The Tropical Fruit Forum

It is very far from frost-tender, so you're in the right spot.

How rare is self-fertility in pawpaws? I've got two seedlings of either Sunflower or Prima 1216 (the seller couldn't tell me which was which) and one of them flowered this spring for the first time (at 6 years old, I believe). I did some hand-pollination on itself, as the other tree didn't flower and voila, I had 12 fruits this year. There isn't a single pawpaw tree anywhere near, so I'm totally positive that it's self-fertile. So have I hit jackpot, or is this more common than I think?

Judging buy the leaves and the fact that the fruit isn't lobed, I'd say you've got a Eugenia Pitanga (Pitanga-peba, Creeping Pitanga) rather than Eugenia Uniflora which would be your regular Pitanga. Does this one have any of that diesel flavor that Pitangas are notorious for?

Did you verify?

Avocado flowers first open as female then close and open up again as male. This is why what your friend said is a bit strange because I would think that it isn't possible for an avocado flower to just skip the female stage. When it comes to when exactly these flowers open and close, there are 2 types - A and B. With the A types, the flowers open up as female in the morning, then close in the afternoon and then open up again as males in the afternoon of the next day. The B type flowers open up as female in the afternoon, then close down and open up as male the following morning. This means that in their natural habitat, you will have an overlap between type A and type B trees, where one type will have male flowers and the other female which essentially allows for cross pollination.

According to a source I found, this dynamic is a bit disrupted outside of the native range and it can happen that there's overlap of male and female flowers on the same tree, essentially making it self-pollinating, but apparently this can only be the case with type A while type B can never be self-pollinating. Now I haven't confirmed this so please take it with a grain of salt.

I can tell you that I found a Mexican avocado tree in my hometown of Bar, Montenegro that looks like it's at least 10 years old and that blooms every year heavily but never sets fruit. When I went to check the flowers out one morning, they appeared to be male which would indicate it's a type B. Close to it there's another, much younger tree (I don't know if it's Mexican because its leaves didn't smell like licorice) which actually had two fruits last year, but I haven't confirmed its type.

So maybe your friend simply has a type B and that's why he's not getting any fruit.

So from now on, we just won't be able to send PMs, and that's it?

Is July too late to graft white sapote?

DHL costs around $100 and arrives in three days.
However you're not allowed to bring plant material so they might confiscate them at the customs I'd they check.

Wow, that expensive really? I just received a DHL package from Spain today with some persimmon cuttings. Absolutely no issues at the border. I paid about 25 EUR.

Does anyone have any advice on how many buds to leave, after grafting? I'm assuming 3 to 4, like with other fruit trees, but maybe white sapote is different?

Hi, Nexxogen. I'm in the same situation - if i order it and there will be no opportunity to  graft the scions immediately because of some reasons ( job, cold weather in my region 9a ), I should think about how to store them. Could you find the answer?

Sorry for not spotting your question before. I've been advised by Felipe to wrap in parafilm (they came already wrapped in it) and store them inside a plastic bag, in a cool and dark place, but NOT in the refrigerator as it is too cold in there, according to him. They won't last for months, but they will last for a while, especially if they are about pencil-thick.

Just so you know, my two grafts that took last year were doing nothing for at least 3 months and then all of a sudden decided to start growing. I had long given up hope at that point. I have no idea why they did that, but I'm not complaining. The point is, there's a chance that this might happen to you too, so don't give up hope too soon if nothing happens in a month.

Guys, if you had to pick 5 of these 8 varieties, which ones would you choose? I'm primarily looking for flavor and the lack of bitterness. Sweetness and fruit size aren't important.

1. Suebelle
2. Vernon
3. Walton
4. Lemon Gold
5. Santa Cruz
6. Leroy
7. Younghans Gold
8. Nies

Any updates on these rooted cuttings? Are they doing alright? I have 5 seedlings that are ready for grafting but I have an opportunity to get scions of more varieties than that, so rooting the ones that won't end up being grafted would be a great way to have more than 5 varieties.

I have a few seedlings of what the eBay seller claimed was the 'Black Star' variety. The fruits are dark red but not so much that they look black and the gasoline flavor is constantly there and simply too much for me to enjoy the fruit which would otherwise be excellent.

I've heard that Cherry of the Rio Grande and Savanah Cherry don't have this gasoline flavor at all. Can someone confirm this?