Author Topic: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?  (Read 2880 times)

KarenRei

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*Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« on: January 07, 2018, 04:03:26 PM »
Sort of the opposite of what most people want!  But as things grow up in the greenhouse, they'll be increasingly stealing each other's lights and soil space, so some things will need to go, and it'd be best if they were plants that had to go on their own.  Good examples would be papaya (production decline after ~4y, generally removed and replanted) and bananas (start over every time after fruiting).  Others?
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mangaba

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2018, 05:13:04 PM »
To add: Pineapples, Guavas, Acerola, Pitanga

KarenRei

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2018, 05:24:12 PM »
Acerola is short lifespan?  Huh, wouldn't have thought that, mine seems immortal.  But I looked it up, apparently they decline after 15-20 years, so that would be good in the medium-lifespan category.  :)
Pineapples: Oh yes, of course!  Can stick those everywhere that has enough light  ;)
Guava production apparently falls off after 15, with a lifespan of around 30.  But see later in this post.
I find nothing about Pitanga lifespan.

I imagine pretty much all Solanaceae could be added to the list.

I found a book that says that lifespans for most Annonas and Passiflora are 15-30 years lifespan, while guava, caimito, and orange are usually 20-40. Does that sound right?  At least oranges sounds wrong, my understanding is that 50 years is typical.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2018, 05:36:41 PM by KarenRei »
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Saltcayman

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2018, 07:44:06 AM »
Muntingia calabura

KarenRei

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2018, 09:33:55 AM »
Muntingia calabura

Interesting, I'm having trouble locating lifespan info for Muntingia calabura - what do you know about it?
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Finca La Isla

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2018, 10:23:50 AM »
Biriba, rollinia.

KarenRei

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2018, 11:34:26 AM »
Biriba, rollinia.

15-30 years sound right?
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Saltcayman

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2018, 05:24:03 PM »
I grew it for about ten years. They are fast growers.  They do great in drought conditions and poor high ph soil but hate flooding.  The branches are brittle so they don't do well in windy conditions.  They fruit prolifically year round and chickens love the fruit.  For me, there was a constant cycle of a tree thriving and then dying back and a new tree popping up from the root system nearby, thriving and dying back...  This last round of hurricanes seems to have wiped them out so I may need to get a new starter seedling.

Muntingia calabura

Interesting, I'm having trouble locating lifespan info for Muntingia calabura - what do you know about it?

Finca La Isla

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #8 on: January 09, 2018, 09:05:53 PM »
Biriba is a weed tree here.  Kind of like a pioneer species that grows quickly as if it has been over fertilized.  For us it is through by 10-15 years.
Peter

Paquicuba

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #9 on: January 09, 2018, 10:16:19 PM »
To add: Pineapples, Guavas, Acerola, Pitanga

I agree with Pineapples and I have never grown Pitanga, but where I'm from acerolas and guavas are not known as short-lived or near short-lived fruiting plants. My grandfather had an Acerola (known as cereza in Cuba) tree in his home's backyard located on the eastern part of Cuba, which he planted back in the 50s. The tree was huge, provided a very nice shade, nectar to the hummers and lots of fruits year-round - when I left the island back in 1996, the tree was still producing tasting cerezas, so do the math. In the same backyard there were two enormous guava trees that you had to shake in order to get the guavas down that were also over 30-years of age.

Acerola
The fruits can be harvested after 3 years of planting, though, plants attain its peak bearing stage in 7-8 years of planting. Productivity increases up to 15 to 20 years and then stabilizes or declines but the plants can yield up to 40 years.

Guava
The plants start bearing at an early age of 2-3 years but they attain full bearing capacity at the age of 8-10 years. Fruit production starts to decline after 15 years, but like acerolas plants can yield up to 40 years.

KarenRei

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #10 on: January 10, 2018, 06:15:45 AM »
Great info  :)  I have acerola presently which does produce some fruit, but it's in very suboptimal lighting conditions (recently improved, however, and just got my best flush of flowers yet  :)  )  Oh, great, now I'm craving acerola....  ;)

Saltcayman - about how fast are those cycles - annual?  Sounds almost like a self-coppicing tree ;)  No wind indoors, apart from what we choose to make, but some plants clearly do like to go through dieback cycles (still trying to figure out what triggers my V. pubescens to die back at regular intervals  :Þ  )
« Last Edit: January 10, 2018, 11:29:26 AM by KarenRei »
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Saltcayman

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Re: *Short*-lived tropical fruit trees?
« Reply #11 on: January 10, 2018, 10:02:29 AM »
The cycles seemed to be two or three years.  However, the new trees would sprout up from the same root system but not in the same location.  These trees root well from cuttings in moist soil.