The Tropical Fruit Forum

I have heard myths of fruit trees not needing water, I just never seen it.  As someone living on a hillside about 15 miles from the ocean, the only trees I've witnessed surviving without water is Eucalyptus, pepper trees, and live oak.    Cactus like agave and prickly pear will grow too, but still look yellow and dry...  and growth is very slow, about 10% as fast as when watered.   

I'm curious if anyone has actually done it.  As it's often said, "don't over water, or you'll get root rot!"  or  "Watering every day is way too much, it should be once per week, or per month" 

And now I'm thinking I've been so afraid to over water, that I've been under watering for years.    During this last heat wave, I started watering every day, and now all my tree are popping with growth. 

With that said, I think it would interesting to hear first-hand experience in tree murder by over watering.  Or possibly the opposite, Tree abundance by overwatering!

Lets get a list of the best Youtube channels for rare fruit.   As the quality of Youtube has increased like 10x in the last few years, and now there a huge change going on in society because the quality of content is often better and more accurate than TV.   

My top so far is

Vegan Athlete - All kinds of great stuff on growing tropical in Desert Climates,  I wish I found this 3 years ago, It would have saved me many of mistakes.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCulJ7FwgzZFDsivjLnnbuHQ

Shamus O'Leary is great too, A nursery owner in Pheonix, very knowledgeable.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-fYwtJ86cOL9LwOd39aLnA

But that's only 2, I'm sure there's more!

goosteen, I'm glad to have found the knife connoisseur of the group! Thanks for these excellent recommendations.

Peter's boot method might be adapted for weaker footware with a small piece of sheet metal or wood.

In the videos of durian vendors in SE Asia I've seen on youtube, a variety of knives are used, from long, skinny kitchen knives to beefy short cleaver/machete sorts. I think there's a wide selection of beefy fixed handle knives on the market that would be fine for abusing a little. Two of the more unusual ones I've stumbled across:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Best-Gift-Home-Kitchen-Knife-Fruit-Durian-Knife-5c13-Blade-Rosewood-Handle-Camping-Fixed-Blade-Knives/819833_32806716337.html

https://www.lehmans.com/product/multi-purpose-power-knife/

Glad to be a service! 

Those are both interesting, Off brands from Ali express are a little bit of a risk....  There's a chance the steel is not tempered correctly and it bends, or breaks, is too blunt, or can't hold an edge.  But it does say 58RC hardness, but it does not mention the steel type.  The shape could be good, it looks the flat top is for prying, and you could hammer the spine to get the thing into the durian.   it's risky, but there's also a chance it works really well.

For me around the property, I find a folding knife with pocket clip is best, just because it's always on me like my keys. If I have to go get a knife, like a fixed blade, I find I rarely use it.   Anything from Benchmade with the Axis lock is good.   Since it's a gift you need, this could be good
http://customknife.benchmade.com/knives/#/customizer/blade   ... Upload a photo of a durian to get engraved into the blade,  Give her the mental edge over that fruit!

....When I do have to walk to the shop and get a knife, it's usually for a bigger task, so I grab the machete,    Which in that case I recommend this one.   Great edge, not too blunt, cuts fast and deep.   ...If she's only opening the thing to get the seeds out, whacking it with this will be the fastest way!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNPV1RW/ref=twister_B014SK7GOA?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

I'm looking to buy 10 to 50 varietys, If you have a large collection and wouldn't mind clipping a few cutting off and sending them to me, I could PayPal you $5/cutting.

thanks!

I've used some 45 gallon ones, I opt for plastic.  It's easier to water, the fabric folds over the dirt as time goes on.  Also the roots go through the bottom into my pavers.

I usually do, unless it's rats... I think they carry some diseases we can catch.   

I had gopher take out a 3" trunk fig tree.   Since the roots are gone, I figured I would put it in a bucket of water and see what happens.  Has anyone tried this before, or have any tips for rooting a whole tree?  ...I know you can root small branches by putting them in water and changing the water daily.

Do you have any lucuma scions?

thanks!

Some seeds which in the wild normally pass through the digestive system of an animal can be very slow to germinate without this passage, or a simulation of it. I saw a report on how Enterolobium seeds extracted from horse manure germinate within days, while the same seeds planted straight from the seed pod took over a year to germinate, I think. For especially slow seeds, might be worth trying to figure if some animal normally eats those seeds in the wild, and if there is a way to simulate passage through that kind of animal.

How would one simulate this?

Seeds have a lot of chemistry going on inside them and plants definitely do not want you to eat their babies.   However with that said, some have a hard indigestible coating, those can be eating if swallowed whole and will just come out the other end.   I'm not sure how hard a jabo seed is, if it's like a tomato seed, avoid it.   And don't ever chew up seeds and swallow them, that's bad.

For me mulch has worked better on larger trees, and not so good on new smaller trees.   The biggest problem has been that is makes the irrigation soak in on one spot, and not saturate the dripline.   Also it builds up against the trunk.  So pulling it back 2 or 3ft from the trunk, has worked the best for me.

Got mine, they were in great shape!  Thanks!