The tree is around 2.5 yrs old and is in a year round sunroom. It has one branch with ten or more blossoms with one fully open for now. Is this normal ? Do I try to germinate the flowers and should I expect this to produce any fruit ?
This tree is obviously a cutting or grafted, not a seedling. You do not need to spread any pollen. Each bloom has both male and female sexual organs and as such will pollinate itself without any help from the outside world. As it is the first time (I assume) It has bloomed for you, do not be alarmed if it drops a lot of bloom and/or fruit. The tree is still learning what it can hold. Just make sure you water correctly, give the correct nutrients, and don't panic if/when flowers and fruit fall. It is natural. It will produce more blooms next time, and hold more fruit.
The tree is a seedling with no cuttings or grafting. I have notice other branches with more of the blossoms appearing. I was suprised that blossoms are appearing on a tree so young.
How big is this tree? I'm fairly sure there is a mistake somewhere. I don't know of any grapefruit that would ever flower in a container at 2.5 years old. Where did you get it, or did you grow it yourself? Sometimes grapefruit do have a bloom or 2 in the first year or two, but these never produce fruit. If you bought it as a grapefruit, go back to where you bought it and ask why they said it was a grapefruit seedling. If you grew it yourself, did it get mixed up with a different seed?. A grapefruit tree will not produce fruit so young. Are you sure it isn't a ponderosa lemon? They grow as large as grapefruits and look similar sometimes.
I planted the seed from ruby red a grapefruit I was eating. The leaves and thorns look like what I have seen from other trees at a botanical garden. I guess it could be something other then a grapefruit tree. The tree is a little over six feet tall with the branches spreading out around four feet and the the trunk is probably 2 inches around. I will take a picture tomorrow and try to upload it. I though maybe it was like an apple tree where you get false blossoms sometimes on a young tree.
I agree with aesir22, somewhere a mistake of some sort has been made. A seedling grapefruit would not bloom in 2.5 years. A Key lime could begin blooming in such a short period of time. Anyway, to answer your question, on any citrus variety, you can hand pollinate the blossoms if you wish, but you certainly do not have to do anything. Know that only 1-3 percent of citrus blooms will produce fruit that will remain on the tree until maturity. - Millet
Grapefruit have an enormous node count before reaching maturity...basically they need a massive amount of leaves before they can flower, and this can't really be achieved in a container, which is why it is so confusing lol. Grapefruit do have the false bloom thing, but it is usually a single flower. Six foot tall and a two inch trunk is really big for a 2.5 year old tree lol I could only hope for that over here! Pic would be good. Maybe wait for one of the experts to chime in here because its got me stumped. I'm not sure if 6 foot is tall enough for it to have the required node count. The pro's will know better!
Oh, there we go, a pro answered just as I was typing :) I guess that means close ups of flowers, leaves and the whole tree to identify what it is :)
Hope these help, also the pic with the open blossom shows brown leaves in the back ground which is a tomato plant that grew into the tree.
