Are you stuck on grapfruit? It may never produce fruit in a container and even if planted in ground may take 15 years to fruit. There are several other citrus that will grow true from seed and produce fruit in far less time. Key limes in 2-3 yrs, mandarins in about 5, lemons and oranges in 7-8. To start the seed, do not let it dry out. I like to start mine on a saucer with a moist paper towel covered with plastic wrap and placed on top of my hot water heater, but any warm place (80-85 F) will speed germination. Once a root has emerged, I transfer it to potting soil until it has the first true leaves, then to a larger pot with a coarse media. You can plant it directly into sterile media (potting soil) and put it in a warm place--it should germinate in 2-3 weeks. Skeet
Hi Skeeterbug... Well it sounds like you know what you're talking about and I believe I can really use your help. Me and my husband are starting our garden, we already have a Lemon-Lime Hibrid tree and a Fruit less Orange one, they were both already in the house when he bought it some 3 years ago. Well the thing is he's a carpenter and someone at work left a couple of Grapefruits in a bucket and they stood there for about 2 weeks until his crew decided to eat them (they looked fine haha) so When they opened one of them it had two seeds germinated, he came home all excited and I got really happy because of his friends has a Grapefruit tree and lets us have some, they are sweet and yummy.... We then took them out of the fruit and planted them in a half Potting soil, half soil i took from about two to three feet down in our backyard. They hadnt showed any growth ever since... I m not so sure but I believe one of them had its two first leaves on top of the little steam that had grown inside the Grapefruit (I dont really know what first leaves means though) I would really love for this little guys to make it.... what should I do? Please help me out... I was thinking perhaps if I left them outside in a sunny area? could they take some cool air at night? Or should I just keep them in the pot and inside the house? i REALLY would appreciate your help
Skeet, did not happen to mention this but if you plant a mandarin seed, you will get fruit in about 5years. With grapefruit even, in Arizona, you will have a 10-12 year wait for any fruit production. If you spend $20.00 at a local nursery and purchase a grafted grapefruit tree, it could even come with fruit already in production, or would certainly begin to produce blooms/fruit in one year. If you put the container outside in the sun, you will have to protect the container from the sun's rays, especially if the tree is planted into a black container. The sunshine can easily raise the root zone temperature to well over 120 degrees. Your young grapefruit, can easily stand temperatures as low as the high 30's, but know at any temperature below 55.4F (which is absolute zero for citrus), your grapefruit will not produce any growth at all. Lastly, a container growth medium that is 50 percent soil (dirt) is not a good medium for growing a citrus seeding. - Millet
The first 2 leaves are part of the seed and are not "true" leaves-- the next 2 leaves will be true leaves. Potting media for citrus needs to contain lots of air space. I use a 4:1 mixture of pine bark:peat moss. Do not water until the top 2-3 inches of soil are dry. I fertilize with a slow release fertilizer that last for 6 months. Your seedling can be planted outside after it has grown a little bigger. Grapefruit trees will get very big, but if you want fruit from it in less than 12-15 years you will need to learn to graft and find a source of mature grapefruit wood. Skeet
Well hello guys and thanx for the info... I wouldn't mind waiting forever for the tree to produce fruit. It just was really exciting for us to see that the seeds germinated on their own and would enjoy having a tree and in many many years some grapefruits from a seed we found and rescued from a bucket haha. I moved them to a seeding mix now...its really light (Ferry MOrse's) it doesn't seem to have much soil. And I placed them close to a lit window, but I will be careful they don't get a whole lot of direct sun... I just checked the house temperature and it's 66 F. And one thing I was doing is watering them everyday...whoops!!! haha I just figured since they were citrus they needed lots of water. But now I will try watering them only when the top looks a little dry. Thank you for helping me out!!!! It really means a lot. Getting a grapefruit at a nursery that would actually produce in a couple of years sounds really nice, I might do that anyways just because I love sweet grapefruits!! Would it be a good time to get it and transplant it in my backyard now? It still gets a little chilly at night... OK Thanx again and Ill read you later hehe :)
Now would be a good time to plant citrus--most are just getting ready to produce their major growth spurt for the year. DO NOT dig a big hole and put lots of good organic matter in it-- dig a hole just a little bigger than the pot and backfill with some of the original soil you dug out. Your tree will not need protection if temperatures drop to the freezing mark or just below unless it has just put out fresh growth. The seedling soil temp can be as much as 5 degrees cooler than room temp-- that woud put the root temp dangerously close to the point where it will not be able to supply enough moisture to the leaves in direct sun-- you might be better off to keep it out of direct sun until it warms up a bit. Skeet
well thanks a lot it seems the little grapefruits are doing much better now... And we went to a nursery to check out their grapefruit trees as well. We plan on buying one but I want to find a good spot to put it in first. thanks again
