Male and Female Marula trees...finally the solution...almost

[dreamfrutas]

Tired of no fruiting Marula Trees because you only have male or female trees?

After a research I found finally the solution in an south african paper:

Seeds with 1 or 3 "eyes" as male. Seeds with 2 eyes are female!!  Now we can choose the sex of ours trees, and even plant more females than males!!



FEMALE SEEDS


MALE SEEDS

I got this week 100 seeds of Marula, and was expecting a similar quantity of male and female seeds just by chance.

I noticed that I have not a single one with 1 "eye", no more than 20 female seeds...and about 50 male seeds...

Wait 20 + 50 is 70 not 100... Yes I got also:


FEMALE SEEDS?

The 4 eyes seeds is not mentioned anywhere I read, should I consider these as female seeds just because this way the total will be near even between males and females? Anyone knows?

Also I noticed that 1 and 3 eyes (odd numbers) are male seeds, so 2 and 4 are female??

Anyone knows if the number of eyes is related to the number os seedling emerging from a single seed?

Cheers

Carlos

[stuartdaly88]

I hope my male female ratio is better than that!! Iv never even checked for the eyes. How did you remove them? Have you tasted the nut?

Marula season has just started here they are nice and juicy but last year had just as tastey but much better flesh ratio and bigger. Hopefully later in season the bigger fruits will come again:)









Here are my young seedlings:
This one is about 2 years







These two about a year old trying to.experiment with espalier but as can be seen their growth habit doesn't really make that easy


And here are springs babies about five months old. I planted +-50 seeds in this crate around September and most came up.

[shaneatwell]

I might need some more seeds 

[mwambao]

Thanks for the info Dreamfrutas.
Nice fruits and seedlings Stuart.Reminds me during our childhood.Its strange we do not have these fruits back home anymore.

Mourad

[stuartdaly88]

Thanks for the info Dreamfrutas.
Nice fruits and seedlings Stuart.Reminds me during our childhood.Its strange we do not have these fruits back home anymore.

Mourad

Mourad they are quite scarce here too! Don't see them in any supermarkets or shops. If you've ever been to S.A you would know there are people selling stuff at the robots when you are waiting in traffic. Normally the fruit is mangos Avos or Naartjie-Citrus depending on season but around this time sometimes they have bags of marula you have to keep your eyes sharply peeled they also look abit.like baby potatoes. I got so excited when I saw these the first ones this year I nearly jumped out of my car! I'm sure the guy overcharged me based on my enthusiasm but I didn't care and I was holding up traffic already ha ha. They are not sold commercially at all except for the famous liquor and that's a shame:(

I really wanna taste the nut but the seeds damn hard!

[stuartdaly88]

Ok so now I need advice how to clean the seed as the pulp sticks on voraciously and I want to get at this nut!

These are too slippery and I don't want to waste my supply of easy sprout seeds, would rather eat these ones:)

[starling1]

I hope my male female ratio is better than that!! Iv never even checked for the eyes. How did you remove them? Have you tasted the nut?

Marula season has just started here they are nice and juicy but last year had just as tastey but much better flesh ratio and bigger. Hopefully later in season the bigger fruits will come again:)









Here are my young seedlings:
This one is about 2 years








These two about a year old trying to.experiment with espalier but as can be seen their growth habit doesn't really make that easy


And here are springs babies about five months old. I planted +-50 seeds in this crate around September and most came up.

Stuart in your honest opinion are Marula apt rule a fruit good enough to eat fresh out of hand? I have been considering planting one out for some time but my space is limited.

[stuartdaly88]

Starling1
To be honest with you my fruit experience is probably much less than yours as I have not tastes most of the delights on this forum. We get good litchi and mango the only variety iv known I was eating was saber. Otherwise all the normal stone fruits and some citrus.

With that in mind Marula is one of my favourite fruits. It is extremely juicy and complex with a good sweet acid balance. The best even have caramel/vanilla overtones. Juice and fermentation beverages also excellent without adding anything.
The problem is the flesh to seed ratio. Some have a decent amount of flesh but ones like above don't have so much since flesh sticks to seeds. The still have an abundance of tastey juice though and to suck on the seed is very nice.

Iv heard of improved varieties but never tasted them and finding them is really hard.
If the improved varieties are any better than the best seedlings iv tasted. I would say they would be an incredible fruit. Also should be noted the ones I buy very likely have incredibly poor horticulture practices I doubt it's even irrigated or fertilised as it's in no way commercial here they oftwn.just sell wild ones from the lovely or kroner park.

So to sum up: taste excellent
Flesh ratio variable but possibly improved with good ferts irrigation etc
Apparently the nut is excellent raw too

mwambao or any other tasters I would be interested in your descriptions of the taste and how it compares to my experience.

[stuartdaly88]

Btw anyone with access the firm almost hard feeling ones taste alot better and have way more juice:)

Also the skin is edible and makes for alot more flesh but slightly bitter and strange flavour for some. Seed is meant to.taste.like high quality walnut but I havnt tasted.

I found this thread I read awhile ago
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=192.msg155623#msg155623

Oscar was not.too impressed with one at Fspark but possibly a bad one? Beside the flesh ratio my experience and what iv heard is only good.

[dreamfrutas]

I tasted one SEVERAL years ago and was just DELICIOUS, then I tried another in another place and found almost bad...as in many tropical-subtropical fruits there is a great variety of qualifity in different trees, sometimes even in the same place!

I read the good ones are the ssp caffra, but I am no expert.

Cheers

C

[stuartdaly88]

I tasted one SEVERAL years ago and was just DELICIOUS, then I tried another in another place and found almost bad...as in many tropical-subtropical fruits there is a great variety of qualifity in different trees, sometimes even in the same place!

I read the good ones are the ssp , but I am no expert.

Cheers

C

As soon as they go soft they lose alot of flavour and I don't like the texture at that point. I think this also contributes cauz I always think soft =best tasting but not with marula. They ripen off tree to an extent at least!

How was the flesh ratio Dreamfrutas?
How would you describe the taste or compare it to anythimg? I like to hear others descriptions of.something.Iv actually tried!

I think that thread had some links to the places that produced better variety I had no joy:( but big money foreigners may have better response than I did!

[mwambao]

Last time I had one I was a child then but I know the taste was very good.

mourad

[stuartdaly88]

Last time I had one I was a child then but I know the taste was very good.

mourad

Hmm inconclusive then as children seem to.have very different taste experiences lol.
I got many at the moment just biting a small hole in the skin and squeezing all the juice into my mouth no mess no fuss and loving them sweet and delicious!
Still miss the big ones I got last year though!

[vern70]

Planted Marula trees about four years ago. This year yielded 2 1/2 dozen small fruit. Not the taste I had expected. Will further years produce a better quality fruit? Due to health issues, I will play with the stones this year and hope for better quality in years ahead

[luc]

I used to have 3 fruiting size trees , close to 5 meters tall , all 3 planted in a 1 M2 spot . They were doing great till one day they started to decline and died within 2 weeks . They were planted too close to a brook and had their roots constantly wet ...my mistake .... Since they are savanna trees I guess they like it dry . Planted 3 more 2 meters now .

[Ethan]

Great info guys, thank you! I've 4 plants and want to plant them all in the same hole. Hopefully I'll get at least 1 female? Any idea what kind of low temps this tree can handle?

[sytanta]

I used to have 3 fruiting size trees , close to 5 meters tall , all 3 planted in a 1 M2 spot . They were doing great till one day they started to decline and died within 2 weeks . They were planted too close to a brook and had their roots constantly wet ...my mistake .... Since they are savanna trees I guess they like it dry . Planted 3 more 2 meters now .

Yeah they don't like wet. Their roots are super long to find water in great depth. Be closed to a brook will make their roots always be over-watered.

[mangomike]

This paper mentions an improved cultivar called 'Namibian Wonder'- Stuart since you are in S. Africa you could perhaps contact they author at the email provided and get scions or large cuttings (they are reported to root fairly easily): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10457-005-2420-6

This paper discusses the activities of ICRAF in collecting marula varieties from the wild - perhaps they could be contacted as well....
http://www.the-eis.com/data/literature/Knowledge%20on%20Sclerocarya%20birrea%202.pdf

Hope this helps

[stuartdaly88]

This paper mentions an improved cultivar called 'Namibian Wonder'- Stuart since you are in S. Africa you could perhaps contact they author at the email provided and get scions or large cuttings (they are reported to root fairly easily): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10457-005-2420-6

This paper discusses the activities of ICRAF in collecting marula varieties from the wild - perhaps they could be contacted as well....
http://www.the-eis.com/data/literature/Knowledge%20on%20Sclerocarya%20birrea%202.pdf

Hope this helps

Thank you for the link I will also check it out!

I have made contact with Pretoria university they are apparently trying to propergate material from Prof Lucas 'Kas' Holtzhausen who apparantly selected a lot of supirior types They have promised me so scions if their large cuttings/trunchoens take( I didnt even know it could be propergated like this but they the experts ha ha)

I am Also currently on the hunt for a red marula because I have read that they do exist higher up in Africa.

[sytanta]

I am Also currently on the hunt for a red marula because I have read that they do exist higher up in Africa.

That is exciting Stuart!

[luc]

Hey Stuart , what do you mean by higher up in Africa , closer to the equator or at a higher level above the sea ?

Luc

[luc]

Found on the net , would this be Marula ?

[stuartdaly88]

Hey Stuart , what do you mean by higher up in Africa , closer to the equator or at a higher level above the sea ?

Luc

I think I just assumed Kenya because they apparantly have the highest level of genetic diversity with all three recognised subspecies(S.A we have caffra as far as I know). There is a picture of red colouration in this booklet page 5.

http://www.eefri.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Booklet_on_.-birrea-Marula.pdf

Im trying to find the link where it said more on the red type.
There really is a big variety in this species though! One of the improved types propergated by Prof Kas at Pretoria University is slightly smaller than a tennis ball (with bigger seed too but thats not bad since the kernel is apparantly delicious). Im holding thumbs I can get some of the truncheons they are starting in the next couple months!

[stuartdaly88]

Found on the net , would this be Marula ?

It looks more like Kei Apple - Dovyalis caffra I think

[shafak]

So, is the 2 eyes=female, 3 eyes=male theory correct or is it just that -  a theory?