Author Topic: Cocktail grapefruit pick time  (Read 7747 times)

Doglips

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Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« on: January 23, 2015, 12:18:19 PM »
I raid the market every year when these come it.   I haven't seen them in the store yet this year.
My cocktail grapefruit produced one fruit this year (the first ever).
It has colored up nicely and is soft. What is the optimal pick time for these?

FrankDrebinOfFruits

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2015, 01:24:54 AM »
I don't have an answer. I saw a cocktail grapefruit tree this last week, and started looking for multiple grafts (figuring it received its name as a multigraft of many varieties....).... Disappointingly I didn't buy it.

Millet

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2015, 11:21:28 AM »
I believe Doglips is writing about an actual variety named Cocktail grapefruit (Siamese Sweet pummelo X Frua mandarin).  If it is well colored and soft to the touch it is probably ready.  I'm not sure about this particular variety, but if like most grapefruits they improve in flavor when left hanging into February. - Millet
« Last Edit: January 24, 2015, 11:23:32 AM by Millet »

Doglips

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2015, 09:55:33 AM »
Correct Millet.
They have a mild grapefruit flavor and are quite sweet for a grapefruit.
I'll wait a bit, just anxious to pluck it and give it go.  I was going to use when they appear in the store as a gauge. I should I guess wait until the rind thins a bit and gets smoother.

plantrant

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2015, 08:49:05 AM »
I ate my first Cocktail g/f yesterday. It was fully ripe, messy/drippy juicy, lemon flavored, mildly sweet when eating, had thin peeling, and left a sour aftertaste. I grow Bloomsweet g/f, which have some similarities. They are lemon flavored, taste mildly sweet when eating, leave a sour aftertaste, have thicker peeling, have fewer seeds, but not messy/drippy at all. The tiny cells hold their juice very well, and the individual segments can be broken apart by hand w/o any dripping juice escaping. But the biggest thing that sets them apart is that the mature Bloomsweet trees do not need cold protection for your area. When the temps bottomed out near 15 degrees a few years ago on one night, the unprotected mature trees had partial defoliation, but no severe problem at all. As one who hates all the cold protection rituals when a threatening freeze is arriving, fruit trees like the Bloomsweet g/f make fruit growing easier. They are sometimes available locally.

Doglips

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2015, 10:20:15 AM »
Just picked up a bloomsweet a week ago.  I'm thinking that solo fruit won't survive the weekend.  I've been getting some pretty good bloomsweets at HEB here recently.
I didn't think bloomsweet went that low, good to know, I need to verify if the root stock is trifoliate.

mangomaniac2

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2015, 04:16:48 PM »
Correct Millet.
They have a mild grapefruit flavor and are quite sweet for a grapefruit.
I'll wait a bit, just anxious to pluck it and give it go.  I was going to use when they appear in the store as a gauge. I should I guess wait until the rind thins a bit and gets smoother.
I have a cocktail citrus tree in my front yard that overproduces huge fruit and they were all eaten by Jan 1. If we are suppose to wait I am not sure how much better they would be, they are already really juicy and sweet by then. I have seen pics of them sold at market with about 30% green still on the rind. I wait until maybe 10-15% and picked, around Christmas, and they were superb.  They do not taste anything like a grapefruit. Cannot really explain the taste as it's like nothing else. There is no tart at all, and they are so large and juicy you can get about a cup of juice from each one. The juice taste somewhat like fruit cocktail, just not as syrupy and sweet, more of a fresh bright flavor of fruit cocktail.
« Last Edit: January 28, 2015, 06:13:47 PM by Millet »

mangomaniac2

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2015, 04:23:51 PM »
I ate my first Cocktail g/f yesterday. It was fully ripe, messy/drippy juicy, lemon flavored, mildly sweet when eating, had thin peeling, and left a sour aftertaste. I grow Bloomsweet g/f, which have some similarities. They are lemon flavored, taste mildly sweet when eating, leave a sour aftertaste, have thicker peeling, have fewer seeds, but not messy/drippy at all. The tiny cells hold their juice very well, and the individual segments can be broken apart by hand w/o any dripping juice escaping. But the biggest thing that sets them apart is that the mature Bloomsweet trees do not need cold protection for your area. When the temps bottomed out near 15 degrees a few years ago on one night, the unprotected mature trees had partial defoliation, but no severe problem at all. As one who hates all the cold protection rituals when a threatening freeze is arriving, fruit trees like the Bloomsweet g/f make fruit growing easier. They are sometimes available locally.
Are you sure you bought a cocktail g/f? There is no sour at all to them, definitely no lemon. They are very very juicy, which is why they are mainly used and recommended juiced.

plantrant

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2015, 12:01:19 AM »
In December I went to John Panzarella's annual Open House (Panzarella citrus.com) where John provides lots of citrus fruit varieties for folks to sample, sells plants, and sells his own grown fruit. It is there that I got a box full of several citrus varieties that are marked with the variety name. He has forgotten a zillion times more about citrus than I will ever know. I do not know why your fruit are different from his, or (possibly) why your taste buds are different than mine. Just like one person's super-duper paw paw is another person's "yuck".

mangomaniac2

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2015, 07:44:44 PM »
I wonder if what you are referring to is possibly marked incorrectly. I think if you do a bit of research into cocktail citrus (grapefruit) you will find the taste descriptions line up with what I have described. Mine is from four winds growers of California. Perhaps there are different strains of the specimen since the variety was never formally released.
Here is a link to what I have:
https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/store/grapefruit-trees.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=204&category_id=14

plantrant

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2015, 08:42:43 AM »
Thanks for the nursery photos. Looks 100% the same. Except for the puddle of juice beneath the cut fruit. If genetic variability is on display with a family's 6 kids lacking 100% uniformity, and all 200 satsumas on a healthy tree are not 100% uniform, then why should there not be evidence of it among 1000 cocktail g/f trees?....When I went to buy multiple thermometers to place around the orchard, I assumed that the box of Chinese-built thermometers in Lowe's store were likely "identical", but just to be sure I laid several side-by-side on the shelf and waited a few minutes to confirm the mutual accurate temp reading there. Well, most had different temps from the others. Variability happens.

Doglips

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #11 on: January 30, 2015, 12:03:49 PM »
Picked the only child, ate the only child.  Pretty unimpressive for a first fruit, I guess not to be unexpected.
Umremarkable, hope for much better in future years.

mangomaniac2

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #12 on: February 01, 2015, 12:32:13 AM »
If it's any more comfort, last year was my first year of fruit and I almost took it out. The reason was because the taste was so unusual and not flavorful, but juiced, it  was more acceptable and less "weird". By weird I mean different, not in a negative way, just unusual for citrus because it tasted like nothing else I could identify. This year the flavor was much more defined, sweeter, and more complex. Very glad I decided to wait. This year now that I have had a chance to taste a good one and it's a keeper, I am going to pull all the fruit set. For only a 2 to 3 foot high tree this year it produced 10 large grapefruit sized fruit, which is way too much for such small tree. Of course, the tree did not grow much. Should be vigorous grower once I take the load off for a year or two to develop.

mangomaniac2

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2015, 12:48:12 AM »
Thanks for the nursery photos. Looks 100% the same. Except for the puddle of juice beneath the cut fruit. If genetic variability is on display with a family's 6 kids lacking 100% uniformity, and all 200 satsumas on a healthy tree are not 100% uniform, then why should there not be evidence of it among 1000 cocktail g/f trees?....When I went to buy multiple thermometers to place around the orchard, I assumed that the box of Chinese-built thermometers in Lowe's store were likely "identical", but just to be sure I laid several side-by-side on the shelf and waited a few minutes to confirm the mutual accurate temp reading there. Well, most had different temps from the others. Variability happens.
This logic is flawed because you are not generating a family by taking an arm and growing another child, or with the thermometers they are not all cut from some single master thermometer giving birth to all others. The tree however, the tree is grafted from the actual branch of original tree or direct cutting thereof, all of them have same identical dna due propagation from branches. This is why grafted trees are desirable, so you can assure consistent fruit from one tree to the next. Your cocktail grapefruit tree should be identical to this website or it's not a cocktail citrus tree, developed at Univ of Cal Riverside. 
Fruit of almost every type are not very good the first year or two of production compared to the potential flavor, this citrus is certainly no different in that regard. However, once the fruit reaches potential it is awesome and so unique, it's like nothing else out there. Looking forward to a huge tree full of fruit, and just last year I about replaced it with something else.

edself65

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2015, 12:57:15 AM »
For best flavor I never start harvesting any grapefruits till late February to early March.

Ed

Millet

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #15 on: February 01, 2015, 11:43:17 AM »
Ed is certainly correct about grapefruits.  The very best grapefruit are  not picked until March.  - Millet

mangomaniac2

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #16 on: February 02, 2015, 02:39:37 AM »
Are we talking about a grapefruit here or cocktail? The cocktail is an early variety nov-jan. Seen it fruit 2 years now. I suppose you could wait but i doubt you would want to pick this fruit late because it would probably be very bland by then. This fruit is really mild watery juicy flavor at its peak so later would just be more washed out, not sweeter. Earlier in season definitly has more flavor. Probably why they sell them in stores pretty green still.
« Last Edit: February 02, 2015, 02:42:19 AM by mangomaniac2 »

Doglips

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #17 on: February 02, 2015, 06:29:49 AM »
"Cocktail Grapefruit", not a multi-grafted tree.  Very sweet and juicy with a mild grapefruit flavor.  A good into to grapefruit, grapefruit.

edself65

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #18 on: February 02, 2015, 06:34:56 AM »
Have you ever tried the one John P sells  called Golden Grapefruit? It is very sweet in late Feb
 Ed

Doglips

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #19 on: February 02, 2015, 06:40:06 AM »
Have you ever tried the one John P sells  called Golden Grapefruit? It is very sweet in late Feb
 Ed
You guys are killing me. no....

buddinman

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #20 on: February 02, 2015, 07:12:18 AM »
I gave a friend a couple of Cocktail grapefruit recently. His wife hated grapefruit until she tasted the cocktail. Now they have to have one.

mangomaniac2

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #21 on: February 02, 2015, 09:37:33 PM »
Some here call it cocktail citrus since there is no grapefruit in the tree, its pomello and orange cross.

Yorgos

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #22 on: February 06, 2015, 02:33:01 PM »
I've tried the golden grapefruit and I guess if I wanted a grapefruit that didn't taste like grapefruit I'd like it. It's not too insipid.  However, I like grapefruit so I am dumbfounded that there are varieties designed to not taste like what they are. The bloomsweet gf is fine, my tree produces plenty, but you just can't beat a rio red gf for flavor.  I supreme 2 or 3 of those suckers a day! 
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Millet

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #23 on: February 06, 2015, 09:13:15 PM »
The Cocktail "Grapefruit" is actually a hybrid of Siamese Sweet pummelo and Frua mandarin.  What is surprising, at least to me, is that the cross that made this fruit was almost 60 years ago. For some reason Cocktail seemed a rather new fruit. - Millet

Mark in Texas

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Re: Cocktail grapefruit pick time
« Reply #24 on: March 22, 2018, 07:38:40 AM »
The bloomsweet gf is fine, my tree produces plenty, but you just can't beat a rio red gf for flavor.  I supreme 2 or 3 of those suckers a day!

No you can't!  And the Rio Red's we're getting from the valley are awesome, almost sweet.

Was doing a SEARCH and came across this thread.