🍊 Grapefruit
Citrus × paradisi
Florida's official breakfast — fighting for its life.
Sun
Full sun, 8+ hrs
Days to harvest
3–5 years from grafted tree
Spacing
15–20 feet apart
Soil pH
6.0–7.0
How to grow
Buy certified disease-free nursery stock — this is non-negotiable in Florida, where citrus greening (HLB) is endemic. Plant high (graft union well above soil), in full blazing sun, and give it room; grapefruit trees get big. 'Ruby Red' and 'Duncan' are the classics. Manage the Asian citrus psyllid, the tiny insect that spreads greening, with horticultural oil and vigilance.
Water & feeding
Deep soak weekly; citrus hates wet feet but drops fruit in drought — consistency is everything.
Common problems
- Citrus greening / HLB (yellowing, bitter fruit, decline)
- Citrus canker
- Citrus leafminer
Harvest
Taste-test from late fall through spring — grapefruit holds on the tree for months, sweetening as it hangs.
Nerdy fact: Grapefruit is a happy accident — a natural hybrid of pomelo and sweet orange discovered in Barbados in the 1700s. It was originally called the 'forbidden fruit,' which is a much cooler name.