How cold did it get for how long? What varieties of citrus are they? I bet they will bounce back.

-Brett

I also live in the Tucson Metro area, but in an outlying area which gets 3-5 degrees colder than the center of town. We got down below 20 for a good 6 hrs or so to an absolute low of 17F. I have linked to a hosted photo site of the damage to a covered 2.5 ft Meyer lemon just planted in the fall, (which had its cover blown off during the worst of the coldest windiest night), and an uncovered 15 ft appx 7 yr old Minneola tangelo. The Meyer lemon had a 100 watt bulb under its cover, the tangelo had several 100 watt bulbs hung inside its canopy. A week later, the tangelo looks better; the lemon looks worse and will probably lose all its leaves but no wood/stem damage apparent yet.

Glad to be through the worst of the "winter" here,
Eric

Here is a link that might be useful: Frost Damage Tucson, AZ Feb 2011

Eric:

Where do you live? I am over by Saguaro NP East off Old Spanish Trail. The low temps were:

29, 25, 14.4, 16.2, 29, 29, 30, 33 from 2/1 to 2/8. The two lowest temps were for a period of 8 hours or more. While the leaves look terrible and have for the most part fallen off, the wood looks generally okay (i.e. not split and green inside). I used both 250 watt halogen work lights from Home Depot and C7 Xmas lights along with frost protection cloth. But, when it gets to 14, nothing much, short of jet heaters would do much of anything I would think.

I live out west of the Casino del Sol almost to Ryan Field - Star Valley area: the last leg of Valencia before it merges with Ajo Way. I wish I had as accurate records as you do - a min-max thermometer is in my wish list on Amazon. Looks like you all got a few degrees lower than we did, and I'm sure your duration is about what we were also. I've lived here in Tucson for 20 yrs and this was definitely the worst cold snap I've seen. Will post follow up photos tomorrow. Tangelo still looking decent (considering), Meyer lemon showing some stem and smaller branch damage. An established tree certainly has the advantage over a new planting, but tangelos are more cold hardy to start with. The tangelo is actually nine years old, rather than seven, time flies... by the way, I could not access your photo link, do you have to be on FB to see it? Thx

Not sure about Facebook, but check out the below link. It is the AZ Gardening Forum and you can post pix there and they are posted there.

People forget this was an historic low, the worst since records were kept in 1889.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arizona Gardening Forum Message

Thanks for the alternate link. Looks like your lime and lemon got it the worst, not surprisingly. Will have to check out those halogen lights for next season - I've been concerned about a replacement for incandescent bulbs as they are phased out. Linked update photos below

Here is a link that might be useful: damage update a week later, about ten days after hard freeze

The halogens I think probably saved my citrus. I have only found two brown branches in 6 trees. The lights were only $7 each, and HD has them now. Perhaps you might want to pick up a few now just to be safe. Your Meyer Lemon looks very familiar (the damage that is). Thanks for the pictures. I hope my trees grow up like your Tangelo. A beautiful tree. What variety? How do you harvest from the top?

Too bad there isn't a Citrus Club here in Tucson, we could all get together and mourn this historic occasion .

I'm about to give the trees a shot of B1 and see what happens. I know it is a bit early, but I am willing to gamble....The NWS is not forecasting anything below 38 for the next 7 days.

In regards to my temperature records, I have a Davis Vantage Pro2 (wireless version) which has been moving around the country with me. We have a flat roof and my tripod mounted station works well up there. I also added a second temperature sensor to track the temps at 5' above ground level. My software (Virtual Weather Station) keeps a database so I can track the actual temperatures. Davis just came out with a cheaper version of the weather station called the "Vantage Vue". See http://www.vantagevue.com/. Finally, believe it or not, the cheapest place to buy additional sensors, etc is http://www.provantage.com (a computer site). Just type in Davis in the search and off you go. Wonderful folks to work with. The email quote routine is due to Davis, not their idea. They only allow people to post the MSRP rather than the actual sales price.

P.

Hi,
I'm in Tucson too. Have been close to 40yrs now, and can't believe the cold we just got through!

I am over by A mountian. Along the Santa Cruz River. I have one tree, I forgot to cover :-( that looks horrible!

Uncle Dirt,
You are just minutes from my parents. They are off of Camino verde and Ajo. Mom said they had a temp as low as 18 the first day of the hard freeze.

I hope everyone's tree's spring back and will be O.K.
I'm not expecting mine too.

pgde~
We may need a support group to mourn this historic occasion. lol.

JoJo

Yes I saw about that!

Freaky I call it. I also was the pictures and my famnily is just stunned at ghow much damage they got.

I am aslo sorry for you guys. I hope they do come back, in which I assume the taller more mature one may. Just horrible and I am soory about this. I also heard 80's already?
I guess the sun can just burn the rest of the leaves that did pull through.

It is warming up and I pray all your plants do ok.

Hey Jojo. Been sick again.:0*(

Mike

pgde, my Tangelo is a Minneola. I bought it at Civano Nursery, although my new favorite nursery is Mesquite Valley Growers on Speedway east of Pantano - citrus heaven if you have not been there. For picking upper branches, I use a fruit picker on a telescoping pole - I bought the picker at Lowes. Pretty nice, I picked the whole tree with no stool or ladder.

A couple of things I find interesting about this tree:
* I have no mandarins or other tangelo varieties in the yard, yet it fruits consistently - must have a good neighbor with some cross-pollinators or very energetic bees.
* It shows no tendency toward alternate bearing, even though all the literature suggests it should. This year's hard freeze will really put that to the test.
* A family of quail roosts in it every night now for several years. Their nighttime "deposits" pretty much constantly fertilize the tree. It is quite a sight to see the whole family with Mom, Dad, down to the smallest of the 10 or so chicks they have each year scuttle along the top of the fence and into the tree each evening around sunset.
* As you can tell, it is my pride and joy, but I am ashamed to say I have no idea what rootstock it is on. I bought it long before I became a citrus geek. I will post an updated photo when it returns to its former glory.

Thanks to all that have expressed concern about our 100 yr freeze, but really it would have been just another day in a lot of places, so we are still lucky to live in a nice climate.