The Tropical Fruit Forum

Very nice new growth!

How about air layering when plants are larger? Think that might be the way to go for propagation.

I read somewhere that Yangmei roots very slowly (like 6 months in controlled environments). I hope Simon’s AL experiment works.

Hi Nate, I grafted it on may 2nd. 

I grafted like 6 really small scions from Shane onto three Californica's and the following is the only one that's still alive, which is a side veneer. Not sure if it's out of woods already but the graft union is healing so I am hopeful.

The other grafts died, along with the two Californica trees. It seems that Californica tends to give up on the entire branch (and tree) if all the rootstock buds are removed. For this reason, I recommend side veneer, and I suggest leaving some buds above and below the graft until you are sure that the graft takes. Be very careful - initial bud break doesn't mean much! You really need patience with Yangmei grafting.

Kaz, still need to figure out male plants. I suggest you keep at least one rootstock sucker for each tree (if suckers grow) as they have 50% chance of being a male.

Biqi just dropped in, thanks again Brad and Kang! Expert shipping, she looks perfectly fine despite the heat wave.

It looks much better than mine, congrats!

Seeded ones for sure. I don’t grow myself, but I used to go to farmers market for seeded watermelons. Not only they are much sweeter and juicier, they are much softer too.

I found a few trees full of fruits almost ripe at Monterey’s Andronico’s community market.

I think these are strawberry trees, not Yangmei. They fruits look quite similar but tastes totally different
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbutus_unedo

Curious to hear where you guys plan on planting your trees once the time comes? I guess it depends on your location...I read it grows in forest and mountain areas in its natural habitat between around 300-5,000ft in elevation so I’m thinking full time partial shade and not full sun would make a good, permanent home for them. Any thoughts? Update on my trees: Biqi is pushing nice green growth, albeit very slowly, and my An Hai grafted onto m. Californica has pushed a couple green buds through the graft tape.

It's pretty rainy and often cloudy where the Yangmei trees are grown. It's pretty humid there too. My guess is that partial sun is excellent for them.

Happy yangmei dad today. Up potted one An Hai that is green wood but no buds swelling and just green wood. When I up potted I saw Beautiful white roots forming and growing. My other An Hai is swelling with buds.

Hi Joe, great job! I’d rather have nice root growth over buds right now. I’m glad that Your method is working nicely.

I have a sweetheart (in ground 11 years) that has fruited for the last two years, and has been a somewhat shy bearer but the fruit are delicious. I was tempted to pull it but Rob (bsbullie) encouraged me to be patient and gave me a few tips which I am glad I took, and I kept it.

My Mauritius (in ground 10 years) which was far smaller when I got it has it's first crop this year and this first crop seems a couple of weeks behind the sweetheart so I've tasted but a few but they were not as good as the sweetheart which is more juicy and sweeter.

Both are handsome trees with a nice not too dense canopy, they are my fave trees.

Reading that longan may require less chilling hours, I wanted to hedge my bets on fruit availability so I planted a Biew Kiew longan (in ground 5 years) from the seed of a fruit I had 8 years or so ago.

Can you share the tips that Rob gave you to improve sweetheart production? I’m in CA so not sure if these tips apply but would be good to know. Thanks

Brad someone brought a bowl of black Pakistan to the last avocado tasting event and they were delicious.

I also find it to be better tasting than white ones. It’s juicer, fatter, and more flavorful. a few people who ate the BP said they were great, but the Persian black is even better.