The Tropical Fruit Forum

So we might be moving to Panama in the next year or so. Curious to know about others who may have moved there and how importing plant material is? I know in country they will have a lot, but you know as fruit people, gotta have one of every variety!

I also would enjoy trying to grow Durian and I'm not sure if it even exists there.

Anyone with fruit knowledge of the area let me know!

We haven't locked down a for sure region mountain or low land yet, planning to live there a few months before deciding to look for land.

Any ideas? Was sold to me as NDM, but now looks like something else.

These fruits are small still, but just to give an idea. Are mature pics needed?

What do you guys think? I planted this from seed that had many sections. I can't remember now what variety it was, but most of my seedlings were from Alphanso fruits.

Can anyone explain how poly seeds work? I know they have multiple shoots usually, but how do you know if it reproduces true to type, and is every seed from a cultivar either poly or not?

Should I PUG it? It's just starting to push new leaves, but I was thinking I should chop the top off and keep just the bottom few scaffold branches to prune for next year.

Last couple years it's flowered like crazy, but never been able to get a fruit set to maturity, just immature fruit falling off.

Hi all, family is coming into town from all over the world over the next month. They are fruit lovers, so want to get some fruit for them. If anyone knows of places that have ripe fruit they are shipping now or in the next 1-2 weeks I'm interested! Or any back-yard growers willing to part please contact as well!

They are from India and Malaysia, so nearly any fruit goes! (Can Durian be mailed into the US? I would guess even without the seeds and with dry ice it wouldn't make it...but if anyone has experience let me know, they might be able to ask someone to mail from Malaysia).

I'm looking to add something everbearing to my collection to have fruit hopefully fairly quick and with a long season. What does everyone think is the best tasting fruit for long seasons? Fig? Mulberry? Berries?

Looking for some advice for mail order bananas. Can anyone suggest a place to buy based on size of plant vs what is needed? So far I'm looking at Florida Hill Nursery and Going Bananas. FHN has the price advantage, but wondering if anyone knows the size comparison and if it's worth the extra cost at GB?

Other than that, I'm planning to buy these for growing in containers:

• Dwarf Namwah
• Dwarf Red
• Goldfinger
• Manzano

Wondering for these varieties, how long would they take to fruit in a container? Even if the last 2 aren't ideal for container culture, I may try them anyway if I get from FHN since they are fairly cheap to try. And any other advice would be great!

I was reading about PH buffers, trying to reduce my home tap water to a ph of around 5-6. Right now it's at 7-8 (based on those approx pool strips).

I've heard some people use sulfuric acid to reduce the ph, but unable to find that easily, I picked up this at Lowes:


Has anyone used Sodium Bisulfate successfully for fruits and found it safe? Thanks

Just posting to see what would be normal growth for NDM. I'm in Texas, so I'm guessing growth similar to California area? It's been hot and humid here the whole time I've had the tree (june 6th, so almost 3 weeks).

So far my Lychee, Longan and Atemoya have all started big growth flushes, so I'm pretty confident in them, but the NDM hasn't so much as moved an inch. I'm guessing normal as I've heard they are slow growers, but when should I expect a growth spurt? Is there anything I can do to hurry it along? Right now I've been giving it Foliage Pro 9-3-6, Mega Green, Turf Pro (iron) and left over coffee. Usually I mix a tiny bit of the foliage pro in with the water as well as my left over espresso to lower PH a bit, the rest goes as a mix for foliar spray. On the NDM I've been going a bit heavier on the Mega Green (fish hydrolysate) to hopefully give a bit more nitrogen. At first I watered all the trees quite a bit every couple days...but lately I've stopped watering so much on the NDM after reading root rot can be a problem. I'm growing in Miracle Gro Moisture Control, but I didn't bare root the mango when I got it, only planted the rootball. I've been thinking about going to 5-1-1 mix or gritty mix for NDM, but hunting down ingredients for just 1 plant and all the other factors makes me a bit more hesitent.

All 4 trees are in SWC's, but the Atemoya and mango get a bit less sunlight each day (6-7 hours), the Lychee and Longan are larger and therefore can fit on the other balcony that gets almost full sun all day. I might be able to move the mango to the other side, but I'd have to some how raise the pot up and so far have been concerned it would be likely to fall down.

Well I've decided on my next batch of trees...Does anyone know where I can find these 2? I'm hoping to get something a bit more mature in 3-7 gallon sizes.

I see Pine Island has the Alano, and some type of un-mentioned jaboticaba...unfortunately they haven't responded to my emails as of yet.

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

I've purchased a couple of these for my trees at the gardening store. But reading more it got me thinking about building my own the next time I go to repot. Are there any guidelines you guys use for growing trees in SWC or containers in general? I've heard that lychee or other air-layered trees have not much for a tap-root, so it got me thinking I should be using something more shallow but wide, like those large storage bins you can buy at Walmart etc.

Other than those bins, any other ideas that would serve fruit trees better? I'm looking for functional not pretty