I had a job up in Summerville, SC this morning. The lady had a 20 Ft Indian River Red Grapefruit tree in her yard. She told me she grew it from seed & that it is 35 years old. Great quality fruit and the tree is loaded. I'm going to go back friday & get some budwood & photos.

Stay Tuned

Ok. Here's the photos of the Indian River Red. Unfortunately she and her sister harvested all the fruit the day I was over. She gave me some of the fruit & it is super sweet. Here's the story on this tree. Marge planted the tree in 1970 or 71 from seed. She kept it in a container until 1984 when she planted it in the ground. 2000 was the first year it fruited & has fruited ever since.







The fruit on the left is from the tree above which I believe is a variety of Ruby Red and has the red blush through the peel. The fruit on the right is from the tree below with no blush through the skin, and a bit smaller in size. Both varieties have 1-3 seed per fruit.

Across town is another old woman that has a Marsh Pink Grapefruit that I also visited today. She purchased this tree as a seedling from Michigan Bulb 16 years ago. It started fruiting 4 years ago & has fruit on it at all times.

Thanks for sharing the visits...very impressive! Keep up the good work.

Good pics Lazz, thanks. Looks like the Indian River Red GF might have had a little protection from the house, but that certainly doesn't account for it surviving the 12/21/85 freeze of 5 degrees f.. I might had given you the wrong link earlier so here it is again:

http://cirrus.dnr.state.sc.us/cgi-bin/sercc/cliMAIN.pl?sc8426

Ned

Hmmm? That will not get you there completely, after you get to the first window look under "General Climate Summary Tables" and click on "tempertures".

Hi Ned. Yes I see what you mean. My wife went with me today & we talked to Marge for quite a while (She even sent me home with a nice 6 Ft Grapefruit tree she grew from seed). She said that it rarely had winter damage, mostly leaf loss & every once in a while a few branch die backs. I emailed you her phone #.

Got the email Lazz, thanks! I will certainly be calling her.

I don't know if it is a coincidence or not, but the majority of the hardy seedling grapefruit seem to be red or pink. The big one in Beaufort (that we think might have been there in 1985) is a white fleshed one. It seems to has a good many seeds, which leads me to think it may be a Duncan.

Ned

Laaz, Re. your photo of the two grapedruit cut in half -- Is the photo correct in showing some blush in the albedo of the fruit on the right? If so, I'd say it is 'Ruby Red' (a.k.a. 'Red Blush'). The fruit on the left looks more like 'Star Ruby' or perhaps 'Ray' or other deeply colored one, but if the tree is 35 years old, 'Star Ruby' seems most likely. If you cut deeper, did it have the typical open core of SR?

As I see the right fruit on my screen, I do see pink in the albedo, and 'Thompson' would not show the slightest trace of albedo pigmentation. and there is no other pink variety between 'Thompson' and 'Ruby Red' in color that I'm aware of.

"Marsh Pink" is a marketer's term (like Persian lime) that doesn't actually exist on a tree anywhere. They are predominantly 'Ruby Red' that have faded a bit.

Very nice Photo's Laaz. I very glad to have seen your posting Dr. Manners

Hi Malcolm. The fruit on the right after examining three of the fruit from that tree do have a very slight blush. The fruit are however smaller in size & the flesh is a bit lighter than the fruit on the left. You are more than likely correct in the varieties. The names I'm going by are the names the women purchased them as.

Dr. Manners, Glad to see you on the forum.

I wonder if you have any theory's about why we are finding mature grapefruit scattered around SC (and other areas I assume)? Some of these trees seem to have survived tempertures that I would have previously thought, would easily kill a grapefruit.

Ned

Ned,
I suspect it's a matter of microclimate. If one had a thermometer in the canopy of those trees, they may have been 10 or more degrees warmer than the official weather report for the area on those cold nights. Now, if it is specifically grapefruit and NOT oranges that you see mature, that would be weird. But I don't think that's the case -- I know of some huge old orange trees in SC, also in unlikely seeming places.
Malcolm

Dr. Manners, The subject of microclimates is very interesting. With the grapefruit in Columbia, I could see no obvious reason for the grapefruit being warmer than say - the neighbors across the street (maybe 75 yards away). In addition to weather reports for the area, the neighbor told me that he remembered his thermometer reading 14 on one occasion. I looked at the weather records, and they record 12 degrees in Columbia once for sure, and I believe twice, while the grapefruit was in existence. Also the folks at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, which is also similarly located on the Saluda River, told me it got to 12 at the gardens. The neighbor said the grapefruit sustained slight damage to the outer twigs during one of the lows.

Of course I am sure there are factors at play with microclimates, that are not obvious to the casual observer. Because this subject is so interesting and pertinent to those of us wanting to grow citrus in colder regions, I will start a separate thread here to continue discussion. In fact, I will copy this and begin the thread with it.

Ned