McClendon Citrus

06/08/2026

Like many of you, I grow many edible fruits beyond citrus, comprising Asian persimmons, pomegranates, muscadine grapes, apples, pears, figs, pineapple guava, jujube, and blueberries, with blueberries currently ripening on a daily basis. We use many of them fresh and I make some jam/preserves, but most are preserved whole through freezing for later use.

What’s your favorite non-citrus fruit to grow?

06/05/2026

My US 942 bloomed prolifically this spring. Covered. But we had an incredibly dry March and April, and I was afraid that none of the many blossoms had translated to fruit. Looking up yesterday, I saw that the tree had indeed set fruit. I’m excited!

05/27/2026

Prague citsuma update: a very cautious sense of hope!

05/22/2026

It was a good morning to do part two of the tour!

A tour of my citrus that are protected as needed. Included are Meye...

05/21/2026

My Prague citsuma is on its second round of blooms. As far as I can tell, the first round was completely staminate, so no fruit formed. The second round does have some female flowers, so with a little luck, I may yet get some fruit this year. Fingers crossed.

I read somewhere that as the plant matures, it tends to set more fruit. This makes sense - pomegranates often start blooming with only male flowers.

05/15/2026

On my way south, I stopped in briefly at the campus of the University of Georgia and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, GA, to check out the original trees of the Grand Frost Lemon (Ichang lemon), Sweet Frost (Changsha), and Pink Frost (grapefruit) that were developed by Dr. Wayne Hannah. These were all irradiated to reduce seediness, and to develop commercial potential.

On the joint campus of the University of Georgia (South) and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC), I stopped to see the original trees of Sweet Frost ...

05/03/2026

A walk around the hardy grove. I’ll follow up soon with walkabouts at my other two locations. Thanks for watching!

2 likes. "Walkabout in the Hardy Citrus Grove"

05/03/2026

A little rain does wonders! Citrus are looking good. Captions under photos.

05/01/2026

Have you ever tried Hibiscus tea? It’s excellent - a mix of cranberry and citrus, with many health benefits. You can drink it hot or cold, mix it with club soda, or just about any way you can think of.

Growing tea hibiscus (H. sabdariffa) is easy. In my zone 8 climate, it is an annual, and many of the cultivars out there are day-length dependent: they won’t bloom and fruit until days shorten in the fall, which means that these cultivars may not produce ripe calyxes before the first frost.

A couple of years ago I found varieties of Roselle that start blooming 90-100 days after germination, giving us a long period to harvest.

I have Thai Red Roselle available in my Etsy shop!

https://tomtropicals.etsy.com/listing/4336080984

04/08/2026

Owari Satsuma is loaded with flowers this spring!