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Messages - Kada

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1
Hello all.  We were photographing stick insects over the weekend and in the Pandanus forests we came across a jewel of a variegated specimen.  the rod crew had even just cut it while clearing paths. 

Normally I wouldnt want to take a cut this way, but for this reason we must.  It is about 10 cm thick and no roots.  but it does have some cut thin roots.

Any particular tricks with these guys?  I live in their native range so the weather should be fine.  I have it under 50% shade cloth for the moment.    Have cut most the leaves away to avoid dehydration..

Iwas thinking about the sand.  they grow almost explosively close totthe ocean.  I wonder if the salt spray would somehow help prevent certain fubgi/bacteria that may cause rot?  Trying to decide to get eiver sand or back sand (mostly coral/shell here)

Worried about rot.  Appreciate any thoughts as this stem I really want to survive and get propagated for the trade.








2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Organic scale control
« on: April 19, 2022, 12:40:39 AM »
We dont grow in a greenhouse.  But in the fields we control ants and scale is a minor concern.  We make boric acid traps and place them around the farms

3
Was hoping if someone recognized these guys.  Very soft white hairs on silvery green foliage.  White flowers and the fruit faces upwards much like birds eye.









Thanks for any help :)

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Digging Up Established Cherimoya Trees?
« on: February 21, 2022, 09:09:59 AM »
Kada, Wow, excellent job of digging and wrapping the roots. That is a professional job, way to much work for me. My cherimoya has a larger trunk than yours in the photo and is about 18 ft tall. I will just air layer many branches. then just chop it down, get minimum root ball and see if it survives in a large planter.

Looks like your digging and careful root wrapping may take about 3-4 hrs to accomplish. Very nice though.



For  atree your size probbaly would take us about 1 hour for top work and 2 hours for root ball wotk (with excavator)  maybe 4 hours by hand.  Its amazing how rocks slow down the process dw to spil breakage.

I agree its nt worth for cherimoya.  But sometimes people have sentimental reasons for keepin therwise common trees :)


I too have had terrible success air layering herimoya.  Have had success with A. montana and muricata though.

Why not graft?  They are easily grafted and perhaps rootstocks are easily available?  All commercial annona here in taiwan are grafted.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Bixa orellana seed germination.
« on: February 21, 2022, 09:03:54 AM »
Ok great thanks.  Will try sand paper this time.

I am harvesting at full maturity.  Perhaps harvest younger to avoid fungal problems?  Or do you guys use the same?

I have always been using #4.  #3 seems fully matre when opened as well.


Inside #4




6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Digging Up Established Cherimoya Trees?
« on: February 19, 2022, 12:02:11 AM »
Will be lts of work, and probably an excavator.  But they are certainly moveavle.

Here is how we move trees, big t o small.


Prune most the foliage off the tree to avoid dehydration.

Dig circle around it.

Trim roots with sheers/fine saw.  Use a sgarpened sovel to shave soil smooth into a circle. 

Clip and roots left stickin out from aoil.

Wrap in plastic.
Tie

 move













The tree vehind is Annona muicata.  About 6 stems of 15 plus cm diameter from the base.  We moved that too but no pics same method.  It isnt pruned yet.



Want to keep the bark from dehydrating if your sun is hot.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Bixa orellana seed germination.
« on: February 18, 2022, 11:49:05 PM »
Cheers thanks.  May i ask if you guys use any particular mixes to avoid fugus etc?  Such as sand. 

Are you drying the seeds further when harvesing, or directly from the pod to the soil?

Thanks for the input.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Bixa orellana seed germination.
« on: February 18, 2022, 12:42:58 AM »
Any tips.  I am having really terrible germination!  2 years running.  We ha e big trees so have mature fresh seed.  Tried fresh, dried and various levels in between.

Any tips for this one?  I am getting like 1 to 2 percent :(

9
Thanks for the thoughts.  We do fertilize and the leaves are generally healthy looking.  I wonder now though if maybe the heavy rains are leaching the soil. Never thought of that.

10
Seeking some advice from other growers.  We grow in fields (commercial) a few varieties that are well suited to our climate. 

We get down to the mid teens in winter with high winds and high humidity.  We get up to 40 in summer.  Typhoons are the main variable.  We dont flood as w have worked out drainage, but weeks of rain can keep things wet.....

We are certified organic, so cannot spray.

The varieties we are having the biggest trouble with are:

Ghost pepper (summer typhoons)

Jalapenos (having year round issues of poor growth)

Serrano (same as jalapeno)

Habanero (constant fruit rot in wet season)


Anyone else in the same boat?  We can redo fields and try different ways, just cannot use chemicals.

All seem to be water related issues.

We use raised rows with AG fabric as a mulch with pipes inserted under the plastic for irrigation.  Recently we are using rice hulls in between to limit weeds, but just started using these.  Have been having issues for a few years now.

Appreciate any thoughts.

11
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Toona sinensis
« on: April 17, 2021, 12:34:52 PM »
Its  acommon herb used in Buddhist vegetarian cooking in taiwan.  They dont eat onion, garlic etc and this replaces that.  The beefy/oniony flavor seems right.  Personally not a fan, but millions love it.  It will grow strong year round if you dont get too cold.  Fairly drought resistant.

12
Theeds are real!  But same as everything else.  They grow just fine as a field crop.  Just more work with weeds and pests.

13
I would think California is a bit for them.  They do love water.

Heres one of the fields we just redid.





My favorite uses are milk drinks, breads and cokked with rice, yum!

14
We grow these for fresh herb marke t.  If you still need trees and can import them, send me an email.  formosaenvironments@gmail.com

We export from Taiwan, phytosanitary certificates available.

15
Solid root cuts, rooted cuttings or plants.  Not interested in many ofthe commonly sold other species (fakes).  We need true Piper methysticum.

Shipping to Taiwan.  Phytosanitary certificate preferred, but not required.

We can either buy or trade.  Lots of fruit, herbs, spices and mediicnal plants to offer. If trading, we can provide phytosanitary certificate if you also provide one, or at standard cost if you cannot.

16
What is the botanical name of the black?  Many blacks are called blues and purples in different regions. 

17
Usually it is from various insect excetions on the leaves and fungal.growth forms.  Control the insects, the fungi doeant come back.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Other Myristica species' toxicity?
« on: July 09, 2020, 01:37:39 PM »
Having a bit of a time finding.info on other species of nutmeg and their edibility.

For us here we hav eMyristica ceylanica var. cagayanensis

I cannot find any info on human toxicty and use.  Does anyone have any info or resources on this? 

Thanks!

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Trouble with fruit bats
« on: November 14, 2019, 12:01:45 PM »
Well at least you still have a good amount :) 

Are you saying the goannas are eating fruit?  When i used to raise various varanus (mostly african and indonesian) they were pretty strict carnivors.  But in Borneo have seen the big guys chomping down fruit discards (watermelon and such) which i wasnt expecting.

Can i ask which species are eating the fruit?  Quite interested :)

20
Watching some of your videos, great stuff.  Fun seeing the things you have found. 

Looking forward to going back to Borneo, always an adventure!

21
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Mucuna Pruriens
« on: November 14, 2019, 07:31:57 AM »
Interesting you grow them between you grape vines!

I have had the same problem as pineislander in the past in that they climb very well and smother things.  Gorqn them in many different zituations but always required cutting back every couple weeks.  My variety is unknown (from usa seed) but all black.  The shells are like link above but seed was very solid and dark.  Painfully itchy to shell....prehaps not dry enough here for them to pop open on their own?

Great plant and love growing it for a geeen manure but once established they full vertical very fast and bind up my weeding machine easily so not awesome to maintain.  When i keep them in check vigorously they dont seem to grow well.  If this species could be in bush bean form i would be totally in love!

Intereating reaearch in areas of brain disorders such as parkinsons.  Which is why i started growing it for a family member.  The chemicals involved in pill form have limitations with parkinsons but the raw bean for a few people seem to have different results.  Worth paying attention to.

Some vietnamese farmers here pickle/ferment them to eat.  Quite nice.  But their variety doesnt have the same itchy hairs so wondering if they are a variety of pruriens or a different species.  Plants look quite similar.

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Trouble with fruit bats
« on: November 14, 2019, 05:16:49 AM »
Green tree pythons, carpet pythons and bredls pythons are all especially gorgeous!  Might be worth a breeding program...perhaps a government grant even :)   the arboreal types are especially fond of flying dinner.

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Guava from taiwan
« on: November 13, 2019, 11:02:12 PM »
Thats a unique looking guava!

24
Its used a lot here.  Not all farms but quite a few.  It is especially useful in land without large rocks for anchoring the plants.  Keep in mind taiwan has pretty extreme weather (rain and wind) so is very useful that way.  Also adds some time on production due to height.  Im not sure if its true or not but a few farmers feel it creates better yields, but im not seeing it.

Higher rodent damage problem.

We didnt use this in our old papaya farm but that was in a dry river with massive rocks so the winds were not an issue.

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Guava from taiwan
« on: November 09, 2019, 01:08:02 AM »
There are a lots of plant breeders in Taiwan for sure.  Many like me do it small scale (nursery/horticulture) but the government also spends a lot on developing new varieties.  Some quite large corporations are also involved with various crops.  Guava are good here for those that like them.  Some fruit like mango are still not there yet in my opinion.  Taste isnt often the primary target.

Personally not a guava guy, but i prefer the red and pink types.

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