Can't understand why tree has never bloomed once. Tree is 12 feet tall,dark geen leaves, no signs of diesase or growth problems. I use recommed citrus fertelizer twice yearly . I have 25 yrs old tangerine tree next to it and it puts out lots of fruit. Any help would help. Thanks
Maybe it's a seedling and actually still too young yet. Don't know about grapefruit specifically but some kinds of trees can take quite a long time to get old enough to bloom. 10 years is not very long in the life of a tree. Grafted specimens are clones (fragments) of the parent plant, come with the sexual maturity of it.
As Ron says, grapefruit trees, if they were grown from seeds, will take 12 to 15 years to reach maturity, and fruit. Look on the trunk of the tree about 8 - 15 inches above the soil, you should be able to see a graft line, or a graft bend where the scion (top part of the tree) and the root stock were grafted together. If you do not see a graft then the tree is probably a seedling grown tree, that has not quite reached maturity yet. - Millet.
I can see what looks like a graft line 2-3 inch above soil line. If it is a seedline,then anytime soon I guess I should see blossums. When I said tree was 10 yrs.old thats how long it been in the ground,when I planted it .It was about 4 ft high and the trunk was about 1 1/2" round.
Can you show any photos of your tree? If there is a graft mark, this tree is not a seedling. What kind of Grapefruit did you buy this tree as being? How much of the Citrus fertilizer are you using in each application? Aside from the two Citrus fertilizer applications a year have you given this tree any other fertilizer or soil amendments that have Nitrogen in them? How much new growth are you seeing on this tree every year? Are you getting a lot or not much new growth the last few years or is the new growth about the same as in previous years? Jim
MJ, The recomended fertilizer treatments for citrus trees growing in FLORIDA is as follows. These recommendations are for a fertilizer with the percentages of 8-8-8. (a very common formulation for Florida trees.) Year 1.) 1.8 to 3.8 lbs. of fertilizer/year spread out over 6 applications. Year 2.) 3.8 to 7.5 lbs.of fertilizer/year spread out over 5 applications/year. Year 3.) 5.6 to 11.3 lbs./year spread out over 4 applications/year. Year 4.) 10 to 12.5-lbs./year spread out over 3 applications/year. Year 5 and forward) 14 to 17.5 lbs /year spread out over 3 applications. Actually, a citrus tree, (any type of citrus) does not bloom because a prescribed amount of time has passed since the tree was planted. A citrus tree blooms when it has grown the required number of nodes. A node is everywhere a leaf is attached to the tree. The time required to grow the needed node count depends on a lot of factors that affect the tree's growth rate, such as climate, warmth, duration of the growing season, day length, nutrients given to the tree and ect. When the tree reaches the required amount of nodes it will begain to bloom and then fruit. So if in the past you have pruned the tree, you are actually reducing the node count, by cliping off the leaves (nodes) that the tree has produced in an effort to become mature. I don't know if you have pruned or not, I only give that information in case you do prune your tree. Indeed, if the tree is a grafted tree it should have bloomed as early as the second year from planting, and surely by the third year. If the tree is a seedling, grown from seed, a grapefruit tree in Florida usually reaches maturity (has grown the proper number of nodes) in approximately 7 to 10 years time. As Jim has said in the above thread, if you can send a picture of the tree, showing what you think might be a graft union, it would help. Take care - Millet
