Almost any of the grapefruits are easier to grow than a Meyer lemon, however, they also get larger much faster, so you need a good amount of space. Because the fruits are much bigger than a lemon, the Oro Blanco produces fewer fruits, but very tasty.

Joe, what about in pots? I live in Maryland, so I can only have them outdoors from now till late fall. They spend winter indoors. Are they suitable for this?

I spose you can do it in pots; but grapefruits and pomelos are probably the least adaptable citrus to container growing. They get large naturally; but the pot limits the size of the tree. The pot does not limit the size of the fruit; so you end up with fruits disproportionately large compared to the tree.

Thanks John. I am not sure that would work well for me then. I have lots of light, but not tons of space now that I have acquired various trees. I like getting lots of fruits, and it sounds like that may not be the case with this grapefruit...

Oroblanco is not on the same taste or sweetness level as Cocktail or Melogold. Also oroblanco does not hold fruit well. I pulled mine. Decent fruit, but in my yard it was a second tier grapefruit. Plenty of blooms, but most fruit dropped. I only grow three grapefruit now, cocktail, golden, and duncan. Would love to have a marsh, but can't find them locally. It is an excellent grapefruit. Almost as good as cocktail. If you could find a grapefruit on flying dragon rootstock, it would do well in a container. Fruit would not be as plentiful or large as inground, but I have done it before.

I have hirado Buntan pomelo on dwarf (flying dragon) rootstock. It's young though but I doubt it will be a big tree. Most likely a small tree with giant fruit.

What about the ones that are sold by Four Winds? Are those dwarf trees? They had the cocktail grapefruit there. My daughter wants a clementine, but she would love a grapefruit also.

They are technically dwarf in containers. Not real dwarf rootstocks though. I mostly own four winds trees.

The hirado came from Harris in Florida. Briteleaf is good too. They sell full size and have a dwarf selection. Harris uses flying dragon and briteleaf uses us897 rootstock. Both are real dwarf rootstock.

So if I were to order a cocktail, let's say from Harris...will I end up with a few huge grapefruits down the line? I like that my Meyers produce 40-40 lemons. I am not sure I would want to go through all the trouble for a handful of grapefruits...even if they are delicious...

They don't offer dwarf cocktail.

But for the most part dwarf rootstocks should make small trees with fruit no smaller on average than 10% smaller than on a normal rootstock.

Ok, thank you. That is probably not a tree for me then!! I am so jealous of all you guys that live where citrus can be planted outdoors. I grew up in South Florida and Cuba, so I remember. I planted a Glen mango years ago at my parents house that is now a huge tree. I barely got to taste the mangos before we moved away. Whenever I visit S.Florida I drive by their old house to see "my" tree. Oh well....I guess potted is better than nothing!

Oroblanco seems to have a different taste from other grapefruits. The flavor is sweet, mild, and very nice. Not as strong of a grapefruit flavor, no bitterness either. My mom normally does not like grapefruit but she liked the sample of Oroblanco she tried. It is almost seedless.

Pip313, so you grow oroblanco in a container? Or the cocktail variety?

Both Oroblanco and Melogold have the same parentage, and are genetic siblings crosses between pummelo (which is milder than grapefruit) and grapefruit. One takes after the pummelo parentage more closely, and the other the grapefruit parentage, so that could account for the Oroblanco having a different taste from other grapefruit.

I grow hirado Buntan pomelo and flame grapefruit.

@pip, my flame grapefruit is flowering, but did you get fruit yet?

No. All of my trees are still too young. Besides the kumquats. I currently have fruit on my Valencia, tango, gold nugget, and Kishu. But I have no idea if they will hold.