HI
The enclosed picture is a fairly old what beleive to be a grapefrut tree. Anyway as you can see I lost most of the branches.... Anyone know why some would die and what I beleive for no apprant reason... For conversation sake the tree was in my basement since November..
thanks Frank

Looks to me like what happened to my lemons two years ago. They got too cold and died back.

I do not know if this is your problem though, just a thought.

Frank, I don't believe your tree is a grapefruit. In your picture, the petioles look to be wingless. Grapefruit petioles are rather broadly winged. Without further knowledge of the tree's past culture, I could not say what the cause was resulting in twig die back- Millet (1,422-)

Hi Millet, damn your good,,,,

ok the tree came from my wife as part of the marriage 6 yo, it has never flowed and to be honest I thought it was grapefruit for this reason....

last year there was twig die off and it was in a sunny area in my house. This winter I place some of my potted citrus in my basement in late nov where it got water when it seemed dry and NO sun. THe temp NEVER got below 45..The tree was fine in the fall

any help would be great, I have satsuma that more or less did the same thing.... an ID would be great too

Frank

my wife got it from michigan bulb about 20 years ago. looking at it, it wasnt obvious that it is grafted...........


Frank

thanks!

Not a grapefruit, grapefruit will have many thorns even as mature trees. Millet is correct with the leaves as well. I would say it is a seedling mandarin of some type with the lack of thorns. I do see some thorns, but not like you would see on a orange or grapefruit.

nope no thorns,,,, wondering what made half the tree die though? Would it be that I watered part of the soil and not all? Again it didnt get any sun during this time

I have two grapefruit trees and checked when I went home yesterday. My Marsh has no thorns and my Flame has a few thorns, the longest was less than 4mm long. Both trees are 8 years old.

Now if you want thorns, my Thomasville citrangequat has thorns about 4 inches long, and my Bearss lemon is so thorny it is dangerous to even get near it.

I have both Duncan & Ruby red grapefruit. Both grafted & producing great fruit & both have very large thorns. Some may have less, but all the local grapefruit trees here have quite a bit of large thorns.

Seedling citrus almost all have a lot of thorns.

Some critter got my Flame fruits this year just as I was ready to pick them. I only had two on the tree this year, and the critter took the branch off along with the fruit. The Marsh did not flower this past year, but I got nice fruit the year before. Both are grafted and have been in the ground for 7 years. Odd about the thorns. I wonder why mine don't have any thorns. Does anyone else have Marsh and Flame? I have also heard somewhere that Meyer lemon is thornless, but one of mine has nasty thorns and the other has almost none.

anyone have any ideas/thoughts why some of my tree died?

thanks!
Frank

Frank, I can offer a few suggestions of what might be causing problems with your grapefruit.

1. Citrus in containers require special potting mixes, watering and fertilization. Are you sure your's is getting the attention it requires?

2. IMO grapefruit is not the best choice for a container plant. That is, if you have a grapefruit, which looks doubtful.

3. I am not familiar with your climate, but would guess that 50 miles West of Boston presents a climate that further complicates growing citrus. That is not to say it can't be done, but that it demands special knowledge and attention to detail.

I would advise that you discard the tree in the picture and start over, with a tree better suited for container growing, and after aquainting yourself with the in and outs of growing containerized citrus trees. Excellent advice in this area can be found elsewhere on this forum.

Ned

Well,
why not grabbing the chance at it's collar.. right now?
The tree looks worse, so it would be not to difficult to shredder it. So, with a new tree anything worse will harm the plant, making it look worse again... shredder again? No...
So, let's see, if you canget the tree back to life, and gather as much experienence as possible. If you fail, what might be possible, even those experiences will give you the best and most valueable steps into further citrus growing life.


So go on. Pull the tree out of the pot. Take warm water and wash out all the dirt around the roots.
Get some cocos fiber substratum, some medium coarse sand, a little organic fertilizer and maybe some perlite or any other well draining material. I recommend lava grind.
Mix well for your onw blend, or browse the forum here to get advice for a good container substratum mixture.

Now, after having the blend ready to use, having the plant pulled out of the pot and washed off the dirt from the roots, cover the draining holes in the pot with mesh, cloth or some clay pot pieces, to ensure good drainage, but avoid substratum to fall out.
Now fill in a layer of your potting blend, place the tree in the middle of the pot, and refill with your potting mixture. Use your fingers to rattle, squeeze and push the mixture betwen and around the roots, refill the whole pot and water troughly. This ensures that all the substratum will be washed in to remaining holes and air pockets. If you water, mix the can with Fosetyl-Al, a fungicide called Aliette. That's the best to water and flood the substratum around the roots in....

Now, ensure that the tree does not be able to deal with high winds, and high solar radiation. So a somewhat shaded place, covered from rain and wind, is preferable. Ensure that the roots will stay warm, so 77 to 78°F is best to ensure a good recoverage from any root damage.

If you consider to water, first stick you finger deeply into the potting mix... if it feels cool, and moist, do not water.
Water first, if you feel it warm and dusty... now water. Be carefull with fertilizer, do not feed the tree, till is blasts shoots from nearly every bud, but be carefully. Threat it, like a very bad, ill, patient. Do not overcare... Do not overwater, do not ver fertilize... be patient, keep cool.
Ensure enough heat to the roots, and be patient.... If there is enough life in the tree, it will recover.... and you can gather maximum experience, because it's very tricky to get some damaged tree back into bearing and a good shape... that's what will make you getting a good grower, the tricky things, were you have to find out and measure yourself on success or failure....

So go on, it's a chance.