The Tropical Fruit Forum

How do these compare to other jujubes you've seen. They look bigger than what I usually see on others' trees.

 

Jaime

Hi,

Does anyone know if Araticum De Guaratinguetá (Annona Dolabrip) is good-tasting? Would you recommend this plant?

Thanks,
Jaime

Can someone tell me if the actual Cacao pulp flavor is any good? I hear that you can make a juice from it, but I was interested in knowing the flavor quality. I don't have a tree, and have always debated whether to have this tree in my limited backyard space.

If the real attraction are the seeds, and making chocolate with it, I think I'd rather just buy the chocolate commercially.

Jaime

Hmm, I have heard people say that mistreating a plant or tree by hitting it, damaging it, ripping off its leaves, etc. is a way to promote flowering.

I have also heard that it is totally not true. I guess that it may depend on the species.

Ripping the leaves off of certain chill-requiring plants makes sense, though.

Does anyone have a good explanation of this?

Jaime

Does anyone know the hardiness of the engkala plant?  My seedlings are showing some serious leaf burn but I didn't think they were that sensitive to cool weather. 

Thanks,
Jaime

Grrrrr... This is really frustrating.

I recently discovered a few pots had almost all of the seeds dug out of them. I had just planted a bunch of rare seeds, including cherapu, rainforest plum and pulasan, in them. I had even thought of covering those pots with some aluminum mesh. Too late now!

Luckily they left a few and I'm hoping these still germinate.

Jaime

Another forum member is looking for a sour orange tree, of which i have one, and is willing to trade a jackfruit or a lemondrop mangosteen for it, but I'm not a jackfruit lover and I already have a lemondrop.

So, if someone is interested in one of the above and has something to trade, please let me know.

Thanks,
Jaime

I will be attending a conference in San Diego from Oct. 24 - 27, and will have a little time for tropical fruit field trips. Can anyone recommend gardens and nurseries to visit in the area?

Do any local San Diego members have any seedlings or seeds they'd like to offer for trade or purchase?

Thanks,
Jaime

Does anyone have any seeds, seedlings, or know where I can source them? Opinions on fruit taste and quality, as well as cultural requirements would also be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jaime

Passing this on from the UM Arboretum in case anyone is interested:

Please join me for a tour of the Arboretum this Saturday at 9:00 AM. This tour will feature the Sapindales Order, the subject of one of our 14  Exhibits. The Sapindales is a very interesting plant order that includes some of our favorite fruits like mango, citrus, cashew, lychee and longan, as well as some less loveable plants like poison ivy and Brazilian pepper. It also includes some very important medicinal plants like Neem as well as some of our most commonly used and loved native trees like gumbo limbo, West Indian mahogany, and paradise tree. We will also discuss and see some of the recent plant additions to our Arboretum. The tour will start at the south end of the Arboretum where the concrete picnic table and the stone semicircle bench are located. Free parking is available in the lots along San Amaro Drive to the south of the Arboretum.

Good News!, Good News! - At Craig Morrell's excellent talk on plant nutrition and fertilizers last week, I mentioned that I had  added 3 of the 4 previously missing plants that are featured on our Exhibit signs (Euphorbia pulcherrima (Poinsettia) for the Euphorbiaceae and Other Malpighiales Exhibit;  Anacardium occidentale (Cashew) for the Sapindales Exhibit; and Theobroma cacao (Chocolate) for the Maya Cocoa Garden Exhibit), but I was having trouble locating a plant of Kola acuminata (Kola Nut) that is featured on our sign for the Malvales Exhibit. Well, I am happy to announce that I located one this week and planted it today so ALL of the plants featured on our exhibit signs are now present and growing in the Arboretum.

Welcome back to Lundy Clarke, who joined us for Craig's talk last week. Lundy was part of the Gifford Arboretum Committee previously and her renewed interest and support is welcome.

Regards to all,
Steve

--
Stephen D. Pearson
Director, John C. Gifford Arboretum
Department of Biology
University of Miami
1301 Memorial Drive, Room 231
Coral Gables, FL 33143

(305) 284-1302
sdpearson@bio.miami.edu

One World, One People, One Destiny

Hi,

I saw this tree with fruits, but no label. Can anyone ID it?

By the way, the Fairchild Botanical Tropical Garden has free entry every Sunday this month.



Sorry about the bad pics. Too sunny at the park to check the quality.

Jaime

Hi,

I've been trying to find info online on how many years a seedling Sour Orange takes to fruit, but can't come across any definitive answer. I know it will vary, but mine are about 5-6 years old and they haven't even flowered yet!

We use sour oranges a lot at home for cooking, so it would be great to start getting fruit from the 2 trees I have.

Jaime

Hi,

I have a low-chill plum tree, can't recall the variety, and it's peculiar in that it has some branches with very long leaves, while most of the others have very short leaves. Is this common for plum or peach trees?



Jaime