Not sure about the oranges.

Looks like they can stay out at least through this week, on the lemon anyway, as it will be ok till the first frost, on the fruit, and we usually won't bring it in, until the night temps hit 25 degs.

Some are just now starting to turn yellow, which eventually becomes orange.

In the past, I have left them on the tree through Winter and they remain edible. Temps have gotten below 20F but for only short periods.

Generally, I pick my first fruits a week or two before Thanksgiving.

I've heard that the older the tree is, the sweeter the fruit becomes, and so far seems to be holding true.

Others have told me to fertilize lightly with epsom salt once or twice during friut development. I'm sure that soil type has something to do with sweetness also, along with the genetics of that particular satsuma.

Kt

Kt

Pam

You both are in zone 8B. Do you give your trees winter protection?

I'm in San Antonio and still don't know where I'm going to plant the Satsuma I recently bought at Lowes. I moved it to a much larger pot, but want to put it in the ground next spring.

Roselee, the tree is about 15 X 12 wide and about 14 feet tall.

It's planted close to the porch, so the tree grows mostly to one side, away from the porch.

I trimmed it early in the year, thinking that since we are/were in a drought, that it won't produce much fruit anyway. I had it where I could walk under the limbs by just ducking a little bit, but as you can see, I can't even get a mower over there any more to mow the grass since the limbs are touching the ground.

This years growth is what the fruit will be produced on next year which is why you don't want to trim early in the year. Also, like other fruit trees and nut trees, they have heavy producing years followed by low producing years where energy goes into roots and plant growth.

Yes, I had the limbs tied up but most of the ropes broke so I used 2X4's to prop up the limbs.

I covered mine when it was young and put a heat lamp under the cover, but it soon got too big to cover.

I never do anything to it at all, other than water if we have a dry Winter. It has rarely suffered leaf burn from frost even down to 15F. Planting it on the south side of my house probably helps...it gets heat from the house and full sunlight.

I like being able to walk out on my front porch in the morning, and even during yesterday's rain, and pick a couple to each, in my socks...you can't beat that.

Kt

I'm considering planting the satsuma between the SE wall of the garage and the cedar swing. It would be close to an electrical outlet to put a light under it for warmth while it's young and I could attach a cover from the swing to the garage overhang.

Then when fruiting age the limbs could hang over the swing and we could sit on the swing, smell the flowers and eat the fruit! :-) How does that sound?

There is an elm tree about 20 feet due east, but I keep it trimmed back quite a bit and it loses it's leaves in the Winter. However, a creek runs along the east side of my house, and there are numerous tall trees which prevent early morning sun from hitting the satsuma tree and the same goes for late evening where a huge live oak prevents late direct sun from hitting the tree.

It's in a happy spot.

Kt