Once you start growing seedless Grapefruit in your orchard, you will want to supply these ridiculously delicious citrus fruits to your markets.
Grapefruits are a species of subtropical citrus trees native to Asia. Otherwise known as Pomelo, Grapefruits are cultivated for their edible fruits, sweet-tasting fruits juice.
Fortunately, it is easy to grow and maintain seedless Gapefrutis, even with basic orchard skills. In today’s article, we will share with you how you can grow grapefruits in your commercial orchard in 6 steps.
Advantages of Growing Seedless
Seedless grapefruit trees are easier to grow than seeded grapefruit trees because they don’t require cross-pollination. However, seedless grapefruit trees do require a specific type of training called “tenting,” which is the process of growing grapefruit a cover over the tree to restrict pollination.
The benefits of growing seedless grapefruit are numerous:
- There are no seeds; therefore, there is no risk of biting into a seed while eating the fruit;
- The fruit is much sweeter and the flesh is firmer;
- and the fruit looks more like a round orange than a pear.
Growing Seedless Grapefruits
If you’re going to grow grapefruit on your farm, you’ll need a few things: fruit trees; good soil, water, fertilizer, and citrus netting.
1. Choose the Right Variety
There are three main types of seedless grapefruit to choose from:
- Marsh,
- Star Ruby
- Thompson.
Each type has its unique characteristics, but they all share the same basic traits, such as
- Size,
- Color
- Shape
The most well-known variety is Marsh. The Marsh has:
- Yellow skin with dark red-brown spots on it.
- 14 segments with very few seeds.
- White flesh with some pink or red streaks in it.
- Tart and sweet taste, just like most other types of grapefruit.
- Weigh about 4 ounces for smaller fruits and 6 ounces for larger ones.
2. Planting
Choose a sunny area with well-drained soil for planting. Plant your grapefruit trees in late spring or early summer, placing them 12 to 15 feet apart. Do not place the trees too close to other citrus trees as they are susceptible to diseases like citrus canker and Huanglongbing (HLB).
The best time to plant bare-root trees is from November through March. Bare root grapefruit trees may be purchased at local nurseries or online.
To produce seedless grapefruit begins in the nursery with the process of grafting. Grafting requires only two parts of a tree. The first part is called scion wood and it consists of immature buds that are selected for their genetic makeup and their fruit quality. The second part is a mature branch called the rootstock that serves as an anchor for the scions and provides additional support for the citrus trees.
3. Fertilization
Citrus trees require lots of nutrients and water so it is important to fertilize them regularly throughout their first year of growth. You use a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10, which contains nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium.
Apply fertilizer once every month during the first year after planting, then use it every six weeks throughout the second year. Once your tree is established, use fertilizer every two months in the spring and
4. Install Citrus Netting
What is Citrus Netting?
To have seedless mandarins, you need to cover them with bee netting during the bloom. This prevents the cross-pollination that brings seeds. The citrus netting protect and keep pests like bees and other insects away from your citrus crops!
The citrus tree netting is a simple technique to ensure the profitability of your seedless grapefruits fruit harvests. The Citrus Netting is manufactured with eco-friendly polyethylene. There are different colors and different kinds of citrus netting like white citrus netting, black citrus bee netting, or grey citrus netting.
Benefits of Citrus Net
- Helping in production
- Maintenance of high-quality seedless oranges
- Protecting your harvest from cross-pollination by bees
- Discards the possibility of damage by birds and similar predators.
Installing Bee Netting
The honeybee is the primary pollinator of grapefruit trees. Honeybees are attracted to the fragrant blossoms and will pollinate them, which will result in fruit.
Step 1: Watch for bees. Once you notice that honeybees have appeared on your grapefruit tree, it’s time to take action. That means covering the blossom clusters with a citrus plant netting to prevent bee access to them.
Step 2: Place the netting. The best time to place the netting over a grapefruit tree is when the flowers first appear in spring, or as soon as you notice bees pollinating them. To do this
- Find a sturdy tree limb and tie it up securely
- Secure the other end of the citrus netting over your tree limb
- Tie one end of the second piece of citrus netting around your first tree limb and secure it on the opposite side of your first tree limb
- Tie one end of the third piece of citrus netting around your second tree limb and secure it on the opposite side of your second tree limb
- ie one end of the last
Step 3: Remove and replace netting as needed. As long as honeybees are present on your grapefruit tree, continue to cover it with netting as soon as you see that bee activity has increased again. To keep bees from laying eggs in the citrus blossoms, move or remove the nets every 2-3 days throughout the entire bloom period.”
5. Train Your Grapefruits up in Netting Trellis
When you’re growing a citrus tree, it’s important to provide the right support system for its branches. It can become top-heavy with an unpruned canopy and easily break in wind or storms. To prevent this from happening, plant your citrus tree in a trellis mesh.
While some farmers choose to plant their seedless grapefruit trees right next to each other, others prefer to leave at least 6 feet of space between two trees when planting them. This will ensure that all of the sunlight reaches every part of each tree’s canopy.
6. Prune Your Grapefruits Right
When your grapefruit trees reach the height of 3 to 4 feet, begin pruning them by removing all side branches below 8 inches in length. This will allow the tree’s energy to go into producing quality fruit.
Always cut back just above a lateral branch or bud — an upward cut encourages new growth at the base and will prompt a bushier tree with more branches than a downward cut would produce.
Conclusion
Citrus netting can be used effectively to grow seedless grapefruit. Just make sure that the citrus netting is the right size and is properly installed so that the grapefruits or other citrus varieties get enough sunlight and remain within the right temperature range. And then you should be good to go for a fruitful harvest!
Crop protection netting from Eyouagro is tailored to your specific location, crop, and crop type. Heat, hail, birds, bats, wind, and sun all affect the final harvest and quality of fruit and citrus grown with Eyouagro netting. Our objective is for you to harvest a high-quality crop.
In the citrus bee netting market, Eyouagro is the market leader. All fruits and crops are protected by our netting covers. Contact Eyouagro At info@eyouagro.com if you’re considering netting. We’ll be there for you from start to finish, from purchase to installation.
