One year old grapefruit tree with flower

Discussion in 'Citrus' started by ritsy, Feb 15, 2006.

  1. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    Brown tips sounds like salt buildup in the soil. You should repot to a slightly larger container about once a yr or repot in the same container but prune the roots (and some of the part above ground to match the root loss). what type fertilizer are you using?

    As for the salt buildup you can also flush the soil thoroughly to remove the salt.
     
  2. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    Using a slow release fertilizer, greatly reduces the chance of salt build up in containers. Slow release fertilizers also eliminates the feast and fast cycle of nutrition for the tree. - Millet
     
  3. drichard12

    drichard12 Active Member 10 Years

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    Soak your container for about 45 minutes in fresh water and rinse with fresh water they love the bath.
     
  4. Laaz

    Laaz Active Member 10 Years

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    LukeOut! How about a photo of the base of your tree. & full photo of the entire tree ?
     
  5. Arvid

    Arvid Member

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    I incidently noted a bud on one of my 4 months old grape fruit seedlings, thought I should share it here... The seed that grew into this plant was taken from a Californian Ruby Red grapefruit together with 6 other, and all sprouted. They have been treated more or less equally (except that the one with the bud was accidentally kicked out of its container a few weeks ago), but one is outgrowing the others by far, 3 are about the same and 3 are really small. The largest one is about 45 cm and the one with the bud is about 15 cm.
    Somewhere else on this forum I read that grapefruit plants that grow from seed are true to type, but because of the different shapes of the plants that does not seem to be the case. Does anyone else have any opinion on this?
     

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  6. Lynner

    Lynner Member

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    You will enjoy the flower, definitely! I had three seeds come up, but they sprouted two seedlings each, it was kind of odd, but two are doing ok, one is doing really good that I gave away, he has it in a better spot, I think. The other one is not doing very well at all, I am not sure what happened to it, the leaves became coated in sap and they dropped off. The second one was starting to leak sap, but I sprayed some insect soap on it, rinsed it and got the little brown things off of the leaves, and now it seems to be doing ok, a week later.

    In answering your question, I'm not sure I understand what you are asking, but if some of the people who know about citrus still read this forum, they will know. I will be curious to see any answers, too.

    Lynne

    Also, the one that sprouted the flower continues to be a lot shorter than the other. I think that it used more energy to flower and that is why it is smaller?
     
  7. Millet

    Millet Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    It is not all that uncommon for a young grapefruit seedling to occasionally develop a bloom at the plants apex. However, don't get your hopes up, the bloom will not develop into a fruit, and it is "almost" certain that the tree will not produce another bloom for the next 10 to 15 years, if ever. Containerized grapefruits grown from seed in northern areas (or even in southern areas) have an extremely low chance of ever fruiting. Further, grapefruit is the worst variety of citrus to grow from seed as a containerized tree. This is due to the very high node count required before a grapefruit tree becomes mature. In Sweden the best citrus to grow in containers for fruit production is a Mandarin or Satsuma. A Mandarin or a Satsuma seedling should begin blooming in 5-6 years from seed. - Millet
     
  8. Arvid

    Arvid Member

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    Thanks for the tips, Millet!
    I am just keeping the grapefruits for fun - I buy fruiting citruses from the store. What I am mainly hoping on here is to get something that I can graft fruiting grapefruit branches (how the hell am I going to get ahold of that in Sweden?!) onto in a few years.
    We have a lovely terrace in south west where at least cumquats and calamondin love it (well, at least as long as I remember to take them inside during cold nights). I suppose that the lack of light will cause me trouble when it comes to getting even elsewhere productive grape fruit branches to flower... but it sure would be an interesting experiment to try!
    Do you have any clue as to how to get fruiting grapefruit wood to Sweden?
     
  9. skeeterbug

    skeeterbug Active Member

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    While it is true that grapefruit are true to type, it is possible to get a zygotic seed or embryo from time to time. This seed would be a cross between the mother tree and whatever tree provided the pollen. Most zygotic embryos die inside the seed. It is unlikely that such a seed will produce a new and better variety, but it is possible.

    If your country does not prohibit import of citrus budwood (and since they do not have a citrus industry, that is likely), you should be able to get budwood from someone on this forum--just not from Florida or parts of LA.
     
  10. drichard12

    drichard12 Active Member 10 Years

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    I'm sure you can receive just about any fruit or plants to your country as long the vendor can provides a Phytosanitary Certificate for shipments. Many vendors offers toll free calling. Your best bet is call the vendors for help. Some will ask for additional expenses for the transactions as some will say no way.
    Living in the USA I've ordered seeds from South America and received them without problems the order contained a Phytosanitary Certificate. Dale
     
  11. Arvid

    Arvid Member

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    Thanks, I will look into that!
    /Arvid
     
  12. Steve Wieden

    Steve Wieden Member

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    Hey, I have just recently stumbled on this sit and have learned a ton about GF trees. I have four small grape fruit trees. They are all in an 8" pot about 3-5 inches apart from each other. Two are about 5-7 in. tall and the others are about 5 in. tall. They are both about 9 months to a year old. I am not really sure. I know they need to be transplanted to a bigger pot or to bigger separate pots. One of the taller ones grew a bud, bloomed, and then I was fiddling around with it and it fell off. I knew it probably wouldn’t grow a fruit so I didn’t really go mad with myself. Then a little while latter I saw that the other TALLER GF tree and one of the SHORTER GF trees both had a bud starting to grow. I am pretty excited. One main question I have is: were I live; is it possible to grow it outside all year round (knowing they need cold weather, i sort of doubt it because this winter it got down to -7f or so)? Also when we moved to this house we extended our entryway closet into part of our garage (it is pretty cool in there most all your around, mainly because of the tile floor and concrete underneath that). I know that they need some cool or cold air in the winter, so if that would also work please notify me ( problem: closet does not have a window or sorce of light from the sun). If there are any suggestions I would love to hear them.

    Sorry if there are spelling errors

    Steve
     
  13. Oder

    Oder Member

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    Regarding the small bugs, they might be scale insects. I found them on my two trees last year. Ants carry the eggs to the trunk and underside of the leaves. Then once the bugs get nice and fat, the ants treat them like cows, milking them for the sap they collected. Good news! If they ARE scale bugs, warm water on a rag should wipe them off. After doing this 2 or 3 times mine stopped showing up
     

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