I know that grapefruit is hard to get fruit from seed... esspecially when grown indoors. but...

I just got an amazing deal on these grapefruits.. they were in a discount bin... 8 grapefruit for 25 cents! I got 2.50 worth... so think of the grapefruit in my house!!!

Anyways, the variety says Texas Rio Star ... by ocean spray. I've never tasted such an amazing grapefruit... they all seem to be jjust as sweet and amazing (I've just finished my 5th in an hour) They are a baseball sized, pink fleshed, highly juicy... I would kill to grow this variety. Will it come true... or... is there a way that I could possibly buy a tree if growing from seed wont be sucessful??

Got a big handful of seeds raring to be planted if I get the go ahead!!! I would hate to plant them and find them to be less than a decent quality. Unfortunatly, I do know they need the higher heat to be sweet and definatly going to be a problem att imes, but I'm sure I could deal with it.

Any advice? or recomendations for a highly sweet n juicy grapefruit?

Betty,
They're likely the cultivar 'Rio Red' which does have a very red flesh and a fairly small fruit. It, like most of the deep red-fleshed types, comes fairly true-to-type from seed, with the possibility of minor variations (apparently due to minor mutations).

But be aware that there is not a lot of variability among grapefruit varieties, as to flavor, and when properly matured, the white-fleshed varieties tend to taste better than the red. So why does this batch taste so good? They were grown in a good climate (hot, humid) and they were left on the tree until fully mature. So much of the grapefruit sold in the stores does not meet one or the other of those requirements, so they end up sour or bitter, or at least not very sweet. Rootstock also has a strong effect on grapefruit flavor.

I have always been of the opinion that many people dislike grapefruit simply because they've had bad experiences with them, and if we wanted everyone to love them, we ought not to harvest any reds before January (in Florida), nor any whites before April. Marketers shudder at the thought of so many months without grapefruit, but we surely would have a delicious product to sell at that point!

I planted up a few of the seeds. Even though I know it more than likly will never fruit, whose to say it cant be grafted once it reaches that point. These fruit were just amazing. Better than any sweet orange any day. I like the grapefruit bitter sweet or however. Have yet to find one I dont like. but these were truly amazing. Almost as sweet as if I added spoonfulls of sugar... which I'd never do! Just kills the taste.

Thank you for responding, Sure do hope that even 10 years from now, these seeds give me at least one fruit. Not that it wontkill to have another plant around... but I rather save my limited space for fruiting trees. But I got a kick out of growing my key lime seeds and watching the spouts, be nice to try something else

Betty

How are you growing all these Canuck? what are your outdoor temps during the summer? I know Canada isnt all tundra all year, im just wondering what your summers are like? Good luck!

on average our summers are from the high 70's into the 100's. but in the 80's on average.

I'll be growing my citrus (still gotta buy the big trees. 3 weeks left!!!) in a sun room, just off my balcony. I can easily move them in and out.... more tempedto keep inside year round, better humidity and less risk of bugs and yuckies on the plants. It'll get full sin from 6am till 8pm. and even now, with no heat on inthe room, on a sunny day, it gets to the 80's in there. WELL insulated, I guess.

I live right on the Washington border, so its not as if I'm really up north. Not to mention our climate is more mild than a lot of places in the states. We rarly get below 35F, not much snow through the past few years. We had one cold spell this year that took us close to 10F and that was it. For the most part, we just have a very chilly sunny winter. And believe me, I'd never complain. Although our water supplies are suffering as are several tree species (we have a pine beetle that can only be killed by long cold winters.... wiping out HUGE areas of trees)

I do understand citrus trees needs, the heat and the humidity... that wont be a problem at all. Not only do I live right on a body of water (big big river) on the bad winter days and summy... for brighter light, I have a few grow lamps

I reeally look forwards to growing the actual trees.. Have a lot of very happy seedlings right now... keeping them alive is going to be a ot different than full grown trees... or at least older trees. So... we'll see how that goes. Time could not be any slower than it is right now with my waiting for my trees. Makinbg me rethink my policy on shipping. I made the choice to go, pick out my trees, avoid shipping costs (for the price of shipping, I'm able to get 2 additional trees) plus, I want to see the greenhouses and... smell them (full bloom right now) and.. I like the idea of looking at a group of plants and picking te one I like best... not what someone just grabs and throws in a box.

As for how I'm growing my seedlings... good old yogurt containers to sprout them, then I move them into a 3" tall clay pot, its about 5" tall. I keep them on my dresser, lots of heat and light (in a corner with windows on each side), and the pots rotate on my heating pad of sorts (car backseat massager, built inheat) to keep the roots all nice and warm too. Growing great. 4 weeks since planting and a few are 3" tall, most are at the 1 1/2 in size. Figure I'm doing something right.

Betty, If you are a young person go ahead and plant the seeds, they will give you something to look forward to as you age. Keep in mind it takes 7 - 10 years for a seedling grapefruit to begin to flower, when the tree is grown outside in FLORIDA. Growing in Canada, where the tree will spend 60 percent of it life inside, and also growing in a container, who knows how many years it will take for the tree to finally mature and then begin to fruit. My guess would be 16 to 20 years. - Millet

I'm turning 30... so by 50 (my god... ) II might be eating my own grapefruit. heh, by then I'll forgotten why I planted it.

would it really take 16+ years even it high heat/humidity. Oh my. definatly will just keep one of the seedlings.rather than all I planted. Limited space, rather have fruiting trees NOW and just free up a corner fore my grapfruit. but.. better even... in however long it takes... one the tree can be used to graft to root stock... that'll be the wayto go. getfruit a whole lot sooner