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Pomelo
The largest citrus in the world and grapefruit's parent - a big, handsome tree bearing 2-to-4-pound fruit you peel twice to reach firm, sweet, low-acid segments. Milder and far less bitter than grapefruit. It also carries the same CYP3A4 drug interaction, and it is the one people actually eat by the segment.
Pomelo carries the same drug interaction as grapefruit - it is grapefruit's parent, and its furanocoumarins block CYP3A4, which can raise blood levels of statins, some blood-pressure and heart drugs, and immunosuppressants such as tacrolimus and cyclosporine. Case reports name pomelo specifically. If a medicine you take carries a grapefruit warning, treat pomelo the same way and ask your pharmacist. Peel oils are phototoxic on skin - rinse hands after peeling.
Overview
The pomelo is the giant of the citrus family and one of its three ancestral species - nearly every other citrus in this catalog, the grapefruit and the sweet orange included, carries pomelo in its parentage. The fruit is enormous, often two to four pounds and sometimes far more, with the thickest rind and the thickest spongy white pith of any citrus. You do not slice a pomelo; you peel it twice, first away the heavy rind and pith, then the tough membrane off each segment, to reach what you actually eat: firm, plump, separate juice vesicles that hold their shape instead of bursting. That texture is the whole point. A pomelo does not run down your wrist. It comes apart into crisp, sweet, gently tart beads that behave more like a fruit salad ingredient than like a dripping orange.
Anyone who knows only grapefruit is usually surprised by how mild a good pomelo is - lower in acid, much less bitter, sweet rather than sharp. It is a big evergreen tree with the biggest leaves and biggest flowers in citrus, downy young shoots, and a long, slow ripening of six to nine months. It grows happily in the humid subtropics as well as the dry ones, so unlike a grapefruit it does not need desert heat to be worth eating. Grow it in the ground in zones 9b to 11 and give it real room. One thing must be said plainly up front: the pomelo carries the same drug interaction as grapefruit - it is, after all, grapefruit's parent - and of the two catalog citrus that do, this is the one people eat as fresh fruit. See the Medicine section.
Quick facts
- Life cycle
- Perennial, lives about 60 years
- Height
- 22 ft12 to 40
- Spread
- 18 ft12 to 27
- Cold
- Killed by frostdamaged below 26°F
- Heat
- Struggles above 110°F
Full sun · medium water · well-drained soil · 22 ft apart (15 to 30) · transplant
When to plant
No planting window on record for this zone. Nearest zone with one: 9a.
Frost here: last around Apr 10 (Mar 27 to Apr 24 most years), first around Oct 25. Zone averages, your own yard may run a week or two either way.
Life stages
One stage to settle in, then four that repeat each year. Windows are typical; your zone and weather move them.
First-year establishment
The first year after planting- WaterKeep evenly moist, never waterloggedevery 4 daysA new pomelo needs steady moisture to establish but hates soggy roots (root rot is the fast killer). Water deeply when the top inch or two dries; in containers, ensure free drainage.
- MulchMulch a ring, kept well off the trunkA shallow mulch ring conserves moisture and feeds the shallow feeder roots, but keep it clear of the trunk - citrus get foot and crown rot if the base stays wet.
- ProtectProtect from frostPomelos are frost-tender, damaged below roughly 26-28°F - about as tender as a grapefruit. In-ground only in zones 9b-11; colder zones need a container and winter shelter.
- FertilizeStart a citrus feeding programevery 45 daysPomelos are heavy feeders growing a very large tree and very large fruit. Begin a specialized citrus fertilizer with micronutrients (iron, zinc, manganese) in the warm season; yellowing leaves usually mean hunger or wet roots.
- SupportGive it room - this is the biggest citrus you can plantA pomelo makes a genuinely large, wide, densely leafy tree, often 20 to 40 feet, and its leaves and flowers are the biggest in citrus. Do not tuck it against a house wall or under power lines the way you might a lemon.
Watch for- Root rot from soggy soil
- Frost damage below ~26-28°F
- Yellowing leaves (nutrient deficiency or overwatering)
- Citrus leaf miner on new flushes
- Downy, soft young shoots - normal for pomelo, unlike smooth-shooted grapefruit
Flushes of new growth
Mar, Apr, May, Aug, Sep, every year- FertilizeFeed through the growing seasonevery 45 daysApply citrus fertilizer in split doses through the warm months, watching for micronutrient deficiencies (interveinal yellowing = iron or manganese; overall pale = nitrogen). A cropping pomelo carries a lot of fruit weight and needs feeding to match.
- InspectProtect new flushes from pests and the greening vectorevery 10 daysThe tender new-growth flushes attract citrus leaf miner, aphids, and the Asian citrus psyllid that spreads citrus greening. Inspect each flush - this is the key scouting moment.
Watch for- Citrus leaf miner trails in new leaves
- Aphids and psyllids on new growth
- Scale insects and sooty mold
- Corky raised lesions on leaves and fruit (citrus canker)
Bloom (spring)
Mar to May, every year- PollinateMost pomelos are self-fruitful - but a few named types are notMost pomelos set fruit on their own and bees do the work outdoors. A handful of named varieties are partially self-incompatible and set better with another citrus nearby, so ask the nursery about the specific variety before planting a lone tree in a small garden.
- WaterKeep water steady through bloom and setevery 4 daysConsistent moisture during flowering and early fruit set prevents excessive flower and fruitlet drop. The tree naturally sheds most of what it sets - a pomelo can flower by the thousand and ripen a few dozen fruit.
Watch for- Very large, fragrant white blossoms - the biggest flowers in citrus
- Heavy natural fruitlet drop after bloom, which is normal
- Bees working the bloom outdoors
Fruit sizing & ripening (long, and the fruit gets huge)
Jun to Nov, every year- WaterWater deeply and evenly through the long ripeningevery 5 daysPomelos take six to nine months on the tree and each fruit can reach two to four pounds or more, so steady moisture across the whole stretch is what sizes them and keeps the rind from splitting.
- ThinThin a heavy set on a young treeThe fruit is enormous and a young tree will over-commit. Thinning clusters down to one fruit and removing fruit from thin outer branches protects the limbs and gives you larger, better-filled pomelos.
- SupportProp or tie laden limbsA branch carrying half a dozen four-pound fruit will bend and can split at the crotch. Prop heavy limbs or tie them up before the fruit reaches full size, not after.
- InspectWatch for scale, canker, and greening symptomsevery 2 weeksOver the long ripening, scale and mites build up, citrus canker spots fruit in warm wet weather, and citrus-greening symptoms would show. Inspect regularly.
Watch for- Limbs bending under very heavy fruit
- Fruit splitting from irregular watering
- Corky raised lesions with yellow halos (citrus canker)
- Blotchy mottled leaves and small lopsided fruit (citrus greening warning signs)
Harvest (fall into winter)
Oct to Feb, every year- HarvestCut, don't twist - and let the fruit sit a week before you open itevery 10 daysA pomelo is far too heavy to twist off; use clippers and cut the stem, supporting the fruit with your other hand. Once picked, most growers let pomelos rest a week or two at room temperature. That does not add sugar - citrus does not sweeten off the tree - but the rind gives up a little moisture, the sharpness settles, and the fruit peels far more easily.
- ProtectPick before the fruit goes dry and pithyPomelos hold on the tree for weeks and are genuinely good keepers, but held too long they dry out inside and the segments go coarse and cottony. Take the crop across the fall-to-winter window rather than leaving fruit hanging into spring.
Watch for- Skin turning from deep green to pale greenish-yellow or yellow
- Fruit heavy for its size and fragrant at the stem end
- Segments going dry and cottony if left far too long on the tree
- Bitter, lopsided fruit signaling greening
Harvest
- Skin has turned from deep green to pale greenish-yellow or yellow (varies by variety - some stay green-tinged when ripe)
- Fruit feels heavy for its size and the rind is slightly softer to press than earlier in the season
- The stem end is fragrant when scratched
- The fruit has hung six to nine months - pomelos are one of the slowest citrus to ripen
- Cut, don't twist - and let the fruit sit a week before you open it · every 10 days
- Pick before the fruit goes dry and pithy
Per plant 15 to 250 pomelos, 31.3 to 562.5 lbPicking pick as they ripen
Cook with pomelos
Watch out for
6 to know. 2 are high-risk: Citrus Greening (Huanglongbing / HLB), Citrus Canker. 6 are active in September.
Citrus Greening (Huanglongbing / HLB)Severity High DiseasenowPomelo is susceptible like every other citrus, and because it takes six to nine months to ripen a crop, an infected tree wastes most of a year before the fruit tells you.
Watch the leaves and shoots, not the fruit, and buy clean certified stock.
Asymmetric, blotchy yellow mottling on the leaves - the pattern does not match from one side of the midrib to the other, which is what distinguishes it from a nutrient deficiency - along with yellow-shoot dieback, small lopsided fruit that stays green at the stem end, bitter off-flavored juice, and the tiny Asian citrus psyllid feeding on new flushes.
There is no cure. An infected tree declines and dies and should be removed to stop the spread rather than nursed along. Management is entirely exclusion: clean stock, psyllid control, and destroying infected trees. Report a suspected case to your state agriculture department or extension office, which is how local quarantine programs track and contain it.
Buy only certified disease-free trees from a reputable source, and never move citrus plants, cuttings or fruit out of a quarantine area - that is how it travels between regions. Control the Asian citrus psyllid on new flushes, and remove infected trees promptly to protect the ones nearby. No resistant common variety exists yet.
The most serious citrus disease in the world, and effectively a death sentence for an infected tree. A bacterial infection (Candidatus Liberibacter) spread by the Asian citrus psyllid blocks the tree's vascular system, causing blotchy mottled leaves, yellow-shoot dieback, and small, misshapen, lopsided fruit that stays green at the stem end and tastes bitter. Every commercial citrus type is susceptible, there is NO cure, and it has collapsed much of Florida's citrus industry. It is the reason citrus plants and fruit are under quarantine restriction across much of the southern United States.
Citrus CankerSeverity High DiseasenowPomelo is among the more canker-susceptible citrus, alongside grapefruit, and its big dense low canopy holds moisture - so airflow pruning and never working the tree wet matter more here than on an open-habit citrus.
Raised, corky, brown lesions with a distinctive yellow halo (and sometimes a water-soaked margin) on both sides of leaves, on stems, and on fruit; premature leaf and fruit drop.
No cure for infected tissue; copper sprays protect new growth in high-pressure areas. Remove and destroy infected leaves and prunings, and sanitize tools. In quarantine regions, follow official removal/management rules.
Buy certified disease-free trees; don't move plants or fruit out of quarantine areas. Avoid overhead watering and don't work the tree when wet (the bacteria spread in water films). Windbreaks reduce wind-driven spread; leaf-miner control helps, since its wounds admit the bacteria. Choose less-susceptible varieties where available.
A highly contagious bacterial disease (Xanthomonas citri) that causes raised, corky, tan-to-brown lesions surrounded by yellow halos on leaves, stems, and fruit, leading to premature leaf and fruit drop, twig dieback, and blemished fruit; it spreads fast in warm, wet, windy weather. Grapefruit is among the MOST canker-susceptible citrus.
Scale & Sooty MoldSeverity Medium PestnowA pomelo's dense, low, shaded inner canopy is ideal scale habitat, and it is the part of the tree you never look at.
Opening the canopy for airflow and light is the most useful prevention on this species.
Rows of small brown, tan, black, white, or waxy bumps along stems, twigs, leaf midribs, and leaf undersides that do not brush off but can be scraped loose with a fingernail. A sticky shine on the leaves - and on the floor, table, or path beneath the plant - that later turns black with sooty mold. Ants running steadily up and down the stems, since they farm and defend scale for that honeydew; often the first sign anything is wrong. Yellowing leaves, weak thin growth, and dieback of individual branches or canes that are heavily encrusted. On fruit crops, scale covers and sooty mold directly on the fruit. Check the leaf undersides and the shaded inner wood, which is where colonies build up unseen.
Horticultural oil is the main control: it works by smothering, so it has to coat the insects thoroughly - stems, twigs, and leaf undersides - and it usually needs repeating, because the waxy covering shields them and no single pass reaches everything. On deciduous woody plants a dormant-season oil smothers the overwintering stage while the leaves are out of the way, and timing a growing-season spray to the crawler stage, when the young are mobile and uncovered, is far more effective than spraying settled adults. On a small plant or a light infestation, scrub or wipe the scales off by hand, or dab them with a cotton swab of rubbing alcohol. Prune out and destroy badly encrusted wood rather than trying to save it. Wash off the sooty mold once the scale is gone - it lives on the honeydew, not on the plant, and stops once the supply does. Anything you spray must be labeled for the plant, and oils can burn delicate foliage, so test first.
Inspect. Look over leaf undersides and stems regularly - on a crop you pick, every harvest is a scouting chance - and check every new plant thoroughly before you buy it, plant it, or set it beside anything else, because scale almost always arrives on a plant rather than flying in. Quarantine new houseplants for a few weeks. Keep plants unstressed and not over-fertilized, since soft, forced growth is what populations build on. Prune for airflow and light to open up the shaded inner growth where scale hides, and prune out heavily infested wood as routine maintenance - on anything that gets a hard annual pruning, that alone removes most of any buildup. Leave the lady beetles, lacewings, and parasitic wasps alone, since they normally keep scale down to nothing, and keep ants off the plant where you can, because ants protect the colonies from those predators. Indoors, avoid hot, dry, still winter air.
Scale insects are sap-suckers that spend most of their lives immobile, fixed to a stem, twig, or leaf underside beneath a waxy or shell-like cover. They look far more like bumps, blisters, or crusty encrustations than like insects, which is why an infestation is usually well established before anyone notices it. Soft scales excrete large amounts of sticky honeydew that drips onto everything below and grows a black sooty mold - and those blackened leaves are often the first thing a gardener actually sees. Armored scales produce no honeydew but sit under a hard shield that protects them from most sprays. They spread as tiny mobile crawlers in the weeks after hatching, which is the only stage that moves and the only stage that is easy to kill. Populations build on stressed plants, on crowded shaded growth, and above all on plants kept indoors in dry, still air over winter.
Citrus Leaf MinerSeverity Medium PestnowPomelo's very large leaves show the mines dramatically, which makes the damage look worse than it is.
It matters mainly because pomelo is canker-susceptible and the miner's wounds let canker in.
Silvery, squiggling serpentine trails inside new leaves, and curled, twisted, distorted new growth on the flushes. Mature leaves and fruit are untouched.
Largely cosmetic on an established tree - prune off heavily mined flushes if you want to, and otherwise leave it alone rather than spraying for appearance. Horticultural oil applied to new flushes deters egg-laying. Systemic controls are used mainly on young trees or where canker pressure is high.
Established trees tolerate it, so the aim is to give it less to work with: avoid over-fertilizing, which pushes out the excess soft flushes it feeds on, and stop feeding by late summer so there is no tender autumn flush to mine. Encourage the parasitic wasps that control it, and protect young trees and new grafts, whose growth actually matters.
A tiny moth whose larvae mine winding, silvery serpentine tunnels just under the surface of new citrus leaves, curling, twisting and distorting them. It attacks only the tender new-growth flushes, never mature leaves or fruit, so on an established tree it is essentially cosmetic - but it can stunt a young tree, and the wounds it leaves in the leaf provide entry points for citrus canker bacteria, which is its real significance.
AphidsSeverity Low PestnowOn citrus this is a spring and fall flush problem - aphids ride the tender new growth and distort it, and some species transmit citrus viruses.
The honeydew and sooty mold are usually more noticeable than the aphids themselves.
Dense clusters of tiny insects packed onto shoot tips, flower buds, and the undersides of young leaves. Curled, cupped, or distorted new growth that never opens properly. A sticky shine on the leaves - and on whatever sits under the plant - that later goes black with sooty mold. Tiny white cast skins left behind where a colony has been feeding. Ants running steadily up and down the stems, which is often the first thing you notice. Mottled, streaked, or misshapen leaves that do not grow out can mean a virus the aphids brought with them rather than the feeding itself.
Knock the colonies off with a hard jet of water and repeat every few days - on most plants that alone ends it. Pinch out or prune off the worst-infested tips rather than treating the whole plant. If colonies keep rebuilding, spray insecticidal soap or horticultural oil directly onto the insects, covering leaf undersides, and repeat weekly until they are gone; treat early or late in the day, and never spray a wilted or heat-stressed plant. Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides - they kill the ladybugs, lacewings, and parasitic wasps that were about to solve the problem for you, and aphid numbers usually come back worse afterward. Anything you spray must be labeled for the plant you are treating; follow that label and observe its pre-harvest interval. On anything you eat, wash leaves, heads, and buds well before use, since aphids hide down in crowns, folds, and tight growth.
Go easy on nitrogen: the soft, lush growth that heavy feeding produces is exactly what aphids breed on. Check new growth once a week through spring and early summer so you catch colonies while they are still small, and rub the first few out with your fingers. Leave flowering plants nearby and skip broad-spectrum sprays - ladybugs, lacewings, hoverflies, and parasitic wasps do most of this work for free, and they only stay if there is something for them to eat. Keep ants off the plant where you can, since they protect aphids from those predators. Water steadily so plants are not stressed, and check any new plant over before you bring it home or move it indoors, since aphids usually arrive on something else.
Aphids are small soft-bodied sap-suckers - green, black, gray, pink, or waxy white, and mostly wingless - that gather in dense colonies on the tenderest new growth: shoot tips, buds, and the undersides of young leaves. They breed extremely fast in mild weather, so a few can become hundreds inside a week. Their feeding curls and distorts soft growth, and the sticky honeydew they excrete coats everything below and turns black with sooty mold. Ants often farm and defend the colonies for that honeydew. A few aphids are normal on almost any plant and a healthy plant shrugs them off; only dense, persistent colonies do real damage, and some aphids also spread plant viruses as they feed.
Spider MitesSeverity Low PestnowMainly a problem on drought-stressed trees in dry inland heat, and on the rare container pomelo wintered indoors.
A well-watered outdoor tree in humid climates seldom suffers.
Fine pale stippling or speckling across the upper leaf surface, as though the color had been sandblasted out of it, and later a dull bronze or rusty cast over the whole leaf. Delicate webbing across leaf joints, shoot tips, and undersides - that comes with a heavy infestation and means you caught it late. Leaves that dry, curl, and drop early while the plant looks thirsty no matter how much you water it. Hold a leaf over a sheet of white paper and tap it: the specks that fall and then start walking are mites. With a hand lens, look on the undersides for the mites themselves, pale or reddish, and their round translucent eggs. Damage that shows up first on the hottest, dustiest, most sheltered side of a plant, or on a pot sitting near a radiator indoors.
Start with water. A strong jet aimed at the leaf undersides, repeated every few days for a couple of weeks, knocks populations down and breaks the cycle - on many plants that alone ends it. On anything that regrows quickly, shearing back badly infested growth resets the plant to clean foliage. If it keeps building, spray insecticidal soap or horticultural oil directly onto the undersides where the mites actually live, and repeat every five to seven days for three rounds: contact sprays do not kill the eggs, so a single application always fails. Anything you spray must be labeled for the plant you are treating - follow the label and observe its pre-harvest interval on anything you eat. Predatory mites are an effective release in a greenhouse or on an indoor plant. Above all, correct the heat, dust, and drought stress that caused it, or the mites simply come back.
Do not let plants get drought-stressed - that is the single strongest trigger, and a plant watered steadily through heat is far less likely to have a mite problem at all. Hose the foliage down, undersides included, during hot dry spells: it knocks mites off, washes away the dust they thrive in, and raises the humidity around the plant for a while. Indoors and under cover, keep the air from going hot, dry, and stagnant, wipe or rinse the leaves occasionally, and keep pots away from radiators and heating vents. Inspect any plant carefully before you bring it indoors for winter or set it among others, since mites almost always arrive on something else. Avoid broad-spectrum insecticides: they wipe out the predatory mites, lacewings, and lady beetles that do most of this work for you, and reliably leave you with a worse outbreak than you started with.
Spider mites are not insects but tiny sap-feeding arachnids, smaller than a grain of salt, and you almost always notice the damage before you notice them. They live on the undersides of leaves and drain the cells one at a time, which is why the leaf goes finely stippled with pale dots before it bronzes and dries. They breed explosively in hot, dry, dusty, still air - a generation can pass in a week at high temperature - so a barely visible population becomes a webbed, bronzed plant within a fortnight. Drought-stressed plants and plants wintered indoors in dry heated air are the classic hosts. Broad-spectrum insecticides make matters worse rather than better, because they kill the predatory mites and lady beetles that normally hold mites in check.
Good & bad neighbors
All of these are traditional pairings. The evidence is thin, so treat them as a nudge, not a rule.
Plant nearby
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A living clover groundcover fixes nitrogen (a cropping pomelo is hungry) and feeds pollinators; keep it and any mulch off the trunk base to avoid foot rot.
-
Draws beneficial insects and is traditionally credited with deterring some pests around citrus; French types also suppress root-knot nematodes. Harmless under a young tree.
-
Grown around citrus as a trap crop and to draw aphids and beneficial insects away from the tender new flushes; a common, harmless citrus underplanting.
-
Shares citrus's love of sun and drainage and draws pollinators to the bloom; plant a little apart, since lavender wants drier feet, and well clear of a pomelo's eventual spread.
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A natural kitchen pairing - both belong to the same Southeast Asian salads - and a tough, sun-loving clump that takes the same warm conditions. Plant it out beyond the drip line, not in the tree's root zone.
Varieties · 5
You pick one when you add Pomelo to your garden. Its days to maturity set your harvest window.
Chandler
Large, round to slightly flattened fruit with smooth greenish-yellow to yellow skin and pale pink, juicy flesh.
pink-fleshsweetjuicycalifornia-bredThe standard American pomelo and the one most nurseries stock: a UC Riverside cross released in the 1950s, bearing large, round, smooth-skinned fruit with pale pink flesh that is sweet, juicy, and only mildly bitter. Reliable, productive, and better-flavoured than most imported fruit. If you are planting one pomelo in the US and have no particular reason to choose otherwise, plant Chandler.
Reinking
Large, round, pale yellow fruit with thick rind and creamy white, firm, sweet flesh.
white-fleshsweetlow-acidcalifornia-bredChandler's white-fleshed sibling from the same UC Riverside programme: large pale-yellow fruit with creamy white, sweet, low-acid flesh and very little bitterness. Firm, dry-textured segments that hold their shape beautifully in salads. Choose it over Chandler if you want the classic mild white pomelo of Southeast Asian markets rather than a pink one.
Hirado Buntan
Large, pear-shaped to round fruit with thick pale yellow rind and pink-tinged, fragrant flesh.
pink-fleshcold-tolerantjapanesearomaticA Japanese variety from Hirado and the most cold-tolerant pomelo in common cultivation, which makes it the one to choose at the cold edge of the range or wherever winters are unreliable. Large fruit with a thick rind and pale pink, sweet, aromatic flesh. Somewhat later ripening than Chandler and a little more acid. The practical pick for zone 9a and marginal 9b sites.
Tahitian (Sarawak)
Large, round, greenish-yellow fruit with pale, very mild, aromatic flesh.
white-fleshvery-low-acidaromaticmildAn unusual, very low-acid pomelo with a distinct floral, faintly lime-like aroma that sets it apart from every other citrus - mild to the point of being almost bland to some palates, and delightful to others. Large greenish-yellow fruit with pale flesh. Worth planting as a second tree for the flavour rather than as a first pomelo, and a good choice for anyone who cannot tolerate acidic fruit.
Kao Panne
Large, pear-shaped to round fruit with green-yellow rind and firm, dry, sweet white or faintly pink flesh.
thaiwhite-fleshsweetdry-textureOne of the classic Thai pomelos and the type behind the fruit sold in Southeast Asian markets: firm, dry-textured, sweet white-to-blush flesh in large vesicles that separate cleanly and hold their shape - exactly what a Thai pomelo salad wants. Less juicy than Chandler by design, which is the point rather than a fault. Look for it and the related Kao Phuang and Thong Dee at specialist citrus nurseries.
Grower tips
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