Hi all;

I'm in Green Valley, AZ which is about 30 miles south of Tucson and about 25 miles north of the Mexican border at Nogales, AZ and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

When we first moved into our house we planted what I thought were a dwarf orange and a dwarf grapefruit. Turns out the grapefruit must have been full size since it is now well over 7 feet tall.

My problem is that both trees have been in the ground for nearly 4 years, are fed and watered regularly but the orange tree doesn't bear any fruit even though it has blossomed. The grapefruit tree currently has several large grapefruits on it but they never ripen. They just stay green. Any thoughts.

Thanks for your help.

in some areas oranges dont turn orange because they dont get the cool time needed, Maybe grapefruits are the same. they can take 9-14 months to ripen depending on the area. but in such a hot area as you are in, you might want to pick a grapefruit and try it, it just might not be ripe.

what type of fertilizer are you useing. could be your orange tree isn't getting fed properly

7ft really isn't that big. mant have dwarf citrus that height in containers. I think really, once you put in the ground, all bets are off on how big they may be.

Do you have pictures?

The dwarfing comes from the rootstock or the type of tree it is. Dwarfing rootstock grows very slowly, while standard trees on standard rootstock grow much quicker. A dwarf tree can be 10+ feet in height if not pruned to keep it at a managable size. Most dwarf trees are container grown as the container dwarfs them. This is the same as a fish growing no larger than its environment will allow. Little tank, little fish. Big ocean, BIG fish. Confining pot, smaller tree. Wide open ground, BIG tree. Hopefully this explains the tree size.

As CC stated above grapefruits take a long time to ripen, usually 18 months. A lot also depends on the age of the tree, the type of fertilizer, amount of sunshine and various other quirks of nature.

Andi

To Citrus Dragon and Citrus Canuck;

Thank you both for your help re my citrus trees. I don't know the type of fertilizer other than it is the right one. A neighbor who worked at a nursery gave me some of his to use so I'm confident it is the right type since he is experienced and uses it himself. He has since moved from the area though so I don't know how his trees were doing.

I also now understand the "dwarfing" issue. I'll pick one of the grapefruit and see what it's like. At least it has fruit on it even though the orange tree doesn't.

If nothing else they are good and healthy and add a certain quality to my back yard.

Thanks again.