Author Topic: Davidson's Plum  (Read 12077 times)

Tomas

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Davidson's Plum
« on: August 29, 2012, 10:34:11 PM »
Hi,

I am thinking about growing Davidson's Plum. There seems to be 3 different types: 

 Davidsonia johnsonii
 Davidsonia jerseyana
 Davidsonia pruriens

My question is simple: Which one is best and why?

Tomas

BMc

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2012, 10:53:44 PM »
Puriens is best as far as fruit are concerned. They get tall and palm like and fruit heavily and there are a few different 'forms' with different leaves and fruit shapes.
Jerseyana is the southern form that is just about as good, more cold tolerant (from SEQLD and Northern NSW) and generally a smaller tree. It can fruit quicker.
Johnsonii is a whole different kettle of fruit. Its not so cauliflorous, and the fruit are more marble sized and not so great for anthing much. Also not that many fruit. Its very rare in the wild and is mostly grown by those interested in protecting the species. Its also rather bushy and not tall.
In all cases the fruits are very acid. I really like them, but others look at me strangely when I eat them. They make a very tasty but acid wine that cuts through the heartiest of slow cooked meals. The big one on the farm just had a huge crop a few weeks back and filled a few wheelbarrows.

Mike T

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2012, 11:12:58 PM »
I would go along with BMc assessment but add there is an alternative to growing them.You can make your own.If you take red fleshed normal plums and soak them in vinegar and lime/bilimbi juice they turn out almost the same.The juice is good for tossing in salads,cleaning coins and for relieving stings from marine jellyfish.

fruitlovers

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2012, 12:01:07 AM »
Got some very tall Davidsonia pruriens that don't see to wanna fruit? What's the deal?
Oscar

BMc

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2012, 02:13:50 AM »
Only thing I can think of is to hit it with a bunch of K, withhold all P and go easy on the N. If its mature enough you should have pink racemes all over the trunk in no time.

fruitlovers

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2012, 02:50:14 AM »
Only thing I can think of is to hit it with a bunch of K, withhold all P and go easy on the N. If its mature enough you should have pink racemes all over the trunk in no time.

Thanks BMc i'll try that and will let you know if it worked.
Oscar

jcaldeira

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2012, 03:13:58 AM »
Only thing I can think of is to hit it with a bunch of K, withhold all P and go easy on the N. If its mature enough you should have pink racemes all over the trunk in no time.

BMc, thanks for the sugggestion.  I wish there was a way to easily save these kernals of wisdom for future use.   -John
Applying laws and rules equally to all is a cornerstone of a civilized society.

Mike T

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2012, 03:27:40 AM »
All Australian native plants nedd little liitle P and react badly to excess application.Plants originating in fertile basaltic soil rainforest areas have a little more P tolerance.D.prurians comes in several forms from 15 to 19 latitude and at altitudes to about 1500m.The ones in cultivation mostly come from the atherton tableland rainforest at about 800m at latitude 18 where there is fertile volcanic soil and abundant rain.Wild ones are rarely in direct sunlight and understorey trees of modest size can be found fruiting prolifically.Cassowaries and musky rat kangaroos are big fans of the fruit.

fruitlovers

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2012, 06:16:30 AM »
My Davidsons are in full direct sunlight. Would that affect fruiting? The trees and leaves seem happy, not at all burned.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2012, 06:28:52 AM »
So long as max temps are not too high and humidity and rainfall are high they should thrive and fruit faster than those in shade.A workmate planted lots of them in full sun on the tablelands and I saw 4m tall ones fruiting and I don't know their age.They mulched with cow pats as it was a dairy cow property.

Tomas

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2012, 08:27:31 AM »
Thank all for the good information. I think I will go with Davidsonia pruriens and see how that goes.

Tomas

tabbydan

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #11 on: August 30, 2012, 04:42:25 PM »
I think I have one of those species in a pot.  Since I grow indoor / outdoors (owing to winter here) should I hit it with K when I take it outside in the mid Spring?
What's that got to do with Jose Andres $10 brussel sprouts?

fruitlovers

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #12 on: August 30, 2012, 06:03:01 PM »
So long as max temps are not too high and humidity and rainfall are high they should thrive and fruit faster than those in shade.A workmate planted lots of them in full sun on the tablelands and I saw 4m tall ones fruiting and I don't know their age.They mulched with cow pats as it was a dairy cow property.

Mike, yes they are thriving, very happy, growing fast, just not fruiting. One is close to 20 feet tall, and the other about 12 feet tall. I guess they need cross pollination? I added smaller one later on for that reason.
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2012, 06:24:28 PM »
Those you see in the rainforest fruiting often seem remote from other individuals so I don't know about pollination.BMc might have a better idea.Yours are large enough to fruit, well and truly.I wonder if your equitable rainfall and temps may not be providing the flowering cues.Where they are native there is a marked dry season and winter temps, even in the rainforest understorey, can be in the 30's f for proplonged periods.

fruitlovers

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2012, 06:26:47 PM »
Those you see in the rainforest fruiting often seem remote from other individuals so I don't know about pollination.BMc might have a better idea.Yours are large enough to fruit, well and truly.I wonder if your equitable rainfall and temps may not be providing the flowering cues.Where they are native there is a marked dry season and winter temps, even in the rainforest understorey, can be in the 30's f for proplonged periods.

You probably hit it with that guess. We don't have any definite dry period here unless there is a "drought". Here a drought is considered any period of one week or more without any rain.
Oscar

BMc

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #15 on: August 30, 2012, 06:49:18 PM »
I dont think cross pollination is a problem. The one on the farm is alone in flowering and fruiting - though there may be other trees either wild or cultivated within 3kms, but I dont think its the problem. We do have otehr trees in the rainforest patch that would be 20ft and dont flower or fruit. The big one is on the north eastern edge of the rainforest patch, so gets more light and less competition. The ones grown semi commercially are all grown in the sun and seem to fruit and grow well. The ones up at Cape Trib fruit their heads off - Do you know their winter conditions Mike? The ones around here are used to 4-6week stretches without any rain from end of winter through mid spring. We dont call it a drought, we call it August. The only problem with the wet/dry sequence required for flowering theory is that their main fruiting seems to be mid-late winter here, and our early winter and autumn, when the flowering triggers would occur, is wet. In Cape Trib, the fruit seems to come off early dry season too, so they dont seem to rely on dry season triggers?

Guanabanus

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #16 on: August 30, 2012, 09:21:43 PM »
I believe seasonal cues are read by different types of plants, regardless of at which point each type is at in its yearly cycle.  In the equatorial lowland rainforest of the Amazon all times of the year are provided for by specific kinds of fruits for which that time of year is the predictable harvest.   The dry season, hot days/cool nights (60's F) lasts 2-8 weeks.
Har

Mike T

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #17 on: August 30, 2012, 11:48:46 PM »
I have found ripe fruit on the ground in spring and early summer in the highlands.Cape Trib is much warmer and can get good winter rain but is usually dry in spring.It gets about 4000mm/yr heavily stacked in the 1st half of the year and rarely get below 16c.There seems to be differences in the trees' 'behavior' from differents parts of their range.I found a very hairy rounder type on the lamb range on the ground in late summer.

fruitlovers

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #18 on: August 31, 2012, 12:05:00 AM »
Thanks for all the info on Davidson plum BMC and Miike, We" only" get 3200 mm of rain, but is pretty evenly spread through the whole year. So that might be a factor for reluctance to frut..
« Last Edit: August 31, 2012, 12:20:50 AM by fruitlovers »
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #19 on: August 31, 2012, 12:16:06 AM »
Oscar that is alot and I get a little over 2500mm.In D.pruriens native habitat, rainfall is 1400mm to 8000mm per year and altitudes are sea level to 1600m. The dry season and significantly cooler winter mins (10C) is a constant.Maybe yours originated from the Atherton Tablelands where seasonality is more marked than the rest of the region and in greater contrast to your climate.

Tomas

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #20 on: August 31, 2012, 08:49:30 AM »
Hi,

Just wanted to add that Davidson Plum grows and fruits well in Naples, Florida. Below is the climate chart for Naples.

Tomas



fruitlovers

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #21 on: August 31, 2012, 06:11:38 PM »
Hi Tomas, do you have a Davidson plum yourself fruiting?
Oscar

Mike T

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #22 on: August 31, 2012, 07:17:18 PM »
Naples FL has a chart that is very similar to Townsville where they fruit in backyards.

Tomas

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #23 on: August 31, 2012, 09:21:27 PM »
Hi Oscar,

No I don't.  I will start from seeds now.

Tomas

Mike T

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Re: Davidson's Plum
« Reply #24 on: September 03, 2012, 08:06:12 AM »
I spoke to a work colleague whose family as many D.pruriens and D.jerseyana trees planted on their farm near a town called Millaa Millaa.He advised that D.pruriens is a composite species that will probably be broken up in the future with much variation in fruit and tree characters.Some types are sweet enough to be eaten out of hand with large fruit and others are very sour.He says that D.jerseyana is also variable in fruit character but don't have the extremely sour types  like D.pruriens.The farm grown ones are examples of all types and are used for juice.Oh yeah he said D.johnsoni was the first broken off from D.pruriens and uis very limited in the wild and has fruit of poorer quality.