The Tropical Fruit Forum

Good points. And yes,  that plastic seems to universally loved by politians!  Real estate agents too .  Shouldn't be hard to get my hands on some. Glad you clarified that, as I initially thought you meant the corrugated poly-carbon sheets - it's a real good and cheap option. Cheers!

Okay, time to rethink plan. Was hoping roots were just fibrous and relatively easy to control.  There's no leach field as the septic is a mini-sewage processing unit - black water goes in, comes out clean and chlorinated  (then automatically pumps out into designated area). But yeah, the water is nutrient rich, and I guess if a root eventually found a micro-crack the trees could go nuts. I'll have a poke around and check out how easy a barrier is to install - it's too good a spot to pass up if I can help it. (It's a neglected flower bed, with good soil.) Thanks for all the advice!  ☺

Just wondering how invasive/destructive Sapodilla roots are? Would they be likely to cause damage to an underground concrete septic treatment-plant if they were planted  about 1metre distance from perimeter?

#7 looks like Queensland Kauri Pine.

Looks like Euphorbia lophogona, and yes, is not a fruit and is from Madagascar. You can propagate from cuttings; treat like a frangipani and allow cut to callous for a few weeks before planting. Watch out for the white latex though, as is poisonous and will burn.
I used to have a small selection of plants from Madagascar - really cool looking plants, and not too hard to care for. Then the fruit tree bug bit...

Looks like I'm in for a bumper crop of carambola's. I'll try many of the above uses, but what I really want to do is dry them. Does anyone know if the oxalic acid content is concentrated, or does it become unstable and get destroyed by the drying process?  Have tried a few google searches to no avail.

I have used in salads, and it is very nice, also in drinks. The main problem I've found can be excessive seediness in fruit that has cross-pollinated, a real pain picking the seeds out of the 'caviar' - solitary trees (at least in the improved cv's) seem to have few to no seeds. Also, a nasty resinous tasting taint of the little balls can occur from the oily skin of some varieties if not opened with care ( Rainforest Pearl is one).

I have similar problem to JC - I have an approx 4ft grafted Pantin that has not yet branched, so I'm finding this post most helpful (espec. good from Felipe with the photos). I have a cooler climate than JC though - is it ok to pinch out the tip in winter, or should I wait for warmer weather to return? (Winter temp is generally 46-68f .)  Also, is it advisable to seal the cut? Any advice would be good.

Something like an Olive pitting device may be what you need Kay.  The Miracle fruit has similar dimensions to olives, so shouldn't be too hard to fine tune it to your needs.

For future reference: mangosteen when over ripe tends to start to form hard shell on exterior. When very over ripe the whole exterior becomes extremely hard.

Sadly, these are the only ones ever offered at the local stores.   I've yet to taste one in its prime.

Here in Oz we have limited varieties of White Sapotes, but of them all Pike is usually considered inferior - the only areas where they develop decent tasting fruit is in the cooler southern states.  As previously mentioned they're likely to have bitter skin, and if no x-pollinator the fruit is very small -  it would be hard to seperate fruit from skin on small fruit.  Worth it?  Would be a good fruit to pursue a better cv though - the fruit, while not quite in league of mango or lychee, can be very good.

Quote from: MarinFla on April 21, 2013, 09:02:09 PM

I bought a 3 gal grafted one from Walmart some time back and returned it because I was given the impression you had to have cross pollination. I am not sorry at all that I took it bac but now I have to question that info....... are they self pollinating?

I think most cultivars of feijoa require cross pollination from a different cultivar. There may be a very few that are self pollinating, but they are the exception. Main problem with them though is not this, but lack of chill hours. Tropical places are not good for fruiting them. They really need a sub tropical climate. Here they do great at above 2000 foot elevation. No fruiting at sea level. Shy fruiting at about 1000 foot elevationl.

Local info. has it that they need 100-200 hrs of chill, and that those grown in cooler areas have a better taste. We have several varieties here with varying degrees of self-pollination, with one called "Unique" being touted as the only true self-pollinator - but even this one will fruit better with x-pollination.

There's some fellow who did a 15 yr trial with seedling Feijoa's near Sydney (with goal of producing new Australian cultivars) - he stated they all eventually fruited. He reckon's one of the biggest problems when lack of fruit is poor pollination, as the stamens are deep and pollen often does not reach even when plenty of bees etc., and the best pollination is by birds. To get the best results he opened up the trees to allow birds better access to all flowers.

Solanaceous species are another. Tamarillo can be grafted on Giant Devil's Fig, Eggplant on same or Wild Tobacco, Tomato on Eggplant. May be some other possibilities...