stephen wrote in message
I bought a mandarin orange plant and a grapefruit plant in the summer.
Unfortunately when I went away, they were either over watered or under
watered, because when I came back, they dropped their leaves. After a
little dormant period, they have started to shoot again. I looked
closer today and see that they are shooting from the bottom of the
"trunk".

Most likely overwatering, they can't take wet roots at all. Did you repot
afterwards? Probably wise too as the soil will have become a bit sour and
there are lots of rotting roots amongst it.

Now I should explain that I am new to all this (if that wasn't obvious
already). Three quarters of the way up the trunk there is a faint
diagonal line, so I am wondering if this is the graft? I have read
some books and they say when repotting citrus, to make sure the graft
is above soil level. Reading that made me think the graft was quite
low, so I'm not sure; these are a foot high. Does the graft rise as
the plant grows?

Well we were all new to gardening at some point so no problem.
Normally the graft is quite obvious with a node or slight swelling at the
graft point. Usually with citrus it's also where the branches start as only
a bud was grafted on there. The graft does rise slightly as the plant grows
but in proportion to the rest of the plant.

I know apples for example are grafted. I hadn't realised citrus was.
The thing is, these new shoots are below, what I think may be the
graft. Without waiting months for them to flower and fruit, do you
think that what I am growing is not what I am expecting? What are
citrus grafted onto (and why?).

Could possibly be, often grafted onto Japanese Bitter Orange (Poncirus
trifuliata)


--
Regards
Bob

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