Description
The Rio Red Grapefruit Tree is an evergreen citrus tree that does not require elaborate pruning or special care to start producing lots of grapefruit. This citrus tree grows faster than other grapefruit trees, you don’t have to wait long for the white, fragrant blooms to turn into a bountiful grapefruit harvest.
The Rio Red Grapefruit Tree is an evergreen citrus tree that flourishes in USDA growing zones 8 to 11 and can grow to up to 20-25 ft tall. This grapefruit tree does not require elaborate pruning or special care to start producing large crops of grapefruit. Also, since it grows faster than other grapefruit trees, you don’t have to wait long for the white, fragrant blooms to develop and mature and deliver a bountiful grapefruit harvest.
Rio Red Grapefruits are 5-6 inches in diameter and have a slightly pebbled pale yellow surface with irregular blushes of pink-red. The flesh is tasty and sweet with a slight hint of tartness. This grapefruit’s flesh is juicy and has a deep salmon-red color with very few seeds if any.
The Rio Red Grapefruit tree was developed by treating Ruby Red seedlings at the Citrus Center in Weslaco, a research arm of the old Texas A&I system. This variety was discovered by R.A. Hensz in 1976 and was determined to have exceeded its predecessors in all aspects as it is sweeter than the white and other red varieties with just a teeny-weeny hint of tartness. This grapefruit also has an attractive dark-pink flesh that persists throughout the season. The Rio Red grapefruit tree is more cold resistant and grows faster than other grapefruit trees. By 1990 almost all white Grapefruit Trees in Texas and were replaced by Rio Red Grapefruit Trees.
Fruit & Harvesting
Fruit
The Rio Red grapefruit is a mid-to-late season grapefruit that is the superior and preferred variety of growers. It was the result of a breeding program led by Dr. R.A. Hensz from the Texas A&I Citrus Center, now the Texas A&M Citrus Center.
The Rio Red is large grapefruit with yellow or gold slightly thick rind tinged with red blush when matured. It has a signature deep-red color flesh that is juicy, tasty, and sweet. It is typically seedless or some individual fruit may contain very few seeds. Because of its juiciness and excellent sweet taste it is great for juicing or eating whole fresh from the rind for breakfast, dessert, or a snack. You can also bake it in a tart, add it as a salad ingredient, use the juice to make sangria, or whip it up into a tasty smoothie.
Aside from its exquisite taste, it is also a great source of Vitamin C and A, dietary fiber, folate, choline, limonins, and lycopene.
Harvesting
When you buy a Rio Red Grapefruit citrus tree it takes about a year for it to start producing fruit, depending on the size of tree you purchase. From the time the white flowers develop into green fruit, it takes a few months for the fruit to mature and be ready for harvest. For areas with warmer weather it takes about seven to eight months for the fruit to be ready for picking but for areas with colder temperature it can take up to 13 months for the fruit to be ready to eat. However, Rio Red Grapefruits are generally ready to pick in the fall.
To know if your Rio Red Grapefruit is ready for picking, check when half of the peel has turned from green to yellow or pink. The best bet is to wait for the fruit to change its hue. Doing so will help ensure an excellent harvest, since the longer this grapefruit stays on the tree, the bigger and sweeter it gets. You can also do a taste test which is guaranteed fool-proof.
Advice
The Rio Red Grapefruit tree is a pest/disease tolerant and cold hardy citrus tree that grows to 8`-12` when pruned for easy fruit picking or up to 25 ft when left to grow without pruning. Its usual bloom season is in spring and fruit season is in winter. It grows quickly and effectively in well-draining soil and full sunlight in USDA growing zones 9 to 11, as it needs the warmer temperatures to sweeten the fruit. It also has to be protected when the temperature dips below 28º F.
Pest and Diseases
- Brown Rot Disease – Caused by Phytophthora spp, a common garden fungal pest, causes damping off that can kill plants while they are developing or wreck havoc in mature or nearly-mature fruit. Brown rot manifests itself as a tiny discolored spot that rapidly spreads on the fruit’s surface creating lesions with a fetid smell. It is transmitted by splashing infected soil to low hanging fruits during watering or when it is raining.
Brown Rot can be prevented by increasing circulation to prohibit standing water, pruning trees away from the ground, the use of copper salts and removing any infected fruits or debris from the tree. If the disease persists, you can use fa ungicide spray to control infection.
- Blast (Pseudomonas syringae) Disease – Infected citrus trees have discolored or necrotic spots on twigs, branches, leaves and blossoms. You will notice water-soaked or sunken lesions on various parts of the citrus tree including fruit which can have black lesions.
This disease can be managed with the use of a copper fungicide that should be applied before the first rain in fall and winter.
- Citrus Leaf Miner Pest – Leaf Miner is a tiny moth that lays eggs under the leaf that when hatched, burrow into the leaf. They tunnel around the leaf in a snake-like pattern leaving a silvery, white track throughout the leaf. Leaf Miner causes the foliage to cup and twist resulting in a malformed leaf.
Cultural control methods involve removal of water sprouts from trees and not pruning live branches to discourage unusual growth flushes that entices leaf miners to lay eggs on your tree. You can also use parasitic wasps to help destroy the leaf miner population.
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