Ichang papeda, some of the leaves are slowly beginning to recover their green color. The Ichang papeda has been much later than the other hardy citrus varieties to begin recovering its color. Ichangquat seedling, some of the leaves are beginning to recover, which is surprising. The leaves looked so pale before. It still has not grown any new leaves. (Ichangquat = Ichang papeda x kumquat) Bloomsweet "grapefruit" beginning to put out some solid new growth now, looks good This variety probably isn't as cold hardy as the others. There is a south-facing brick wall two and a half feet behind it that probably helps provide some protection in the winter. (Bloomsweet is probably only a little more hardy than Satsuma mandarin, from what I've read. I haven't been able to get Satsuma to survive here) Keraji, on grafted rootstock, looks very good. Some sort of insects seem to have taken some bites out of some leaves. Both the Bloomsweet and Keraji were just covered with a paper grocery bag during the coldest 4 days in February, with a one gallon container of water up against the plant under the bag. So it was sort of protected, but I don't think that constituted very much protection. Although I do think it helped make the leaves come through the winter much better. The leaves on both look surprisingly healthy. Although the temperatures did not drop too low this winter, maybe only down to 22 °F (-5 to -4 °C ). The other varieties shown here were not protected. pictures taken May 13, 2021 Olympia, WA
Here's a picture of an Ichangquat seedling (seed came from a fruit from an Ichangquat. Ichangquat is a hybrid between kumquat and Ichang papeda) that I believe may likely have been pollinated by a citrumelo (citrumelo is a cross between Duncan grapefruit and bitter trifoliate orange). Some close up pictures of the seedling outside in the ground. It survived through the winter, without any protection. I couldn't capture a close-up of both branch sides in a single picture, so had to take two pictures of each branch side of the seedling. pictures taken June 7, 2021 While it was growing two years ago indoors as a seedling, I noticed two areas of bifurcated leaves that suggested third generation trifoliate parentage. Although I have not observed any such characteristic bifurcated leaves while it has been growing outside.
Unfortunately everything above that you see pictures of did not end up surviving. But I planted an Ichang lemon in the ground late last year and it is doing well. Before then it had somehow miraculously managed to survive in a container outside while many other varieties that were planted in the ground died. May 27, 2024 You can see it's vigorously pushing out lots of new leaf growth, and the plant held onto its leaf growth from last year, which is still looking good. It survived through the winter and was not covered. But it is planted up against a wall, and is in a protected spot. It mostly only gets morning sun in its location. I'm happily surprised it is doing well. (Again, it is not Ichang papeda)
Bummer, but is pretty well inline with my experiences. Excluding our kitten using the lime tree as a litter box his first week unbeknownst to me lol. He killed it :( But still have three cuttings I rooted that are doing well on the front (South facing) porch for the summer.
