Author Topic: caimito fruit- star apple  (Read 32323 times)

lycheeluva

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caimito fruit- star apple
« on: March 29, 2012, 01:36:11 PM »
this is one of the less rare fruits that i have not yet tried. am i missing anything? anyone growing it in FL? if yes, when does it ripen in FL.

NewGen

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2012, 01:46:35 PM »
One of the best tasting fruits. I don't think I've seen one fresh here in CA, frozen yes, but not off the tree fresh. Must be because they're soft when ripe, not conducive to long distance shipping.

Sleepdoc

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2012, 01:49:53 PM »
I have an established Caimito tree.  For some reason, mine is quite shy-bearing.  Out of the last 5 years, I have only had 3 fruits make it to maturity fully developed and flavored.  I do like it a lot, if only mine produced more ...

lycheeluva

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2012, 01:53:10 PM »
When does it ripen Sleep Doc in your yard?

Felipe

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #4 on: March 29, 2012, 02:07:19 PM »
Over here it rippens in summer. Very nice sweet taste. Beautiful tree and very aromatic when flowering! But I'm not sure if it will fruit in container, if this was your next question...

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2012, 02:10:27 PM »
Some people love this fruit. I am not a big fan.  Gelatinous flesh and gummy latex near the rind are negative factors for me.  They are sweet, but lack any real complexity in flavor. Very pretty tree and appetizing fruit.  I think it is not quite as good as its cousin, the abiu, IMO. The trees can get huge and all the ones that I have had......with the exception of the latest planting, have blown over in storms.  And I'm not even referring to hurricanes....a vigorous afternoon thunderstorm has done in one of my trees when it was fully loaded with fruit.

Harry
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lycheeluva

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2012, 02:27:46 PM »
felipe- not sure where i am going this!
really wanted to get some feedback on the fruit before deciding what next!
hopefully, i can taste one when im in florida in mid july

murahilin

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2012, 02:55:50 PM »
felipe- not sure where i am going this!
really wanted to get some feedback on the fruit before deciding what next!
hopefully, i can taste one when im in florida in mid july

If I remember correctly, in Florida it usually fruits around March. Someone may have fruit on their trees right now for you to try.

When you say "deciding what next", do you mean possibly growing in NY? I think even the grafted trees may get too big before they start holding fruit to be able to be grown easily indoors. Maybe someone has had success growing them in a greenhouse/indoors?

lycheeluva

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2012, 03:06:02 PM »
sheehan, want to use your incredible sex appeal to try and source one for me?

Cookie Monster

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2012, 03:14:54 PM »
Yah, I'd agree with Mr Sheehan. If you're a 'gringo', you're probably not going to instantly like it :-). And, they don't seem to be very precocious, so potted culture could be a giant game of patience :-). It does make a great ornamental though.

felipe- not sure where i am going this!
really wanted to get some feedback on the fruit before deciding what next!
hopefully, i can taste one when im in florida in mid july

If I remember correctly, in Florida it usually fruits around March. Someone may have fruit on their trees right now for you to try.

When you say "deciding what next", do you mean possibly growing in NY? I think even the grafted trees may get too big before they start holding fruit to be able to be grown easily indoors. Maybe someone has had success growing them in a greenhouse/indoors?
Jeff  :-)

Andrew78

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #10 on: March 29, 2012, 03:23:34 PM »
I have had one growing in a pot for three years now. Hardly any growth at all..I got mine from Top Tropicals before I really new anything about them. I wish I would have done my research! LOL.That's all I'm saying.


In the past 3 years, I have had maybe 8inches of good growth and that's about it. It is a nice looking tree. The back of the leaf is nice and shiny.

Lycheeluva, as far as fruiting goes, I think I will be long gone before this tree eber grows large enough to fruit! LOL!

Andrew

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #11 on: March 29, 2012, 03:27:39 PM »
Yah, though they turn into giant trees, they seem to grow quite slowly in pots - when young at least.

I have had one growing in a pot for three years now. Hardly any growth at all..I got mine from Top Tropicals before I really new anything about them. I wish I would have done my research! LOL.That's all I'm saying.


In the past 3 years, I have had maybe 8inches of good growth and that's about it. It is a nice looking tree. The back of the leaf is nice and shiny.

Lycheeluva, as far as fruiting goes, I think I will be long gone before this tree eber grows large enough to fruit! LOL!

Andrew
Jeff  :-)

Tim

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #12 on: March 29, 2012, 03:39:24 PM »
Yah, I'd agree with Mr murahilin. If you're a 'gringo', you're probably not going to instantly like it :-). And, they don't seem to be very precocious, so potted culture could be a giant game of patience :-). It does make a great ornamental though.
We had three huge & tall trees way back when, two of which never seem to bore any fruit while the 3rd produced so much that we had to have pickers come at least 2-3 times in season.

If you're skilled enough, pot culture or bonsai is possible

Tim

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #13 on: March 29, 2012, 04:23:39 PM »
Excalibur had a purple caimito (yes, N in ground tree of substantial size) fruiting a month or two ago.
- Rob

bsbullie

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #14 on: March 29, 2012, 04:28:09 PM »
Excalibur had a purple caimito (yes, N in ground tree of substantial size) fruiting a month or two ago.
Correction, forgot we are in late March...was probably two or three months ago (time is sort of a blur).
- Rob

Sleepdoc

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #15 on: March 29, 2012, 05:37:46 PM »
When does it ripen Sleep Doc in your yard?

IIRC, it's usually Feb/March.  No fruit this year :(

My tree is pretty big, like 30ft tall with a trunk about 12 inches in diameter.  I seriously doubt pot culture is a good option, at least with an individual similar to my tree.  My fruit are green, and turn purple when ripe  ...Pretty cool fruit IMO  ... Just wish it produced more
« Last Edit: March 29, 2012, 06:05:29 PM by Sleepdoc »

murahilin

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #16 on: March 29, 2012, 05:45:19 PM »
Hopefully Noel will chime in about his tree and include some pics. I was at his house last weekend and he has a really nice looking tree that I think is over 10 years old he said. He bought it grafted from Excalibur and it has not fruited yet. I think he said it was getting ready to flower soon.

lycheeluva

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #17 on: March 29, 2012, 05:53:25 PM »
well i guess i aint buying  a tree, but would love to taste a fruit- they look very cool

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #18 on: March 29, 2012, 06:10:19 PM »
Hopefully Noel will chime in about his tree and include some pics. I was at his house last weekend and he has a really nice looking tree that I think is over 10 years old he said. He bought it grafted from Excalibur and it has not fruited yet. I think he said it was getting ready to flower soon.

Starapple, or caimito, is an excellent fruit. In my opinion it's superior to abiu, not just in taste but also in the fact that no fruit flies sting them. Also they are a much more attractive fruit inside in color and shape than abiu. Here every single abiu is stung by oriental fruit fly unless you go through extra work of bagging every fruit or spraying, neither of which i do. The starapple has a thick enough rind that fruit flies cannot penetrate. The flavor is reminiscent of milk shake. In fact in Vietnam they call the fruit something like Mother's milk, or breast milk. Latex next to skin not a problem if you know how to eat it. You cut crosswise and spoon out, not eating parts very close to exterior skin.
I'm o f the opinion that i have the best and largest cultivar of starapple. I posted photos before but here goes again. Haitian on left and mine on right. As you can see it is way larger than Haitian cultivar:. (Really don't think Haitian is a good cultivar.)


I have not named it yet or registered yet. I'm willing to sell budwood to anyone interested. This tree does get large, but with pruning could be controlled to small size. My trees started fruiting from seed in about 5 years. They fruit abundantly always in beginning of Spring, so i'm eating them right now! I have a couple of grafted cultivars of green types but don't recommend them as here they get easily mold growing on the fruit. They are much thinner skinned and crack easily in our rainy environment. Might be good in Florida though? These green cultivars seem to stay a bit smaller than the purple.
Oscar
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #19 on: March 29, 2012, 06:56:07 PM »
I've had a Haitian in ground a little over 1 year and it is flowering and setting tiny fruit from 1 branch. Its about 3-4ft tall.
The pink and green ones are smaller trees and fruit quicker from seed. Fruits are very small, just right for scooping with a tea spoon. They dont seem to have the gold velvet underside to the leaves.
The gold ones are supposed to be quite cold tolerant.
Grafting onto satin leaf is supposed to dwarf them. I'd imagine grafting onto a pink or green would also.

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #20 on: March 29, 2012, 06:58:17 PM »
Starapple, or caimito, is an excellent fruit. In my opinion it's superior to abiu, not just in taste but also in the fact that no fruit flies sting them. Also they are a much more attractive fruit inside in color and shape than abiu. Here every single abiu is stung by oriental fruit fly unless you go through extra work of bagging every fruit or spraying, neither of which i do. The starapple has a thick enough rind that fruit flies cannot penetrate. The flavor is reminiscent of milk shake. In fact in Vietnam they call the fruit something like Mother's milk, or breast milk. Latex next to skin not a problem if you know how to eat it. You cut crosswise and spoon out, not eating parts very close to exterior skin.

I'm of the opinion that i have the best and largest cultivar of starapple. I posted photos before but here goes again. Haitian on left and mine on right. As you can see it is way larger than Haitian cultivar:. (Really don't think Haitian is a good cultivar.)
I have not named it yet or registered yet. Oscar

As I said, some people love them. As far as the flavor being like "milk shake" I'm not really sure what you mean.  You mean like vanilla milkshake or another flavor.  Your description does not remotely express anything I've encountered and I wonder if I've been missing something in my caimito/starapple experience.  Oscar, your fruit is really quite impressive and do not doubt that it is one of the best, if not the best I have ever seen. Thankfully, we do not have flies attacking either of the two here in Florida so that negates that one serious issue you are having with abiu.  As far as overall attractiveness of the fruit, you are obviously correct.  The same goes for the foliage of the trees in comparison....caimito has the attractiveness down, for sure.
Harry
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #21 on: March 29, 2012, 07:08:49 PM »
Gringo Bias Warning: Jeff prefers abiu to caimito :-). Not sure if the missus would agree though :-).
Jeff  :-)

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #22 on: March 29, 2012, 07:11:06 PM »
Hey...maybe it is because we haven't ever had Oscar's caimito.

Harry
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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #23 on: March 29, 2012, 07:41:28 PM »
If I had in front of me, a plate of p. caimito and a plate of c. cainito, I'd happily eat both.  ;D

Tim

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Re: caimito fruit- star apple
« Reply #24 on: March 29, 2012, 08:35:11 PM »






Tim