The Tropical Fruit Forum

Joshua and Oscar,

The Butia I listed a picture of is actually a seedling from Dennis, the fruit like I said tasted like pina colada. I am glad you posted this Joshua, I may have to contact Dennis for picking up another seedling or two.

Pancrazio,

Have you thought about trying to start new roots higher up on the graft? I was doing some research on this and came up with a thread on the gardenweb forum; http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/contain/msg0417334631829.html%3F69

You want to scroll down to the post by tapla (this post is near the end, and is filled with a couple pictures). He talks about the process of lowering the trunk of a bonsai and creating new rooting points.

Quote from: nullzero on March 29, 2012, 11:17:59 AM

I got the seedling in August 2010, it was probably about 6-12 months old by that time. So it would be safe to say 2 years and 6 months old or so. It does grow on the slow side, however I have noticed increased growth rate in the last year. Hoping it bears fruit maybe in another 2-3 years.

Hope is a wonderful thing.  I hope your hope is not disappointed....but I wouldn't be holding my breath on a 2-3 year period of time.....if my tree is any indication. Maybe yours will set a record....but from my limited observations and undertanding, these trees have to get quite large before they bloom and produce fruit.  My tree has to have at least a 10" in diameter trunk. And, it still hasn't bloomed after 17 years.

Harry

I guess I am being overly optimistic, 2-3 inch diameter trunk right now. Maybe 6-10 years or so then. I was just throwing out a guess, it seems this palm is on a different level of bearing age.

Looks interesting, may warrant buying if it improves grafting percentage.

Does anyone know if Surinam Chery (Eugenia uniflora), will cross with Cherry of the Rio Grande (Eugenia aggregata)?

That's one of the strangest and most restrictive laws i've ever heard. What is the reasoning behind it, if any? Here we have no mineral rights, so if i find gold or petroleum on my lava it belongs to the state? HAHA But water?
Oscar

Control of the way someone uses water, also forcing people to rely on the distributed water. Can't have people relying on nature and growing their own food now... Farming and food production is reserved for the big corp. farms.

Adam,

You could scan through posts at figs4fun, I am sure you could dig up several posts talking about figs that work for humid climates. Or you can spend sometime searching through the varieties, http://figs4fun.com/Varieties.html (some may note where the accessions were taken, or if it performs in humid climates).

Sounds really good. What kind of melon could I substitute if I didn't have the kiwano? I haven't tasted one so not sure what would be similar lol.

Kiwano has a unique taste. To me it taste like sour/cucumber with a slight sweetness, and tropical tangy note.

Quote from: ericalynne on March 27, 2012, 06:46:04 PM

Another good resource would be ECHO:

http://www.echonet.org/

This nonprofit is devoted to the type of project you are considering.

Erica

That's a good resource. I think they supply free seeds to undeveloped countries?
Oscar

Yes Echo is a great resource, their goal is to help impoverished people around the world with seeds and knowledge to grow their own crops.

Its in the ground planter, but we have high temps in Oct, Nov but that must be time of root establishment. Now with spring in full swing and temps warming up, I am sure it may push for growth. When does this flower? I think it flowers post flush, no?

Wait until May, you should start seeing some growth by then. When you see it flushing growth, use some foliar spray(a kelp/fish emulsion foliar spray works well, after sun down would be conductive for tree growth).

I have been working on optimizing containers for certain types of plants. I have been trying to put my heavy water users in self watering containers, with a 3-5 gal water reserve. SWC, I have been using with Lychee, Kiwi, and Dragon Fruit (Probably does not need it). Looking to eventually use the SWC with all the Lychee and Kiwi plants I have.

Fabric containers, I have been using mainly with Citrus and Jujubes. I figured the increased aeration and faster dry out times, would be beneficial for these trees. Superoots have been testing with 'Ewais' mango, getting good results want to pot up the Julie mango in one as well. Everything else is mostly in regular plastic containers.

Majority of container garden is the 5/1/1 pine bark mix, this mix works well on everything from Cactus to Deciduous Fruits. The other mixes I use is 70/30 sand compost mix in SWC, get great results (Lychee and Kiwi both love it). Cactus/Palm supersoil mix and Kellogg Patio Plus soil mix are also used in mixed amounts with added perlite & peatmoss. I am trying to get away from purchasing the standard soil mixes, but its convenient for a tree or two or needed application of a small amount of soil.

Quote from: nullzero on March 27, 2012, 12:16:22 PM

I was having issues with high PH water averaging in the low 8s. If you have a large collection of sensitive PH/tap water plants. It may be wise to invest in a RO water system, which CoPlantNut mentioned for removing unwanted additives to the water.

There are workarounds even with blueberries, (making selections on PH tolerance, ex. 'Sunshine Blue' Blueberry). I was adding vinegar to the watering schedule but found it only to mainly help the blueberries much. Foliar spraying seemed to correct a lot of nutrient issues/slow growing caused by the water.

I figured if I started with a acidic container soil mix, the end result would be balanced with the water added. Now using a mainly pine bark mix with foliar spraying, I am now getting great results even with the tap water.

I always start with an acidic soil mix (for plants that want that) but if you keep watering that mix with PH 8.0 water, the PH will slowly creep up to match the water.  The water keeps replenishing the alkaline buffering agents with every watering, and eventually the soil mix will become alkaline.   Try getting a soil analysis done on an "acidic" potting mix after it had been watered with tap water for a couple years-- that's what changed my mind.  Really, the only way to maintain an acidic soil mix is by replacing it frequently or by adjusting the PH of the water you're using.  How long a mix will remain acid depends on the PH of your water and exactly what chemicals are in your water to make it alkaline in the first place-- some are better at buffering (raising the PH over a long term) than others.

I've grown plants that prefer acidic conditions for years; most do just fine with tap water, even as it makes their soil alkaline.  Blueberries and miracle fruit are the only fruits I'm growing that seem to demand acidic conditions, but my carambolas and Eugenias seem happier now that they are always getting PH 5.5-6.0 water.  (My carambola refuses to bear fruit, however...)

   Kevin

Kevin,

No question after a while the PH of the soil mix creeps up. I still add vinegar but only hand water like this a couple times during the summer and fall (when I am dependent on tap water 100%). I try to replace the soil mix every 2-3 years, by this time the mix has broken down quite a bit. Mulching with fresh pine bark is done a couple times a year.

Old soil mix is leeched out and composted, used for in ground beds. I have found out the hard way in the past, that anything from the Amazon despises tap water; Acai palm, Cupuacu, etc.

Plants with the minimal issues of tap water; pomegranates, mulberry, apples, cacti (including dragon fruit), wax jambu, most bananas.

I mix the soil on a large blue plastic tarp. I just throw all the ingredients down on it; 10 cu ft Pine Bark, 2 cu ft Perlite, 2 cu ft Peatmoss, hand full of Lime spread out, a little compost tea poured on the mix. Wet down with hose on spray mode and turn with shovel many times.

Going to make an experimental batch of container soil mix with biochar (broken down pieces of natural lump charcoal). Going to modify the pine bark mix and try 4/1/1/1. Will see how the plants perform in this setup. Supposedly biochar is suppose to improve nutrient retention, this is important in a container environment. A lot of the nutrients in the soil get leeched out from repeated watering.