You can lower the height without damaging the tree if you use a method called drop crotch pruning. You can google it to see how to do it.

Post some pictures :)), we love looking at container citrus trees and it also gives better idea about your care for your tree.

I would looove to see a picture too. What kind of grapefruit? Grafted or from seed? How old? Did you get fruits? Container big enough to support the size of tree? Fertilizer? Did you change water source? If they are old leaves, it is normal to shed some as they get older.

I would like to see this tree too. Did you know A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Maybe it too is a citrus tree.

Please post pics! Can you just bend the branches a bit to get it through the door?

OK Here are some photos. I don't think it has that leaf disease. In fact I don't think those moths even live up here. Answers to questions: Not sure what kind of grapefruit. A neighbor of mine gave it to me about 8 years ago and it was already pretty tall so I assume it's about 12 - 15 years old. He grew it from store bought fruit seeds. The container? Well lets put it this way. If it were any bigger I'd never be able to move the tree. I used citrus fertilizer spikes this summer. I water it with a hose so I don't know what you mean by "Changing the water source"... The leaves weren't falling of naturally. They were falling off all at once. I used to not water it enough previous summers. One day I realized it really likes water because as soon as i really flooded it, it perked right up and started making leaves. But I think I overdid it this year and shouldn't have put a saucer under it because at times it was standing in flooded soil. It has never made fruit, but I have grown 3 pineapples that have made fruit and this year my passionfruit vine grew 2 fruits. I have a tropical plant hobby up here and currently I have 3 banana trees, bird of paradise, pineapples, passion fruit, sago palm, sabel palm, 2 other palms, grapefruit tree, 2 dragon fruit cacti, a prickly pear cactus, 2 yucca trees, bamboo cane, and several other tropical plants. It's a big exhausting day when I take them all inside. I had to build a ramp and put them on a dolly. It's not just that it's hard to fit the grapefruit tree through the door. It's that once it's inside the top is scraping the ceiling. If anyone would like to see pictures of anything else, I will post them

When did you last time repot it? Beautiful tree, but root bound and underfed!

Never ever use fertilizer spikes for container grown plants. Spikes can severly burn the roots and kill the tree. Your tree looks severely underfed. I would repot and do a heavy root pruning. Choose a water soluble fertilizer and feed more often. A lot of people here have great success with foliage pro and osmocote plus. Water quality from city source (hard? ) well water (boron or too much salt from water softener?) Rainwater is still the best for citrus.

A month ago it had twice the leaves tha5t were darker green and it didn't look so "underfed". I re-potted it 3 years ago. Ok, no fertilizer spikes. Got it! That's all I could find up here at Home Depot for citrus trees. I'll get some online. Syracuse is famous for hard water from Skeaneatles Lake, one of the Finger Lakes and one of the cleanest lakes in the country (so they say...) But we had a very rainy summer here as well. In fact I've never seen so many worms in my yard in my life - to the point that it became kind of disgusting. They were everywhere. Every day I'd have to vacuum like 50 of them out of my pool. Just so that you can visualize how much rain we received this summer. Pretty much rained at some point every day almost. And it's not like Florida around here with sandy soil, so the ground water was immense.

You need to root prune and up pot in a fresh well draining soil, make sure your pot is a size bigger or use the same pot, the root mass will be smaller after root pruning, make lots of holes in the bottom of the container, because the winter is coming and the temps are going to be lower. With fresh soil you don't have to feed the tree right away. You can trim the bottom branches, that are growing too close to the soil line.

I won't be able to lift it. It's already over 100 lbs

If it were a plant that could survive outside in the winter I would do it. But I have to move this thing twice a year...

Pot needs to be bigger. Most of us wish we had citrus tree problems as big as yours.

You don't have to lift it, lay it on its side, invite someone to help you, if you can. That tree is really in need of repot/up pot, rootpruning and trimming.

I am staying with my "drop crotch" recommendation; if you do that you may not need a bigger pot; but you DO need to feed it more.

OK.. Can I use a lighter soil maybe? This potting soil is heavy. And afraid if I repot it it will really get big... It's crazy because I love it when my plants get big - and I try to get them that way. But then when they do, I don't know what to do haha

Steve where is the agree button if you need one haha. If that would be my tree, I would trim it down and clean the trunk. I would look into drop crotch too. This will shed some weight and like Sunshine said, lay the pot on the side to get the tree out. I saw a youtube video where a guy repotted a big grapefruit tree and will see if I can find it again. I think this tree was at least 25 years old.

Fresh Promix and a plastic pot with lots of holes, you can also mix more perlite in the new soil.

For getting big there is a remedy: trimming :))

OK. I can do this. It's actually not my heaviest plant, but it's the tallest, and those thorns certainly don't help. I saw this video online so I hope this guy is right. Looks pretty brutal and destructive to me. Especially for a tree that appears to be not feeling well as it is. Hope you're all correct! :) :

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=repotting+a+grapefruit+tree&&view=detail&mid=0D3F41CA0299519284E00D3F41CA0299519284E0&FORM=VRDGAR

Also hope I got that link right. I had to retype it. For some reason I couldn't cut and paste.

yes that was the video I saw. Best luck to you. Tree might suffer in the beginnig but will recover and doing much better. Have you ever thought about investing in a fruiting citrus tree? Just wondering ;)

Once I bout a kumquat tree in Florida that was so small the fruit were too heavy for it. It didn't make it through the winter up here, even indoors under lights. I have lost several plants. But I know I'm pushing it up with the weather up here. I lost 4 Washington Palms, A Pindo Palm and not surprisingly, a Coconut Palm.. I kept the Coconut Palm alive for a year amazingly, but winter #2 was too rough on it. But here are "some" of my other plants that I've learned to keep alive and do quite well. When I tell most people about these trees, they don't believe me... They probably all need repotting...

Not bad for zone 5a!

When my coconut palm was dieing, I called a nursery in St. Augustine, Florida that I go to when I'm down there to ask them what to do and they laughed at me. They said, "They don't even grow here in St Augustine!"

I would love to see your bird of paradise.

Top left corner of my last pictures I posted. More impressive in the early spring when it blooms 15 orange and blue flowers though....

Wow, that is amazing. Where do you live again??? This looks more like a place in the tropics but not NY. Did you figure out the problem with the palm that died? I have no clue but seems you only need an adjustment that is very small to have success. Maybe it is the water or the small pots or a combination of both.

You think it looks crazy out there on the patio. You outta see my living room when they're in there and there's 6 feet of snow outside. They take over the living room pretty much, but it's still kinda nice since withers here are very cold, snowy and grey.

Please, update us with pictures on that tree, as time goes by:)) We are all learning from each others experiences.

I would try to take cuttings of the top growth next spring. It's a seedling and has been pruned back, so it will likely never bloom, especially at that small (believe it or not) size.