I like small citrus orange fruits. I chose kumquats because of the small fruit and no mess eating. You eat the peal along with the flesh. In your situation I would be inclined to go with the earliest ripening satsumas or the "cuties" variety that ripens in fall. What ever you get the fruit will freeze 28F and will be useless. The tree needs to be on a hardy rootstock that can go down to the record cold in your area otherwise you will match that cold the winter you tree is ready to produce. "Murphy's law"..It is not likely that your landlord will allow you to construct tents with heaters on his property.

Why not get a large Versailles container to grow your citrus tree outside and in that setup you can move it with you when your moved. Something like this is much easier to contain, protect and look good.

I would be inclined to re-pot.

I am with Syeve on that one! I tried a what do they call it, Meiwi Kumquat yesterday and LOVED it! IT was almost tart and yet very sweet...I hate the skin and all...It was like eating candy..lol
I bought one..lol

Good questions! I'll leave those to the experts!
I wish I could use a plot of land, but then I would be worried about citrus regulations, rootstock, diseases, thos every frequent very cold snaps and such..

I like the ability to be in total control of my plants when it comes to cold snaps...I wish you all the best and have fun!

Mike

Well, out of hand eating would be your navel oranges. You live in the land of the Navel Orange, so ask any of your better garden centers which of the several navel varieties they would recommend (you have many good ones to choose from, you might consider two, one early and one late to extend your season). For juicing, the Valencia orange is considered your juicing orange, as the juice will not become bitter if refrigerated (as navel orange juice will do). I would also suggest a nice mandarin. I love the Seedless Kishu, and it is very well suited for container culture, but not sure it performs its best in Florida. You might consider a Tango mandarin, a Clemenules or a Ponkan (not the best for a container tree, as they tend to be more tall and columnar in their growth habit, but it is one of the top 3 or 4 best tasting mandarins, and does very well in Florida). Diseases will affect your container citrus the same as your in-ground citrus, if your container citrus will be outside, so there is no benefit to keeping your trees in a container in that regard. But, if you don't have the land to plant, containers are the next best thing.

Patty S.

Look around your area. Are others growing oranges successfully in ground. Talk to them and see if there crops generally clear fruit destroying temperatures. If your container citrus have to come in because of freezes, then you can't plant in ground without damage.

I was looking at the weather.com to see your record lows. They bounced between 20F and -2F. While it is very unlikely that you will get a -2 it is fact that the 20F is there because a strongish cold snap never passed on that day of the month and it is an easy record to break. Be prepared

Patti can the fruit take much colder temps. when it is small and months before ripe then when its ripe. That knowledge will allow me to ease up on my citrus.

Steve

Here are some suggestions I have learned from John Panzarella who has over 140 varieties of citrus in containers. Plant mandarins (loose skin types) for best fruit in containers since they have less problems when temperatures soar and water in the container goes through large swings. Tight skin fruit tends to split a lot worse. Do not re-pot into a much larger size pot. Keep the plant a little confined. Go up only one size. 5 gal --> 7 gal otherwise the tree may want to not fruit and just give vegetative growth. John lives about fifty miles south of Houston.

I would not re-pot now unless you are growing them indoors. I would avoid using perlite except maybe less than 10% and make sure it is coarse. It holds too much water. Be certain the potting mix drains well. You should see drainage in 30 to 45 seconds or less after watering. Always double pot, unless the pots are shaded, or they will get root damage. Fertilizer should be applied at half rates and twice as often as the package recommends unless it is slow release. Avoid citrus that normally mature after the end of January as they tend to become alternate bearing. Examples: Murcott (Florida honey) and Valencia. It must be the temperature swings. It was 81 today, and Wed AM it is supposed to be 31. Two weeks ago it was in the 20's. They do OK in deep South Texas.

Also remember; citrus roots like it less than 85 deg F. Half the year they will be way outside their comfort range in a container on a patio in Florida. If you have hard (alkaline) water you will have additional problems. We can deal with that too. Citrus does not do well when fertilized like veggies because it does not tolerate the high phosphorus feeding. Trees on standard trifoliate rootstock tend take the swings of lack of water better than others I have tried. Avoid all lemon rootstocks for good eating fruit. Please do not take any citrus out of Florida to any citrus growing state. It is very illegal and it is possible to spread several deadly citrus diseases.