[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Dick]

I have a 40+ year ol Ruby Red Grapefruit that is probably a different 
cultivar than your Rio Red but I doubt there is any significant differences 
in their cultural requirements. This tree, planted at three years from a 5 
gal pot,  bloomed profusely the first several years but very few fruit 
matured until the the root and foliage system could sustain the set without 
puting the whole organism at risk. Fruit from pea to golf ball size still 
covers the ground but what remaines and ripens provides more fruit than we 
can eat and give away. A healthy tree will always, in my experience, keep 
only what it has the strength to hold. It is an innate act of self 
preservation, I assume.  I could tell a similar story about three other 
adult citrus that were also three years old in five gallon pots when 
planted in the ground, now  about forty years years old and still healthy. I 
have never irrigated anyplace except in a shallow, wide trench whose center 
is the drip line. I irrigate until I can sunk a soil probe three feet to the 
hilt in several places on the drip line regardless of how long it takes to 
soak to that depth, Unless it rained, water has never touched the soil 
inside that trench. There are no feeder roots there anyway. I also feed as 
prescribed on the bag of 21-0-0 based on trunk diameter in March, June and 
September with one third of the annual requirements each. You do, however, 
as the tree grows, need to move the trench outward to keep its center about 
equal to the drip line near where most or all of the feeder roots exist.

Your grapefruit should be setting and ripening a few fruit but the fact that 
it has not may indicate that the feeding is inappropiate, irrigation in the 
wrong quantity in the wrong place or not deep enough or all all of the 
above. I feed 1/3rd the annual requirement in March, June and Sept when I 
don't forget. I don't measure anymore but I used to drill 6 inch holes with 
a 3" soil drill every 18 inches around the dripline, fill each with 21-0-0 
and irrigate as indicated above to three feet.

Some of the above may not be very clear but yell if not. I welcome any other 
coments that I too can learn but this is what has worked for  me.

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
U of A Maricopa County
Cooperative Extension

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <rnail at new.rr.com>
To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 7:50 AM
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page


>
> 85383
> rnail at new.rr.com
>
> I have a Rio Red grapefruit tree entering it's fourth year. The trunk is 
> about 3 inches and it's about 7 feet tall.It was planted by a professional 
> landscaper in Peoria near Happy Valley and Lake Pleasant Pkwy. It has not 
> borne fruit except for 3 which whithered and fell off over the three 
> years. The tree appears robust and has had a fair number of blossums. Is 
> it normal to wait this long for edible fruit and what should I be doing. 
> The tree is watered by a drip system installed by the landscaper.
>
>
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