It is going in the ground tomorrow!

you lucky guy. Our trees are inside

Thanks steve, I am lucky in that aspect. I may have miss posted the name of the tree too. In fact the cocktail tree is listed as a pumello hybrid as it is a cross between the Siamese pumello and the Frua mandarine and not an actual grapefruit tree. Although I've heard it called a cocktail grapefruit more than a pumello so either way I'm excited to have one.
Evan

I think they should have called it a Cocktail Mandarin as they are so sweet compared to a Grapefruit. I'm sure the Grapefruit scares off many that don't want a sour citrus.

Whatever you want to call it, they taste wonderful in my yard. I've found they are sometimes a bit too sweet and I mix the juice with other that is a bit sour.

It seems the common names follow the general appearance of the fruit. They seem to call it a Cocktail Grapefruit because it looks like a Grapefruit to most people. Here is a pic of fruit from mine compared to my Pink GF on the top:

actualy in my super micro climate zone 7a my trees are in ground. With a clip on my house south wall. and a clip on my garage roof, I can install my greenhouse in November and take it down in April. It is the greenhouse not the trees that get moved. If this works I'll be looking into a cocktail grapefruit. The GH can be easily setup to a height of 16 feet. Then I will have a great Midwest summer and a hot desert winter. Good luck with your tree.

Post an in ground pic please

Steve

The greenhouse video link below. There wont be anything for ideas since everyone on this forum is south. But this is how I get a little bit of desert up here

Here is a link that might be useful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8-nVd3r8vw

I finally had the chance to plop this bad boy in the ground, I had a nice spot open outside of my living room window across my yard so I can watch it's progress.

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I'll post progress photos as it grows with the rest of my yard.
Evan

Evan you will adore this cultivar. One of my very favorites. Greg is so right - like a very sweet, juicy grapefruit. It has a very nice grapefruit flavor, but without the bitterness. So, for those folks who like the taste of grapefruit, but do not like that bitter overtone and aftertaste, this is the perfect choice. Its history is very interesting. It was sort of an oddball tree in the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection, never intended for commercial production. But, someone there really liked it, and budwood got out to commercial growers. The rest is history. It is indeed a cross between a mandarin and a pummelo, and it is in the "Top 5" for my most favorite citrus cultivars. It is so nice, is warrants a multiple place in my orchard (have 3 trees.)

Patty S.

Thanks! I'm excited about it, how big are your trees Patty? And what rootstock are your trees on?
Evan

Carrizo and Volk. Trees are not very big, yet, about 4' tall. But, the fruit has been outstanding. Volk really, really struggles in my soil with phytophthora, though. My local grower, Clausen's, liked to graft Cocktail onto Volk, since the cultivar is a bit wimpy. Volk would give it some vigor, but, it doesn't impart as sweet a fruit product as C35 does. So, it was sort of an experiment for me - which fruit tasted better. So far, can't taste a difference, but I haven't gotten much fruit off of the tree grafted to Volk, yet. I need to be a better fruit tree mommy, and get up there and be more consistent in treating my soil for phytophthora to increase vigor.

Patty S.

Thanks Patty, I appreciate the info, this one is on C-35, all my trees that are on that rootstock seem to do well out here in the desert. Only time will tell I guess.
Evan

Cocktail fruit is getting bigger every day. Not only that it is now blooming again, a lot of the fruit that was on it has fallen off but there's still 4-5 fruit that it's holding on to. I'll leave them on for now and see if they last through the summer.

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New blooms forming

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More of the fruit

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Evan

So if you only had room for one, either an Oroblanco or a Cocktail, which would you choose? I shy away from cocktail mostly because of the seeds but I would like to plant something a little out of the ordinary. I already have Meyer lemon, Kishu and Gold Nugget mandarins. I've only got room for one more.

Well Kent I guess I would need a little more info to give you a good opinion like your grow zone, in pot or in ground. How about a melo gold grapefruit, I want one of those for my yard, oro blanco is all over the place here so that's why I want a melo gold because they're more rare around my parts.
Evan

I'm in the inland valleys of LA, Sunset zone 19. Very sandy, fast draining soil, I'm right next to what used to be a seasonal stream but is now a large concrete flood control wash. This would be in ground, full sun. I don't want an orange, they are easy to come by here. I'm not interested in a lime of any type. I like grapefruit but we don't have the best climate for real grapefruit, so I'm looking at the pummelo hybrids. Plus, this would be near our front entry and I want the lusher foliage of the grapefruit/pummelo. Oroblanco and Cocktail are readily available in the stores and nurseries around here, I've never seen a Melogold. So I'd like to know from people with experience what they would choose.

Ok that's a good zone to be in! Either cultivar would be great, oro blanco would be very good for eating out of hand as a breakfast fruit. The cocktail would be good for juicing as it is a very sweet fruit to begin with. Melo gold is almost identical in flavor to the oro blanco as they were born from the same cross however, it is larger like a pomelo and has thinner rind than oro blanco. Kent, have you thought about a rio red grapefruit? Another great cultivar that would be worth a try in you climate, it does not need as many heat units and woild be ready right aroind this time of year in your zone. Foliage is very nice on any of these cultivars as well. My rio reds have turned out amazing this season with fruit averaging over a pound each. Others on the forum that are more coastal can grow rio reds too. Here is a pic of one of my rio reds on the scale last week. Hope this helps.
Evan

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Double post.

This post was edited by evdesert on Sat, Feb 7, 15 at 23:07

Evan, thanks for that. I hadn't really considered the Rio Red, I'll think about that some more.

My citrus · More Info

The blooms have started opening on this tree and they're huge!

Evan

Looking good Evan!

Cory

And they will smell out of this world. Mine are also in bloom. I love the smell of grapefruit and pummelo trees, so intense.

Patty S.

Thanks Cory and yes Patty I agree, my rio red grapefruit is about 10' away from this tree and also starting to bloom. My yard walls hold the smell in so when I wake up in the mornings all I smell is citrus blossom. This is the best time of the year in my yard, everything is coming back to life with new growth and flowers.

Evan

Nice way to wake up!

Cory

Update to my thread I started a few years back. This cocktail Pumello or Grapefruit tree, whatever you’d like to call it, was trimmed up this weekend. It still has a bunch of fruit hanging on it. I’d recommend this tree to anyone who enjoys grapefruit juice, it is EXTREMELY juicy. Very seedy, but very juicy and oddly sweet for grapefruit Juice. Tree isn’t very vigorous as you can see, it’s been in ground for about 5 years and is only 7’ tall.

Cocktail tree · More Info

Cocktail tree · More Info

Evan

Evan, how does it compare to Oroblanco?

Dave, Much sweeter than Oro Blanco, but also much seedier. It’s also juicier than my oro’s, I can’t seem to get my Oro Blanco trees to produce juicy fruits, plus the pith is super thick on Oro Blanco, vs. a thin skin for the cocktail.

Evan, that tree looks beautiful, as all your tree do. Enjoy the fruit. It is not my favorite. I have it on my list of trees to re-home. I just don't like any grapefruit-like fruit. With my space limitations, I will stick to lemons, limes, oranges, and mandarins. Stay well!! :)

Jan, that’s not 1/4 of the fruit that was on there before I trimmed it. I threw a bunch out because I don’t know what to do with it all except give it away. I saw your post about the wekiewa and I’m doing research to try and help you figure out what you have, stay tuned.

Hey Laura, thank you so much. Sometimes grapefruits are not for everyone. I don’t blame you for trying to re home your tree with your space limitations. hopefully you find a nee home for your tree once this COVID quarantine is over with. Hope you and your family stay healthy and safe, take care.

Evan

Hey Evan! that is a good problem to have I myself loved the fruit and used it for a breakfast juice even though I only had one fruit! Thanks so much for your help much appreciated! :)