Very sour pomelo

[newcyberian]

I bought a lemon tree from Home Depot many years ago. But eventually, the rootstock overtook and it bears a pomelo-like fruit with very thick skin. In Hong Kong where I came from we have a very sweet pomelo called the "Sha Tin Grapefruit" and the pomelos from my tree look exactly like that. The difference is my pomelos taste as sour as lemons. With some research on Google, I suspect the rootstock is a lemon-pomelo hybrid called Yuma Ponderosa. But if that's true Yuma Ponderosa shouldn't be that sour. Can anyone suggest how I can improve the sweetness of the fruit？

 

[Chuck]

I bought a lemon tree from Home Depot many years ago. But eventually, the rootstock overtook and it bears a pomelo-like fruit with very thick skin. In Hong Kong where I came from we have a very sweet pomelo called the "Sha Tin Grapefruit" and the pomelos from my tree look exactly like that. The difference is my pomelos taste as sour as lemons. With some research on Google, I suspect the rootstock is a lemon-pomelo hybrid called Yuma Ponderosa. But if that's true Yuma Ponderosa shouldn't be that sour. Can anyone suggest how I can improve the sweetness of the fruit？

If the grafted part of the tree, the scion, is dead, and the fruits are coming from the rootstock there is nothing you can do. The rootstock is probably either trifoliate orange or sour orange but there are many different rootstocks available

 

[cpp gardener]

The only other thing I can think of is to leave it on the tree longer. If you already leave it to the point of dropping off then you need to remove it and start over.