Introduce Yourself

[willowwater]

Hi Everyone. This my first post. I'm a fellow home garden and backyard orchard enthusiast living in the Bahamas. Moved into a new home about three or so years ago and begun developing yard (about 1/2 acre) as gift for my new bride. The yard has evolved from a few potted plants to include the list of plants below and growing. Fortunately my wife shares the passion and we make it a point to include some gardening event or tour whenever we visit US. During our last trip in July we attended Mango Festival at Fairchild, bought plants from Excalibur. Learned grafting from Noris Ledesma couple of years ago at Fairchild Farm. I am looking forward learning and sharing. 

Grape Varieties:
Muscadines:
Cowart and Fry (produce very nicely each year)

Table Grapes (seedless):
Thompson, Concord, Red flame, Black Manukka (in ground one year, work in progress)

Passion fruit:
Panama Red (snails got it), Florida Sunshine (vigorous with tart fruit), Purple possum (just got cuttings)

Citrus Varieties (as a group most challenging trees to grow well):
Myer Lemon (work horse)
Persian and Key Limes, Valencia and Navel orange, White and Pink grapefruit, Chandler Pomelo.

Mango Varieties: Carrie, Keitt, Kent, Pickering, Florigon, Haden, Lancitilla, Nam Doc Mi #4, Tommy Atkins

Guava Varieties: Peruvian and Thai White guavas, Ruby Supreme guava, Strawberry guava, pineapple guava other unnamed pinks

Florida Prince (great producer) and Florida Grande Peaches, Mayglo Nectarine,
Sapodilla (three trees), 
Jujube (Thai Giant, Thornless and Unnamed)
Pitomba, Grumichama,
Sugar apple, Red custard apple, Sour Sop Atemoya (Priestly and Geffner), Purple Caimito, Canistel (Trompo), Jack Fruit (Red morning),  Carambola (Sri Kembangan, Fwang Tung), White Sapote, Mamey Sapote (Mangana), Macadamia Nut (Dana White), Barbados Cherry, Jaboticaba, Wax Jambu (Red), Persimmon (Fayu), Lychees (Sweet heart, Mauritius, Brewster), Longan (Kohala), Black Sapote, Figs(Brown Turkey, Ischia Brown, Texas Blue Giant, Magnolia), Mulberry(Green, Pakistani, overbearing, unnamed), Monstero Deliciosa, Avocados, Acaia, Apples  Guardian Strawberries, Apache Blackberries. Sure I'm forgetting some stuff. Will try to post pics.

I sleep in my house....live in my yard. Welcomed to visit my plot if ever you get to Freeport hopefully will get to see some of yours.

[nullzero]

Welcome Willowwater, impressive list of trees.

[sg128]

Hi my name is Mike. I became interested in growing tropical fruits after sampling several on a trip to Mexico. In my yard I have a variety of tropical and non-tropical fruit trees including: green sapote, chicozapote, biriba, jaboticaba, avacodo, passion fruit, persimmon, and several others. I have actually been a lurker here for several months, but have never posted. I have picked up lots of useful information here and I hope that I can contribute information of my own as well.

[CapeCoralGuy]

Hi Everyone! Recently found this site....and love it!!!
Im ARA, living in the SW Florida area of Cape Coral. I currently have 20 fruit tress in my 1/3 acre residence.
they are:
Mangoes: Glenn, Maha Chanok, Keitt
Sapotes: Mamey Sapote (2) Viejos, Ross Sapote, Fairchild#2 Canistel
Sapodillas: (2) Silas Wood
Anonna Reticulatas: Fernandez, San Pablo
Avocado: Wurtz
Lemons/Limes: (2) Meyers Lemon, Persian Lime, Mexican Lime
Mandarine/Tangor: Shiranui Mandarine, King of Siam Tangor
Papayas: (2) Red ladies

[TheWaterbug]

Hello! I live on the inland side of Palos Verdes (Los Angeles suburbia), in a mild canyon. I just got started with tropical fruit last year, and I have:

1) A purple passionfruit of unknown variety, planted from seed obtained from my mother's vine (vine now deceased ) in April 2013 and transplanted into the ground in January 2014. It's about 35' from end to end, and I got about a dozen flowers this summer, but none of them set fruit:



2) Eight potted pineapple crowns of varying age from 0 to 30 months, one of which currently has a fruit the size of a hand grenade, three suckers, and two ratoons:



3) One Keitt and one Kent mango tree, purchased from Plant-O-Gram in Florida, and put in the ground in April 2014. The Kent has put on a few flushes of growth, and the Keitt currently has 3 fruit on it, the largest of which is about the size of a Keitt seed.:



4) One potted dwarf banana, purchased August '14 from 9GreenBox via amazon.com, and allegedly a Dwarf Cavendish.

5) Two potted Carica Papayas, from the same vendor on the same order.

6) Two potted vanilla orchid plants, purchased June 30 from Hirts via amazon, one of which hanging above my sink and one of which is in a pot, doubling as a cat bed.

I also have one box of bees, a pumpkin patch, a metric truckload of feral peafowl, and a motley assortment of squirrels and gophers.

Today I just mailed in an order to So Cal Plant Breeders for a Tequila Sunrise and a Gold Coast, so I'm already looking forward to 2015! Wish me luck!

[nullzero]

Waterbug,

Welcome to the forum. Nice start to the collection, the longer you post here... the more plants you will want to add to the collection. Any plans for Pouteria sp, Annona sp., and of course avocados. Maybe the passiflora vine should have a companion plant that is not a clone, also try getting some flowering plants nearby that attract pollinators.

[scashaggy]

Hello all,

New to the forum here.  I have just planted a dragon fruit cactus and am looking for more.  I lave to plant things in my yard that I can eat.  I also have mango and star fruit. I also want to get some bananas planted.

[tqn626]

My name is Tuan Nguyen,

Been an avid gardener for about 5 years. Mainly been into growing vegetables. Started to get into tropical fruit trees about a year ago.

[TheWaterbug]

Waterbug,

Welcome to the forum. Nice start to the collection, the longer you post here... the more plants you will want to add to the collection. Any plans for Pouteria sp, Annona sp., and of course avocados. Maybe the passiflora vine should have a companion plant that is not a clone, also try getting some flowering plants nearby that attract pollinators.

Thanks!

I can't say that I've even heard of those other two species. I had originally planned to plant an avocado, but my neighbor just put in a Haas, and we're good friends, and it's right next to the property line , so I probably don't have to plant one, myself.

I do wonder about my passionfruit. I've read that all purple varieties are self-fruitful, and this one is from a purple fruit, but I had zero of my flowers set fruit this year, so something's not right. I even have my own bees nearby, so I doubt I lack pollinators.

My oldest pineapple crown just started an inflorescence, so my march towards world domination is beginning!

I also just put a couple of store-bought coconuts in a bucket of water to soak, despite I know it's a fool's errand.

[Jani]

Hi All,

I just made a post about an issue I was having with my potted Graham Mango tree. Please forgive my poor manners for not introducing myself first. Been reading this site for a while now to get good information that I put to use.

So I look forward to contributing now. Growing up in the Caribbean I've always had a love for tropical fruit, particularly mango of course, and of those, the reverred (in the islands at least) Julie mango being my favorite. Many summers were spent on my grandfather's farm  helping with fruit and crops, and my father and uncle always planted all sorts of fruits..So I grew up with growing tropical fruit as part of me.

I've been living in south Florida for about 17 years now and luckily can grow many of the fruits and plants I grew up with back home(s).
Currently I have mango: Julie, Graham, Glen, Bombay seedling (all potted) & Pickering, NDM, Maha Chanok (in ground).
Lychee & Longan: Mauritius and Kohala (potted) & Sweetheart (in ground).
Citrus: key lime, persian lime, centennial kumquat, unknown mandarin seedling from Jamaica, unknown mandarin seedling from Trinidad (all potted) & sunburst tangering and 2 meyer lemons (in ground).
I also have a random collection of peppers, herbs, moringa and other stuff in pots and the ground.

So that's me in a nutshell...

Take care...

[Rob1977]

Sup everyone!

Im Rob and Im stoked to have found this site. I've been lurking daily for a couple months now and decided to sign up! I found this site after doing some research on Mangos. Ive been growing fruits for about 6-7 years now. Started off with citrus and veggies then I found out I could grow blueberries in my location. That was all she wrote and Ive been off to the races every since. My collection has grown, shrank then grew again as I cant seem to ever be satisified with the amount of trees I own. Im starting to venture into the tropicals now so last Feb I purchased a Sweetheart Lychee. Got 3 fruits off of it this summer and they were delicious! Now I have to have mangos...no questions about it. I understand there will be considerable effort protecting the tropicals in my location but I aint skeered;) Right now Im growing 7 varieties of blueberries with mutiple plants of most of them, lots of different figs, several citrus varieties, peaches and of course my Lychee. In the past Ive grown grapes, blackberries and strawberries as well. Want to let you guys know yall have great site going here with tons of good reads and info. Hope I can pick some of your about mangos and lychee. It should be a fun ride!

[gunnar429]

Welcome, Rob.  Be sure to check out some of the newer Zills varieties as well as maha chanok.

[Waterfall]

Hello All, my name is Joel, we have purchased our first home about 1.5 years ago now about 7km (4 miles) from the coast in Sydney, Australia. I have since become obsessed with growing fruit and veg, mostly fruit.

We have about 50 different types of fruit tree now growing on our small 590m² (6350ft²) block, most of them are too small to fruit but we have been eating blueberries, black mulberries and limes and have raspberries, blackberries, peaches and nectarines with fruit set. Also flowers on the lychee, custard apple, KP mango and babaco.

I have recently adopted some aspects of permaculture and done a complete makeover of the front yard. There are lots of veggies growing and about 18 fruit trees.

[goosteen]

Hello,  I've live in So Cal, and love the forum.  I recently bought a 50 acre hill and got into growing fruit trees.  I have about 50 trees in the ground so far with more ready to go.  I keep most of my planting on the high part because cold sensitive stuff is just more interesting.  I'm still making beginner mistakes, and figuring out to how to properly irrigate my trees.  I'm here to learn, and read up on new cold tolerant trees that I might some day be able to grow.   

[gunnar429]

welcome goosteen, I am jealous of the 50 acres.  What trees are you already growing?  If you like mamey sapote, green sapote may work for you, and it has decent cold-tolerance. 

Loquats are pretty cold tolerant
Jaboticaba too.

[durian]

Hi everybody,

What a great forum!

I'm Sara. I have a degree in botany and I've been growing tropical fruit trees indoors (outdoors in the summer) for years.

Trees I have successfully grown:

Annona squamosa (sweetsop) -- bloomed like crazy
Annona muricata (soursop)
Annona x atemoya (atemoya)
Asimina triloba (pawpaw) -- two young trees growing in my yard
Averrhoa carambola (starfruit)
Citrus x paradisi (grapefruit) -- flowered and produced a fruit indoors when it was only about a foot tall!
Coffea arabica (coffee) -- tree grown from a seed given to me by a friend. I still have it; it's about 6' tall.
Diospyros kaki (persimmon) -- I still have one of these as a house plant. It's about 5 years old.
Durio zibethinus (durian), from fresh durians I bought in Chinatown. The little trees are beautiful, but very susceptible to scale. None survived being billeted with friends when I was out of the country.
Litchi chinensis (lychee)
Tamarindus indica (tamarind)

Also, probably some others that I forgot. Most of these small trees were donated to the local university greenhouse when I moved to a much shadier home.

I found the forum while searching for tips on growing Illicium sp. (star anise). I currently have several large terrariums with crested geckos (Correlophus ciliatus), a New Caledonian species, and I was hoping to grow more woody New Caledonian plants and/or basal angiosperms in there.

[wu]

Hello I am from Taiwan in home grown longans and citrus

[Daintree]

Durio zibethinus (durian), from fresh durians I bought in Chinatown. The little trees are beautiful, but very susceptible to scale. None survived being billeted with friends when I was out of the country.

Hi Sara,
Wow!  I am jealous that you can get fresh durian up there!  I have only been able to score frozen ones, which of course don't do me any good at all.
I have an African/Oriental market that I check regularly, and have started Jakfruit, cherimoya, lychee, and all sorts of fruit trees from fruit I have bought there.

Hope you have fun in the forum - it is an awesome place to feed your addiction!

Carolyn

[Daintree]

Hello I am from Taiwan in home grown longans and citrus

Hi,
Those are beautiful, and look delicious!  But your dog seems a little worried, like you might sell him along with the longans...

Carolyn

[TheWaterbug]

I also just put a couple of store-bought coconuts in a bucket of water to soak, despite I know it's a fool's errand.

And it's germinating!!

[Nispero]

Hi there

I am a botanist and born in Europe, where I used to check out speciality stores (e.g. Asian stores) for fancy and unusual fruit. At the moment i am living in the Dominican Republic - and enjoy the variety of tropical fruits.
I love that there is no need to bring my passionflowers indoors in "winter". I miss Kumquat however, so i will try to grow my own. Anybody knows whether they will grow/fruit in a 13B climate?

cheers Martin

[fruitlovers]

Hi there

I am a botanist and born in Europe, where I used to check out speciality stores (e.g. Asian stores) for fancy and unusual fruit. At the moment i am living in the Dominican Republic - and enjoy the variety of tropical fruits.
I love that there is no need to bring my passionflowers indoors in "winter". I miss Kumquat however, so i will try to grow my own. Anybody knows whether they will grow/fruit in a 13B climate?

cheers Martin

Yes kumquat can grow in the tropics. I have some growing here in Hawaii.

[Nispero]

Yes kumquat can grow in the tropics. I have some growing here in Hawaii.

Hi fruitlovers,

Thanks for the encouraging news. Seems kumquat are a little tricky to find here on the island - I'll keep my eyes open.

cheers Nispero

[Newgraft]

Hi Everyone

I am in Palm Springs CA   We moved here 2 yrs ago and  bought a house with 1 orange 2 grapefruit and a lemon tree all are mature producing trees.   I have since planted a fig, a peach and 2 varieties of apple (said to do well in the desert) and a mango (phillipine, not mature or producing yet). 

I travel for work and pleasure.  Recently, in Vietnam and Cambodia, we experienced having passion fruit for breakfast every morning and loved it.  SO.... I planted 3 passion fruit vines.

I am interested in grafting my citrus trees (from CCPP UC riverside grafts) and my mango tree not sure where to get budwood for mango yet. 

If anyone in the area has advice and/or Mango budwood  I would appreciate it.

I really enjoy all of the info on here and look forward to information and opinions posted.

     

[nullzero]

Hi Everyone

I am in Palm Springs CA   We moved here 2 yrs ago and  bought a house with 1 orange 2 grapefruit and a lemon tree all are mature producing trees.   I have since planted a fig, a peach and 2 varieties of apple (said to do well in the desert) and a mango (phillipine, not mature or producing yet). 

I travel for work and pleasure.  Recently, in Vietnam and Cambodia, we experienced having passion fruit for breakfast every morning and loved it.  SO.... I planted 3 passion fruit vines.

I am interested in grafting my citrus trees (from CCPP UC riverside grafts) and my mango tree not sure where to get budwood for mango yet. 

If anyone in the area has advice and/or Mango budwood  I would appreciate it.

I really enjoy all of the info on here and look forward to information and opinions posted.

   

Best to talk to Mango Fang on the forums here. He lives in your area and has a lot of mango trees.