RIO RED GRAPEFRUIT
This is a 5 gallon Four Winds nursery tree I bought from Home Depot and planted in a wine barrel half planter 2 years ago.
Every year it musters the energy to flush out a super crop of 8-13 softball sized or bigger grapefruits.


By ygrippin at 2011-03-10

It is quite amazing. I keep waiting every year for one of the twiggy branches to bust but somehow they manage to hold the all the weight. The fruit is a great pinkish light red color with good grapefruit flavor and aroma. Every year the fruit quality seems to increase with a bit less bitterness and more sweetness.


By ygrippin at 2011-03-10

The soil mix I composed for the wine barrel half planter is made of one 80 pound bag of play sand, steer manure bags, crushed lava rock to 1/2" or smaller pieces I created by smashing a bag of lava rock from home depot, some aged garden compost, partial bag of potting soil with vemiculite. I also bought 20 of these barrel halves from a winery in Sonoma so I drilled 5 1" drain holes with a hole saw in the bottom to maximize drainage. My other barrels have a meyer lemon, moro blood orange, malaysian guava, pineapple guava, lemon guava, o'neal blueberries, and strawberries. The square box wood planter has a meiwa kumqwat. In the back the big 20 year old citrus is a meyer lemon I have grafting plans for this great tree it is another citrus that pumps out seriously heavy super crops, check out the post at link


By ygrippin at 2011-03-10

I will report on the quality of this years crop. I live outside the San Francisco bay area in Castro Valley and we just had a cold snap go through about 2 weeks ago which took our temps at night down to 30 degrees which is shorts weather in other parts of the country but I forgot to cover the grapefruit and all the new growth leaf flush got burned to a crisp, but it will flush out again.

I will have to post of some photos of the moro blood orange that is also planted in a wine barrel half. If you have the room wine barrels are great, whether you stain them or not the oak will last years and years in sun and elements and never degrade. Build of buy some dollys or wheel carts for under the barrels and you can roll em around your patio or deck. If you live in California and near a winery Craigslist is an awesome resource to pick em up on the cheap, I think I paid like 15 bucks a barrel and when you get them your backyard smells like a winery for the first few months. If you can get your hands on em you cannot beat em for planters.

Very nice trees you got there , and also a good crop of grapefruits

That is indeed a very beautiful grapefruit tree!

lovely

half a barrel is over sized size for such a small trees. Over watering problems may occur.

Good work. Yes large barrels CAN make over-watering a problem. The same could be said for the type of mixed used. I know many people have had problems with both. But they are potential complications not absolutes, as witnessed here.

Again, good work ygrippin.

THE KEY IS HIGH DRAINAGE SOIL
What has worked for me here in California to prevent over watering issues I believe is the high drainage soil mix I create and put in my wine barrels. I do a lot of bonsai work which is the ultimate in container growing plant survival.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM BONSAI
Trees that are 20, 40, and even dug out of the ground and are 300 years old are only able to survive by their high drainage custom soil mix. If you were to try and maintain a bonsai in regular potting mix or dirt it would surely perish due to over watering and root rot. Bonsai trees are watered everyday and in the summer twice a day or more and the water is absorbed by the bark particles, pumice, lava stones, and clay particles much like orchid soil mix. The pumice and lava rock also provide the roots with a lot of oxygen due to the fact they are very porous.

Due to the fact I do not want to have to water my container fruit trees everyday I mix in organic components which hold moisture such as steer manure and normal potting mix. The soil structure I mix up and put in my wine barrels is high drainage a mix of high drainage bonsai soil components and a mix of good water retaining organic components. SEE ABOVE POSTS FOR SOIL INGREDIENTS.

THANKS FOR ALERTING ME TO ISSUES OF OVER WATERING DUE TO POT SIZE
I have not had any over watering problems with my wine barrels yet, but I will definitely keep it mind. I think for my situation and climate it is the high drainage soil that works for me. All my container fruit trees and in the ground fruit trees are all planted in the same mix. The mix goes in the containers and in the supersized holes I dig before I plant my in ground fruit trees. Last year I planted a 4-1 multi-graft cherry tree and 4-1 white fleshed nectarine and peach. Each tree was about 8 feet tall and in a 15 gallon pot and I dug two 4 foot wide and 4 foot deep holes to plant them in the ground. I back filled the holes with high drainage mix and native soil. In my opinion although the trees roots will spread out beyond the large holes I dug, in the rainy season the core roots of the tree will never get water logged for they are surrounded by high drainage soil mix with strong organic components.

Do not take this high drainage idea too far and go and plant your trees and plants in sand or pure bark, I'm just saying a good loamy mix of soil is usually the best for all plants and if you are having problems with over watering or drainage, mixing your own soil could be the key to success.

ygrippin,welcome to the forum. I have a Page mandarin planted in a 4-ft. wide and 4-ft. deep hole that I hand dug. I refilled the hole in much the same manner as you did. I must agree that the Page mandarin will never have a drainage problem. -Millet (672-)