Poll

Do you push the limits, and take chances? or keep within the boundaries of what grows with minimal effort?

You Know your limits.  It takes Minimal effort to maintain your plants.  Your collection thrives where you live with virtually no need for caretaking.
You might Push it to the limit. It may take a Medium amount of effort to maintain your plants.  You take small risks and try new plants that might not work in your area/climate region.
You Push the limits.  You keep trying to grow all these poor plants, that shouldn't grow at your location on this planet.

Author Topic: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?  (Read 12117 times)

FlyingFoxFruits

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Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« on: September 27, 2012, 12:25:52 AM »
What category do you fall into?

How much do you push the limits? or why do you know your limitations, and stay within those boundaries?

Feel free to post up a storm of why you choose to a) take no chances, b) take chances, or  c) take a plant from anywhere on Earth and try to grow it at your house!!!  ;D

thanks!!
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BMc

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #1 on: September 27, 2012, 12:55:12 AM »
I need a new category that states:

'You are daft! You dont listen to anything anyone says and has to try things for yourself, just so you can say 'I told you so'!'

Xeno

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #2 on: September 27, 2012, 01:39:49 AM »
I like to Push It To The Limit (scarface). Ask my wilting leafed lychee trees! I need to get a greenhouse yo.

jcaldeira

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #3 on: September 27, 2012, 03:27:58 AM »
When I plant, I assume roughly half of them will thrive, a quarter of them will live but not up to their potential, and a quarter will not be worth keeping alive.

I'm not going to treat my farm like a chemistry lab, using chemicals to treat every leaf and root malady.  However, I try my best to plant each fruit in an environment close to it's ideal natural habitat.

Next month, I will transplant 4 rambutan that are less wind tolerant than I thought.  I'm also working to put Hass avocado on disease resistant rootstock.  That's about as far as I go to keep things alive out of their natural environment.

John   
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fruitlovers

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #4 on: September 27, 2012, 04:03:16 AM »
When I plant, I assume roughly half of them will thrive, a quarter of them will live but not up to their potential, and a quarter will not be worth keeping alive.

I'm not going to treat my farm like a chemistry lab, using chemicals to treat every leaf and root malady.  However, I try my best to plant each fruit in an environment close to it's ideal natural habitat.

Next month, I will transplant 4 rambutan that are less wind tolerant than I thought.  I'm also working to put Hass avocado on disease resistant rootstock.  That's about as far as I go to keep things alive out of their natural environment.

John

Rambutan is notorious for being very wind sensitive, especially when plants are small.
Oscar

fruitlovers

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #5 on: September 27, 2012, 04:06:56 AM »
I mostly stay within boundaries of what is easy to grow in zone i live in. I'm too lazy to be fussing over plants or fighting with the elements. My one exception has been experimenting with low chill temperate fruits. Most of them failed, and i gave up on all except a few.
Oscar

tabbydan

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #6 on: September 27, 2012, 06:55:24 AM »
I do both a) and c).

If I encounter interesting exotic fruit, or just fruit I like I eat it and will often keep seeds.
If the seeds are of general interest and I have excess I offer some and keep some.
Regardless what it is I plant it (I have rambutan and Bacurrea (rambai) going right now, I doub't they will do well this winter).

Otherwise I don't agressively go after ultratropicals or humidity loving plants (I have trouble with Annona, Theobroma, Nephelium, at my location due to low humidity in the house during the winter, many Garcinia/Rheedia seem to grow ok (aside from mangosteen))
What's that got to do with Jose Andres $10 brussel sprouts?

Tomas

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #7 on: September 27, 2012, 08:40:13 AM »
Hi Adam,

I think I am in the worse category - a C-person. I am trying to grow fruits that's against all odds to ever succeed. But at least I can say afterwards that I have tried and it was fun for a while. I may or may not be successful with some of my unwisely choosen species for my climate. I think I select plants to grow more because they are rare (and hopefully good)  fruits than just for the sake of pushing the limits.

Tomas

FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #8 on: September 27, 2012, 09:02:13 AM »
nicely put Tomas.

I can relate to your ideology. 

I'm too adventureous and hungry to eat what normally grows in my area!!
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TropicalFruitHunters

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #9 on: September 27, 2012, 09:06:33 AM »
Limits?  I don't understand.   :o

CoPlantNut

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #10 on: September 27, 2012, 10:08:20 AM »
Thankfully I don't see any "I should probably be committed to an asylum" option, so I got to vote for (C).

For my in-ground plants, I'd generally fit in the first category; aside from providing them with irrigation, I've long ago stopped taking heroic measures to keep them alive.  if they aren't happy and grow on their own, I tear them out.  It's still surprising how many plants I've tried that aren't supposed to be happy in my area that have been growing happily for 10+ years.  If you don't push the limits, you don't learn much...

   Kevin

Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2012, 11:07:43 AM »
Hi Adam,

I'm a C pusher for shaw ;D ;D ;D I'm trying stuff that has never been introduced or trialled over here(Madeira) :o With some species, I am stretching it to the extreme and the rest are well adapted to my slice of paradise in the Pearl of the Atlantic ;D Only time will tell if these badboys will thrive or get stunted and die...If they survive the first winter, which hopefully they will...I will be most happy and drink a few mojitos in heaven ;D I guess being a positive minded fellow, i will pass along some positive vibes into them trees and incentivate them to grow large and proud...to one day, get the privilege to taste some fruit's, from seeds that had a very long journey, over mighty Oceans and Lands to get to me  :) Another thing to add...I'm as stubborn as a mule and i will go through a wall to keep my babies safe and chirpy  :)
 
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puglvr1

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2012, 11:32:32 AM »
As you can see from my other post/pictures...I'm definitely a C Also!!

But...the older I get the less work I want to do...so I need to move or take my consequences  :'(

HMHausman

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2012, 11:49:39 AM »
I was a solid C person for many years, until my commitment into one of the local horticultural half way houses for wayward plant addicts.  Now, firmly in recovery and  definitely no worse than a B person, I haven't planted an ultratropical  seed or plant since.......well, shhhh, don't tell my sponsor, it was in August.

Harry
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ScottR

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2012, 12:06:42 PM »
I'm a C person in fact my wife keeps threatening me with a intervention! :-X But as years rack up on this body I finding it's easier to stop planting so much in the ground but plants in containers that's were I need the intervention! ::)   

Sleepdoc

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #15 on: September 27, 2012, 12:10:15 PM »
I'd say I'm a solid B ..

Cookie Monster

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #16 on: September 27, 2012, 12:24:08 PM »
i'm in the minority apparently. If it's a pain to grow, then it goes.
Jeff  :-)

Tim

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #17 on: September 27, 2012, 12:30:59 PM »
I voted A but leaning more towards B, my wife definitely hates my guts for making house plants out of my trees  ;D
Tim

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #18 on: September 27, 2012, 12:34:57 PM »
I'm a type "A". I only grow what I've eaten, loved, and have space for. All of which is tropical in nature. I'd love to have a jackfruit, malay apple, and hog plum tree in my yard. But they require too much space that a mango tree or two could have occupied otherwise  ;D . Mangoes are King, so thats what I'm sticking with. I could be evolviing into a border-line B since as of late I have no qualms buying mango cultivars that interest me that I have no space for and don't mind keeping them in their nursery pots they came in.
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Hollywood

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #19 on: September 27, 2012, 12:46:28 PM »
I am Type A. You can't really practice sustainable agriculture unless you are growing zone appropriate plants. And by "sustainable" I am referring not only to organic methods, but to labor as a resource as well. It is not sustainable from a time management perspective, IMHO, to constantly fuss over plants that have such low probability of success. But I am also busy with my own law practice, a family and a half acre garden, so I am a poor candidate for high maintenance plants!

Saltcayman

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #20 on: September 27, 2012, 02:58:34 PM »
Type B for sure.  I do my best to find the toughest varieties that I hope will someday survive on their own and taste good. Occasionally I throw in a wild card...  That is the fun of it:)

jcaldeira

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #21 on: September 27, 2012, 03:19:51 PM »
. . . Next month, I will transplant 4 rambutan that are less wind tolerant than I thought. . . .

Rambutan is notorious for being very wind sensitive, especially when plants are small.

Now you tell me!  I found out the hard way.  Oscar, you really need to take a vacation in Fiji  :)
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Mike T

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #22 on: September 27, 2012, 03:58:35 PM »
I used to be a type D personality and have been transitioning to a variant of type A over time.My past efforts have been focussed on trying to grow sub tropicals and temperates in a tropical climate.Figs,low chill stonefruit,feijoas and many others have defeated me.The heat,rain and humidity of my summer and autumn seems to be the killer.I do have atemoyas,guatemalan avos and sub tropical citrus near there limits.

fruitlovers

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #23 on: September 27, 2012, 04:31:42 PM »
. . . Next month, I will transplant 4 rambutan that are less wind tolerant than I thought. . . .

Rambutan is notorious for being very wind sensitive, especially when plants are small.

Now you tell me!  I found out the hard way.  Oscar, you really need to take a vacation in Fiji  :)

Don't tempt me! Maybe in 2013. I'm missing Fiji!  :-\
Oscar

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Re: Limitations: Push thy limits, or know thy boundaries?
« Reply #24 on: September 27, 2012, 04:34:05 PM »
Great thread you started Adam! I'm really enjoying it. More fun than going to an AA meeting.  ;)
Oscar