You need to tell us about your soil. Ph, composition

I live near San Mateo in the SF bay area. Soil is typically heavy in clay, which I amend with 50/50 with organic soil and compost. pH is basically neutral and I also amend with a little peat and sulfur. However, my plan is to first try to establish the graft on the tree while leaving it in the pot from HD or Lowes. So just wondering if a certain citrus variety commonly carried by HD or Lowes would serve as a good rootstock (with internode) for a grafted pomelo tree.

Do you plan to cut off the scion of a grafted citrus and then graft onto the root stock? If so most grafted citrus from those stores will probably be either Cuban Shaddock or C-35 citrange trifoliate hybrid as those are the two root stocks most commonly used in this area. Sometimes you'll find Carrizo, but it's not as common.

The non grafted ones (cuttings) would be some of the Meyer lemon and Key/Mexican lime.

I don't know what works best on a Pomelo here but here's a list of root stocks and info on them. Hope it helps.

http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/rootstocks.html

Dufrene, I was going to suggest buying a tree at Willits & Newcomb, however, they're in Santa Cruz county and it would be illegal to purchase a tree from them and move it to San Mateo. Have you called W&N directly and asked if they supply their trees to any nurseries near you? From what I've heard they're extremely nice and helpful and may be able to point you to someone in your neck of the woods that sell their trees. If you decide to go the grafting route I would find a tree at HD or Lowes on C35 with the fattest thickest trunk, lop off the scion and graft to that. It is a good rootstock for clay type soils and resistant to disease. It will also semi dwarf your tree which is not a bad thing with a pomelo as they are very large trees to begin with. You would still end up with probably a 15'-20' tree when it's fully grown. Just my .02

Evan

Just so you know you don't cut off the scion and graft, you graft then cut off the scion.

The question here is what rootstock will provide the best fruit. The Cuban Shaddock is lemon based and will be vigorous and productive at a cost to fruit quality. Poncirus Trifoliata tends to produce high quality fruit but may take an extra year to reach a productive age. With me living in Cincinnati Ohio, California is a foreign country and I am not familiar with the area locations. It should be possible to buy rootstock seedlings from any major suppliers like 4 winds. All grafter are grafting trees for early fruit production on fast growing trees. Fruit quality and tree longevity are low on the attributes scale. Since you may have this tree for decades, spend a year researching what will give you the best fruit for the longest and most trouble time and not just for quick fruit of so-so quality. I don't know the answers but others here do.

Don't bother with a hove depot tree. You will most likely not be happy.

Thanks, everyone for the input. @Evan - I've tried to inquire with W&N and have an email with them so we'll see what they say. It sounds like I should look for C35 though I don't recall if HD or Lowes has labels for their rootstock? Or maybe just buy an Oroblanco or Melogold which are similar, and hope the rootstock for them would product good quality Tahitian Pomelos as well. Thanks for the help.

The rootstock should be labeled on the container side. At least mine are in SoCal. See pic.

Oro blanco and melo gold would be good choices for your locale where it does not get that hot. Those two varieties do well with less heat units allegedly.

Evan

Evan you will not see a tag like that at ANY store in Cincinnati. You are soooo luky