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Messages - Rob P

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1
Are you sure that is a Rambutan, and you didn't get your seeds mixed up? It seems to have more of a Garcinia growth habit.

2
It is still a young tree, give it time to spread. Always cutting young non-bearing trees just keeps them in a vegative state, the plan is normally to get fruit as soon as possible.

3
I have four large trees from three different sources which are all well over 20years old, and none of them produce fruit worth eating (small and sour). Not wanting to give up on this fruit I recently obtained a really nice variety sourced from a fruit research station in Borneo, this tree was bought from a top grower in North Queensland and planted just over 3 weeks ago. It has already put on a lot of growth, so hopefully in a few years I can enjoy these fruits! If this is the case I can top work my other trees to this variety in the future.

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Hi Fruitlovers,
Do you have the one tree or several? As I have just one tree which makes only female flowers, very occasionally it will set a miniature seedless fruit which will ripen and is pleasant in taste, just not much of it as these fruits are only an inch in diameter.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Garcinia hombroniana question
« on: January 15, 2019, 07:12:58 PM »
I have a large female Garcinia benthamii which is also 5+ meters tall that will occasionally  set the odd miniature seedless fruit that ripens to a light orange colour. The tiny amount of flesh in these fruit has a very pleasant taste, so it would be nice to get some full sized fruit. I too find it hard to cut out such a lovely big tree, next season I will try to use pollen from my G.xanthochymus in an attempt to get fruit set.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rainforest Plum Quality Variability
« on: January 09, 2019, 10:11:43 PM »
Could you give the scientific name of the rainforest plum in question, as there are many different fruits called Rainforest Plum, especially in Australia?

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Marang: my first Flower!
« on: November 28, 2018, 05:57:14 PM »
It might be worthwhile planting another Marang as most but not all trees need cross-pollination, fruit with only a few or no arils (0-7 arils ) could eventuate as in my case where I only planted one tree. I have since planted a second tree from a self-fertile form that I obtained from a very grower in North Queensland.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Marang Climate? Ecuador
« on: October 23, 2018, 09:39:23 PM »
Marang has been seen growing to an altitude of 1600M in parts of its natural distribution very close to the equator. This species is not just restricted to the lowlands, but grows over a large altitude range as does A.elasticus and A. lancifolius. Also Durio graveolens is found at much higher altitudes than D.zibethinus, so would be worth a try as well.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Marang in California or Florida
« on: August 08, 2018, 12:16:03 AM »
Comparing min. and max. temps between two places does not tell the whole story. The speed of the recovery temp during the morning and how quickly the temps drop in the evening comes into play as does the humidity and rainfall, not just how much but what part of the year gets the most amount of rain. Southern California has mostly a very warm to hot  Mediterranean type climate with mostly winter rainfall and not that much of it and fairly low humidity, the Gold Coast has a true sub-tropical mild monsoonal climate, the rainfall pattern is like that of North Queensland and other tropical places. Mid to late winter up to mid spring is the dry season, late spring to start of summer sees thunderstorms as the build up to the wet season, mid summer to mid Autumn (Jan. to April) is the wet season where rainfall and humidity peaks. If you think about it this rainfall pattern matches the growth cycle of most tropical tree crops, Marang needs some watering during our winter and spring as it originates from areas with no marked dry season. If the severe cold snap of nights (day time temps still in the low 70's) I had this mid July would have occured back when the Marang was very young (15 to 18 years ago) it probably would have died or been severely damaged. I would say that south East Queensland to the very north of North East NSW is probably the limit for growing this species here in Australia providing you have the right soil and a good micro-climate (including good wind breaks) to grow it in and of course ample irrigation. Always plant two trees to make sure your fruit is full of arils as most Marangs need cross-pollination.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Marang in California or Florida
« on: August 07, 2018, 05:00:38 AM »
JF temps at my location are a bit higher than the ones you quoted, apart from the run of cold nights I had between the 14th and 19th of July temps have been fairly mild and mid winter max. temps have been around 73oF. This resulted in the Marang pushing out a flush of new leaves right in the middle of winter, also rainfall and humidity are much higher than Brisbane on the Gold Coast hinterland. The micro climate in the elevated gully where the tree grows is also very good and is a natural sun trap, max temps for the first week of Aug. (late winter here) have averaged around 75oF so far.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Marang in California or Florida
« on: August 03, 2018, 08:11:43 PM »
JF my tree is growing 80 klms (50 miles) south of Brisbane in a well protected gully with good wind breaks in a well structured red/brown volcanic clay loam. The lowest temps it has felt were in 2007 when two very cold nights saw temp hit a min. of 3 and 3.5oC, two weeks ago saw the end of the longest really cold I have had here in 30 years. Min. temps were 3.6, 4.4, 7.6, 4.6, 5.4 and 5.4oC (38.5 - 45.9oF) over 6 nights, what made things worse were that temps were below 10oC by early evening so exposure to the cold was prolonged. The tree dropped a few older leaves and some of the older leaves look a bit yellow, but the new buds and young leaves that were pushing before the cold snap are growing and expanding fine 2 weeks after the event. The tree is about 18 years old and 35 or so feet tall, hopefully it will be another 30 years before I see another cold snap this bad again!

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Marang in California or Florida
« on: August 03, 2018, 12:48:59 AM »




This is my fruiting Marang a bit north of John Picone's tree, its on the Gold Coast hinterland at 28o South. When pushing the climatic limits for a tree you really need the right type of soil and good wind breaks.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Slow-growing Marang (Terap)
« on: June 29, 2018, 09:54:43 PM »
Your seedling tree needs more shade and probably water as well. Once they get to this stage they usually become stunted and may or may not recover and grow well even if you correct the shading and water, proper shading is very important for Marang until they are at least 6 to 8 feet tall. I made the same mistake with my first young tree and gave it too much sun when it was only 2 foot tall, I corrected this for my second tree and it thrived and fruited even in my marginal climate.


14
Kensington Pride is a vigorous polyembrionic variety that could be tried, is has a very nice distinctive flavor, it does have a small amount of fiber. This variety is used a lot in breeding here in Australia to incorporate some of its flavor to the progeny as it is so familiar to the locals. R2E2 is a very popular variety which is a cross of KP and Kent for memory, it is a very large fruit with little fiber. Being a cross of a monoembrionic and a polyembrionic parent about half of the fruit contain a polyembionic seed, so these seed, can also be tried. Banana-1 is another Australian polyembionic selection that could be tried as well as one called Strawberry, I am happy send seed of all these if required as long as you arrange your own import permits. There are two more polyembrionic varieties that could be tried that are available in the US, one is Nam Doc Mai and the other is Early Gold, this last one is said to have moderate/high anthracnose tolerance.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Historic marang
« on: May 20, 2018, 01:20:11 AM »
Mike T I have a fairly good micro-climate in the little valley where I live, but I think just as important is my soil type a red/brown volcanic clay loam. I am about to plant out more Artocarpus species, but like Marang only species that are found from the lowlands up to 1300M or more that can handle the lower mean average temperatures of my Sub-tropical winters.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Historic marang
« on: May 19, 2018, 03:42:46 AM »
A couple of photos of my tree for comparison.




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Here is a photo of my Kuini, a selected variety from the collection of David Chandlee. It is grafted onto common mango (M.indica) and has been in the ground for about 16 years.


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Just a thought about selecting mango varieties for So.cal. One way to make it easier for the average gardener that does not require grafting skills, would be to select vigorous polyembryonic  varieties that are suited to your soils. To this day over half of the Australian commercial production of mangoes is based on the polyembryonic variety "Kensington Pride" which are produced from seedling trees! . This variety has the drawback of being very vigorous and orchards in tropical Australia use mechanised pruners to keep them manageable, but this would not be an issue in your climate. In fact a variety with lots of vigor would would be perfect for your cooler climate.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Historic marang
« on: May 13, 2018, 08:47:03 PM »
This tree may not be a Marang (Artocarpus odorissimus), but another Artocarpus species or hybrid as leaf shape is not typical for that species.

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Hi all, as I live in the southern hemisphere my Marang fuits from late Feb. to mid April depending on the season (late summer to mid autumn here in Australia). So if anyone in the US wants seed to plant in your spring I can probably help out next season.

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The most important thing to do when planting out your seedlings is erecting a frame around them with some 50% shadecloth. These trees start out as under story plants and develop really big multi-lobed leaves to gather as much light to help them grow towards the canopy, if young trees are given full sun too early they will become stunted and harsh looking and stop growing and eventually die. This effect is more pronounced in marginal or less humid climates, I shade my young trees until they are 8 or 9 feet tall and slowly remove the shadecloth in sections during the wet season when humidity and cloud cover are high. As trees mature the leaves change shape to their adult form, this change could also be used as a guide to give plants more sun.

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I have grown and fruited a Marang in South East Queensland, Australia  at latitude 28o South which has a climate almost like Tampa or Melbourne in Florida in regards to mean average temps and rainfall, except that I do not get the occasional freezes that they get. In 2007 we had a one in fifty year cold snap that saw two morning min. temps at 3 and 3.5oC and the tree was just fine.

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