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Messages - Miguel.pt

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351
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Does Eugenia stipitata (Araçá-boi) needs cross-pollination?
« on: September 23, 2013, 04:31:52 PM »
Hello all,
 
As a general rule I've always heard that all Eugenia species are self-fertile... this is one of those rules that I've found mentioned on forums like this but never really found it tested or discussed scientifically... like that current statement that "all cactus fruits are edible" that I keep considering true until someone convinces me otherwise (just hope not to find it too late !...)... but cross-pollination needs are well know for some members of the family mirtaceae being the Feijoas probably the most famous of all for this behavior...
 
So, after years of flowers and no fruits on my Eugenia stipitatas, I've found some references online saying this species had some degree of allogamy... I think this was the place where I've first read about it:

www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/myrtaceae.html
 
I also remember to have discussed this subject with Berto before because apparently he had the same problem as I do, I mean, lots of flowers but zero fruit set... so as a last desperate attempt I placed two flowering plants of these side by side on my GH and spent sometime cross-hand-pollinating some flowers...
 
I lost track of the flowers I had pollinated by hand but this seems to have worked at last because recently I found the first 2 fruits ever for me... big and beautiful fruits and only in one of those plants that I coupled... all other plants continue without any fruits whatsoever despite being all of the same age and size... all plants were born from the same seed batch received from Brasil back in 2007 or 2008 so all my plants have 5 years of age at least...
 
Anyone else has evidences of this species needing cross-pollination to set fruits?... or it is just a question of age of the plant to start producing?






352
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Found cactus with good/tasty fruits... please help to identify the species?
« on: September 23, 2013, 04:19:40 PM »
Hello all,
 
This weekend while visiting my parents I found these beautiful small pithayas there...
fruits seemed ripe so I collected and tasted a few... and they tasted great... all the family enjoyed... I've found these very sweet, sweeter than some other bigger pithayas I've tasted before, and they even leave a nice aftertaste on the mouth that persisted for hours...
 
Moreover the fruits were of a decent size, had no nasty thorns and they peeled very easily... I just see advantages here...
 
Funny thing is that this cactus seats there for as long as I remember (more than 30 years)... my parents always had it just for the nice/big white/yellow flowers...and the only occasion that I remember it to have had fruits was last year that I visited my parents when it had open flowers and I spent sometime hand pollinating several flowers with the pollen of another cactus but it only grew one single fruit... this year it has lots of fruits without any human intervention... I confirmed with my dad and he did nothing... maybe my last year hand pollination efforts triggered something here???
 
Anyone can help me to identify the correct species name?... anyone else knows these type of pithayas?















353
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Video about Lorenzi
« on: September 12, 2013, 02:13:32 PM »
FANTÁSTICO !!!!

now I need to find a source for that rare CAMBUI (Myrciaria plinioides)... anyone can help?...pleeeaaase!

354
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Bromelia karatas questions?
« on: August 29, 2013, 04:21:47 PM »
Hello all,
 
Some years ago a Brazilian friend sent me a seedling of this species labeled as "Banana de Macaco"... it grew very well on my GH and now (4 or 5 years latter) I have a huge clump which is occupying a lot of space... But I have yet to see any fruit and I'm getting a little bit tired of waiting... and my GH space is too precious for something that I'm not really sure if worth it... Bringing it outside is no solution as I imagine the cold would kill it on the first winter... so the options are just waiting to see if it fruits someday or just rip it out immediately...
 
Does any of you guys have any experience with this one?... are the fruits good enough to keep me waiting?... will it ever fruit on the GH?

I've searched for answers online but didn't find any... maybe the best information online about this one is here:

http://journal.bsi.org/V15/6/


 
Any comments or opinions are welcome... thanks in advance.

355
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Musa lasiocarpa
« on: August 28, 2013, 04:27:51 PM »
Hello Luc,

So I went to check my plant and even if it has been totally neglected for years I found it still alive... moreover it has lots of small pups around... If you have asked earlier some of these pups could be waiting for you in Belgium by now...

Did you managed to find any seed supplier for this?... How long will you stay in Belgium?


356
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: ID please Unknown fruit from N E India(Tripura)-Borboti
« on: August 28, 2013, 04:02:26 PM »
Hello Roy

I guess is the Grewia asiatica or Grewia subinaequalis fruit. This one is a summer fruit so at least the season matches!

357
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Musa lasiocarpa
« on: August 27, 2013, 05:55:11 PM »
Just one question:
Are you considering eating the small bananas this one produces?... are the fruits safe enough to eat?

I had one once but I left it half abandoned because I found some reports stating the fruit was no good for human consumption... I seem to remember that on the native area of origin the fruits were used to feed pigs or something like that...

In fact this Musa sp. ( I think the correct name is Musela lasiocarpa) was very interesting not only for the beautiful flower but because it supported very low temperatures... it felt at home on my 9a climate... but the edibility doubts made me loose interest...

Luc... do you want it for food or as a pure ornamental?
Carlos... did you ate your fruits?... were they good/sweet?

Thank you all in advance for your comments.
Miguel.pt

358
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Interesting historic book about Brazilian trees and fruits
« on: August 22, 2013, 04:27:25 PM »

Hello Huertasurbanas
 
I've made some photos to answer you as I'm just too lazy to write it all down...
 
One important detail I forgot to mention about this book is that the language is not modern Portuguese but "Sixteen Century Portuguese" which is a lot different... for me as a native Portuguese speaker I find that very amusing and another big point of interest... but I understand that for others this can be an increased difficulty so you'd better be aware of it... don't even think about reading it using the Google translator as it will for sure work even worst than usual!
 
Anyway, for those who bother to read the page on the Photo here are my guesses:
 
The "COMICHÂ" is the GRUMICHAMA (Eugenia brasiliensis) for sure!
Still don't know what the "MANDIBA" could be... red and cherry size made me think about the "Rio Grande Cherry"... but this one is from south Brasil and most of the books describes trees that should occur at Bahia/north Brasil... any other guesses?
The ACAMBUI could be the "Yellow Cambui- Myrciaria delicatula"?
The CURUANHA still couldn't figure out what the hell is...any guesses?
The CAMBUCA is the Plinia edulis (Cambucá) of course!




359
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rollinia emarginata tasty?
« on: August 21, 2013, 06:04:39 PM »
Quote from: Guanabanus on April 04, 2013, 09:13:55 PM
The Rollinia emarginata that I have eaten were crab-apple size, very seedy, and tasted quite alright.  They are of interest to breeders, collectors, and persons who live where it is too cold to grow tropical or sub-tropical Annonaceae.

Fruits the size of actual apples are probably actually from other Rollinia species, including several that the lumpers call emarginata.

I just login to confirm the statements of HAR with my personal experience on this species and to give hope to fools like me:

Here I have a 9a climate outside with recorded minimum winter temperatures of -5ªC and -6ºC, and I confirmed this after killing several white sapotes (just to give you an idea)...

Well...after several attempts the only annonaceae (other than Asimina triloba) that has proven to survive the winter here outside is the Rollinia emarginata... it looses all leaves and some small branches... but survives!... I agree that the fruit is not so good but I'm counting on it as a rootstock to try to push the limits to other annonas with better fruits... gradually I intend to try to graft Cherimoyas and A. tomentosa to R. emarginata rootstock to test if I can make them survive, fruit and gain at least one climate zone... I think it's more or less official that 9b is the limit for now for good fruit quality annonas and if I can find a way to grow these at a 9a climate it will be my contribution to mankind...

360
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Interesting historic book about Brazilian trees and fruits
« on: August 21, 2013, 04:48:25 PM »
Quote from: Berto on August 21, 2013, 10:40:18 AM
ahahahahahaahahhaahaah
Luis this forum is "International with a "T"...not with a "C".....ahahhahahaahahahahahaahah

Miguel
You wrote about "the official discovery of Brasil"!  Brasil was not covered when the Portuguese arrived there in 1500 and started killing and exploiting the native Brasilians as well as exploiting the natural resources including gold and precious stones.  At that time, there was a large thriving native populations living there.  Your statement can be challenged, and is being challenged by many people as I write these sentences.   By the way, I am part Portuguese, part African, and part native Brasilian descent, and my wife is full blown Portuguese from the outskirts of Lisbon. My son was born in the Azores.  I visit Portugal every other year maximum. So, I know what I am talking about.  It is about time the Portuguese tell the world what really happen when the Portuguese arrived in Brasil, in 1500.  It was not a  "discovery". It was something else......No hard feelings, by the way, how are your fruit trees?  My orchard is looking fantastic!

Hello Berto

I don't want to create any controversy on this subject... please believe me that when I wrote "official discovery of Brasil" referring to the year 1500 it was just because I'm aware of some historic discussions going on stating that the Portuguese knew about the existence of Brasil long before the year 1500 but they maintained it as a well kept secret because the Portuguese Kings were discussing the "Tordesillas Treaty" with the Spanish Kings and the Pope...
As you probably know this treaty divided the world in two parts being the west for Spain and the east for Portugal, and the Portuguese King only accepted to sign this treaty when the other parties accepted to move the division line to the west so it could include most of Brasil... only after signing this treaty the Portuguese "officially" announced the existence of the Brasil to the rest of the world... and this was in 1500.

Recently there seems to have been found historic evidences that the Portuguese also knew about the existence of the Australian continent long before the "official discovery" by the British...

I'm a proud Portuguese as you can see... but my grandmother was born in São Paulo/Brasil which makes me a little bit Brazilian also... and now, after 3 full weeks on the beach, my wife looks like a "mulata" and I'm very happy with it... maybe it's my Brazilian blood "talking" ;D



361
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Interesting historic book about Brazilian trees and fruits
« on: August 20, 2013, 04:08:15 PM »
Quote from: murahilin on August 19, 2013, 10:43:10 PM
Is this volume specifically about the fruit and trees or is that only a part of this book?

Sorry for my late reply.
This book describes everything new and different the Portuguese found in Brasil... it dates back to 1587, which means only 87 years after the official discovery of Brasil by Pedro Álvares Cabral...  it is also known by the name "Tratado Descritivo do Brasil" and speaks about the animals, fishes, inhabitant/Indians, languages, costumes, rivers, soils, etc... for us the funny part is the descriptions from the trees and fruits... it is an important historical reference for anyone interested in these matters...

The curious thing about this is that some years ago when Helton was gathering historical information to write his first book he asked me for help to find this book here in Portugal, and I never managed to find it anywhere... now I just happen to find several at once... that's life!

362
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Eugenia florida... another very interesting myrtaceae with tasty fruits
« on: August 19, 2013, 05:58:00 PM »
Quote from: davidgarcia899 on August 19, 2013, 05:46:09 PM
Sorry, but do you mean E. foetida or E. floribunda or is this something else completely?

Hello David

this is a Brazilian species... see page 197 of Lorenzi blue book "Brasilian Fruits"

In Portuguese the word "florida" could be understood like "lots of flowers"... don't know if it has something to do with the nomenclature of this species???

363
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Eugenia florida... another very interesting myrtaceae with tasty fruits
« on: August 19, 2013, 05:30:13 PM »
Quote from: Ethan on August 19, 2013, 04:55:55 PM
Those are nice looking fruits Miguel, thanks for sharing.  How long did it take for it to fruit from seed, how does it handle winter and lastly where did you source your seeds (if I may ask)?

Congrats on another incredible myrtaceae!

I believe it just took 4 years from seed to first fruits even if I had it half abandoned sometime... Helton was the original source for these seeds.

Here I have minimum winter temperatures of minus 5 or minus 6 degrees Celsius outside (9a climate) that gives me at least minus 3 Celsius inside my unheated GH (climate 9b)... this is the reason why I put two climate zones on my forum signature... just to give you an idea of my climate conditions here I can tell you that outside I've already killed several white sapotes and annonas cherimoyas... but inside the GH they all grow very well...

This one is inside the GH so it handles these minimums of -3ºC every winter and it doesn't seem to suffer at all... someday I intend to test it outside... in fact I want to do this to most of the species I'm growing to try to select those suited to a 9a climate

364
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Annona tomentosa flowering...how do I hand-pollinate this?
« on: August 19, 2013, 05:07:07 PM »
Quote from: Ethan on August 19, 2013, 04:48:42 PM
Great news Miguel, thank you for the photos and the update! 8) 8) 8)

Have you noticed any scent to the flowers?

No... nothing noticeable... no scent at all.

365
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Interesting historic book about Brazilian trees and fruits
« on: August 19, 2013, 04:59:47 PM »
Hello all
 
Here is a very interesting book I've recently found on an "Antique Book Store" but only for Portuguese speakers/readers... it's a version of the book "Noticia do Brasil" de Gabriel Soares de Sousa, often mentioned on the literature as the first official report from the newly found Brazilian territories, more than 500 years ago... this book is just a volume of a bigger collection of books edited on 1989 all related to the Portuguese maritime voyages and discoveries during the XV and XVI centuries.
 
It's a text book about the report made from Gabriel Soares de Sousa describing everything new they were finding on Brasil... and the descriptions of the trees and fruits are particularly interesting for "rare fruit enthusiasts" like us...
 
The book store has several copies of this book so if anyone is interested please PM me... I'm not selling it... I'm just open for trades in case you have something of interest for me ( books, seeds, plants, etc...)


366
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Annona tomentosa flowering...how do I hand-pollinate this?
« on: August 19, 2013, 04:44:01 PM »
Hello again,

Just to report the current status of my A. tomentosa:
Although timing was terrible because most of the flowers opened while I was abroad for summer holidays apparently I've done something right on the 2 flowers that opened before I leave home because I have now 2 beautiful fruits growing nicely...
 
Answering to GreenThumb question:
 
Never really noted that the flowers opened completely and I had to force the flower petals with my finger so I could hand pollinate properly... I believe the insects should somehow force their entry also... what I have noted is that at some point the flower petals suddenly begin to dry and fall... but I believe that occurs during the male stage so it seems necessary to force the entry during the female stage... should we call it a "rape"???!!!... hope it's not a crime!
 
The plant is now occupied on a second flowering cycle so I expect to continue with this experience and report back for more results latter...








367
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Eugenia florida... another very interesting myrtaceae with tasty fruits
« on: August 19, 2013, 04:30:01 PM »
Hello all,
 
This is another rare and very interesting Eugenia species that I've never saw discussed here before so here are my comments now:
 
The plant is beautiful with very nice big leaves and a nice red color on new leaves... in fact the size and looks of this species leaves remind me more of some Syzygium spp. than the Eugenias spp. type of leaves which are usually smaller...
 
The fruits are blueberry sized but should be numerous to compensate, although my plant is still very young so for now I don't have so many as I would like... but the flavor is very, very good!.. in fact I rate this one as one of the tastiest Eugenias I have... the seeds are also very small so the flesh to seed ratio is good also...
 
In conclusion I consider this one as a "must have" Eugenia spp. in any decent myrtaceae collection... and I only understand the "not so good opinion" of Lorenzi on his book  if he his referring to the relatively small size of these fruits... I didn't noted any astringency on these fruits but I let them became totally black before harvest and for me the fruits on the Lorenzi book photos seem all unripe... maybe they are astringent while red but I can't confirm that for now...  or I just had good luck and have a better strain of this one here!

Any other experiences with this one out there?

Enjoy the photos.











368
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Uvahla
« on: August 11, 2013, 04:55:10 PM »
Here is the English language PDF that I was talking about previously where I saw the information about the 2 subspecies of the Eugenia stipitata

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/myrtaceae.html




369
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Uvahla
« on: August 11, 2013, 04:43:59 AM »
Hello all.
Just to add my two cents to this discussion:
I remember to have read somewhere that the Eugenia stipitata had two subspecies in Brasil and Peru, and one of these subspecies was more bushy type and had better tasting fruits than the tree like one.
I tried to found the article where I read that but now I just can't find it (it was in English)... but I found one Brasilian/Portuguese article talking about these subspecies of Eugenia stipitata.

http://www.cpafro.embrapa.br/media/arquivos/publicacoes/cot306_fruteiras.pdf

So according to this information I now think that Luc has an Eugenia stipitata sbsp.sororia.... and Adam has the Eugenia stipitata sbsp.spititata like I have also...

what do you guys think?

370
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Annona tomentosa flowering...how do I hand-pollinate this?
« on: July 25, 2013, 05:59:27 PM »
Hello again,

Just login to document the current situation of these Annona spp. flowers:
They grew a lot more since last photos (6 days ago) and they became much bigger than I could ever imagined... if I have success doing the insects thing and the fruits keep some size proportionality in respect to the flowers I'm expecting to have another record size fruit here... let's see...

Adam: I don't detect any fragrance at all on these...none, zip, zero scent... but these are the most beautiful and biggest annona flowers I've seen ever... enjoy the photos:










371
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Record Size Fruits! Looking for the largest fruits of all kinds!
« on: July 22, 2013, 06:42:20 PM »
Jumping in on the categories "Biggest myrtaceae fruits"

first... here is my official candidate to the "Biggest pitangatuba"



second... my candidates to the category "biggest calycinas"









Last... here is my candidate on the category "biggest ubajaí"






Now... beat that!

I really think that an "Official Forum Certificate" would be great to complement this contest... anybody here with good designer skills?... the designer of the accepted certificate will be awarded with seeds of these top fruits...

372
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Eugenia neonitida
« on: July 22, 2013, 06:22:41 PM »
Quote from: siafu on July 21, 2013, 06:04:04 PM

 Miguel,

 I did not know you were growing carambola... ;-)

I've just remembered now that in fact this neonitida plant is growing next to a carambola tree... maybe they are cross-pollinating...LOL

But I don't see a great future to that carambola on my GH because I don't like the fruit much and it's occupying lots of precious space...

373
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: glycosmis pentaphylla... anyone try it?
« on: July 22, 2013, 06:11:54 PM »
Quote from: Luisport on July 22, 2013, 02:43:06 PM
WOW!!! A lot of them i never heard about... how stand your jaboticabas? It's ones i want more!  :P

Olá Luis,

It's clear that the "rare fruit fever" caught you bad... but we really need more sic people here in Portugal so I'm happy to contribute to your disease... consider yourself the lucky owner of a regular Jaboticaba and a jaboticaba-de-cabinho... it's a welcome gift for you... please PM me your email address so we can discuss how these will arrive to Fátima .

Um abraço
Miguel

374
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Eugenia neonitida
« on: July 22, 2013, 05:59:16 PM »
Quote from: ASaffron on July 21, 2013, 10:38:54 PM
Miguel

it looks like you might have the largest fruit I've seen!

what you should do is weigh the fruit on a digital scale if possible...size measurements are good, but I'm also interested to see how much they weigh.

I had one fruit growning that looked like it was going to be gigantic, but it got knocked off the plant early.  The largest ones always grow on a plant that has only one fruit.  I guess it gets all the energy.

I know Berto, Oscar, and a few other members will be able to show some big fruits!


hahah when we finally declare a winner of this contest maybe we can contact guiness book of records and tell them we have a new world record.

Hello Adam

We should consider an "honor medal" or an "official certificate"... something cool to hang on the GH door...and we can do it for fruit categories,per year or something similar...

so far I'm competing on the categories " biggest pitangatuba", "biggest calycina" and "biggest Ubajaí"... beat that!





375
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Eugenia neonitida
« on: July 22, 2013, 05:48:27 PM »
Quote from: siafu on July 21, 2013, 06:04:04 PM

 Miguel,

 I did not know you were growing carambola... ;-)

Olá Sérgio,

Funny thing about this one is that everytime I show these pics to some Brazilian friends and coworkers at job they always say this one is a carambola... when I say to them that this is in fact a pitanga relative nobody believes me and no-one ever heard about it...

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