Sweetest Grapefruit Varieties

[Dennis_No_Frost]

Hello everyone, I am on a mission to find the sweetest grapefruit varieties.  I just want the sugar sweetness, as much as possible.  If you have a variety that match this description, can I have the name of the variety and some scion woods?  I want want scions from the tree that you tasted that is sweet.  I have three unknown grapefruit trees, but they are more sour than sweet.  My family prefers the sweet ones.  They are so picky that I am so hesitate to go with the variety that my research online say is the sweetest: Oro Blanco.  I know other factors affect sweetness, but I want to start with the sweetest varieties first then work on the other factors afterward.

Thanks for the help.

[Millet]

First of all, Oro Blanco is not a grapefruit, but it is semi sweet.  Actual grapefruits are not supposed to be sweet, they are supposed to be tart. Its like asking what is the sweetest lemon. Red Grapefruits are sweeter than white grapefruits . To sweeten up a grapefruit, leave them hanging on the tree until late march.  The hotter the weather the fruit is grown at, and the older the tree, the "sweeter" the grapefruit (note Sweeter was in quotes as no grapefruit is really sweet).  If you want a really sweet fruit, you will probably have to look somewhere else than grapefruit.

[Dennis_No_Frost]

Millet,

Thank you for the reply.  I am not looking for sweetness of a sweet oranges.  I am looking for the sweetest Grapefruit varieties out there - The less amount of tart.  You mention Red Grapefruits, are these the Rio Red, and Rudy Red? I get your "Oro Blanco is not a grapefruit", I am okay with hybrid, too.  My dilemma is that my mother in law swear she have sweet grapefruit before and I trying to deliver that for her.  However, based on what you said, this may be a fool errand.

We have sweet oranges, but my in-laws want "sweet" grapefruit.  I was going to order some scion woods from the UCR's collection, but I want to go straight to the experts and save myself a year or two of disappointment later on.

[shaneatwell]

Millet, Interesting comment about leaving the fruit on. I've been harvesting my Chandlers (first crop) and the ones I tried up to now weren't great in terms of moisture or sweetness. I have two more. You suggest leaving them on for 2 more months?

[Millet]

Shaneatwell, leaving grapefruit attached to the tree until late march accomplishes two things.  First the extra heat produces additional sugars, and second it also reduces the acidity..  I acquired this information from Dr. Malcolm Manners who is the head of the Citrus Culture department at Southern Florida University.   I have an in ground Marsh seedless grapefruit tree (white flesh) and I always wait until the last week of March to pick the fruit.  It does make a big difference. Lastly, the age of the tree makes a BIG DIFFERENCE in the quality of the fruit.  You should not expect much from a young tree.

[brian]

My experience from store-bought grapefruits is that the smaller red ones are the sweetest.  Very sweet, much like an orange but with the grapefruit bitter taste.