dhecker@sjuvax.UUCP (D. Hecker) (02/22/85)
(Eat those Lions)
In response to the question about growing grapefruit trees from seed,
i.e. why is it growing so slow (only two leaves after 8 months, etc.).
I have grown several grapefruit trees from seed. The oldest is about
10 years old now, and is still only about 4 ft. high. (Grown indoors).
They seem to grow incedibly slow, although plant food (I used Miracle
Grow), good light, and consistent watering seem to prod it along. They
also seem to grow in spurts, with a rather long period with no growth
inbetween. Some of the problems I've noticed are:
1) Very weak root systems - Because of this, you probably
will never get fruit. (Or maybe there's more to it than
that - I don't know) But anyway, my understanding is that
fruit producing grapefruit trees are obtained by grafting
a grapefruit branch on another citrus's root system.
2) I tried moving my tree outdoors for the summer and the
leaves started dropping off like crazy. I've been told
that they just weren't used to that much light. I have
other citrus trees that didn't have that problem.
3) All my citrus trees seem very suseptable to insect
infestation. Mine have a recurring spider mite
problem, and have fended off other bugs.
I don't know if this helps you any. I like the trees I have as
ornamental plants, but I wouldn't count on getting any grapefruit.
David Hecker