PlantFiles: Grapefruit
Citrus x paradisi 'Oro Blanco'

This plant was purchased about 4 years ago, it has produced fruit every year but has cycled in it's production quanity from 3 to 20 every other year. As for seeds this year is the first year any of the fruit has had any seeds, so I am planting the to see if they will germinate. I currently have 3 Necterine , 1 Plumb all from seeds obtained from market fruit. The Necterines are from 31/2 to 1 year in age and this year we had fruit from all 3 trees, the youngest fruit were very small but were like sugar. It is very hard to keep the birds from eating the fruit, I tried spraying Garlic Barrier which helped. The plumb is only about 1 year old as a seedling but hs been planted outside fot about 5 months and now has grown to 6 feet tall we will wait and see if it set fruit. I also now have 2 Arizona sweet orange, 2 pink Grapefruit, and 2 Meter Lemon trees from seeds all from 12" to 18" tall in about 9 months theGrapefruit and Orange seeds come from my Arizona fruit trees, the Meyer Lemon from the Beaumont Calif. tree.

'Oro Blanco' is a triploid from a grapefruit x pummelo cross. It is seedless. Geneticists R.K. Soost and J.W. Cameron of the University of California created it in 1958 and patented it in 1981.

This plant large and hardy and can handle temps down to 30F. It is my understanding it was developed for California inland citrus conditions. It is also my understanding that fruits should be allowed to fully mature on the tree. If picked too early, they will taste bitter. Other than that, I read the crops yielded are medium to heavy and may alternate bearing. This is a sweet tasting fruit that is tender and juicy and peels easily.

I don't like grapefruit very much. But I loved this fruit! It was rather sweet and had such an intense, unique flavor. Pure heaven! The blossoms are wonderfully strong-scented and apparently this variety doesn't need a lot of heat to ripen well. I'm in zone 9.

“Oro Blanco” is possibly the best tasting sweet white grapefruit available today.

It was developed at the University Of California in the 1970’s from a Grapefruit and a Pummelo (Citrus maxima).

It does not have the bitterness associated with a grapefruit but it has inherited the thick rind and small juice cavity from the Pummelo.

Grown now primarily in the Central and Coachella Valleys in California, the Oro Blancos are available from December through March.

The Product Look-Up (PLU) code is 3092.