As a child, I marveled at my Nannies grapefruit tree that she grew from a seed. I thought it was amazing how she cared for it and moved it into and out of the house depending on the temperature at her Pittsburgh home. This year at the age of 98 my Nannie died and the family decided that I should care for the tree. While I love having the tree, I have always tended to have a black thumb. I am a biology teacher, but my students always laugh at how quickly plants die in my presence. Thus far I have done fairly well with the grapefruit tree. It has now survived almost a year with me (which is better than anything else ever has). Recently however, a couple of the upper branches started to turn brown and brittle. The leaves were also turning brown at the ends and falling off. Then, I put it outside and about a foot of the top turned brown and died. Now it looks a bit like the Charlie Brown Christmas treevery scraggly and barely hanging on. It is in a smaller pot that I plan to upgrade in the next week or so as school lets out for the summer. I was hoping that someone might be able to direct me on repotting, soil type, watering, fertilizingetc. I would also like to know if I should cut the dead portions off or not. A bit about the treeit is about 11 years old and about 5 5. The widest point at the base is pretty narrow, about a quarter sized in circumference. I water it once a week and it has never been fertilized. It has no insects on it and it is not around other plants. I think that the top may have died because I might have put it outside too early. I am in Virginia and we had an unexpected frost in mid-May. This tree is very important to me and I do not want to be the one that lets it die. If anyone could give me some tips, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks. ~Mandy
Can you show some photos of the tree? If you are certain there are dead areas on the top of the tree go ahead and whack the top back to live wood. If you have not repotted this tree it will help to know what size of a container it is in now and what size of container you had planned to put this tree in. I can help you with the repotting of this tree. Jim
my boss has EXACTLY the same situation with a grapefruit tree his wife grew from a seedling. he over fertilized it and the top little branches have turned very sad and brown. its in a crate/pot about 3 1/2 feet sq at the top of it. they have not planted it because they move frequently and are going to re-model. after he over fertilized it he has been watering it, perhaps a bit extra, to dilute the dosage. how far back should he cut ? should it get any extra supplements or treatment ? thanks so much. susan
