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Messages - Ansarac

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1
There are businesses, which pay for big, old trees, and also to pick the trees.

2
I am hearing lots of strong (!) opinions, from people who really can't retrace their steps.

The most thorough method would be to make the hard trek back.

Carefully record the results from each technique, the date, and your own growing conditions, in situ.

imho, dormancy was not the key concern in grafting. People believe that germs are at the least-vigorous, during cold weather.

So, are the plants.

In tree work, they are constantly sterilizing the tools, with ordinary, household chemicals, because everything doesn't wait for cold weather. 


3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao Newbie Usually Has a Green Thumb
« on: September 14, 2020, 03:23:40 PM »
Then, mold kills it, overnight. Apparently, native Coprinus mushrooms.
I also mix in Mycos tablets when I prepare my soil for seed sprouting. I've had great results.

I think, your way may help prevent dampening-off.

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao Newbie Usually Has a Green Thumb
« on: September 14, 2020, 03:18:22 PM »
I have placed lots of fresh seeds, under a solar water fountain, with arils still attached. I just could not remove the fruity pulp, without damaging the tender seed. The stale, brown, fruity water was constantly aerated and replaced, every day, as the seeds became more clean. My setup was on a metal, mesh, patio table, on a hot patio, and the water became very warm -- just short of hot.

At least one, sturdy, highly-vigorous survivor has surfaced from it's planter -- perhaps, the beginning of my own landrace.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: graft hybridization
« on: September 05, 2020, 05:27:35 PM »
I like it and hope that it succeeds. If something valuable comes of it, make sure that it is documented and under protection.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: graft hybridization
« on: September 05, 2020, 04:13:54 PM »
I know about it and do think that it has potential.

Even without chimera or the sharing of genetic information, I think that epigenetic factors -- such as stressors, hormones, nutrient balance, and flow rate -- may create new varieties.

What is the market, or what purpose does it serve? Even though it would make a fascinating curio. perfectly interesting food is regarded as defective, when outside of very specific production values.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: ID Please
« on: September 05, 2020, 04:05:20 PM »
Where the trait of self compatibility has not been stabilized by breeding or genetic isolation, there is generally a 1 in 3 chance of a plant specie being male, female, or intersexed. Even when it is said to have 'perfect' or 'tame' reproductive parts, productivity will be improved with more pollinizers.

Exceptions to the rule might be created with hormones.

Fingersop is still considered 'bush tucker' or 'wild food', imhblo. You will be partially responsible for domesticating it.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao Newbie Usually Has a Green Thumb
« on: September 05, 2020, 03:54:27 PM »
We have a landrace of loquats, here, which took-on darker, tougher, more-fibrous leaves, than their more-succulent counterparts, in the jungle.

Succulent Brugmansias thrive, at higher elevations than mine, when surrounded by walls, and not under an enclosed roof.

I have a greenhouse, the size of a bedroom. It exists in a microclimate, between buildings and hedges. The door(s) remain open, unless there is a danger of frost, and it does remain consistently humid, inside.

I am reading (but cannot corroborate) that cacao may lose it's leaves, 4 times a year. It is said to be deciduous, semi-deciduous, and to exist in deciduous jungle.

Curious newbies, here to learn, please take note:

(Don't show any signs of weakness.)  ::)

One failed attempt at cacao saplings resulted from placing their planter in partial shade -- out in the open. (Actually, the stem is still pliable. Though, it has lost leaves, all hope is not lost.) 

On the second attempt, some have been placed, indoors, in aerated nutrient broth.

Nothing has rotted off, nor is it dry enough to snap off.

I can report, in good faith, that cacao experiences substantial stress in shipping, though unpacked in an environment, which supports other tropical plants, comfortably.

I would be curious to hear about how deciduous cacao really is, if anyone is growing it successfully. Or, what are the limits of it's tolerance. Can someone show good work or document it, in a reproducible way?

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: ID Please
« on: September 05, 2020, 03:32:16 PM »
I would love to see some of these newer introductions bred for size and vigor. An infinite number of varieties has barely been discovered.  ;D

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: graft hybridization
« on: September 05, 2020, 03:26:37 PM »
Luther Burbank is credited (or should I say blamed) for creating a big, sweet 'Himalayan Blackberry', that was regarded as a pest and subjected to eradication.

Then, recently, a little, sourish 'Rockit Apple' was popularized.

Whether it is something great is a matter of how much it amuses you, personally, and how well you are able to market it.

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: ID Please
« on: September 05, 2020, 03:12:22 PM »
I am not an expert, except that I hear a verbal similarity, between two Australian plants --
finger lime
finger sop

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao Newbie Usually Has a Green Thumb
« on: September 05, 2020, 03:08:42 PM »
In our mild winter, I would suggest bottom heat, for purposes of germination.

In our wild summer -- on the way here -- these particular saplings have been getting steamed, inside of their plastic baggies.

I don't see any mold or mush, just yet.

The teeny pots have been pushed, downward, into tubular, plastic bags, for shipment. When I removed the bags, the leaves spread out, proudly -- almost a foot wide-- for about 12hrs.

But, there was a tiny tinge of brown or tan, in the bag. Like when grocery store lettuce is slightly too old.

(They are paper dry, right now.)

Crossing my fingers, for vigor in this hardwood.

Some soluble iron has been added to their broth. It is aerated, and the back room stinks of B vitamins.

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: A successful mulberry to jackfruit graft
« on: September 05, 2020, 02:38:30 PM »
My mulberries are some of the most-purple and staining fruits around.

I understand that grafting may confer cold tolerance.

Hybridization may result in unstable, novel varieties or, occasionally, increased vigor.

At the risk of aggravating some of the more-conservative members, who don't want to give you any false hope, I would actually like to see an example of cross-pollination via mentor grafting.

Although, I understand that callous-to-callous growth may occasionally result in somatic hybridization.

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao Newbie Usually Has a Green Thumb
« on: September 05, 2020, 02:26:49 PM »
I've been having mixed results indoors. I'm growing mine from seed.

I am possibly experiencing a problem with N balance.

At least 90% of my seeds will germinate. A root will go down, into the ground. Seeds push somewhat above the surface. Then, mold kills it, overnight. Apparently, native Coprinus mushrooms. Fungi appear to prefer carbon-containing brown waste and are deterred by high nitrogen. High N can burn the cacao.

Also, some careful, controlled fermentation appears to be vital to rooting. Organic fungicides seem to be allelopathic. Which is the best, safest fungicide is something that can be tested in many trials, except that this plant material is too costly for me to obtain, on a constant basis.

For me, the ideal situation would be tender shrubs / mother plants, under strict conservation. Then, test on scions. But, I have not gotten just one hardy cacao, yet. I guess, this is how named varieties start -- with a patient experimenter.

 

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cacao Newbie Usually Has a Green Thumb
« on: September 05, 2020, 02:12:06 PM »
You are in the wrong State to grow Cacao.

I am successfully maintaining several specimens of tropical plants, in a controlled environment. I do not consider myself a large scale farmer, so much as a tinkerer.

Banana, tamarillo, Titan arum, mangosteen, tapioca, etc, are putting on lots of growth.

Avocados, Brugmansias, and rubber trees are grown in my community, outdoors, with minimal or no protections.

Make one mistake, and they lose several leaves and take a week or two to grow a new one.

Thanks, very much. I hope mine do, too.

Not that I'm an expert of any kind, these are just my observations.

My considerable time reading has usually been wasted. I mainly ran into proprietary secrets and claims, which can never be reproduced. Anyone who can keep track of his observations is an expert, imho.


16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: A successful mulberry to jackfruit graft
« on: September 05, 2020, 01:55:23 PM »
I started to find these kinds of projects more interesting, when learning that none of our local, temperate orchards were grafted to stock from the same family.

No one was able to explain any of the how's and why's, leading me to a decade of experimentation.

Many breeders have accomplished different versions of hybridization, over the last 200yrs, yet are still considered mad scientists on the fringes.

Everything useful has not been discovered, yet.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Cacao Newbie Usually Has a Green Thumb
« on: September 05, 2020, 01:46:46 PM »
 :o 2-3ft tall cacaos arrive perfectly intact, in the mail. but the leaves fall off, within 1-2 days of unpacking them.  On my second attempt, now.

Are they drought-deciduous, and do you believe they will come back? I understand that cauliflorous growth may come anywhere out of tender parts of the cacao plant, for so long as it stays green.

We're experiencing high heat, in southern California, right now. My other tender tropicals are mulched, under partial shade, and loving it -- except for these new cacao, right out of the box.

I also have people randomly giving me their failed nursery plants. They are apparently grown in soilless medium on a nutrient drip. I give it compost tea, and they come back from the dead. I bring this up, because some of these leaves on my cacao were larger than the tiny pot, they were shipped in. This round of (now-leafless) cacaos has been placed against a shady wall, in an aerated hydroponic situation, and still comes across as drying. 





19
Seeds are brand new, as of this week, or still on the plant.

1 berry, 1 aril, or 1 pit, $1 each.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Red peach:



(metric: about 26cm)


__________________________________________________________________________________

Passiflora caerulea:


Potent fragrance.




^ Pulp benefits from sugar, in the form of a syrup, or mixed with a clear juice, to impart tropical aftertaste. We use apple or white grape.
__________________________________________________________________________________

Maqui 'super' berry:

For nutra-ceutical / functional foods market, due to high anthocyanin / antioxidant / purple pigment. Containing barely enough juice to stain fingers on picking, it would typically be dried and powdered. Sometimes gets mixed with acai.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Payment and shipping label via Paypal.

Small bubble envelope costs me $1/3

Medium sized bubble envelope costs me about $1/each

20
I have a free plant, for a local who can help me.

Thanks very much.

21
Hi,

Are you still taking requests?

22
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Wanted: Brazilian rosewood
« on: April 21, 2019, 10:29:39 AM »
I believe they are using a mistaken Wikipedia entry for their reference.

Imo, the substitutions are also interesting species, and should be sold on their own merits.

23
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Wanted: Brazilian rosewood
« on: April 21, 2019, 12:29:22 AM »
Aniba rosaeodora, is also known as rosewood, Brazilian rosewood, bois de rose and pau-rosa,

Every once in awhile, I look for a source of seeds or viable cuttings.

I have Paypal and barter with seeds of hardwoods.

24
Will they make it to the US, and do you accept Paypal?

25
I am open to another opinion, if anyone can show me where I am wrong, but I believe that several, different Boswellias fall under the name, sacra, implying that they are used for Frankincense.

I am expecting a plant, identified as carterii.

I am interested in actually growing and collecting the Biblical plants, one of which is galbanum.

In part, some of the difficulty in finding seeds comes from it being wildcrafted, rather than farmed, formally.

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