Who Planted the first grapefruit in Indian River County?
Christopher Columbus brought the first orange seeds and seedlings to the New World on his second voyage in 1493. The early Spanish explorers planted the first orange trees around St. Augustine, Florida, sometime between 1513 and 1565. It is believed that Ponce De Leon is the first “farmer” who planted orange tree seeds in the Florida soil. The earliest oranges and grapefruit groves developed around two sea ports, St. Augustine and Tampa. In 1806, Count Odet Phillippe, who left his native France for the new world, introduced grapefruit to Florida. The state’s first grapefruit grove was planted near Tampa in 1823. Most grapefruit is grown in the southern two-thirds of the Florida peninsula, where there is low probability for a freeze. After a series of freezes in the 1980’s, orange and grapefruit growers gradually migrated south and east from central and northern regions. Although Indian River County is just below the “freeze line”. Why is Indian River grapefruit so much tastier than oth
