[Green fingers]

I have 3 citrus plants presently in the conservatory, lemon, kumquat and lumquat. I am looking for advice on what measures do I need to take to safe guard them for the winter.

[walltoall]

Hello Green Fingers,
I've just seen no-one has yet come to your aid. I had a lemon and an orange growing outside in the ground last year but close to a south facing wall. They got a terrible hammering last Winter in temperatures that dropped below -5ºC and stayed there for weeks. In fact to all intents both plants 'died'. Being an optimist I left them there and progressively cut out all the dead wood. In early Summer the butts started sprouting on both and now there is serious growth on both.

So what this is all leading up to is

If I had your plants I'd try to ensure they don't get frozen to death. I 'believe' that citruses generally can cope with down to -5ºC for short periods (how long is a short period?). A friend in Tuscany has an orange grove in the mountains and regularly gets these kind of temps in Winter. But they do get lots of sun (as indeed mine do). So basically that's it. If they are acclimatised to their present position leave them there but give them a little warmth if the temp gets down seriously below zero.