Satsuma and navel orange trees

I had an owari satsuma tree for three years that never got over 3 feet tall. I replaced it with an Arctic Frost. I’ve also heard good things about Miho.

I don’t know much about naval orange varieties.

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Lafayette area north of I-10?

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Go talk to the good folks at Lastrapes Garden Center in Opelousas. They have a good selection and know their stuff!

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What are the best species for Lafayette area north of I-10?

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Whatever varieties they sell in any given area are ok in that area. They cannot sell varieties that aren’t “ok” for that area. (The correct word for “ok” escapes me)

Owari satsuma
Washington navel

In 9a, you can get away with satsumas (owari, arctic frost, brown select, etc) and kumquats without much if any cold protection except for the coldest nights. You may need to protect more attentively in the first couple of years until they become established.

The Washington navel will also work here, but they are a little more cold sensitive and have to be protected until they are nice and mature before you can really feel safe. A lot of 5-6 year old trees got killed by the freeze last year. The 10-15 year old trees made out fine. I'm currently raising a 3 year old cara cara navel, which is just a mutant line of the Washington navel.

Meyer lemon can be grown here but don't even try it unless you are willing to adopt a pesticide regimen and cold protect anytime the temperature gets near freezing. Even if it does survive an unprotected freeze, it will decimate the foliage and will not fruit the next year. My 6 year old Meyer gets covered with a tarp with a heat lamp underneath anytime the forecast calls for temps below 35. In the past 2 seasons, I had one night each where I covered it but with no heat lamp (used incandescent Christmas lights instead) and temps dipped into the low 20s. Lost all foliage and no fruit in 2022 and only about 5 in 2023. Don't use the Christmas lights for the lemon. It's not enough heat for 9a freezes. When properly protected I get hundreds of lemons. The pests also love Meyer lemon leaves more than any other citrus. Stock up on pyrethein concentrate, neem concentrate, spinosad concentrate, and a copper antifungal. I even keep a bottle of malathion and imidacloprid for nastier infestations.

For all of these, make sure to adopt a fertilizer schedule. They are heavy feeders and need lots of food, but at the right times of year. I recommend growing all of these on a grafted dwarfing and cold tolerant root stock. It adds significant cold protection and keeps the trees small enough to protect during those first 5-7 years in the ground. My neighbor had a beautiful Washington navel on its own roots that was 15 feet tall and loaded with oranges. Probably a 25 or 30 year old tree. 2020 polar vortex got it. No way to protect something that big and if the right freeze lasts long enough, it will kill them. You can really mitigate the cold by growing on the south side of your house and close to the side of the home.

The easiest thing to do is just plant an owari satsuma, but that's what everyone does. Choose wisely and have fun.