Lime and Orange Trees For Texas. Varieties.
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Cold Hardy Citrus For Texas
Lime trees do grow well in Texas. In the lower Rio Grande Valley there is commercial citrus production on a large scale, but farther north the winters become too cold for most varieties of citrus trees including lime, orange and grapefuit. You can grow some kinds of oranges as far north as Waco, especially if you wrap them in wintertime to protect them from freezing.
You won't want to leave citrus trees wrapped up for long, since this can cause their leaves to fall off. A better solution is to make a temporary greenhouse out of some metal T posts and plastic sheeting, then put in a freeze protection thermostat like an Easyheat connected to a heat lamp of some kind.
What Kind Of Llime And Orange Trees Are Best For Texas?
One variety of orange that has been studies extensively by Texas A&M Univeristy for cultivation in Texas is the Japanese Satsuma orange. Satsuma oranges are now being cultivated as far north as Uvalde in the Texas hill country.
Satsuma oranges can withstand cold temperatures of up to below 32 Fahrenheit for a few hours. Often very cold temperatures will cause leaves to fall off but the tree will eventually recover.
Another fairly cold hardy citrus is the Mexican lime or Key Lime as it is also known. It is not as cold hardy as the Satsuma orange but will stand temperatures down to 30 F.
If you want to grow a Key Lime outside you should build a protective enclosure for the winter and place a light bulb inside. You can use an automatic freeze protection thermostat to turn the light bulb on when the temperature gets to near freezing.
Always plant your citrus tree on the south side of the home. This will protect it from harsh winter winds.
If you take good care of your citrus tree and protect it from freezing you can expect a good crop of fruit in the summer.
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GusTheRedneck 8 weeks ago
Howdy doodlebugs - Enjoyed this article - and the "keep them from freezing" advice was on the mark, too. We just came through all of that Texas drought, like no rain to speak of for month after month. Then it rained really hard a couple of times. There we were, now into the front of November, and the orange tree and the lemon tree in the back yard decided that it was now the moment to make babies. They blossomed like crazy. Now it is the middle of December and the orange tree is covered with tiny green oranges. (I guess the lemon tree miscarried or the like - or maybe it was the lack of bees.)
Thanks for the well-done article.
Gus :-)))