@Ken B Zone 7 No, not a single flower yet. :-(

Your tee will need to get about twice as tall and wide before it will reach a leaf node maturity count to flower.

@poncirusguy6b452xx

How does one calculate leaf node count? This is very new to me.

You don't count the leaf node count for the tree's maturity the tree does. In ground trees normally come into bloom quicker than container trees. This is due to the rate of growth.

from the base at the first leaf is node 1 count upward up the trunk to the top of the tree. Count on only the tallest limb. Do not add any leaves from any other limbs or trunks. My seed Meiwa kumquat to 50 leaves before it flowered. My seed grown Fukushu kumquat started at leaf 75. Bigger fruits require a bigger tree so a higher count. Your tree looks very nice so it might produce in 8-10 years total. At this point it would be better to wait this tree out than plant a new grafted tree.

Steve

Oranges, grapefruit, and other large citrus probably require 10 to 25 years from seed before they will bloom (On the longer end if grown in containers and in a cold climate) and may need to attain a height of at least 8 to 15 feet before they will undergo the phase change from juvenile to mature growth.

Dave, when grown from seed a tree growing in the ground = grapefruit require 7 - 10 years, calamondin & key lime 2 - 3 years, mandarins 3 - 5 years, oranges 10-15 years. As Dave wrote the time from seed to maturity would be longer.

Another question concerning maturing out of juvenility: If a certain seedling will grow enough to mature and bloom in 15 years, and if in year 10 you take a bud from its very top to graft low on a separate rootstock, will they both reach maturity at the same time?

The answer is yes. They should mature more or less in he same amount of time.

A node when cut from the tree remembers it node count, the new growth count will continue from there. .

Pruning, especially in the upper branches can delay maturation.

To add too this, does anyone know if the citrus groves we see have grafted trees or are they seed planted?

About 100% of commercial grove citrus trees are grafted trees.

Right. No way do commercial growers want to wait for seedlings to reach maturity. Besides, there are many other reasons why certain rootstocks are used — including disease resistence, hardiness, vigor, less thorny, dwarfing, fruit better tasting, better production and quality, etc.

Dave, I agree with your list of rootstock effects, except that I've never heard of the "less thorny" one. Can one rootstock make the scion more or less thorny??

Golly' in my 189 years I still have yet to see the orange tree seeds I planted as a 1 year old mature to a fruit bearing tree. Next time I'll get a grafted tree.

Steve

David Kipps. The rootstock does not actually make the scion less thorny. Mature scions grafted to it are often less thorny -- or with smaller thorns -- than juvenile seedling growth. Your seedlings will often have enormous thorns.

Thorniness has several causes. Juvenile trees will often exhibit transitional thorniness until they achieve sufficient height to be out of reach of herbivores. Likewise, suckers and watershoots will again often be quite thorny until height is attained. Even Poncirus has greatly reduced, to very few thorns in the very highest twigs.

Another strong variable is position within a growth flush, lower position on the same upright flushing branch will often show much longer thorns.

Additionally, genetics play a major role in thorniness. A few of my F2 citranges have wicked thorns on par with Poncirus, while a very few have small minimal thorns.

44 month old tree with it's first fruit.

31 month old tree with it's first fruit.

If the trees are pushed with good environmental and nutritional conditions, a few can fruit in 2-4 years. Others will take considerably longer, dependent on genetics, as well as growing conditions.