Several months ago I cut open a pink grapefruit for breakfast. One of the seeds had sprouted. On my way out the door, I popped it into one of my houseplant's pots on a whim, not thinking it would grow. A couple weeks later it was up. I transferred it to a larger pot, still thinking it wouldn't amount to anything.

Well, it is now 6 inches high and growing like crazy. I am wondering what I am going to do with this thing. Being in WI I doubt it will survive outside.

I have no experience with citrus trees and am looking for some advice. If I pot this thing, will it conform to the pot size so I can keep it indoors? If so what kind of soil and feeding do I need? I have done bonsai in the past, is that an option here? I really don't want to throw it out as I am becoming quite fond of my "survivor", but just don't know what I am going to do with it!

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Grapefruit trees are very tough plants. They can ajust to growing conditions inside and out with no problems..

You can grow it indoors until it is warm enough to put outdoors for the spring, summer, and fall..
If you have it in a well draining porous, open soil, you can feed it everytime you water at 1/4 strentgh. I use Foliage Pro by Dyno-gro.

If a soil that holds moisture and drains slowly, then at recommended doses per fertilizer instructions you choose to use. You may also want to flush out that kind of soil often to prevent salt build up eventually.

Do you know how to grow Bonsai? You could keep it as small as you would like applying the same methods..Or, you could let it get big and tall upsizing the pot everytime the roots fill it.

The pot size doesn't matter is you are using a fast draining quick dry mix, such as the gritty mix explained on the "container forums". But if you are using a soiless mix that holds water and dries out slowly, do not over pot.

That is great! It seems to like you and your way of caring for it..If it ain't broken, don't fix it. You are doing something right. You must be giving it a good amount of sun?

Mike..

So, they definitely won't grow outdoors all winter where you're at, unless you have have some good cold protection.

Citrus like acidic soil. So, you can always add some peat moss, pine bark, or pine needles (and/or pine needle compost/leaf mold) to the mix to make it happy. When I plant citrus in the ground, I usually amend the hole with both fresh and partially composted pine needles. Also, an azalea or rhododendron feed would probably be a good alternative.

Some people have really good luck growing citrus indoors in the winter. I'm not one of those people unfortunately. So, I'm stuck with protecting cold tender citrus outside, with protection on our coldest days.

The good news is that grapefruit seeds usually make trees that produce good fruit, but it may take 7-10 years to find out. One of my neighbors had a citrus tree that came up in her compost bin about ten years ago, and it still hasn't fruited. I have also planted a seedling which is about four years old in the ground, and the main reasons for that was the excitement of waiting for it and having the extra space in the yard to plant it.

Good luck.