I'm volunteering at a nursing home and they have a small greenhouse not much used. I wondered about growing a citrus tree in a container and if they ever produce fruit. Also, would I need to purchase a seedling plant as I don't think a store bought orange has seeds you could use for a bearing tree. I once planted a grapefruit tree from a store fruit . It never bore fruit but I had it for 13 years and it never had fruit. I thought the residents might find it intersting and the greenhouse grows cactii so large so I think the atmosphere is okay. I have a weird looking cactus I want to send you a picture of as I've never seen anything like it . It looks like a Christmas cactus .It is about 3.5 feet across with at least 50 flowers that look like water lilies with double flowers. The oddity is that the flowers come off the side of the leave not the tip. If anyone knows what this is I'd appreciate a reply and also info on citrus growing.garden diva
First, a grapefruit tree that is started from seed takes 10 to 13 years before it becomes mature and begins to flower and produce fruit, IF grown outside in a warm environment such as Florida. A container grown grapefruit that spends 1/2 of its life indoors during the winter can take considerably longer. I curently grow 77 different varieties of citrus. Seventy five are in containers and two are planted in the ground in a large greenhouse in Colorado. They all are grafted trees, and they all produce fruit. Purchase a grafted citrus tree on Flying Dragon rootstock if you want a dwarf, or semi-dwarf tree. A grafted tree sould begain to produce fruit possibly the first year or surely the second year. A five gallon container sized tree should cost you around $40.00 US (at least in the states). If you plant an orange from seed it WILL PRODUCE FRUIT, however, it will take approximately 10 - 12 years to become mature. - Millet
THanks so much for the info on the orange tree. I will try to find out where to buy theFlyning Dragon, garden diva
Just to clear things up. A grafted tree is a two part tree that is "glued" (grafted) together. The rootstock is the bottom half of the tree (roots and trunk), and the scion is the top part of the tree (branches and leaves). When I talk about Flying Dragon, I am ONLY talking about a rootstock. The top part of a grafted tree (scion) can be any variety that you like, Valencia, Navel, Clementine, Mandarin, Grapefruit, Tangelo or any variety of citrus. A Flying Dragon rootstock is by it very nature a dwarfing rootstock. It will dwarf whatever scion is grafted onto it. Dwarf, or semi-dwarf trees grow well in containers. - Millet
Potted citrus are easily found in garden centers down here, even grocery store flower departments will have certain kinds (such as kumquats) at certain times. However, citrus do tend to have certain cultural issues that are liable to crop up sooner or later; search this site for discussion.
