Grafting a Texas Grapefruit onto a Blood Orange

I have a Blood Orange tree that has gotten fairly big. It is about eight by eight feet wide with a 2.5 inch diameter trunk. I live about 20 miles South of downtown Los Angeles CA.

Would it be practical to have someone come out and graft a Texas Grapefruit bud onto it so that I could eventually get both Texas Grapefruits and Blood Oranges from the same tree? If so, about how much would it cost and how would I go about finding someone to do it? Thank you in advance for all replies.

Reply to
Daniel Prince
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Never grafted a citrus tree, but I imagine it is similar to apples, etc. With a little practice, you should be able to do the graft yourself. There are plenty of web sites that describe how to do it. You can do a bud graft or something like a cleft graft. If you know someone with a Texas Grapefruit tree, just ask them for a piece of their branch (usually the end piece or new growth from the previous year). You can cut buds from that or just graft whole twigs onto your tree. In the later case, you want to pick twigs that have approximately the same diameter as what you are grafting to on your tree. For materials, all you need is a sharp knife, rubber strips, and something like teflon tape. Once you learn how, you can repeat this with any number of grafts in case the first grafts don't take. I assume that Grapefruits and Oranges are in the same genetic family, or this won't work. For example, apples won't graft onto pear trees, etc.

Sherw> I have a Blood Orange tree that has gotten fairly big. It is about

Reply to
sherwindu

Citrus is propagated by budding in the spring/summer (different from apples, which are grafted earlier in the year).

Check out the California Rare Fruit Growers at crfg.org, especially the Local Chapters link under the mangoes on the right-hand side of the upper menu bar. There is a Los Angeles chapter, where you can find help and lots of fellow fruitophiles.

Reply to
tuckermo

Are you inferring apple bud grafting is done in Winter? I do my bud grafting on apple trees in late summer (usually August), here in the Midwest. It may be different in the warmer climates, but I imagine not that much. Also, I checked the web and found some references to things like cleft grafting, etc. for citrus. Although bud grafting is the more common technique for citrus, regular grafting can be done, as well. Check out:

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(just for starters)

Sherwin D.

Reply to
sherwindu

I think OP is gonna have trouble finding a source of graft stock. I wonder how it would work to grow a couple of grapefruit seeds and graft tops from the seedlings onto his orange tree?

Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

Reply to
sherwindu

Citrus often do come true from seeds. Sometimes two seedlings come up from one citrus seeds, and I've read that one of the 2 seedlings is a genetic clone of the mother plant (I'm not sure if it's the first seedling to come up or the second, or if you can even tell.)

I don't believe everything I read, but this had a ring of truth to it, and I have seen 2 seedlings come up from a single grapefruit pip.

Bob

Reply to
zxcvbob

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