Jackson Hill
Oranges in Plaquemine Parish
A most beloved tradition of winter in southern Louisiana is the harvest and consumption of our diverse citrus array. ‘Tis the season for citrus everything—freshly squeezed satsuma juice for breakfast, lemon tarts for dessert, blood orange margaritas and, assuredly, pocketfuls of calamondins or kumquats at the ready. The pandemonium is elaborately displayed around the holidays in bulbous hues of light yellow and delicate pinks, in every size from a quarter dollar to a softball. A friend in Texas says she “knows a lady” with the sweetest lemons she ever tasted, and they are the size of an adult head. You hear such lore, often, surrounding the topic of citrus.
I once met a fellow grower from up north who visited Louisiana, one time, twenty years ago. He was blown away by the mere fact that we could grow citrus—thinking it as something exotic—and was completely beholden to the most stellar sweet and sour gem of all, our satsuma tree. He said that before this visit, he had never heard of this tree in his entire life. I have always loved my citrus, but in that moment, he helped me understand how special it actually is to be able to grow these fruits. It's always the friends not from here that remind me how tropical our gardens can be and how lucky we are for it.
Like so many traditions in Louisiana, citrus also finds its history intertwined with the French. Father Paul du Ru from Normandy, France was chosen by Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville to accompany him on his second journey to Louisiana. It was during that time that the Jesuit priest planted the first orange seeds south of New Orleans. Within a few decades a petite industry was booming, and over the next hundreds of years came dozens of exotic varieties and new cultivars, accumulating into our bounty today.
Managing Pesky (not so) Pests
Citrus trees are a host plant to the giant swallowtail butterfly. If you see someone is eating away at your citrus foliage, they are most likely a swallowtail in its larval (feeding) stage. Don’t remove them, and if possible, avoid using chemical pesticides. You are doing these stunning insects a grand favor by letting them host on your tree, increasing their chances of survival significantly. And you are doing yourself a grand favor if you enjoy the beauty and pollination these butterflies offer to our environment. Most often, the tree is left undamaged and its fruit supply untouched. Young trees tend to be most affected with their minimal foliage to feast on, but usually bounce back the following growing season.
Another common “pest” to citrus are “Citrus Leaf Miners.” These guys cause a lot of people stress, but are actually just other caterpillars, soon to be small nocturnal moths. They hail from the continent of Asia, like their host plants. Again, on a more mature citrus specimen, the damage done by these guys is typically little, if any. Newer plantings can suffer more. Perhaps take extra care in those early years as needed, then allow your citrus to flourish and interact with the natural world in all its serendipity. Again, using pesticides to approach this problem can be detrimental to the environment, only to solve a non-issue.
How to Treat Leaf Curl
If you are observing the leaves of your citrus trees curling up, usually it means there is some unmet need. It could point to environmental issues, pests, diseases, or harmful maintenance practices.
In my personal gardening career, I find leaf curl is most often the distress response of overwatering. Louisiana is a place where overwatering can be as detrimental as underwatering. Proper soil nutrition has the power to help control disease and pests, drought, ph levels, and so on. An active soil is a healthy soil.
Planting and Pruning Citrus
I believe, ultimately, there are no rules when it comes to pruning or planting, but I would say that December through early spring is ideal for planting citrus. Planting and pruning in the dead of winter, before any new flush of foliar growth, is ideal for any tree, as the plant is largely dormant and suffers little transplanting/root pruning stress. You will not see tons of foliar growth, but the roots are establishing rapidly, and come spring, the plant is ready to pop off.
Protecting Citrus from the Cold
As our climate is changing with what seems like more summer droughts and more intense cold snaps, coupled with intense natural disasters, citrus growing in Louisiana is not necessarily becoming easier. Where I live in St. Francisville, I have just about given up growing most citrus, aside from my kumquats and calamondins; these trees seem to be my most cold hardy, returning each year and still bearing fruit. For those of us who can grow many citrus varieties, cold protection is, of course, key.
Your citrus are going to be most susceptible to freezing temperatures in their young years. And a healthier tree will always stand a better chance of surviving the winter. More important than protecting the foliage/branches of your citrus is protecting the main trunk and root system. I can be a bit lazy when it comes to covering my citrus, and first and foremost aim to protect the roots and lower trunk with piles/bags of leaves, soil, hay bales, etc. If these areas are well protected, even if your foliage is zapped back, it will likely flush back out come spring. Water your citrus well before a freeze. Hard freezes dry out the earth below and cause more damage. And, as always, compost the earth beneath your tree often and well, creating a lively soil for a healthy tree, and giving it a greater chance of surviving any problem thrown at it.
