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Messages - Michiganian

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: New Years Eve
« on: December 31, 2013, 07:58:30 PM »
Happy New Year! ^_^

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: FGM: Happy Holidays to the Forum members
« on: December 31, 2013, 04:36:35 PM »
Merry Christmas, I wish a fruitful year for all of you guys.

Question...

Sorry for my ignorance but, What do you guys do in Christmas ? Do you guys have a fancy dinner with your families ? or go to church ?


Typically, we spend Christmas Eve day together, share a meal, attend a candlelight service, then open one gift before bed. In the morning the kids dive into their stockings, shred the rest of the wrapping paper and demolish any sort of packaging or boxes anywhere in sight. It's pure holiday chaos. Wouldn't have it any other way. ^_^

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Facebook milestone
« on: December 31, 2013, 04:32:58 PM »
I've been enjoying the daily mystery fruit posts. Your idea of doing giveaways like for the Dwarf Malaysian Papaya seeds will boost interest too. Keep up the good work!

He's going to run out of mystery fruit soon and his life will lose its meaning. A barrel to the mouth will be his only respite.

Oh I dunno... if he really reaches the end of the general fruits, he could start to get tough and ask what specific cultivar they are. ;)

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Facebook milestone
« on: December 31, 2013, 03:56:24 PM »
I've been enjoying the daily mystery fruit posts. Your idea of doing giveaways like for the Dwarf Malaysian Papaya seeds will boost interest too. Keep up the good work!

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical Fruit Forum Logo
« on: December 30, 2013, 03:36:32 PM »
I use Adobe Photoshop CS6, but it also has a steep learning curve.

... ;) http:// kills the symmetry, too.

I do like the sketch for the tree with all of the fruits, Sanddollarmoon! 

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical Fruit Forum Logo
« on: December 30, 2013, 12:21:28 PM »
I still hear them saying w-w-w-dot on the radio when they are announcing a website. For me it's a matter of symmetry. I find adding "www." visually looks better to balance things out. However, if it's a unanimous vote, it can be removed.

Mike T, I just saw your offer of allowing use of your photos. I've been skimming through your posts, and actually you have several that would work well. A white background only makes the process easier for me to edit, but I can work around what's there. Particularly with photos such as this: http://postimg.cc/image/4sofkcqsj/ - The photo is properly exposed, the whole fruit is all in focus, sharp, and the lighting is even with no hard shadows or bright reflections. The only thing that could have possibly made it any better would have been to have one of the fruits open, like in that stock image. I think it's rather important to show the insides of a lot of these fruits because they can be rather surprising to people unfamiliar with them. Such as rambutan. :P

So if anyone else has photos they'd like to contribute, maybe we could post them here so that everyone working on the logos can utilize?




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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical Fruit Forum Logo
« on: December 30, 2013, 08:41:33 AM »
Yes, Harry is right. To make that logo into a shirt, I will have to go in and pay a lot more money for the correct licensing. We're talking over $1,000.

That being said, if you guys on the forums who have access to fresh fruits are willing to take some pictures for me with a basic set up I can walk you through, I can re-create a similar logo using your photos that won't cost us any licensing fees. Plus, then we can get some of those other types of fruit in there that I couldn't find stock images for.

If you are willing to help, all you need is a camera, a tripod, a white cloth for the background, and (fingers crossed here) hopefully some shop lights like you'd use in your garage that you can place on either side of the fruit for proper lighting. -- I can work around the lighting though if you don't have access to it. It'd be kinda neat to have the whole community involved in the process.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical Fruit Forum Logo
« on: December 29, 2013, 09:43:41 PM »
So something like this is out? Too close to the original, maybe?



FYI, that particular version won't be one you can reprint and sell. I had to use mainly stock images without having access to most of these fruits (the mango and longan pics are mine). It's so unfortunate that I could not find photos of all the fruits!

P.S. Nice one, Tropicdude!

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical Fruit Forum Logo
« on: December 29, 2013, 03:47:22 PM »
Let me ask, what types of fruits would you guys like to see in the logo?

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Longan seedling diagnosis?
« on: December 29, 2013, 11:27:09 AM »
I did run a Google search and could not come up with any answers, so I'm turning to the experts here on TFF. Some of my year-old seedlings are having some strange developments. See pictures below.



^ This seedling has two shoots of new growth coming out. They look totally healthy, except the bigger one has leaves that are curling. There is no fuzz (to suggest mites). The other shoot has three straight leaves and one slightly curled.




^ This seedling's new growth is only ever green, not the rusty red like all the others. I've recently trimmed off some of the older leaves so that it could focus on the new shoots.

Now, I do know that I have a problem with fungus gnats. It started after that period of having my kids help take care of my trees, during which time they became over-watered for several days.  My new "favorite" past time is "smack the gnat." I'm looking into getting either sand or pebbles to cover the top layer of soil in all of my pots. But beyond that, I don't see any other issues. I visually can't see any fungus growing on the top of my soil. Watering has gone to, once I stick my finger about an inch in the pot and it's getting dry, they get water. But not so much that they are sitting in a puddle.

Maybe humidity (or lack there of) could be an issue. Back when I hatched chickens with my kids, we had to keep the incubators humid. We achieved this both by adding water to the bottom of one unit, above which the eggs were suspended in their turner on a hardware cloth cover over the basin. In the other unit, I put sponges in a container off to one side and made sure they were soaked every day. Both sets of eggs hatched without a problem.  -- I don't currently have any setup for humidity. I'm thinking of constructing a table top greenhouse to assist.

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Jackfruit sprouted a... rubber duckie?
« on: December 27, 2013, 03:17:46 PM »
Thanks, Harry. I'll keep an eye on them and see if they do anything noteworthy to update on. -- Either way, it's exciting to see them still growing. :)

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Jackfruit sprouted a... rubber duckie?
« on: December 27, 2013, 09:00:10 AM »
;) Funny, rambutantx.

Actually, I was thinking at first it was trying to flower or something, but now it just looks like new branches.  Can a seasoned jackfruit growing vet chime in and confirm for me? I've never grown a tree long enough to see it reach the point of new branches.





13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: FGM: Happy Holidays to the Forum members
« on: December 25, 2013, 10:12:09 AM »
Haha. ;) I always give credit where credit is due. That one's all on Mother Nature!  ;D

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: FGM: Happy Holidays to the Forum members
« on: December 25, 2013, 10:06:22 AM »
Merry Christmas everyone! -- Here's what the plants in my front yard currently look like:


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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My first taste of Rambutan
« on: December 25, 2013, 10:03:33 AM »
I probably will be going back to Thailand, so I'll keep an eye out for that. ;) Yeah, just little nibbles at a time though.

AnnonAddict, sounds like it would be cheaper for you to order rambutan through the Hula Brothers (when they have them in season -- theirs is just winding down). You have to get 7lbs at a time, but it ends up being around $8.56 a pound ($59.95 total, including shipping). So if you have some folks who want to split the order with you, it makes it a little cheaper for everyone.


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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My first taste of Rambutan
« on: December 24, 2013, 11:18:09 PM »
If I like something enough, I'm willing to work hard to get it. I've got no problem opening longan. That parallels my enthusiasm for snow crab. My mom always said she never saw anyone as dedicated to efficiently cleaning out every piece of meat from the shell as I. ;)

I haven't tried any of these fruits dried. I had a bad experience as a kid and tend not to eat the dried stuff so much now... Long car ride and a tub of dried apricots. Silly me didn't realize that dried stuff is going to expand in your stomach. I ate the entire tub. They did not remain in my stomach long. :P

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My first taste of Rambutan
« on: December 24, 2013, 09:11:50 PM »
Thanks GreenThumb. :) If anyone wants me to do more videos, all they have to do is mail me a box of ripe, good looking fruit and I'll get to work on more.  ;D


Okay Oscar, that makes sense. Longan didn't seem to be the most popular while I was in Thailand either. I'm (unfortunately) a very curious person by nature. If I were actually in Hawaii, I think it would be interesting to ask local people which they prefer and why. -- I have a very big sweet tooth, and longan is a lot sweeter to me than this rambutan. Rambutan seems to be a sweet, tart, citrusy mix, which is why I said it reminded me of fruit punch. Longan just seems strong and sweet, minus the tart and citrus. I know a lot of folks who don't like "sweet" as much as me. They probably would prefer the rambutan.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Durian: Smells Putrid...Tastes Awful!
« on: December 24, 2013, 08:00:12 AM »
Maybe it was the variety you got. The only durian I've ever had a chance to taste was one I also bought whole from an Asian market, frozen. I thawed it, it smelled bad, but I actually liked the taste.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My first taste of Rambutan
« on: December 24, 2013, 07:58:22 AM »
Hawaiian hula berry? Nobody uses that name here. I saw that in an article, someone just totally recently invented that name in their head, and it only exists in that one head. ::)

Actually, the company from whom I bought the rambutan is promoting the Hula Berry name. So maybe it's going to start picking up (or has already, outside of Hawaii)? I stuck the N on the end of Hawaii though. Thought it sounded more proper.



I would say a great majority of people here prefer rambutan over longan. Rambutan usually fetches a slightly higher price and seems to sell a lot better than longan. But maybe that could just be because longan is available most of the year and rambutan is seasonal. By far the biggest favorite here is lychee.

I have a guess on the longan versus rambutan there, and I could be totally wrong. But to me, visually, rambutan is a much more interesting fruit. Longan look rather, eh. Brown and potentially boring, to the unsuspecting new customer. It's a known statistic that the color red pushes more sales. Lychee seems to have the best of both. It's pinky red and slightly bumpy, which makes it more interesting to look at than longan, but (apparently) tastes better than rambutan.


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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My first taste of Rambutan
« on: December 23, 2013, 11:42:24 PM »
Thanks everyone.

As to the information of the fruit sticking to the seed, clearly the website I was reading through earlier didn't have the whole scoop. I've amended that line.

I have not had a chance to try lychee or pulasan yet. Both are at the top of my growing ( thanks TFF ::) ) "want" list.

I wasn't trying to compare the two, BMc. Just stating that the rambutan has not taken over as my "favorite fruit". My favorite fruit used to be strawberries until I tasted longan. -- These rambutan actually do have a lot of flavor. And they weren't in the mail too long after being picked (was only supposed to be 2 days, but FedEx delayed and it ended up being 4).

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / My first taste of Rambutan
« on: December 23, 2013, 06:33:26 PM »
It's good! But I still prefer longan.

http://youtu.be/agjLLGgfTQc

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Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Where To Buy Tropical Fruit Online
« on: December 21, 2013, 03:13:04 PM »
The Hula Brothers are also a good source for fresh rambutan. Just got my first box of them today.









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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Jackfruit sprouted a... rubber duckie?
« on: December 18, 2013, 12:48:51 PM »
Seriously? What is that? Just a random funky growing leaf, or wayward branch that is coming up funny?



^ Same shot, just a close up for the detail.


^ Two other shots with slightly different lighting.

Different angles:






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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango plucking
« on: December 16, 2013, 07:32:40 PM »
And if you wanna toss someone in the mix to film the showdown (and give a really unbias opinion due to never having tasted any of those kinds of mangos!), supply air fare and accommodations, and I'll be there. ;)

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Longan Growing Experiments
« on: December 12, 2013, 08:57:38 AM »
OK I get that. -- I'll try and find the old thread to read through. Thanks for the heads-up!

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