Author Topic: Top Tropicals GMOs, experiences, and whatnot  (Read 2897 times)

adri

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Top Tropicals GMOs, experiences, and whatnot
« on: August 05, 2017, 10:13:10 AM »
Hi everyone! I am just beginning my exploration in buying and caring for tropical fruit trees as a new hobby. I've browsed many websites, plant-o-gram, top-tropicals, and fast-growing-trees. I've decided to go with TT for their low shipping/prices but have some questions.

First of all, do you have any information about GMOs (especially on their papayas) and whether they are organic or not? I'm not someone who is completely against GMOs but I still would rather not grow something that has been tampered by a person in a lab. I'm mostly interested in mangos, lychees, and jaboticabas.

Does anyone have experiences and stories with TT? Are they reliable? Is there anything I should expect and do when the plant arrives?

Also how long till their plants fruit? Since most are air-layered/grafted, did they fruit within the year?

Lastly, any suggestions for your favorite plants and varieties from TT?


sytanta

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pineislander

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Re: Top Tropicals GMOs, experiences, and whatnot
« Reply #2 on: August 05, 2017, 01:15:32 PM »
Hi everyone! I am just beginning my exploration in buying and caring for tropical fruit trees as a new hobby. I've browsed many websites, plant-o-gram, top-tropicals, and fast-growing-trees. I've decided to go with TT for their low shipping/prices but have some questions.

First of all, do you have any information about GMOs (especially on their papayas) and whether they are organic or not? I'm not someone who is completely against GMOs but I still would rather not grow something that has been tampered by a person in a lab. I'm mostly interested in mangos, lychees, and jaboticabas.

Does anyone have experiences and stories with TT? Are they reliable? Is there anything I should expect and do when the plant arrives?

Also how long till their plants fruit? Since most are air-layered/grafted, did they fruit within the year?

Lastly, any suggestions for your favorite plants and varieties from TT?

You should do a forum search using the keyword top tropicals and will find quite a bit of discussion. The only tropical fruits which have been genetically modified are banana and papaya, to my knowledge. You won't find the bananas in commerce, and you can easily grow papayas from seed which have not been genetically modified.

For a very comprehensive look at the GMO papaya issue, read this:
 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/us/on-hawaii-a-lonely-quest-for-facts-about-gmos.html

LivingParadise

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Re: Top Tropicals GMOs, experiences, and whatnot
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2017, 01:50:51 PM »
There is a ton of info on them if you do an archive search.

However, a short answer is no, they're not organic. It's very hard to find any major supplies of organic tropical plants, unfortunately. I have bought a lot of stuff from TT, and they are good at carrying stuff nobody else has. But I find their plants to be in poor health, often with bad root systems so that they do not fare well after planted, and sometimes mislabeled. I also thinking their costs are extremely high.

I have been far happier ordering things from Kensnursery.com. They don't have the varieties of the specific fruits you prefer though. Small plants at great prices (especially if you wait for the sales) and free shipping, all with excellent root systems and well packaged. I have no complaints really. The plants have done really well, and their inventory seems to be ever increasing into some more unusual plants, so I hope more people will shop with them and encourage them to get more rare stuff. I got 4 times the plants there that I did at Top Tropicals for the same total price, and although small, their root systems were better. But TT does have things I have found nowhere else in the US so far. I hope they will start to get a little more competition, because I did not find them to have good customer service or to value my frequent large purchases.

Plantogram is super expensive, but I must say I've had excellent experiences with them so far, the plants being healthy and well-developed, and doing well even in conditions that others did not. So if I had to ship, that would probably be the place I would go to for specific mango varieties beyond the most common ones if you want a decent size tree that is one or two seasons from flowering and bearing fruit.

I agree that for papayas, it's better if possible to acquire the organic non-GMO seeds (there are many places online, including Amazon and Etsy and Ebay if you find reputable sellers), and just plant directly. They tend to grow so fast that by the time they bear fruit, if transplanted they may not be able to hold themselves in ground well. And it's not too much of a wait between seed planting and harvest, plus kind of fun to watch it grow!

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a great one-stop-shop for tropical purchases for the discriminating buyer yet. Far less so for organic and totally non-GMO.

Welcome to the forum!
« Last Edit: August 05, 2017, 01:55:00 PM by LivingParadise »

roblack

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Re: Top Tropicals GMOs, experiences, and whatnot
« Reply #4 on: August 05, 2017, 03:16:58 PM »
I've been pretty happy with TT in terms of the plants, size, and general health. No problems with trees acclimating after planting, and have been getting fruits or flowers on most by now. If couldn't find what I wanted locally or cheaper, would order from them without anxiety. Having said that, there are nurseries and growers that I like better. Most of them just don't ship.

Tropheus76

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Re: Top Tropicals GMOs, experiences, and whatnot
« Reply #5 on: August 05, 2017, 07:30:01 PM »
Had no problem with TT and I will order from them again. I do recommend doing your own research and not using their descriptions as gospel. I have had none of the problems LivinginParadise has had.

greenman62

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Re: Top Tropicals GMOs, experiences, and whatnot
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2017, 10:20:33 AM »
ive ordered 3 times from TT, and very happy with all 3 orders
healthy plants, well packaged/shipped. a little expensive
but you get what you pay for. the plants always seemed a bit larger than others.

also happy with Pine Island nursery

and very pleased with Flying Fox Fruits (owner is member is here)
http://www.flyingfoxfruits.com/

as fpr Papaya.
you wont (or shouldnt) find GMO seeds or plants even if you would want them.
They are not supposed to leave Hawaii.
my understanding anyway.
The only place ive ever seen seeds for sale is University of Hawaii seed program
and you have to take a class and live in Hi. to get them.

incidentally, they have excellent varieties of papaya and some other plants too.
many are bred disease resistant, and for productivity.
the peppers are awesome !
 (Waialua  and chili - chili are similar to Tabasco pepper)
grape tomato too.
 and if youve never eaten/grown Jicama (Yam bean) you should try it.

and $1 for a pack of seeds... cant beat it...

i get the Waimanalo Papaya (X-77)
excellent low bearing plant (dwarf-ish) - great taste
but mine were not that productive. not sure why.
other seeds have been excellent in many aspects.

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/seeds.asp



fruitlovers

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Re: Top Tropicals GMOs, experiences, and whatnot
« Reply #7 on: August 07, 2017, 03:16:54 AM »
ive ordered 3 times from TT, and very happy with all 3 orders
healthy plants, well packaged/shipped. a little expensive
but you get what you pay for. the plants always seemed a bit larger than others.

also happy with Pine Island nursery

and very pleased with Flying Fox Fruits (owner is member is here)
http://www.flyingfoxfruits.com/

as fpr Papaya.
you wont (or shouldnt) find GMO seeds or plants even if you would want them.
They are not supposed to leave Hawaii.
my understanding anyway.
The only place ive ever seen seeds for sale is University of Hawaii seed program
and you have to take a class and live in Hi. to get them.

incidentally, they have excellent varieties of papaya and some other plants too.
many are bred disease resistant, and for productivity.
the peppers are awesome !
 (Waialua  and chili - chili are similar to Tabasco pepper)
grape tomato too.
 and if youve never eaten/grown Jicama (Yam bean) you should try it.

and $1 for a pack of seeds... cant beat it...

i get the Waimanalo Papaya (X-77)
excellent low bearing plant (dwarf-ish) - great taste
but mine were not that productive. not sure why.
other seeds have been excellent in many aspects.

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/seed/seeds.asp
I think he's asking about GMO contamination. And yes most papaya seed in Hawaii is going to be GMO contaminated, unless grown well isolated from commercial fields.
Oscar