i purchased a 3 foot plant from a road side stand in florida, the plant is now about three foot tall and a few leaves have fallen off but now there are about 20 white small bulbs in the branches.....not sure of what to do with the tree as id like to plant it in the yard....winter now i keep bringing pant in doors to avoid cold weather...any ideas
It looks like you're located in zone 8b which may be too cold for outdoor citrus without protection. You may want to contact your local extension office for advice. In the meantime you could over-winter the tree by keeping the temperature below 13C/55F and keeping it completely in the dark, perhaps a spot in an unheated garage. It will be dormant as long as these conditions are maintained.
You need some sort of greenhouse. Old orangeries would be a model. Oranges aren't fully hardy north of about Lake Wales, Florida, although you can keep them going, sometimes for many, many years, as far north as the Florida Turnpike, west of Orlando (those areas froze in the 1980s, with the culminating 1989 freeze being particularly destructive). Here in Florida, disease and insects are making it very difficult to grow citrus at home. We're moving toward mangoes, peaches, and Japanese persimmons,
Owing to Citrus Greening and other diseases/pests in Florida moving that tree out of Florida and into South Carolina broke agricultural laws in both states.
Citrus seem to be a pain to manage just about everywhere, although I did see numerous older specimens of some kinds growing and fruiting with little apparent attention in driving nearly the entire length of California recently. At the Fullerton Arboretum near Los Angeles I even bought some very juicy oranges picked from a tree in a citrus planting there. I doubt there is very much fiddling with the trees going on there at all. As with other plants the key may be how hospitable the general environment is. So many people asking about problems with citrus on the internet are attempting them inside ordinary living rooms etc.
