Grapefruit tree from seed

Discussion in 'Citrus' started by Fresas, Jun 6, 2004.

  1. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Paula, I have been growing citrus for years. Currently I have approximately 88 different varieties of citrus (Oranges, Grapefruit, Limes, Tangors, Citranges, Lemons, Mandarins, Trifoliates, Procimquats, Kumquats, Citrangequats, Tangelos, ect. ect ect.) Two trees, a Marisol Clementine (Mandarin) and a Cara Cara Navel Orange are planted in the ground, and the balance are in containers. I also start 50-100 trees each year. A 14 month old grapefruit should easily be 3 to 4 FEET tall with approximately 3-5 side branches. I usually start citrus in a 4" pot and quickly transplant into a 4x4x14 liner for approximately the first 10 months. Then the tree is transplanted into 6x6x16 inch container, and finally into their "permanent" containers. I only grow Mandarins, and various limes from seed. All other varieties are grown as grafted trees. If a person has a ten year old citrus tree that is only 4 foot tall, they either have grown it badly, failed to ever transplant it, or have been pruning the tree. You can save yourself a lot of time, by going to the store and purchasing some fruit of a Lime, or a variety of Mandarin. Plant the seed and you will get fruit a lot quicker, besides they are a much better looking tree.- Millet
     
  2. C.Dragonworks

    C.Dragonworks Active Member

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    I agree with Millet..... It should be tall! I prune mine to keep them short but grow them stocky as they must endure the cold we get... In CA I would not have worried about size as much but here they need to be able to weather the ice and such that sometimes comes... Your Grapefruit needs a slightly larger pot and food.... I disagree with him about the pretty... but I think the grapefruit trees are lovely... the leaves tend to be larger and have small lobes at the base... the thorns are a challenge though... VERY BIG and sharp!... Good luck he gave you some vwery good info! Cat
     
  3. Paula G

    Paula G Member

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    Update on my pet grapefruit tree. I repotted it in a larger pot after we talked (end of August) with some nice potting soil, and now it has already more than doubled in size! (in only three months) It is growing like crazy, with new leaves coming all the time. It seems healthy and happy for now. Thanks so much.
     
  4. amogles

    amogles Member

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    Hello,

    I found this thread in a google search and found it interesting so I signed up on this board.

    I have several citrus trees, most of them grapefruits.

    I wasn't aware they needed some frost to start their blossom cycle, which maybe explains why the oldest have been with me for 18 years now without blossoming once.

    I grew them all from seed. I tried grapefruits, orages, manadrines and lemons, but found that by far the most robust are grapefruits. It is their higher survival rate that explains why most of mine are grapefruits.

    The first lot I germinated in moist tissues, plating them into soil when they were big enough. I later realized they germinate just as well in the soil directly (but this is maybe less interesting because I couldn't see what was going on).

    At the time I was still a schoolboy and my parents had a house with a garden. I used to bury the trees with their pots in the garden, only bringing them inside for the winter. They grew quite rapidly and I had to prune them back several times to be able to manage them (so they would fit through the doors).

    Over the years I had several bad spates of spider mites and mostly got this under control by a combination of washing the leaves and stems with soapy water and jus occasionally spraying them. Mostly this worked, although I did lose one or trees to these mites.

    Unfortunately, I now live in a second floor appartment which means the trees can no longer go outside in the summer. I have one small room with a large south-facing window in which I leave the heater switched off all winter. I think this gives the trees adequate winter conditions. In the summer, they are distributed over the other rooms.

    I live in Switzerland, Europe. My parents, when they retired, moved to a house in Spain with a biggish garden. They were quite happy for me to bring my biggest and oldest citrus trees there and I planted them in a semicircle in that garden.

    The first year or two must have been tough for them. They hardly grew any new shoots but lost a lot of leaves and I was worried they were dying.

    However, after that they started growing new shoots. These did not grow out of the old branches but directly from the main stem, or in some cases out of the roots. Within one year, these shoots were higher than the old tree, and sometimes thicker, with the leaves being much larger as well and the thorns huge.

    My dad had a gardener friend of his over and this gardener told him to cut all these shoots down as they were growing from below the graft and so destroying the real tree. Unfortunately my dad did this without consulting with me. I feel this advice is nonesense as I never grafted any of my trees and so these shoots are gentically identical to the tree they are growing from. Maybe it was just the trees way of casting aside their years of captivity and going for a fresh start.

    Unfortunately, since being cut back, the trees haven't grown much and are continun to loose more leaves than they are replacing. Now my dad wants to tear them out because he feels they are not going anywhere. He also says that because they were not grafted, they are not proper types and so will never bear fruit. I feel again that this gardner friend of his has told him something.

    Therefore I need your advice.

    Do you need to graft grapefruits or can proper fruiting trees be grown from seed?

    What is the proper way to deal with these wild shoots?

    I desparetly need arguments to save my trees. I spent 18 years growing these.
     
  5. amogles

    amogles Member

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    I should also add that this guy is the manager of a garden centre and so if you're cynical (as I am) you could think he has an interest in selling new stuff. Maybe it's no coincidence that the trees my dad wants are not citrus trees but (presumably expensive) ornamental trees.
     
  6. Paula G

    Paula G Member

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    amogles, I don't know how you feel about your tree, but if it were me, I would explain the tree is my surrogate child, and if he touches it, he dies. (Or something like that...)
     
  7. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    Two point you should know-- most grapefruit grow true from seed (they should produce good fruits like you bought). Grapefruits are the longest maturing citrus--taking 15-20 years to bear fruit (when they are not pruned).

    Citrus trees grown from seed will fruit only when they have reached a certain node count (number of leaves that has been produced on that particular limb). If the trees are continually pruned they will never reach the required node count--- otherwise they should do fine--though it may take some time before fruiting.
     
  8. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Of all the citrus trees you selected to grow from seed, grapefruit has the longest juvenile period. A grapefruit has the longest wait until the tree becomes mature and begins to bloom and fruit. As Skeet wrote, a seedling citrus tree needs to reach a required number of nodes before it fruits. When you plant a citrus tree from seed (any variety) the seed germinates and soon develops it first true leaves. These are node number one. After a period of time, the seedling grows a little taller and produces another set of leaves, these are node number two. Again height is attained, and more leaves higher up develop which become node number three. As time passes the tree grows taller and taller and the node count gets greater and greater, until the magic day arrives when finally the required node is developed. At this point the tree becomes a mature tree and begins to bloom and fruit. Therefore, on a seedling tree the fruit is produced only on the upper portion of the tree. To avoid the long period of waiting for fruit production, a tree can be grafted. When a tree is grafted, a grower cuts a mature bud from the top of a tree that is already producing fruit, and grafts the bud onto a small seedling. The mature bud "remembers" where it came from and also "remembers" its node count number. Therefore, when the bud begins to grow and produce new foliage, the new growth is mature from the very beginning. All the tree needs is to attain a little height, normally a grafted tree will begin to bloom in the first or second season. Every time you pruned your tree, you were reducing the node count. Therefore, the tree had to once again begin "counting" nodes at a lower number. If you would have continued pruning, the tree would never have reached the required count, and would never been able to fruit. The reason your tree took a long time to begin growing after it was planted in the ground, was because a tree that has been trapped in a container as long as your grapefruit was, the roots have a very difficult time unraveling its root tips from growing in a circle, and venture out into the surrounding soil. Of course your tree had no branches growing from below the graft, because your tree is a seedling. It is a real shame that it was damaged due to the gardeners bad "advice". If you leave your grapefruit alone it should do well (and rather quickly), as citrus are able to respond strongly to sever pruning. I wish this tree the very best. Give the tree a chance and it will reward you with much fruit, year after year. - Millet
     
  9. C.Dragonworks

    C.Dragonworks Active Member

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    Well tell him not to tear them out. Feed them and give them some time... My mom paid 900.00 to move our Grapefruit that we grew from seed. It has the BEST fruit. Better than many grafted types. We also moved the Tangerine which we all loved! Unfortunately where my mom transplanted it from pot to was near the building so we had to hand dig her! After nearly 2 years she is still hanging on and we are doing all we can to help her make it! Seed grown citrus is usually just as good as the grafted in my experience! I would be suspect of anyone trying to sell expensive trees who tells you to tear out an existing tree! To me it sounds like you need to check Soil PH and possibly calcium and iron levels on the tree. Most citrus like an acid PH and if it is not to their liking they drop leaves! So do a OH check and feed them a good CITRUS food! Good Luck! Cat
     
  10. Laaz

    Laaz Active Member 10 Years

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  11. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    I think I know the tree in the first picture. It is growing in the back yard of a ladies home in Charleston, South Carolina. While visiting Laaz a year ago, he drove my wife and I around town, and that was one of the stops. Right Laaz. - Millet
     
  12. Laaz

    Laaz Active Member 10 Years

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    That is correct Millet. There are many fruiting grapefruit trees in the area all grown from seed & producing excellent quality fruit.
     
  13. Laaz

    Laaz Active Member 10 Years

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    Millet I just discovered another seed grown pink Grapefruit tree today, just around the corner from me. Loaded with fruit as well.
     
  14. amogles

    amogles Member

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