Grapefruit from seed

[Galka]

I planted the grapefruit seed a couple of yours ago. The fruit was very sweet and juicy, big round white inside. I have no idea what the variety it was. The co-worker gave it to me as her friend's tree was loaded with a lot of huge fruits and most of them dropped on the ground so she picked them up and brought to work to give to everybody. She couldn't see such a good fruit going to waste. It was really good, so I couldn't resist and planted a seed. My question is when the grapefruit tree grown from seed will start flowering and produce fruit? I've heard it may take 6 to 10 years. Is it true?

[Citradia]

Yes. Seedling citrus will be very thorny and have to grow up tall enough to reach the required node count to bloom. That's why those wild Florida oranges in the woods are so thorny all up and down their trunks and all the fruit is up high in the tree. The trees you buy from nursery are fruiting branches grafted onto a rootstock. In 6 to 10 years you will have a tall thorny tree that makes that grapefruit you love. At least you won't have to worry about protecting it from cold in Ocala.

[Laaz]

I have 2 ruby reds I grew from seed. Both started to flower at 5 years old. Both are about 25 ft now & loaded with fruit every year.

[Laaz]

Here's one of them I just got done pruning the hell out of...

[BajaJohn]

I have just planted seeds from a remarkably sweet yellow grapefruit in the hope of producing more trees. My first question is if the seeds germinate, will the trees produce fruit true to the parent tree?
Laaz - is that picture of a ruby red, even though the fruit looks yellow? Is the flesh red and is the fruit unusually sweet? I ask because my grapefruit are yellow with yellow flesh but taste as sweet, if not sweeter than ruby reds.
Finally - and remember I'm very much a novice at this - I'm also trying to propagate vegetatively. Any advice would be appreciated. I've taken some cuttings and have them in water with some rooting hormone. I'll also give air layering a shot. I'm trying to produce some rootstock for grafting from prunings of a very vigorous native lemon rootstock used for one of my valencia oranges.

[Laaz]

Yes grapefruit come true from seed & yes it's a ruby red. This time of year they are super sweet. The longer they hang on the tree, the sweeter they get.

I wouldn't use lemon as a rootstock for oranges, you will get inferior fruit. Use sour orange or trifoliata.

[Millet]

I completely one hundred percent agree with Laaz, don't use lemon as the root stock.  As Laaz pointed out, the resulting fruit will not be of high quality.

[cory]

Beautiful tree and fruit Laaz!
Cory

[Laaz]

I'll cut some tomorrow to show you the flesh.

[Laaz]

Also I have never tried rooting grapefruit. I'll cut a stick or two tomorrow & show you how I do it.

[BajaJohn]

Millet and Laaz, thank-you very much for your feedback. As I noted, this is a new venture for me.

Maybe the rootstock isn't lemon. The source is new growth from the base of an existing tree that is producing a good and tasty crop of normal (valencia-like) oranges. When I 'inherited' this tree, it was full of lemon-like fruit. Their surface was somewhat rough - almost like big warts. The fruits were about 8-10 cm long and slightly smaller diameter. I was told by several locals that it was a wild lemon native to this region of Baja California. They looked somewhat like citrus macrophylla. I noted a single branch with an orange on it and concluded the tree was probably originally an orange grafted onto the 'lemon' rootstock. The tree had probably not had any attention for a decade or more and I assumed most of the growth was from the original rootstock. Over time I removed all of the 'lemon' bearing branches and now seem to have a magnificent orange bush. Now, unfortunately, I have no fruit to identify the rootstock.

Given that this bush already produces good oranges, do you think that the new growth from the rootstock of this bush may be a good source of new rootstock?

[Citradia]

Bajajohn, maybe your "lemon rootstock " is  Swingle citrumelo? I think swingle fruit look like and taste like big lemons. It would have trifoliate leaves.

[Galka]

Yes. Seedling citrus will be very thorny and have to grow up tall enough to reach the required node count to bloom. That's why those wild Florida oranges in the woods are so thorny all up and down their trunks and all the fruit is up high in the tree. The trees you buy from nursery are fruiting branches grafted onto a rootstock. In 6 to 10 years you will have a tall thorny tree that makes that grapefruit you love. At least you won't have to worry about protecting it from cold in Ocala.

Yes, it is thorny. I cut them off where I can get to them. The tree is still small maybe 5' or a little smaller. How tall it has to get to be able to fruit? And what is a node count?

[Galka]

I have 2 ruby reds I grew from seed. Both started to flower at 5 years old. Both are about 25 ft now & loaded with fruit every year.

Laaz, your tree is beautiful.  I love Ruby Reds, they are sweeter than my Rio Reds. Do yours taste similar to the fruit you had and planted the seeds? How old is that tree on a picture? I spotted the variegated citrus (?) on the side of the grapefruit tree, what variety it is?

[Laaz]

These fruit are much sweeter than the fruit I got the seed from, probably because store bought fruit is harvested way too early.

That variegated citrus is one of my blood oranges, never found a good place to plant it & it needs shade or the foliage burns...

[Laaz]

Actually to the right of the grapefruit is also a variegated kumquat...

[Laaz]

John your "lemon" rootstock is probably indeed swingle. Does it look like this?

[Galka]

These fruit are much sweeter than the fruit I got the seed from, probably because store bought fruit is harvested way too early.

That variegated citrus is one of my blood oranges, never found a good place to plant it & it needs shade or the foliage burns...

Nice to hear. So there is a hope that mine will be at least close to the fruit I ate. Didn't see the kumquat on the right. Is it Centennial? I am crazy about the variegated foliage on citrus. Unfortunately, I can find only 2 varieties in my area. I have a Centennial kumquat and Minneola.

[Laaz]

Yes it is Centennial kumquat.

Ruby red right off the tree this morning.

[Laaz]

Blood clementines this morning.

[Laaz]

Here is how I root cuttings. I'll give this grapefruit a shot...

[Citradia]

Galka: "Yes, it is thorny. I cut them off where I can get to them. The tree is still small maybe 5' or a little smaller. How tall it has to get to be able to fruit? And what is a node count?"
Galka, I learned about node count on this forum. A tree grown from seed has to produce a certain numbers of leaf nodes growing up the length of the trunk/stem before it will bloom. I have a 10 ft tall Changsha mandarin that I've had in ground for about 4 years and just today noticed there is what looks like possible flower buds starting to show on the higher branches. The higher branches also are not as thorny as the lower body of the tree. I think Millet said on one of his posts that one of his seedlings bloomed at 7 ft tall, and Laaz noted that his ruby red grapefruit from seed blooming after 5 years on this thread/topic.

[cory]

Nice looking fruit to look forward to Laaz.

Cory

[Laaz]

I just walk out the front door & pick them as I need them...

[Millet]

Laaz has a  horticulturalist magic hand.  He just waves his had over his trees and the grow and grow and grow....,,,

[Laaz]

Lol!

[BajaJohn]

Thank-you Laaz. I'll give some cuttings a try. Lovely looking fruit.
Congratulations on your grapefruit Millet.

Here are a couple of picture of my "rootstock" taken before I pruned most of it away. It is the same tree that is in my previous post loaded with oranges. It is the tree on the right.


This a zoom-in of the knobbly "lemon" fruit. They are about 10cm * 8cm.

[Citradia]

Bajajohn, I can't tell from the photo of your "lemons" if the leaves of your tree are unifoliate or trifoliate; is each leaf large and singular like most citrus leaves, or is each leaflet in three parts kind of like leaves on a rose bush?

[BajaJohn]

Bajajohn, I can't tell from the photo of your "lemons" if the leaves of your tree are unifoliate or trifoliate; is each leaf large and singular like most citrus leaves, or is each leaflet in three parts kind of like leaves on a rose bush?

I don't recall, although the leaves never struck me as different from my other citrus. The root suckers are all unifoliate but the biggest leaf right now is only about 1 cm long. I'm sure I've seen other trees around town, but now I'm looking for one I can't find any.
One thing I've learned in trying to identify the rootstock is that there were no citrus native to the area. They were introduced by the missionaries.

[Laaz]

Hard to tell from the photo, but it might be rough lemon.

[Radoslav]

Thank-you Laaz. I'll give some cuttings a try. Lovely looking fruit.
Congratulations on your grapefruit Millet.

Here are a couple of picture of my "rootstock" taken before I pruned most of it away. It is the same tree that is in my previous post loaded with oranges. It is the tree on the right.


This a zoom-in of the knobbly "lemon" fruit. They are about 10cm * 8cm.

Leafs look unifoliate and fruits look like citrus medica. Was the inner rind called albedo thick?

[robbyhernz]

Laaz, i see that your grapefruit is planted close to a structure. Are the roots causing any damage or threatening to cause any damage? I'm planting my fairly close to a stucco fence and don't want roots to lift it or anything.

What's the closest I can plant a grapefruit to a naval washington? I see that BajaJohn has the trees planted fairly close together and they look really nice!

[Laaz]

No, the roots only travel out a few feet from the tree near the surface.

[BajaJohn]

Thank you all for your interest/help with my potential rootstock. It has been quite a learning experience for me - very much helped by forum members. If you Google citrus rootstock, several websites come up with dozens of different rootstock varieties, none of which closely match my tree. I am in an area where citrus cultivation predates introduction to the current US and there seem to be several local varieties of "lemon" that have been around so long that many consider them naturalized here. Some are almost as big as a football. The fruit from my rootstock was recognized by locals as one such variety. It looks very similar to the "brain" citron but doesn't have the characteristic thick albedo of the citron so I assume it is some kind of hybrid that originated in earlier years of citrus culture here. The rough lemon looks fairly close Laaz and descriptions note a lot of variation in the plants, so that may be it.
It tasted somewhat like lemon but was much sweeter with a slightly bitter aftertaste. I will try to find out more and let you know what I find.

[Galka]

Okey, now I am excited!!!  The little tree is going to bloom! 

[Millet]

Congratulations Galka.

[Galka]

Thanks, Millet. Another finding today. I rooted a trifoliate cutting (not sure which one) a couple of years ago. It took almost a year to root and push leaves. It's around 6 feet tall now in a pot. I noticed some flower buds on the tree though they are so tiny you can't really see. I will check on them in a few days to confirm the flowering. 

[Citradia]

Congratulations Galka! I'm jealous! I hope some of my from seed trees bloom soon!

[Millet]

I noticed just today, that my 4 deciduous Flying Dragon trees, have begun putting on their new 2017 foliage.  They pretty much just set there all winter waiting for the warmer weather.

[Galka]

Thank you,  Citradia. One day you will see the blooms on your seedlings. 

[Galka]

Millet, same here. New leaves are coming. I noticed some CLM damage already, so had to spray the neem oil on new growth.