Haha yeah, I think it's likely slugs or snails that have been having a nibble at the skin of the fruits. To be fair they did taste better than I was expecting, even though they weren't fully ripe.
FROM LOS ANGELES - I have a Rio Red Grapefruit Tree. The fruit you are showing doesn't look like a Rio Red. Also, they don't even look ripped. They are still green and 1/3 of the size. My tree is about 10 feet tall and gives around 100 pieces of fruit a year. Of course, I don't have to use the green house in Southern California.
Hey, thanks for watching. Yeah, of course growing grapefruits here is far from ideal due to our much cooler climate. I'm fairly certain the tree will be the correct variety as it will have originated from a Spanish grower that produces citrus for commercial orchards. Of course, it's possible there was a mix-up during grafting, however, these fruits were not fully developed which is why they were much smaller than they should be and hadn't developed any red colour inside. They had simply dropped off the tree prematurely. I don't keep my greenhouse very warm in the winter, just enough to stop it from going below freezing, so that doesn't help them either. Also, the tree is very young still and is in need of a repot. That being said, I was still pleasantly surprised they were even palatable and did have the usual grapefruit flavour despite not being close to fully developed 👍
@ntwistle Good Luck, your climate is not the best for the tree. I have an Orange Tree, Rio Red Grapefruit, Meyer Lemon, Yellow Netctorine, and Bacon Avocado trees. I get 100-300 pieces of fruit from each tree. Depending on the size of the tree. I have the great Southern California Weather to help. Since mine are grown in my backyard in the open. 🍋 I Forgot to mention. I grew my Avocado and Orange Trees from seed. Took a few years. But they are my largest trees at 20 feet (6 meters) tall and just as wide.
@@ericinla65 thanks, yeah it’s not the best climate for citrus here. The only good thing is our winters tend to be relatively mild for our latitude compared to somewhere in Canada at the same latitude, for example. But it can still get cold enough to damage them if I don’t provide heat on the coldest nights. Wow, your trees sound incredible. How long did it take your avocado and orange to fruit from seed? I have a few seedling avocados and have attempted to graft onto a few of them to speed up the process of getting them to flower and fruit. Although like citrus, avocados are hard to grow here, probably harder still. I also have a grafted bacon avocado tree, but that tree is not very healthy at the moment.
@@PeterEntwistle Both trees started giving some fruit after 7 years. Didn't start getting a lot until 10-12 years. They grew very fast and I prune them well every late winter.
Thanks! I'm hoping I can get them further along next time, but was still pleasantly surprised that they tasted pretty decent. Hopefully, you get to try some from your tree next year 🤞
Quite a reasonable amount of flesh on those for their size Peter, the rind was thinner than I expected. The close ups now definitely look like extensive snail / slug damage to me 🙄
Thanks, Brett! Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of flesh inside them. I was expecting them to be mostly rind. Yeah, I think you are probably right, snails and slugs always seem to enjoy having a nibble on the citrus trees, so I'm not surprised they've found the fruits too 🙄. They love to hide under all the pots in the greenhouse.
Promising result, considering the fruit may have dropped early and the plant is still relatively young. Hopefully we get a better spring / summer next year for our citrus so the fruit devolops earlier going into winter. Pretty cool that it still had juice and the segments looked fully formed.
Thanks! Yeah, I think considering the size and age of the tree it has done pretty well. I think Grapefruits are meant to hold onto the tree for over a year (at least in our climate), so these were very early. Yeah, I hope we have decent weather next year and I can get some flowers earlier in Spring on some of my citrus trees. I think I might leave some of them in the greenhouse longer next year to see if I can induce earlier flowering.
The ripe fruit should have a decidedly pinker/reddish hue. The other fruits will get there in time. One thing I like to do is lightly sprinkle grapefruit with some salt. It brings out an interesting flavor and cuts some of the potential bitterness.
Thanks, Josh! Yeah, even though these weren't fully ripe I was pleasantly surprised that they still tasted quite decent. Do you grow this variety? I also have the Star Ruby variety too, but that one hasn't fruited yet.
Yeah, we certainly don't get enough heat for a lot of the citrus here, but I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted pretty decent even at this ripeness. I'm hoping I can get them further along next time 🤞
the damage to the fruit is from close to freezing temperatures. grapefruit fruit will get damaged before freezing temps just close. then it will drop its fruit. oranges will keep hanging on the tree but not grapefruit
It has dropped most of them, but a couple are still hanging on. The last one that came off had more pink/red inside than these ones. It is now starting to flower again, I'm probably going to repot this tree soon as it's overdue a repot.
Brave of you to taste them , my father used half grapefruit to attract slugs that seamed to love them , he then fed the slugs to the pond fish. .
Haha yeah, I think it's likely slugs or snails that have been having a nibble at the skin of the fruits. To be fair they did taste better than I was expecting, even though they weren't fully ripe.
FROM LOS ANGELES - I have a Rio Red Grapefruit Tree. The fruit you are showing doesn't look like a Rio Red. Also, they don't even look ripped. They are still green and 1/3 of the size. My tree is about 10 feet tall and gives around 100 pieces of fruit a year. Of course, I don't have to use the green house in Southern California.
Hey, thanks for watching. Yeah, of course growing grapefruits here is far from ideal due to our much cooler climate. I'm fairly certain the tree will be the correct variety as it will have originated from a Spanish grower that produces citrus for commercial orchards. Of course, it's possible there was a mix-up during grafting, however, these fruits were not fully developed which is why they were much smaller than they should be and hadn't developed any red colour inside. They had simply dropped off the tree prematurely. I don't keep my greenhouse very warm in the winter, just enough to stop it from going below freezing, so that doesn't help them either. Also, the tree is very young still and is in need of a repot. That being said, I was still pleasantly surprised they were even palatable and did have the usual grapefruit flavour despite not being close to fully developed 👍
@ntwistle Good Luck, your climate is not the best for the tree. I have an Orange Tree, Rio Red Grapefruit, Meyer Lemon, Yellow Netctorine, and Bacon Avocado trees. I get 100-300 pieces of fruit from each tree. Depending on the size of the tree. I have the great Southern California Weather to help. Since mine are grown in my backyard in the open. 🍋 I Forgot to mention. I grew my Avocado and Orange Trees from seed. Took a few years. But they are my largest trees at 20 feet (6 meters) tall and just as wide.
@@ericinla65 thanks, yeah it’s not the best climate for citrus here. The only good thing is our winters tend to be relatively mild for our latitude compared to somewhere in Canada at the same latitude, for example. But it can still get cold enough to damage them if I don’t provide heat on the coldest nights. Wow, your trees sound incredible. How long did it take your avocado and orange to fruit from seed? I have a few seedling avocados and have attempted to graft onto a few of them to speed up the process of getting them to flower and fruit. Although like citrus, avocados are hard to grow here, probably harder still. I also have a grafted bacon avocado tree, but that tree is not very healthy at the moment.
@@PeterEntwistle Both trees started giving some fruit after 7 years. Didn't start getting a lot until 10-12 years. They grew very fast and I prune them well every late winter.
Thanks for the review! I have one but didn't get a harvest, hopefully next year.
Thanks! I'm hoping I can get them further along next time, but was still pleasantly surprised that they tasted pretty decent. Hopefully, you get to try some from your tree next year 🤞
Quite a reasonable amount of flesh on those for their size Peter, the rind was thinner than I expected. The close ups now definitely look like extensive snail / slug damage to me 🙄
Thanks, Brett! Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of flesh inside them. I was expecting them to be mostly rind. Yeah, I think you are probably right, snails and slugs always seem to enjoy having a nibble on the citrus trees, so I'm not surprised they've found the fruits too 🙄. They love to hide under all the pots in the greenhouse.
Promising result, considering the fruit may have dropped early and the plant is still relatively young. Hopefully we get a better spring / summer next year for our citrus so the fruit devolops earlier going into winter.
Pretty cool that it still had juice and the segments looked fully formed.
Thanks! Yeah, I think considering the size and age of the tree it has done pretty well. I think Grapefruits are meant to hold onto the tree for over a year (at least in our climate), so these were very early.
Yeah, I hope we have decent weather next year and I can get some flowers earlier in Spring on some of my citrus trees. I think I might leave some of them in the greenhouse longer next year to see if I can induce earlier flowering.
The ripe fruit should have a decidedly pinker/reddish hue. The other fruits will get there in time.
One thing I like to do is lightly sprinkle grapefruit with some salt. It brings out an interesting flavor and cuts some of the potential bitterness.
Thanks, Josh! Yeah, even though these weren't fully ripe I was pleasantly surprised that they still tasted quite decent. Do you grow this variety? I also have the Star Ruby variety too, but that one hasn't fruited yet.
Looks like its 2 months premature and lacking heat to develop properly but at least it wasn't as bad as you thought.
Yeah, we certainly don't get enough heat for a lot of the citrus here, but I was pleasantly surprised that it tasted pretty decent even at this ripeness. I'm hoping I can get them further along next time 🤞
@PeterEntwistle yes hopefully as the tree mature it can develop the fruits faster and make larger fruit 🤞
the damage to the fruit is from close to freezing temperatures. grapefruit fruit will get damaged before freezing temps just close. then it will drop its fruit. oranges will keep hanging on the tree but not grapefruit
It has dropped most of them, but a couple are still hanging on. The last one that came off had more pink/red inside than these ones. It is now starting to flower again, I'm probably going to repot this tree soon as it's overdue a repot.