Patty,
I wish I had more room to plant citrus trees. As a San Diego city dweller, lot sizes are a premium. I caught the citrus bug a few years ago and have slowly accumlated 12 citrus trees which line up along the fence in my backyard. My favorite grapefruit varieties are the Melogold, Oroblanco, and Cocktail. Melogolds and Oroblancos are a cross between a Marsh Grepefruit and acidless Pummelo. Melogold grapefruit are typically larger than the Oroblanco and have a flat base. I personally think the Oroblanco is a bit sweeter(or less bitter). The Cocktail grapefruit is the grapefruit that eats like a navel orange; it is super sweet and a cross between a Frua mandarin and pummelo. If you need to put sugar on your grapefruit to counter the bitterness/acidity, you'll appreciate the cocktail grapefruit.

I bought all my trees from North County. Both Clausen Nursery, www.clausennursery.com in Vista and Atkins nursery in Fallbrook have a large selection of citrus. I would recommend walking the growing grounds at both and taste before you buy. You won't be disappointed.
Good Luck, Dan

Thanks, Dan! I have both Clausen and Ganter's availability lists printed off, and was planning on going there today. I love both these nurseries and for me, the great thing is, if they can grow it at their nursery, it will grow at my house since we're about 4 miles apart, but mostly north/south of each other. Our microclimates are so crazy here, just being a few miles east or west makes such a huge difference. I'll circle these 3, and yes, I'm one who has to put sugar on my grapefruit, so Cocktail is definitely going on my list of "to buys", along with a couple of lime trees, and a couple of tangerines, too. Appreciate the very specific help!

Patty

We are ten miles from the ocean (La Mesa) and in a "cold drainage" arroyo. We have a 12 y/o Oro Blanco that is very productive. We have to thin out the fruit to prevent limb breakage. The tree is compact (root stock) and easy to care for. The only big problem so far is that the rats love the fruit. I think that is the culprit, because I have found rat scat in the hollowed out grapefruits still hanging on the tree. However unpleasant that is the fruit is quite sweet and mostly we use the juice (goes great with vodka or rum). The fruit stays on the tree until June. So we harvest it for about 5 months.

Thanks, reefisher. I went to Clausen's and picked up a Mellowgold, which is almost the identical same tree as the Oro Blanco, as well as a Cocktail and a Rio. The Rio is really going to be an experiment, so I'm trying to figure out exactly what spot in our yard will be the very hottest, and that's where the Rio will go. the Mellowgold and the Cocktail are spotted up on the north slope (which faces south). We have a rat problem, too - they ate all my Anna apples this year - so I'm going to talk with Berrett Pest Control to see what kinds of control we can put into place to try to control the rats and keep them out of my trees. I bought a Moro Blood Orange, a Pixie Tangerine and an Algerian Tangerine, too, so they will all be targets for the rats. They leave the lemon trees and usually leave the Kumquats alone (although not always with the Kumquats), so hopefully, I can get traps set and try to keep the population down. We back an 80 acre abandoned orange orchard (very sad story), so they come in through the back fence, even though I've got 3' snake fencing up against the wrought iron. They're sneaky devils. No fence will really keep them out.

Patty S.

Rio is heat loving but I think you will be ok, just let it stay on the tree a little longer.
Rats...... cats! outside all the time cats.
Also for rats, peanut butter / cooking oil / and plaster of paris made into little balls. only use a tiny bit of the oil, just enough to make the mix stick together and still keep a ball shape

That's exactly what Clausen's told me - leave the fruit on as long as possible. And, cats aren't a solution for me, unfortunately. Too many songbirds in my yard for one (domestic cats and the #1 predator of songbirds in urban areas), and more importantly, way, way too many coyotes. It's so bad in our neighborhood that it is one of the things we warn new homeowners about when they move in: Do NOT leave your cat or small dog outside, ever. We have coyote scat on our driveway at least 3 times a week. The safe poisoning idea is a great one, though! That way, if a rat is weakened in my yard and my dog decides to take a chomp, he won't become poisoned. Bunnies, ground squirrels, coyotes and gophers in that order are all an real issue in our yards. Our price we pay for living in the lovely hills of Vista. And wildfires, too :-) But, a really great place to grow citrus!!

We have had rat problems for the 35 years we have lived in our house, but mostly they were roof rats and ate almost exclusively brown snails, we have ivy. The decolate snails have pretty much controlled the brown snails and we had a decline in the rat population. But nature evolves and the rats diet too, maybe a different species. They never bothered the citrus until about two years ago. We have two apple trees and a coyote that eats the apples, one is a Dorsett Golden and puts on three crops a year (only one matures to perfection) . The coyote actually comes in the yard during the day and lays under the apple tree, semi hidden in the ivy. You'd think this lazy coyote would do something about the rats and rabbits, but no. The neighbors cat spends hours in our yard stocking rats, gophers, and after 6 years has managed to avoid the coyotes. Many other cats have come and gone but this one is still around.

Hi Everyone,

All of sudden, a tree planted by the previous owners of the home started growing what seem to be grapefruits. This is very exciting for us and we do not want to squander this opportunity. What is your advice as to how to care for this tree? We live in Eastern Chula Vista near Eastlake. Thank you.

Andrea, post up some photos of your tree and we can tell you most likely what you have. You want to be sure to water your citrus well, about 2 to 3 times a week. Nice long soak and be sure to water at the drip line (edge of the canopy and some beyond), not at the trunk. Fertilize with a high quality citrus fertilizer that contains micronutrients. You'll want to fertilize every 2 to 3 months again, along the drip line (which is where the feeder roots reside), be sure to use the appropriate amount based on the size of the tree (the bag will give you quantities either by trunk diameter or height of tree), fertilizing from about beginning of February through October. Pick fruit when it's ripe, don't let it stay on the tree longer than the next fruiting cycle so you don't force the tree into wanting to alternate bear. Keep grass and weeds out from underneath the tree, to reduce competition for nutrients. Mulch the drip line with bark mulch to help conserve soil moisture. Enjoy!!

Patty S.