Author Topic: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?  (Read 14096 times)

Melissa Swartley

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #25 on: October 12, 2019, 12:25:51 PM »
My seeds just arrived.  Here we go!

Hey, I just stumbled onto all of this in search of growing this way out of its zone.. I’m in Bucks County, PA and was wondering how you are doing with your seeds? Did they germinate? Where did you purchase them from and what variety did you get? I currently only grow a Ponderosa lemon as far as fruiting trees go.. but I have over 250 other tropical plants.

Kevin Jones

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #26 on: October 12, 2019, 12:50:28 PM »
I bought mine from a guy in Hawaii off of eBay.

Kevin

FV Fruit Freak

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #27 on: October 12, 2019, 12:59:51 PM »
My seeds just arrived.  Here we go!

Hey, I just stumbled onto all of this in search of growing this way out of its zone.. I’m in Bucks County, PA and was wondering how you are doing with your seeds? Did they germinate? Where did you purchase them from and what variety did you get? I currently only grow a Ponderosa lemon as far as fruiting trees go.. but I have over 250 other tropical plants.
[/quote

I have ice cream bean seedlings and seeds for trade or sell. if anyone’s interested email or PM me. Thanks, Nate.
Nate

brian

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #28 on: October 12, 2019, 04:11:17 PM »
My seeds haven’t germinated yet. I normally put new seed trays on a heating mat but my heating mat is occupied by guava cuttings right now.  I have the ice cream bean seeds in cups in my greenhouse.

I bought them from “some guy in hawaii” also, I forget if from etsy, ebay, or amazon but I believe it is all the same person.

Good to hear another northern grower is nearby, Melissa.  Do you use a greenhouse?  Or bring plants inside in winter?

Melissa Swartley

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #29 on: October 12, 2019, 04:36:48 PM »
My seeds haven’t germinated yet. I normally put new seed trays on a heating mat but my heating mat is occupied by guava cuttings right now.  I have the ice cream bean seeds in cups in my greenhouse.

I bought them from “some guy in hawaii” also, I forget if from etsy, ebay, or amazon but I believe it is all the same person.

Good to hear another northern grower is nearby, Melissa.  Do you use a greenhouse?  Or bring plants inside in winter?

Yikes, time for more coffee.. just re-read your post.. you have them in a greenhouse. What all do you grow? If I had a greenhouse, I can imagine the possibilities!

Thanks for the info! Hopefully they’ll germinate soon for you. I’m actually planning a trip down to south Florida in March and figured I’d try to find a plant.. and many more plants of course. I don’t have a greenhouse yet, though I’m sure I’ll eventually have to invest in one. I currently grow around 200 plants inside my home in windows and under lights in the basement. I mostly collect epipytes but I do enjoy some non-tree dwellers. It’s a jungle in here. 
« Last Edit: October 12, 2019, 04:40:55 PM by Melissa Swartley »

brian

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #30 on: October 12, 2019, 07:08:07 PM »
I have almost entirely fruiting plants, mostly citrus, and a few tropical flowers.   Fifteen are in-ground in the greenhouse, and maybe a hundred more in containers of various size that I keep outside in the warmer months.   I just moved everything into the greenhouse so it is cluttered.



Having a greenhouse is awesome, I highly recommend it!   
« Last Edit: October 12, 2019, 07:19:39 PM by brian »

SeaWalnut

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #31 on: October 12, 2019, 07:16:31 PM »
Verry nice Brian.

brian

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #32 on: October 15, 2019, 09:48:53 AM »
my ice cream bean seeds have started to sprout


PlantHoarder

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #33 on: October 15, 2019, 02:24:21 PM »
I flirted with vanilla bean orchids, they proved to be exceedingly fickle and my own ineptitude + environmental influences caused their early demise.

The orchid variety is only pollinated by a type of bee not found in most of the US, and if this is remotely similar you would have to hand pollinate each one in order for beans to set.

I am impressed that you've got them to a size like that, i've only spent brief amounts of time in AL passing through it, I figured some parts of the year it was likely too cold to sustain them (even in a green house).

brian

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #34 on: October 15, 2019, 02:35:00 PM »
I thought the biggest issue with vanilla is that even once you get a seed, you have to go through a process of drying/oxidizing to get the vanilla essence.  Anything that can't be used fresh isn't worth it to me.

PlantHoarder

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #35 on: October 15, 2019, 07:44:27 PM »
I thought the biggest issue with vanilla is that even once you get a seed, you have to go through a process of drying/oxidizing to get the vanilla essence.  Anything that can't be used fresh isn't worth it to me.
Actually what you are describing is the preservation of it. Drying it, distilling it into alcohol etc, this is done because the bean is perishable (soft and squishy) and will rot if efforts to preserve it when freshly harvested do not occur. This preserves the vanilla essence.

This is according to my own reading, perhaps someone else has better info.
« Last Edit: October 15, 2019, 10:54:06 PM by PlantHoarder »

dross99_si

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #36 on: October 15, 2019, 08:47:55 PM »
So even when young these are not to have any nitrogen containing fertilizer? I put some Osmocote plus on ours. Maybe I should remove it...

brian

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #37 on: October 15, 2019, 08:59:40 PM »
I have osmocote in mine because I had already added it to the soil mix.  I expect it is fine initially, but I won't be adding more.

brian

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #38 on: November 09, 2019, 08:38:29 PM »
Nearly all of my ice cream beams sprouted and are growing well

chrobrego

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #39 on: August 09, 2020, 12:36:05 AM »
I've had one in a 45 gallon container that I grew from seed. I FINALLY got flowers this year, and I"m hoping (fingers crossed) that I get a few pods.  I'm considering planting it in the ground once I determine that it is self fruitful, but I'm really concerned that it will turn into a giant.   Does Pacay get as large as edulis?  I'm thinking they are about the same, but all the pictures of pacay that I see on the internet are of smaller trees. ????

FV Fruit Freak

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #40 on: August 11, 2020, 07:51:00 PM »
Had mine in a 15g pot for over 3 years, no flowers, kind of stayed the same size, as soon as I stepped it up to a 25g pot it took off and is now fruiting.

(Sorry about the sideways pic, anyone know how to rotate the pictures? Please send me PM)
Nate

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #41 on: July 30, 2021, 11:34:49 PM »
I have a four year old pacay in a 45g container. The container seems to be dwarfing it a bit (at least I hope so.). Anyway, I got my first flowers last year and this year I've got a TON of flowers on my containered Pacay.  Sadly, I don't believe it's self fertile at all though.  I got plenty of flowers last year but not a single pod.  This year, plenty of flowers, but nothing appears to be setting into pods either.  I saw a YouTube video of a guy in New Zealand who has nice large pacay pods from containerized trees, but he has several trees next to each other.   My solution was to buy another small pacay and sadly, wait another 3 years till I get flowers from it too.  I'm hoping with two trees I will have pods.  In short, you can grow pacay in a large container with no problem.  You will get plenty of flowers.  However, you will need another tree next to it for cross pollination to set fruit.

brian

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #42 on: July 31, 2021, 11:20:13 AM »
I got rid of all my inga edulis seedlings except one, the remaining one is 6ft tall now in ~20gal container.  No flowers yet.  Is it expected that a pollinator is required or is there a good chance of fruit from a single tree?  My solo seedling black sapote just set a few fruit, solo atemoya too

BayAreaMicroClimate

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #43 on: August 04, 2021, 09:01:07 PM »
Pretty sure spiral gardens in Berkeley California has a fruiting one in their greenhouse. I told them it would survive without the greenhouse. I have to go back to see what size pot but I’m pretty sure it’s a huge tree in 15gallon pot

K-Rimes

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #44 on: August 04, 2021, 09:08:59 PM »
I felt so badly for my vanilla ice cream bean and put it into the ground from a 25 gallon pot and it is SO happy about it. It is flying! So happy I gave up on taking it with me from my current rental situation in a pot and slapped it in the ground, it's happy as a clam.

W.

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #45 on: August 04, 2021, 10:26:02 PM »
I felt so badly for my vanilla ice cream bean and put it into the ground from a 25 gallon pot and it is SO happy about it. It is flying! So happy I gave up on taking it with me from my current rental situation in a pot and slapped it in the ground, it's happy as a clam.

It will probably produce some fruit soon now that it has the growing space. You can plant the seeds from that fruit and start the whole container growing cycle over again.

K-Rimes

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #46 on: August 04, 2021, 11:12:59 PM »
I felt so badly for my vanilla ice cream bean and put it into the ground from a 25 gallon pot and it is SO happy about it. It is flying! So happy I gave up on taking it with me from my current rental situation in a pot and slapped it in the ground, it's happy as a clam.

It will probably produce some fruit soon now that it has the growing space. You can plant the seeds from that fruit and start the whole container growing cycle over again.

It flowered and did hold small fruit on it but an errant USPS delivery driver knocked them all off last year. :( It is absolutely stunning how fast it grows in the ground. I deep water it almost daily and it slurps it all up... A strong grower.

socalbalcony

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #47 on: August 05, 2021, 02:03:44 PM »
I felt so badly for my vanilla ice cream bean and put it into the ground from a 25 gallon pot and it is SO happy about it. It is flying! So happy I gave up on taking it with me from my current rental situation in a pot and slapped it in the ground, it's happy as a clam.

They airlayer relatively easily so you can make a copy when the time comes :)

Satya

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Re: Growing Ice Cream Beans in Containers?
« Reply #48 on: August 05, 2021, 02:35:18 PM »
The simple answer is, yes, you can.

I'm growing them in containers, also from seeds from Hawaii. As an experiment, I grew about 20 saplings, kept six, and gave the rest away to talented gardeners in the Vegas gardening group I help run.

Here are some things we've observed. Keep in mind that these observations are all things that myself and others in our Vegas gardening group have learned from research and experimentation on saplings that are now becoming short, young trees. Your mileage may vary, and there may be things I'm not aware of that can produce better results for you.

1. Their growth is heavily dependent on the amount of root space they have, particularly the vertical space. Once that level of space has been reached, they will stall. You'll either need a bigger pot, put them in the ground, or have them stay in the same pot if they reach a height and size you prefer.



Is it also true for hard pan under a couple of  feet of very good soil? Meaning, our soil is hard coral rock under a couple of feet of imported cultivated soil. Other trees have no problem with this, our other fabaceae trees have hard time anchoring first couple of years but then probably break the rock to reach the water table (very high) and grow very well. But inga tree is maybe 6 years old and has not bloomed. Doesn't look sick but doesn't grow taller than maybe 10ft and doesn't branch much...