In June 2015, two of my citrus seedlings flowered at an age of about 18 months. As I returned from holiday, a seedling of a Star Ruby grapefruit surprised me with a beautiful flower. A second seedling, seeds from Ortanique, and the same age, was already finished.
Star Ruby grapefruit and Ortanique tangor
Star Ruby grapefruit
Ortanique tangor
During my next visit to Eugen Schleipfer, our local and well-reputed citrus grower, I mentioned this flowering. He showed me a large grapefruit tree and told me, freely translated from German: “This grapefruit tree flowered at a very early age, but never again since then. Don´t expect your seedlings to flower again, within the next 10 years.” Well, none of them flowered in 2016 and there are no flower buds in 2017.
Now, this year, a third citrus seedling is flowering for me. I like to eat Sweetie grapefruits, when available during autumn and winter. Most fruits are seedless, but some of the fruits can have a few, more or less developed seeds. I remember, finding an exceptionally large seed and decided to grow it. This was around November 2015. Now, this seedling tree surprised me with even two flowers. This photo is from today. The flowers soon will be open. The plant shows some nitrogen deficiency and was only recently fertilized.
Growing citrus from seeds can be very rewarding. Some grapefruit and Ortanique can flower at a quite young age. Are there similar observations with other citrus seedlings as well?