The Tropical Fruit Forum

Got two saplings, seem to be doing good in my weather here, so far much more resilient to the the humidity shifts than Jackfruit and Durian.  How is the taste? Would you plant it instead of another mango tree?  I figure they need just as much space.   

Can they be pruned?  Do they need cross pollination?  Will they handle wet feet, clay soil, or occasionally flooding?

I had two seedlings acquired cheap, i usually buy first ask questions later...
Both very hardy and fast growing, so decided to give 1 a shot in a poor area of soil.  Large diameter sand with little organic matter.   Dug down 1 meter by about 1 meter wide and added sandy loam potting mix, manure, and coir, better soil then originally im pot.
It’s doing well...
but long story short just read it is Dioecious.
Which just sucks, and I went through the trouble of planting one already.
Luckily sone said they flower in 3 years sonetimes.
How can I tell the sex of this species?  Can it be grafted?  Makwaen farms really rare to find scion.

just amazing, will maybe cull fruit to get some award winning sizes









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these are more normal sized of same strain, was seeing how 2 per hole would go

So i was visiting my friends farm in Florida where Kratom is legal, and took some pictures. In case anybody wants to see how they are different,  I can say that Red Vein “Gan Daeng” is much more bitter, it’s like your mouth is on fire, for that reason it is best folded up and put in the cheek to break down vs chewing.

For construction workers and farmers in southern Thailand,  Kratom , called “Bai Tom” is like their coffee.  You can really tell when they havn’t had their Kratom for breakfast because work will be slow, sluggish, 3 hour lumch breaks or just never come back.  It really is strange that it is illegal here, because workers don’t show up with other illegal driugs, just Kratom.

Reason is it numbs pain, including “pain” from the sun and heat.  So hard labor is best done a but numbed.  Perhaps  some placebo effect.  Many people comsider it a stimulant, and it sort of is, you wouldn’t want to drink a Karatom tea before bed.  But I think the numbing effect is the real stimulant for hard work
to get done.

Whatever is in the Red Vein, it is just so potent that insects also stay away, green leaf usually has some bite marks, while you can see in this picture the leaf is untouched and beautiful.

coconuts are really so complex, especially if you have a few different varieties, I've been going at 20 a day for the past few days, reaching for one from each bunch and comparing.
I
I've been searching for the 'young' coconut that Thai people love.. it is such a rare stage of coconut, it is right past the water stage, but far enough that sugar has developed in meat and water, but has not turned the meat hard at all.

Personally, I like my coconuts sparkling, aged, with all sugar in water and dry hard meat.  I can see why people think the younger ones are sweeter, I think because the sparkling dulls the sugar somewhat. 

Some Thai people say sparkling coconuts are old, or sour...

Luckily my hope was lifted, that my groundsman who came to help yesterday told me also preferred sparkling.

Got "Gaeng/Curry" Coconut, NamHoom/Fragrant Thai, and Indian Medicinal... aka Maprow Luong, Tong.. ?  It is rare, likely very common in India

Even at 20 a day.. still don't know if I can finish all of these.

From the east morning sun coming through screen, midday afternoon and evening all get sun but through 60% tinted glass.  The whole front of office is U shaped and all 60% tint glass.  So don't think citrus would do well, but from what I read.. trees don't care about tint?  They just need certain rays of the sun?  Anybody else growing indoors with tinted windows?

Some trees thriving under shade cloth now at my house are Cacao, Coffee, and Brugmansia.
I figure there is definitely enough room for 2 trees in here that won't block the areas I need to walk to.  Also the roof is 6-8 meters sloped, but not sure if trees would like it up near the roof since no sun up there.

I have stayed away from Salacca for the most part in Thailand, because usually what you see in the markets is sour and used for cooking like limes.  So they are not bad, but just like limes you don't eat them alone.  I believe this is Salacca wallichiana variety.  And I also believe but not sure that in Thai this sour variety must be referred to as "Lagum."  Again I repeat, new knowledge I'm learning here so feel free to correct me.

And so there is another kind, "Sala".  Which I just realized is basically the same species as "Lagum" just a different variety, so they can be crossbred or used as cross pollinators... But when I want to find "Sweet" Salacca I should be looking for "Sala" and not "Lagum."

So for the last few months I have been bombarded by posts in my facebook groups of sales of "Sala Indo" which I believed was what some people have referred to on this forum as Salak Bali, which is self pollinating.  But I found out today that "Sala Indo" is not self pollinating.  Today I was in the deep south near the border of Malaysia in Trang, and found "Sala Nampeung (Honey)", "Sala Indo Black" and "Sala Indo Brown"  The brown Indonesian was smaller and more pointed then the Black.  The Sala Nampeung looks almost identical to the sour "Lagum" however the taste is excellent!

I bought 1 kg of each kind, and went through that all today.

The Sala Indo Black is very plain in my opinion, neither sour or sweet, edible though unlike Lagum.  It is very large though.  I would not plant this in my opinion, I ate quite a few at different stages, and even the sweetest of the bunches could not compare to the other two.  It is a bit dry.

Second place would be the Sala Indo Brown, which is also a bit plain but has fruity hints of like a green apple, but a green apple would be more sour tasting than this. It is also a bit dry.

First place, Sala Namepeung, or Honey Salak.  Now I must admit.. I have seen pictures of brown and black Indonesian Salak being called Sala Nampeung Indo, or similar.. so this is definitely a source of confusion.  But for reference it is skinny, the skin peels right off and does not stick at all, it is red in color, and usually contains 2 seeds, occasionally 3, and sometimes seedless.  It is very sweet, very flavorful, very juicy, and there is a hint of sourness, but it only accentuates the sweetness like a great pineapple.  The slight sour tinge is not astringent like in Lagum, and I am a good judge of that because I have sensitive teeth.  In fact I stay away from all limes, lemons, and bilimbi in my garden as these do open up the enamel on my teeth very fast.  So in summary, not astringent, but sour notes are present.

If anybody can point me to some verifiable information on Sala Nampeung, like species name and so on please help.  Also some people have said this variety is self-pollinating, so that would be great, as currently I'm interested in only planting 5-6 trees in between coconut trees.