsmok]

I've got lemon and lime (and figs) growing inside the house. They'd have to survive a lot lower than 6 degrees to be planted outside, here.

6 degrees would sure extend the range where the trees could be planted.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

Betho, do you find that you get colder temps living at the base of the mountain - i.e. cold temps flow down the mountainside to the valley below??

A good way to grow the cold hardy citrus and/or avocado in areas that are marginal is to drive 4 T-posts in the ground around the tree. You then wrap the posts with the shrink film like they use for wrapping pallets at Home Depot. Inside you either wrap a string of the old style big christmas lights around the tree or put in a heat lamp. On the cold nights you cover the top of the plastic with a moving blanket and turn on the lights. You have your mini-greenhouse right in place. We are Zone 7B and we grow both avocados and citrus here. I live on a hill and am slightly warmer than the surrounding valleys around me.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

The trick is to plant the right varieties of both citrus and avocado. I am more than willing to send fruit/seeds or plants in the case of the Devine Avocados through the mail to others. A smaller Devine Avocado could be properly packed to come through unscathed via 2nd day air. I think it would be possible to Bare Root the avocado if it were a small 1 gallon sized one - cost for the tree last I checked was about $35-45 plus some for my gas to drive the 100 miles round trip to get them. Gas/diesel not too bad in cost in my VW diesel Jetta (about 2 1/2 gallons) at 40 mpg. If I were going to get more than one, the cost is less for the fuel.