The Internet's Finest Tropical Fruit Discussion Forum!"All discussion content within the forum reflects the views of the individual participants and does not necessarily represent the views held by the Tropical Fruit Forum as an organization."
You piqued my interest. Apparently, it's a dioecious nitrogen-fixing tree, but I don't know if the commercial cultivars require a male pollinator (¿pollenizer?) or not. Tradewinds Fruit states they are difficult and slow to sprout (http://tradewindsfruit.com/myrica-rubra-yumberry-seeds).I tried looking for a retailer of named varieties, but there don't seem to be any stateside. I found one in China that ships worldwide... No idea if it's trustworthy, but I'm tempted to place an order. It'd be better if they put the prices in the actual page, though. They have 4 named varieties, with their qualities listed in-page, but there's no mention of a pollenizer. One of them is the Dong Kui you mentioned. Jason Nursery: this is their link (http://www.fruit-trees-nursery.com/myrica_rubra.htm#sthash.go2Trng7.xnU5AEk6.dpbs).
Many of us have been hunting seedlings in the States for years knowing seeds rarely if ever sprout. Hey EvilFruit, I am currently right down the road from you in Abu Dhabi. Where did you find the fruit? Really tempted to try and get some fruit before I leave and bring the fresh seeds back with me. Unfortunately that will still leave me in the beginning of Winter when I can pot them so it might be a wasted effort.
The seedling I mentioned was giving to me, but I was able separately to germinate seeds from Sheffields. They later died after transplantation. I've found that all my myricas are quite susceptible to something near the ground (seedlings and lower leaves of my larger plant being most effected). My suspicion is phytophthera ramorum. I notice that sheffields page now mentions the collection locale as in Zhejiang China where there is coincidentally a yumberry juice factory!https://sheffields.com/seeds/Myrica/rubra
Regarding soils, they like slightly acid 4 - 5.5pH. They are growing very well on the red earth soil type at Maroochy Research Station and are virtually leaping out of the ground. I think that is slightly acid, very well drained and very fertile.It comes from China particularly in Zheijiang Province, grows on low mountains and likes high humidity around fruiting and it is a very attractive tree. It has been grown over there and selected in China for many centuries. The wild types are almost inedible so one has to be very careful when trying to bring a product like that into the marketplace.This is the sort of climate that it grows in: minimum temperature about -4°C, maximum around 40°C; so it is very tolerant to a wide range of temperatures, but the average is a fairly pleasant 18°C. It likes fairly high rainfall, particularly around fruit development. If this fruit is not matured at high humidity it has a prickly mouth feel, so picking the best areas to grow it in Australia is a little bit tricky.
For those who successfully germinated Myrica rubra, what did you do? Do the seeds need stratification?