I have a grapefruit tree grown from seed that is at least 30 years old. It seems healthy and is nearly 7 feet tall. It has never flowered though. Is there anything I can do to force it to flower? Thanks!
Re: Growing from seeds Wow, in Manitoba? Congrats! Millet probably knows what it will take to get it blooming, but I'd bet it isn't old enough yet. I never attempted citrus when I lived in Canada, and here they just grow outdoors.
Re: Growing from seeds Jorie, your grapefruit tree is plenty old enough to fruit. Seedling grapefruit generally mature and fruit at 12-16 year of age. However, I am concerned that your tree is 30 years old and only 7-feet tall. Have you been pruning the tree? Pruning a seedling citrus tree is a real no-no. Let me know how you have cared for your grapefruit, and it should not be difficult to determine why it is not fruiting. - Millet
Re: Growing from seeds Thanks for your reply Millet. Yes, it has been pruned. For a while my Mom had it and it was a stick with a few leaves and 8 feet tall. So we pruned it and took out it outside for the summer. It grew a couple of feet that season and became very bushy. We have continued to prune it so we can get it in and out of the door in the summer otherwise it is just too big for our house. Perhaps that is the problem?
Re: Growing from seeds Jorie, a citrus tree become mature and begins to bloom and fruit, ONLY after the tree has grown the required number of nodes. A node is every place a leaf is attached to a branch. In other words, your grapefruit will only fruit after the required number of leaves (nodes) have been produced. When you planted your grapefruit seed, and it produced it first leaf, that was node number one. Soon the tree produced the second leaf, which was node number two. As time passed the tree grew taller and taller producing more and more leaves (nodes). When enough times passes, your grapefruit will finally produce the required node count and the tree will become mature and start to bloom. Of course, if you keep pruning the tree back, you are always reducing the tree's node count, therefore the tree has to begin once again growing at that reduced node count number, caused by your pruning. If you keep pruning, the tree will NEVER FRUIT, because the node count will never be reached. Any cutting of the tree's top growth, is especially deadly to the tree's chances of ever reaching maturity. The vertical node count is very important. If you don't prune, you will see fruit. - Millet
Re: Growing from seeds Millet It appears that the node count may applies only to trees grown from seeds. I air-layered a branch from a non-grafted chery tree last year and it will be having fruit this year (as indicated by the bloom on the foot and a half new tree these days.
Re: Growing from seeds Jorie are you hacking on that tree, well a little bit,is it just that your ceiling is not twenty feet high. Being a former producer of a certain tropical herb, I know a wee bit, the hours in a day and length of season, to including temperature can and will determine flowering. For example : Temperature differences affect the length of time from flowering to fruit maturity. At Riverside, California the period is 13 months; at warmer Brawley in the Imperial Valley of southern California, only 7 to 8 months. re: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/grapefruit.html#Climate re re: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/orange.html#Culture If these parameter can not be met you can try, Gibberellic Acid which can and will stimulate your tree to flower, that is if you just get a wee bit close to having the proper nutrient levels, length of day and season plus temperatures. Playing with ppm, can be done on a sliding scale starting as low as 50 ppm of 90% GA. Sunnyland make a good citron fertilizer, so does Espoma. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Gibberellic Acid I use 150 proof Rum to dissolve the GA @ 90% per Volume mix with 5 ml of 10 % pV fulvic acid for a foliar application. This makes things bloom even citron, that is if the ppm of GA is correct, plus you need to qualify as a true plant nut, nuts like me. Better yet get a dwarf citrus tree and start over. That tree is just too big, unless you can cut a hole in the ceiling, put some Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide Grow lights on it, in January thought May, and if you keep it warm, you can harvest in September. No point in just making it bloom as it just cost too much, unless you want to play chemist.
Re: Growing from seeds Everything Richard writes above concerning temperature, day length, etc. is true IF the tree is already mature. However, if the tree is still juvenile, day length, temperature, gibberellic acid, or what ever, provides no incentive for a citrus tree to bloom. Although Gibberellic Acid is used to set citrus blooms, elpecially mandarins, if Gibberellic Acid (GA3) is over applied it can cause juvenility in mature citrus trees. - Millet
Re: Growing from seeds I wonder how they cut their GA3? I am forced to use a mix of GA3 and Bacardi 151 for my foliar sprays. The up side it that is smells ooh so nice, especially in the night air and it lingers, yet it also give me a desire to start drinking again, if I start that, I don't know what would happen. Do you know what a better alternatives might be?
Re: Growing from seeds In Ecuador, we use a commercial alcohol called Aguardiente which is basically raw cane alcohol to fantastic overproofs. The stuff I use is about 90% pure. It kind of hurts to think of using good rum as a solvent, but if it's what you've got, then so be it.... However, you should be able to purchase ethanol from reputable chemical supply houses in Canada or the US. Show them your GA3 and tell them that you need it to make up foliar sprays for your trees, and they shouldn't have any problems.
Re: Growing from seeds I checked on buying that, and it comes to about the same price, a bit less but I may need to switch out to it. As you can see I live in Virginia, and Virginia is in the liquor business so they don't allow anyone else to sell it. Their corner on this market drives the price way up for all alcohols. Isn't that strange a State with in the United States that owns all the stores that sell the harder spirits.
Re: Growing from seeds Thanks for the suggestions. Will stop pruning, try the fertilizer and watch for a dwarf citrus too.
(moved to Citrus forum (hope I moved all the relevant postings)) Also, nice to see someone from LDB. Grew up near Beausejour, myself.
