The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: Tomas on August 29, 2012, 10:34:11 PM
-
Hi,
I am thinking about growing Davidson's Plum. There seems to be 3 different types:
Davidsonia johnsonii
Davidsonia jerseyana
Davidsonia pruriens
My question is simple: Which one is best and why?
Tomas
-
Puriens is best as far as fruit are concerned. They get tall and palm like and fruit heavily and there are a few different 'forms' with different leaves and fruit shapes.
Jerseyana is the southern form that is just about as good, more cold tolerant (from SEQLD and Northern NSW) and generally a smaller tree. It can fruit quicker.
Johnsonii is a whole different kettle of fruit. Its not so cauliflorous, and the fruit are more marble sized and not so great for anthing much. Also not that many fruit. Its very rare in the wild and is mostly grown by those interested in protecting the species. Its also rather bushy and not tall.
In all cases the fruits are very acid. I really like them, but others look at me strangely when I eat them. They make a very tasty but acid wine that cuts through the heartiest of slow cooked meals. The big one on the farm just had a huge crop a few weeks back and filled a few wheelbarrows.
-
I would go along with BMc assessment but add there is an alternative to growing them.You can make your own.If you take red fleshed normal plums and soak them in vinegar and lime/bilimbi juice they turn out almost the same.The juice is good for tossing in salads,cleaning coins and for relieving stings from marine jellyfish.
-
Got some very tall Davidsonia pruriens that don't see to wanna fruit? What's the deal?
-
Only thing I can think of is to hit it with a bunch of K, withhold all P and go easy on the N. If its mature enough you should have pink racemes all over the trunk in no time.
-
Only thing I can think of is to hit it with a bunch of K, withhold all P and go easy on the N. If its mature enough you should have pink racemes all over the trunk in no time.
Thanks BMc i'll try that and will let you know if it worked.
-
Only thing I can think of is to hit it with a bunch of K, withhold all P and go easy on the N. If its mature enough you should have pink racemes all over the trunk in no time.
BMc, thanks for the sugggestion. I wish there was a way to easily save these kernals of wisdom for future use. -John
-
All Australian native plants nedd little liitle P and react badly to excess application.Plants originating in fertile basaltic soil rainforest areas have a little more P tolerance.D.prurians comes in several forms from 15 to 19 latitude and at altitudes to about 1500m.The ones in cultivation mostly come from the atherton tableland rainforest at about 800m at latitude 18 where there is fertile volcanic soil and abundant rain.Wild ones are rarely in direct sunlight and understorey trees of modest size can be found fruiting prolifically.Cassowaries and musky rat kangaroos are big fans of the fruit.
-
My Davidsons are in full direct sunlight. Would that affect fruiting? The trees and leaves seem happy, not at all burned.
-
So long as max temps are not too high and humidity and rainfall are high they should thrive and fruit faster than those in shade.A workmate planted lots of them in full sun on the tablelands and I saw 4m tall ones fruiting and I don't know their age.They mulched with cow pats as it was a dairy cow property.
-
Thank all for the good information. I think I will go with Davidsonia pruriens and see how that goes.
Tomas
-
I think I have one of those species in a pot. Since I grow indoor / outdoors (owing to winter here) should I hit it with K when I take it outside in the mid Spring?
-
So long as max temps are not too high and humidity and rainfall are high they should thrive and fruit faster than those in shade.A workmate planted lots of them in full sun on the tablelands and I saw 4m tall ones fruiting and I don't know their age.They mulched with cow pats as it was a dairy cow property.
Mike, yes they are thriving, very happy, growing fast, just not fruiting. One is close to 20 feet tall, and the other about 12 feet tall. I guess they need cross pollination? I added smaller one later on for that reason.
-
Those you see in the rainforest fruiting often seem remote from other individuals so I don't know about pollination.BMc might have a better idea.Yours are large enough to fruit, well and truly.I wonder if your equitable rainfall and temps may not be providing the flowering cues.Where they are native there is a marked dry season and winter temps, even in the rainforest understorey, can be in the 30's f for proplonged periods.
-
Those you see in the rainforest fruiting often seem remote from other individuals so I don't know about pollination.BMc might have a better idea.Yours are large enough to fruit, well and truly.I wonder if your equitable rainfall and temps may not be providing the flowering cues.Where they are native there is a marked dry season and winter temps, even in the rainforest understorey, can be in the 30's f for proplonged periods.
You probably hit it with that guess. We don't have any definite dry period here unless there is a "drought". Here a drought is considered any period of one week or more without any rain.
-
I dont think cross pollination is a problem. The one on the farm is alone in flowering and fruiting - though there may be other trees either wild or cultivated within 3kms, but I dont think its the problem. We do have otehr trees in the rainforest patch that would be 20ft and dont flower or fruit. The big one is on the north eastern edge of the rainforest patch, so gets more light and less competition. The ones grown semi commercially are all grown in the sun and seem to fruit and grow well. The ones up at Cape Trib fruit their heads off - Do you know their winter conditions Mike? The ones around here are used to 4-6week stretches without any rain from end of winter through mid spring. We dont call it a drought, we call it August. The only problem with the wet/dry sequence required for flowering theory is that their main fruiting seems to be mid-late winter here, and our early winter and autumn, when the flowering triggers would occur, is wet. In Cape Trib, the fruit seems to come off early dry season too, so they dont seem to rely on dry season triggers?
-
I believe seasonal cues are read by different types of plants, regardless of at which point each type is at in its yearly cycle. In the equatorial lowland rainforest of the Amazon all times of the year are provided for by specific kinds of fruits for which that time of year is the predictable harvest. The dry season, hot days/cool nights (60's F) lasts 2-8 weeks.
-
I have found ripe fruit on the ground in spring and early summer in the highlands.Cape Trib is much warmer and can get good winter rain but is usually dry in spring.It gets about 4000mm/yr heavily stacked in the 1st half of the year and rarely get below 16c.There seems to be differences in the trees' 'behavior' from differents parts of their range.I found a very hairy rounder type on the lamb range on the ground in late summer.
-
Thanks for all the info on Davidson plum BMC and Miike, We" only" get 3200 mm of rain, but is pretty evenly spread through the whole year. So that might be a factor for reluctance to frut..
-
Oscar that is alot and I get a little over 2500mm.In D.pruriens native habitat, rainfall is 1400mm to 8000mm per year and altitudes are sea level to 1600m. The dry season and significantly cooler winter mins (10C) is a constant.Maybe yours originated from the Atherton Tablelands where seasonality is more marked than the rest of the region and in greater contrast to your climate.
-
Hi,
Just wanted to add that Davidson Plum grows and fruits well in Naples, Florida. Below is the climate chart for Naples.
Tomas
(http://s16.postimage.org/6c3raxklt/davidson_plum_naples.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/6c3raxklt/)
-
Hi Tomas, do you have a Davidson plum yourself fruiting?
-
Naples FL has a chart that is very similar to Townsville where they fruit in backyards.
-
Hi Oscar,
No I don't. I will start from seeds now.
Tomas
-
I spoke to a work colleague whose family as many D.pruriens and D.jerseyana trees planted on their farm near a town called Millaa Millaa.He advised that D.pruriens is a composite species that will probably be broken up in the future with much variation in fruit and tree characters.Some types are sweet enough to be eaten out of hand with large fruit and others are very sour.He says that D.jerseyana is also variable in fruit character but don't have the extremely sour types like D.pruriens.The farm grown ones are examples of all types and are used for juice.Oh yeah he said D.johnsoni was the first broken off from D.pruriens and uis very limited in the wild and has fruit of poorer quality.
-
This plum is three years old, about 6 feet tall , started to flowering last year, this is the second to flower but do not bare fruit so far. Anyone has ideas to help bare fruit?
(http://s18.postimage.org/99w81vcf9/DSC01424.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/99w81vcf9/)
(http://s18.postimage.org/99w81vcf9/DSC01424.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/99w81vcf9/)
(http://s17.postimage.org/majeqz8rf/DSC01423.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/majeqz8rf/)
(http://s17.postimage.org/majeqz8rf/DSC01423.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/majeqz8rf/)
-
I'm almost in the same boat as you fruithunter, except mine doesn't even flower. It looks nice and green but no flowers, I guess I should hit it with K when I put it out in the late spring. During the winter it is crowded with other plants and doesn't get watered as frequently.
-
here is a pic of my 3-4yo tree. Had a look at the trunk and its got a few flowers both on trunk and up in the new growth
(http://i.imgur.com/6Fnsb.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/N09Lx.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/SOwNq.jpg)
Now, to convince it to hold at least one fruit, as once they start, they dont stop.
-
Hi BMc,
I hope you get some fruits. Those leaves look mighty prickly!
Tomas
-
its actually a luxurious velvet coat. Its not spiky at all. i'd imagine its irritant to a few, but i'm not among their number.
-
Thomas -
Have you found a source for Davidson's Plums here in the US? I've been looking with no luck.
-
Hi MarkoS,
Sadhu in Puerto Rico (www.organicfarm.net (http://www.organicfarm.net)) has seeds. Good luck!
Tomas
-
My Davidsons are in full direct sunlight. Would that affect fruiting? The trees and leaves seem happy, not at all burned.
Interesting. mate of mine growing in full sun but I still reckon they prefer shade. Hmmm now i am betting its species dependent I moved mine due to sun burn but Iam growing a different one to him. DOn't ask me which. I will email my mate now and ask him.
Davidson's Plum has got to be one of the sourest fruits on the planet. They look exactly like a blue gage plum.
They make fantastic jelly and ice cream
-
Apparently they crop better if they get a bit of full sun.The wild fruit I have sampled have been pretty sour but with some variety in acidity and flavor.Besides people at Millaa Millaa with a collection of forms of davidson plums (sell fruit for bush tucker) a colleague of a chum also has a collection of D.jerseyanas and D.prurians from different locations and has some with larger and more palatable fruit.He reckons prurians could easily be divided into 3 subspecies with one northern upland type having great fruit and a small tree.He has some precocious trees fruiting at a small size.I am chasing seeds of his better ones but he is reluctant to part with them.
-
My Davidsons are in full direct sunlight. Would that affect fruiting? The trees and leaves seem happy, not at all burned.
Interesting. mate of mine growing in full sun but I still reckon they prefer shade. Hmmm now i am betting its species dependent I moved mine due to sun burn but Iam growing a different one to him. DOn't ask me which. I will email my mate now and ask him.
Davidson's Plum has got to be one of the sourest fruits on the planet. They look exactly like a blue gage plum.
They make fantastic jelly and ice cream
Davidson plum more sour than bilimbi? That would be hard to believe or imagine!
-
My Davidsons are in full direct sunlight. Would that affect fruiting? The trees and leaves seem happy, not at all burned.
Interesting. mate of mine growing in full sun but I still reckon they prefer shade. Hmmm now i am betting its species dependent I moved mine due to sun burn but Iam growing a different one to him. DOn't ask me which. I will email my mate now and ask him.
Davidson's Plum has got to be one of the sourest fruits on the planet. They look exactly like a blue gage plum.
They make fantastic jelly and ice cream
Davidson plum more sour than bilimbi? That would be hard to believe or imagine!
More acidic them camu camu? ???
-
They can make your head rock back on your shoulders when you take a bite. They make a nice wine that I'd call a real palette cleanser.
If you leave them to soften they can lose a lot of the sourness. I only had two from the last crop - by the time I made it out to the farm to check on them they were mostly beetle infested already :-[