Author Topic: Introduce Yourself  (Read 620713 times)

jmelendez

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #125 on: March 19, 2012, 11:40:06 AM »
Hello Everyone!

My name is Jorge and I have an aspiring green thumb although it may be more closer to being yellow/brownish! I enjoy gardening and experiencing the fruits of my labor, which hasn't been much fruit lately. My motivation is my wife who grew up in the Dominican Republic and remembers all the fruits from her childhood. Also, my 4 year old son who I would love for him to experience the different fruits that I did not enjoy when I was a child (I was born in Jersey so try not to hold that against me!).

So far I have avocado, Barbados cherry, sour orange, passion fruit vine, guava, lime, tamarind, quenepa, and will be getting a few mango trees and wax apple (big thanks to Patrick from Brooks Tropical).

I live in West Palm and have just over a 1/2 acre of land. Looking forward to all the great advice and experience from everyone on this site!

HMHausman

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #126 on: March 19, 2012, 11:52:13 AM »
Welcome to the forum, Jorge y saludos a su esposa dominicana.  Happy to have another Florida member.  Your collection is going to need some major additions, which I am sure Patrick will be very able to assist you with. We'll certainly do all we can to help you earn that solid green thumb!

Harry
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jmelendez

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #127 on: March 19, 2012, 12:01:01 PM »
Welcome to the forum, Jorge y saludos a su esposa dominicana.  Happy to have another Florida member.  Your collection is going to need some major additions, which I am sure Patrick will be very able to assist you with. We'll certainly do all we can to help you earn that solid green thumb!

Harry

Thanks for the welcome Harry! My wife is a fruit enthusiast, she can identify a tree 1/2 mile down the road while we are driving! I am looking forward to learning a lot. My first challenge is my chinola vine (passion fruit) which blooms but no fruit. One of my favorites so I am excited to get that one producing!

nullzero

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #128 on: March 19, 2012, 12:22:02 PM »
Welcome lawace & jmelendez to the forums.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Felipe

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #129 on: March 19, 2012, 02:58:20 PM »
Bienvenido Jorge,

I don't know about your microclimate and soil, but I think for a good fruit-tree collection you sure need some specimens from the sapotacea an annonacea family ;)

Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #130 on: March 19, 2012, 04:29:47 PM »
Hi Jorge,

Welcome to the Forum ;D ;D ;D
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

Bananimal

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #131 on: March 23, 2012, 01:17:49 AM »
Greetings Fellow Tropical Fruit Nuts,

Have been growing bananas and tropical fruit here in Port St Lucie, Florida for 7 years with some success.   The plant obsession began 40 years ago back in New Jersey with orchids, tomatoes and bananas.  They followed me to Charlotte, NC and growing stuff was much easier .  Then came the figs, bunch grapes, full blown vegetable garden and more bananas, but the cold always brought a halt in Oct.

Came to south Florida to take care of family in 2005 and the darn things found me again.  Also thought I’d finally be free of the cold but it still bites me a bit.   This is the first year most bananas made it thru winter with fruit hanging.

Current plant list:

Bananas in ground  ---- FHIA1 Golfinger, 2 Ae Ae, Pisang Klotek, Dwarf Brazilian, Belle, SH 3640,  Raja Puri, Datil la Lima, Dwarf Namwah, Dwarf Puerto Rican Super plantain, Grand Nain x Sumatrana, Manzano (the real deal variety)

Bananas potted – Kru, Pitogo. Red Iholene, Baloy, Chini Champa, Grand Nain, Dwarf Orinoco, Logee’s ladyfinger,  Maricongo plantain, ensette Maurelii, Saba, Hua Moa

Fruit trees -- -Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low chill cherries,  Lula avocado, Eureka lemon, unknown Florida low chill peach, Tropic Beauty peach, Key Lime, Guanabana,  Fuyu Persimmon,  Spanish lime (genip) m/f grafted, Carrie, Nam Doc Mai and Duncan mangos, Jaboticaba

Muscadine grapes --- Black Noble, Black Southland, Southern Dixie, Blanc du Bois

Veggies --- Imperial Star artichoke, grafted heirloom tomatoes, Cachucha peppers (PR and Venezolano), Bih Jolokia peppers, Black Jungle butter beans, Blue Lake pole beans, Culantro, Italian parsley, basil, rosemary, onions, dozen pineapples unknown
Orchids --- Shomburkia, Cattleya, Phalenopsis, Blc’s – a dozen unknowns

New this year --- Vanilla planifolia, Cattleya Dowiana alba, Passifloras incense and incarnata , Monstera, Concord grape seeded and seedless,  Emerald, Windsor, Primadonna, Sharps Blue blueberries, Lemon grass (for the bugs)

Anyone interested in a banana sucker let me know.  Have some rare --- hard to get --- cold tolerant varieties.
Dan

bsbullie

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #132 on: March 23, 2012, 01:35:32 AM »
Greetings Fellow Tropical Fruit Nuts,

Have been growing bananas and tropical fruit here in Port St Lucie, Florida for 7 years with some success.   The plant obsession began 40 years ago back in New Jersey with orchids, tomatoes and bananas.  They followed me to Charlotte, NC and growing stuff was much easier .  Then came the figs, bunch grapes, full blown vegetable garden and more bananas, but the cold always brought a halt in Oct.

Came to south Florida to take care of family in 2005 and the darn things found me again.  Also thought I’d finally be free of the cold but it still bites me a bit.   This is the first year most bananas made it thru winter with fruit hanging.

Current plant list:

Bananas in ground  ---- FHIA1 Golfinger, 2 Ae Ae, Pisang Klotek, Dwarf Brazilian, Belle, SH 3640,  Raja Puri, Datil la Lima, Dwarf Namwah, Dwarf Puerto Rican Super plantain, Grand Nain x Sumatrana, Manzano (the real deal variety)

Bananas potted – Kru, Pitogo. Red Iholene, Baloy, Chini Champa, Grand Nain, Dwarf Orinoco, Logee’s ladyfinger,  Maricongo plantain, ensette Maurelii, Saba, Hua Moa

Fruit trees -- -Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low chill cherries,  Lula avocado, Eureka lemon, unknown Florida low chill peach, Tropic Beauty peach, Key Lime, Guanabana,  Fuyu Persimmon,  Spanish lime (genip) m/f grafted, Carrie, Nam Doc Mai and Duncan mangos, Jaboticaba

Muscadine grapes --- Black Noble, Black Southland, Southern Dixie, Blanc du Bois

Veggies --- Imperial Star artichoke, grafted heirloom tomatoes, Cachucha peppers (PR and Venezolano), Bih Jolokia peppers, Black Jungle butter beans, Blue Lake pole beans, Culantro, Italian parsley, basil, rosemary, onions, dozen pineapples unknown
Orchids --- Shomburkia, Cattleya, Phalenopsis, Blc’s – a dozen unknowns

New this year --- Vanilla planifolia, Cattleya Dowiana alba, Passifloras incense and incarnata , Monstera, Concord grape seeded and seedless,  Emerald, Windsor, Primadonna, Sharps Blue blueberries, Lemon grass (for the bugs)

Anyone interested in a banana sucker let me know.  Have some rare --- hard to get --- cold tolerant varieties.
Welcome, or in your case, welcome back :D

Do you have any true red bananas (red skin with the "light orange" flesh) ?
- Rob

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #133 on: March 23, 2012, 07:31:52 AM »
Fruit trees -- -Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low chill cherries,  Lula avocado, Eureka lemon, unknown Florida low chill peach, Tropic Beauty peach, Key Lime, Guanabana,  Fuyu Persimmon,  Spanish lime (genip) m/f grafted, Carrie, Nam Doc Mai and Duncan mangos, Jaboticaba

Welcome to the Forum.  How have your low chill cherries been doing?  How long have they been in the ground? How has fruit production/quality been? Any pictures of them?

Harry
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Bananimal

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #134 on: March 23, 2012, 09:45:14 AM »
Rob ------ I had a red skinned Jamaican red and gave it away.   After losing several "reds" to the cold I brought them all to a cousin in Homestead.  Like Kru, red Iholene and the Jamaican these guys are very tropical with no cold tolerance.  Have to accept that I'm in zone 9b -- about 10 miles inland near I-95 with wider temp swings than say, stuartdave.  BTW hi Dave -- haven't been to your place in a while.   I barely keep the 2 Ae Ae's going by wrapping them up for the cold snaps.   They are delicate and lose leaves quickly to cold burn.

Harry ----- Just got the Minnie Royal and Royal Lee cherries from Peaceful Valley.   They are grown at Dave Wilson's nursery.    Big caliper bare root trees!   Good price too.  Check them out at groworganic.com
They are potted until I pick a spot to plant.    I have run out of room it seems.   Supposed to be planted in same hole for cross pollination six ft apart.   In 4 weeks they flushed out new growth well.  I dust the roots of  just about everything with Mycorrhizae fungus powder and the results are fantastic.  Last year had several heirloom tomatoes that went to 8 ft.
Dan

mtashbar

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #135 on: March 23, 2012, 10:07:48 AM »
Hi,

My first forum and post ever since the invent of internet then called "the world wide web", we use to pay $'s per minute to communicate, only typing and no pages.  I was re-searching to get a fix for a canistel fruit tree problem and came across your site. Thanks for the opportunity. 

I have been in Florida since 85 from the mountains of the Appalachian  trail/Maryland, PA, West Virginia and Virginia.  I have 4 varieties of mango's(Beverly, Pickering, Sonny and unknown), 10 papaya's, white grapefruit, cherry/unknown variety, two avocado's, don't remember variety orange tree, star/carambola tree, pomegranate , fig, and a egg fruit/canistel tree which I have had problems with for the 6 years planted.  This canistel tree will start to pre-bloom and then all will fall from the tree, never seeing any fruit.  :(    What is being done wrong?  Help!!  Help!! Help!!  Thank you for your time,  ::)

msonnyt 

luc

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #136 on: March 26, 2012, 08:20:46 PM »
Hi all ,
Been collecting rare fruits for the last 15 years , was kinda slow on the rarefruit yahoo group so I decided to visit you guys.
Currently growing over 300 sp. and any seed I can get my hands on.....running out of space though...
Glad to see some of my old friends are also posting .
Oh yes forgot to say I am in Mexico , Puerto Vallarta area and the source for the now famous Mexican Garcinia , no accepted scientific name so far..
Luc Vleeracker
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20 degrees north

fruitlovers

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #137 on: March 26, 2012, 08:47:53 PM »
Hi all ,
Been collecting rare fruits for the last 15 years , was kinda slow on the rarefruit yahoo group so I decided to visit you guys.
Currently growing over 300 sp. and any seed I can get my hands on.....running out of space though...
Glad to see some of my old friends are also posting .
Oh yes forgot to say I am in Mexico , Puerto Vallarta area and the source for the now famous Mexican Garcinia , no accepted scientific name so far..

Hey Luc, glad you finally joined in! What took you so long?
Oscar
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Tomas

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #138 on: March 26, 2012, 09:26:33 PM »
Good to see you Luc!

Tomas

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #139 on: March 26, 2012, 09:30:25 PM »
Welcome Luc.  I had the pleasure of some short interchange with you on the yahoo group about lychees.  Our Florida season this year is going to be very disappointing.  How is the Mexican lychee season looking like?

Harry
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Soren

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #140 on: March 27, 2012, 03:42:24 AM »
Hi all ,
Been collecting rare fruits for the last 15 years , was kinda slow on the rarefruit yahoo group so I decided to visit you guys.
Currently growing over 300 sp. and any seed I can get my hands on.....running out of space though...
Glad to see some of my old friends are also posting .
Oh yes forgot to say I am in Mexico , Puerto Vallarta area and the source for the now famous Mexican Garcinia , no accepted scientific name so far..

Hi Luc - happy to finally see you here!
Søren
Kampala, Uganda

Felipe

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #141 on: March 27, 2012, 05:20:37 AM »
Bienvenido Luc :)

300 ssp in 15 years?! WOW! I don't think I will ever have that much... irrigation water is too expensive here ;D

lkailburn

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #142 on: March 31, 2012, 11:46:10 PM »
Hello everyone! My name's Luke, I live in zone 4b Colorado. I was referred to this forum by a fellow member of a banana forum who noticed i'd always been posting on the tropical fruit posts on that forum. Well it looks like i was referred to the right place! I certainly have an addiction for growing rare fruit trees as 'houseplants'. That is, inside for the winter, outside for the summer sun. Some of the plants i have started from seed just for fun and curiosity, i do not hope for fruit knowing many of these do not grow true to type. Currently i have:
2 jobaticaba
2 lychee from seed
3 mango from seed
4 passion fruit
1 starfruit from seed
2 sugar apple from seed
3 pineapple guava from seed
1 goji berry from seed
5 or 6 cherimoya from seed
6 or 7 pineapple tops
1 pitomba
3 loquat from seed
1 loquat yehuda grafted (Fruiting)
1 cacao
1 coffea arabica (Fruiting)
about 10 coffea arabica from seed
2 aloe
1 avacado from seed
2 pomegranete from seed
1 wonderful type pomegranete (Fruiting)
1 krimson type pomegranete (Fruiting)
1 ruby guava (Fruiting)
1 jamaican cherry/strawberry tree (Muntingia calabura)
1 dwarf lisbon lemon (Fruiting)
1 dwarf bears lime (Fruiting)
2 nagami kumquats
Oh i almost forgot, also have 5 grumichama from seed

I think that might be about it for tropicals haha. Also have 2 ultra dwarf apple, 1 ultra dwarf peach, 3 figs, 2 blueberry, 2 honeyberry etc that are also in containers.

So is everyone here as addicted to growing tropical fruit as I am?!?!?!

Looking forward to being an active member here! I do have a lot of success, and a lot of failures trying to keep all of these alive, especially with the wind and dryness here in CO.

Thanks for reading!

-Luke
« Last Edit: April 01, 2012, 12:10:06 AM by lkailburn »

HMHausman

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #143 on: April 01, 2012, 07:46:58 AM »
Welcome, Luke.  You are definitely in the right place now. Looks like you have a very nice assortment of tropicals and  am sure have great challenges, as many of our members, trying to manage the zone pushing that you and they are doing.  You didn't say how long you've been at the hobby, and if you've had any fruiting from seed, or otherwise, successes as of yet.  One thing, you are going to have to post pictures of your handy work.  On this forum, no pictures is akin to not having happened.  So get your camera going so we can see how this is all done out your way.  You also didn't say where in Colorado you are, please check out the member map.  What's your altitude?  Again, welcome!!

Harry
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lycheeluva

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #144 on: April 01, 2012, 04:58:43 PM »
welcome Luke- I'm also growing tropicals in a non tropical climate (NYC). You can click on my username to see my past posts, some of which contain pics of my trees.
looking fwd to seeing your pics

ericalynne

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #145 on: April 01, 2012, 08:07:18 PM »

"Just got the Minnie Royal and Royal Lee cherries from Peaceful Valley.   They are grown at Dave Wilson's nursery.    Big caliper bare root trees!   Good price too.  Check them out at groworganic.com
They are potted until I pick a spot to plant."

Keep us posted on the low chill cherries. I am also in 9b. I didn't think there were any cherries that would fruit in 9b.

Erica


lkailburn

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #146 on: April 02, 2012, 11:12:55 AM »
Thank you for the welcomes! Harry - it's like the fish that got away without photos right! Well here's a random assortment of photos of much of our tropicals:
Our Cacao(and in fact we JUST picked up a second one, identical size, it was 75% off!) More on the cacao later, it's not doing as healthy.



Some cherries on our coffee tree, which is where the coffee seedlings came from ;-)



Our ruby guava and lisbon lemon getting a shower. the guava shocked after bringing home from the nursery and dropped all of its leaves, but it is mostly all regrown now - fast grower!



two shots of our two jobas. these are one of my favorites and they do EXCELLENT as 'houseplants'. they just keep flushing out new growth




Our loquat when it was blooming

The last of the loquat fruit harvest. The fruits were starting to split so we pulled them all off. We harvested maybe about half as much prior to this photo as well. Not bad for being indoors!


Our loquat and our two poms during Xmas. We dressed up the poms as charlie brown christmas trees!


two of the 4 passion vines. This photo is from atleast a month ago, and has continued to grow. Will be stringing up some rope outside for this to continue to grow. These two are caerulea. The other two are edulis and are much smaller(started at different times)


Here is an old photo(5 months ago) of a lot of our tropical seedlings getting a shower

Here's a recent photo. I can get individual photos if anyone wants. But up there are cherimoyas, sugar apple, the starfruit, pitomba, lychee, loquat, pineapple guavas, pineapples, goji, avacado, lemon seedlings etc.


And our strawberry tree/jamacain cherry.


Lets see, your other questions. I haven't been at the hobby long. Maybe 3 years. I've been big on growing veggies and such for maybe twice that long, but only got into fruit, and then tropical fruit within the past 3 years. Since then it's just gotten exponentially 'worse' haha. It's painful to go to the nursery and see tamarind, macadamia, flowering mango and papaya and dragon fruit etc etc plants and not be able to take any home(we already have a jungle of a house! haha). Although i am lucky that we found a nursery that carries that stuff! I think i may have helped persuade them haha.

As you can see, all our seedlings are small. most between 6" and 2'. None of the seedlings have flowered or fruited. The only things that have fruited were the larger plants purchased from the nursery and i added "Fruiting" next to those ones. All of nursery plants we have bought are in the 3', 4', 5' 6' range.
I live north of denver, CO. Elevation here is about 4,600ft, can get very windy, and has a humidity of about 20%.

Right now, my biggest issues are the cacao and surprisingly the starfruit. It only recently started having troubles. But i can start a new thread to see if we can get some assistance with those.

Enjoy the photos!!

Luke
« Last Edit: April 02, 2012, 11:15:59 AM by lkailburn »

CoPlantNut

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #147 on: April 02, 2012, 12:19:32 PM »
Hello Luke,

Glad to see I'm not the only person in north Colorado trying to grow tropical fruit trees!   I'm in Longmont; at "only" 4600 feet you must be a bit further from the mountains?

   Kevin

lkailburn

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #148 on: April 02, 2012, 12:37:45 PM »
Hi Kevin! I guess i'm actually at 5K. I live in Fort Collins. I just couldn't remember what the actual elevation was. But glad to hear from someone else from the area! Would love to hear more about what you're growing and how/where.

Thanks

-Luke

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #149 on: April 11, 2012, 10:00:42 PM »
Hello everybody

My name is Zach and I live in the northern part of Dade County South Florida. I am a chiropractor by trade, and have taken a liking to exotic and tropical fruits. When I first tasted jackfruit a year ago I became hooked and completely obsessed. LOL. So far I have planted a carambola tree, nam doc Mai mango, keitt mango, and Mai 3 Jackfruit. I look forward to learning more. I would like to plant Avocado, sugar apple and passionfruit. I have a small trellis fence behind the house along the water where I live. I was thinking this would be good to grow passionfruit. Does anybody know how long it would take to do so?
Zach