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Messages - TNAndy

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Oh happy day!
« on: May 15, 2023, 12:12:53 PM »
I've got it in an 18 inch diameter pot.  There's a trellis that extends a bit over four feet above the soil.  The vine is wrapped up and down on the trellis at least a dozen times.  This includes the branches.

I think part of the reason it's taken this long to get flowers has to do with the amount of shade I had it in.  Previously, it got dappled sunlight at the most during any part of the day.  This past winter I put it in a location where it got direct early morning sun and then dappled shade in the afternoon.  It was under a T.R. Hovey papaya (to the South) and shaded in the afternoon by a coffee tree (to the West).

It grew five flower stalks (for lack of a better description).  I mostly missed the first one to flower and all of those flowers fell off.  I've had varied success with pollination since then.

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Oh happy day!
« on: May 15, 2023, 12:53:01 AM »
After several years of nothing, my vanilla orchid is flowering!  I'm thrilled beyond measure!


I'm slowly getting the hang of hand pollination.  Some of the online how-to videos are misleading, if not wrong.  Unfortunately, right or wrong, hand pollination basically shreds the flower.  Happily, I'm pretty sure I've been successful with at least a few pods.

It's supposed to take several months for the pods to ripen.  And then comes processing, which also appears to be non-trivial.  Wish me luck!

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Ripe sugar apple
« on: October 25, 2021, 07:22:27 PM »
Congrats TNAndy! Sugar apples are a great annona to grow in the northern states. The only struggle I've had with mine is that it will die back if slightly wet during the winter months. As for germinating sugar apple seeds, I left some to germinate last winter in my greenhouse. Didn't go to well as most died probably due to temperatures and humidity. I think it would be better to wait until spring or sprout them indoors.


D-grower, my tree has fruited all by itself with no help of any pollinators. I assume they only need one tree to fruit. I had mine in a pot when it fruited, but now it is a rootmaker pot in ground in my greenhouse.

Thanks!

I'm confused.  You say yours "will die back if slightly wet during the winter".  Does that mean I should let it dry out thoroughly or water it to keep it continually moist (and not merely slightly wet)?

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Ripe sugar apple
« on: October 25, 2021, 07:19:03 PM »
Congratulations on growing tropical fruit in your zone. I like to plant them asap. If you can get them going fast now they will gain some height but mine usually go dormant during winter. Not sure about greenhouse culture.

Thanks!

I think part of the problem with greenhouse culture is my plants' roots cool down to whatever the air temperature is, whereas plants in the ground are far better protected.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Ripe sugar apple
« on: October 25, 2021, 07:16:36 PM »
Not sure about your questions but I wanted to ask about your experience.  Do you only have one tree? Wondering if they are self pollinators.  Also how big a pot did they fruit in or are they in the ground?  I have two seedling sugar apples that I'm still growing out.  North florida is still too cold for them outdoors too all year.

On another note if anyone also knows are soursop and cherimoya self pollinators?  Have a handful of cherimoya seedlings but only one soursop. If they are self fruitful how large a pot do you think they need to be fruitful? 

Sorry not meaning to hijack your thread but figured these are all similar questions to what I asked of your experience with the sugar apple.

I have only the one tree.  There were seeds inside the fruit, so I suspect that means it is self fertile.  On the other hand, I saw many, MANY flowers over the summer and only four fruits grew.  I know there are a number of species where if a separate variety is available for cross pollination, there is a marked increase in yield.  Perhaps sweetsop is one.

It is in a 22 inch inner diameter pot.  The pot is about 14 inches high, but the potting mix has settled to about 10 inches deep.  I have seen a video of someone who had one growing in a 5 gallon bucket that had lots more fruit than mine. 

I will say that my sweetsop tree looked pretty pitiful until I spread some lime in the pot.

Ah, well, what's a little thread hijack among friends, huh?

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Ripe sugar apple
« on: October 25, 2021, 01:40:08 PM »
Two of the fruits on my sugar apple/sweetsop/Annona squamosa have opened up, so I assume they are ripe.  Or overripe?<br /><br /><br /><br />

They were quite sweet and delicious!  The inner sections were smooth--much less fibrous than I expected.  The fruit layer nearest the skin has a flavor and mouth feel very much like pear.

Now I've got around 20 seeds (with more to come when the next fruit ripens).  Two of them floated in water so I assume they aren't any good.  Based strictly on my experience with coffee seeds, I suspect it would not be wise to plant them here in Tennessee with winter on the way.  My sunroom can get down in the 40s F. during the coldest nights.  Young sprouts may not make it.  I've only had this tree at most a couple of years, but already it's one I can recommend for anyone with a greenhouse.  I'm sure it won't tolerate frost, but it's not so tropical it dies at the first breath of cooler air either.  It appears to need a high pH.

Is there anything I need to do to preserve these seeds for planting next spring?  How long do they remain viable?  They have a very waxy outer shell.  Maybe they need to be scarified before they sprout?

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Experience with Africa-Seeds.com?
« on: September 03, 2021, 10:26:01 AM »
Oh man, what a bummer. 

I should have exercised better google-fu before asking here.  Most of the reviews I saw said they send false seeds--seeds from common species passed off as rare species.

Maybe the Nigerian prince moved to Namibia and started a new scam gig.  Seems like a lot of effort to expend for a very niche market, tho.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Experience with Africa-Seeds.com?
« on: August 25, 2021, 12:31:53 AM »
Does anyone here have any experience ordering from Africa-Seeds.com?  I believe they are located in Namibia (Africa).

I'm a little hesitant to order from them as yet.  Their first suggestion was to send me seeds in an unmarked package--in other words, smuggle them into the USA.  Since I'm not particularly interested in going to jail and I already have a USDA Small Lot Seed Import Permit, I'd much rather use the legal route.  The shipping delay is minimal and the extra cost is negligible.

I'm not interested in the shipping method you used to buy their seeds.  (That's between you and the USDA.)  I only want to know if they send the seeds people pay for.

If you're into cactus and other desert plants, they've got quite a selection.

Thanks in advance for any testimonials.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pickering's Charge
« on: November 19, 2020, 06:05:56 PM »
Another thing I wanted to mention is to try a root pruning pot. I originally bought my tree in a 3 gal container. I up-potted it into a 5gal Rootmaker Injection Molded container. It put on a lot of growth in this container! Tripled in size in one season. Now I am looking for a 10gal root pruning container but have not found one I like. The largest Rootmaker makes is 5gal. They supposedly make a 15gal but have not seen it anywhere for sale.

I'm a veteran when it comes to root tip pruning systems, am using bottomless Rootbuilder now.  I'm now on my 2nd 105' roll and will be expanding "pots" come spring.  I don't like the injection molded because they require a lot of frequent watering under my conditions which can get pretty hot here in Texas.   

For 20 or so years I treated conventional black pots with Griffin's Spin-Out.  Root tip pruning is done via Cu ions at the pot walls/bottom.  It's the best.  It's also very expensive now.  MicroKote is another option.

Yes, root pruning systems is the only way to go.  Have posted this before, will make the point again.  This is a Reed that was frozen down to a stump in Jan. 2018, 18F.  Here it is pushing 3 shoots from where I stopped pruning in March.



7 months later October 28:



Would you please give me a link or links to the root pruning system or chemical or whatever it is you are using?

That is a beautiful tree!

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pickering's Charge
« on: November 19, 2020, 06:01:58 PM »


>> Do you have your mango in a window or under artificial light while it is in the garage?

Yes, I do have a cheap LED shop light over it in the garage(The kind they have at Costco. Probably cost me $10-15)

Another thing I wanted to mention is to try a root pruning pot. I originally bought my tree in a 3 gal container. I up-potted it into a 5gal Rootmaker Injection Molded container. It put on a lot of growth in this container! Tripled in size in one season. Now I am looking for a 10gal root pruning container but have not found one I like. The largest Rootmaker makes is 5gal. They supposedly make a 15gal but have not seen it anywhere for sale.

Root pruning pot?!?  This is the very first I've ever heard of such a thing!

My mango was not ever root bound that I could tell in the post-mortem.  Usually you can tell because there will be a cylinder of roots with few to none extending outside the cylinder.
....
OK, went to the Rootmaker website, but I'm not sure how this system would apply to me.  I'm not planting a seed, I'm buying a plant that's already been grown and grafted in a nursery.

When I received my grafted Pickering Mango, I can't remember if it was bare root or not.  Either way, I put it in a 3 gallon (nominal), tall black plastic nursery pot.  I don't remember how long it stayed there, but it was long enough for the decline to start in the nursery pot.  Usually that's my signal to pot a plant up into its permanent container.  Allowing significantly more room for roots usually fixes the problem.  My mango went exactly the opposite way--the decline accelerated.

My typical practice is to put a small piece of 1/2 inch hardware "cloth" in the bottom of the 3 gallon pot.  This prevents the weed-prevent cloth from forming a seal over any of the drainage holes.  When re-potting, I pull off these things.  This usually loosens the roots at the bottom.  If any roots are root bound along the sides of the container, I pull them away from the soil and make sure they extend into the new soil as I fill up the new pot.

I definitely did not wash all the soil off the roots.  Some of the original potting mix was still clinging to the roots when I yanked it up.

I guess I could use a 3 or 5 gallon Rootmaker pot as the intermediate container...?

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Good spray bottle
« on: November 19, 2020, 12:34:32 AM »
The last time I had a scale infestation on a plant I really wanted to save, I used an old, soft toothbrush and soapy water to scrub every leaf and stem, top and bottom.  That worked for a while.  This is likely a lather, rinse, repeat situation.

The problem with a lot of scale bug species is once they attach, they form a waxy layer that tends to prevent regular insecticides, even oil based, from penetrating.  You generally have to scrape them off, leaf by leaf, stem by stem.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pickering's Charge
« on: November 19, 2020, 12:27:08 AM »
Alas, I've already tossed it.  I can report it wasn't root rot.  It took some effort to yank it out of the soil which generally isn't the case with root rot.  After I knocked the dirt off the rootstock, I noticed the trunk still had some green cambium layer where the bark was hit.  The entire upper grafted part was quite dead and that bark was, for lack of a better term, squishy.  Not wet sponge squishy, it was a dry sort of squishy.  I don't know how to describe it better than that.

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pickering's Charge
« on: November 18, 2020, 12:19:29 PM »
Here's a picture of my coffee tree.  It's in a 22 inch diameter pot where my mango was in something slightly larger.  The point is, you can see the base and the casters under the container.



14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pickering's Charge
« on: November 18, 2020, 12:14:28 PM »
Pickering is a great tasting mango so give it another try.

I'm in 8A and my Pickering stays in an unheated but attached garage from late October through April. This year it bloomed and set fruit while still in the garage.

It is currently in a 7 gal container with a relatively fast draining mix.  I think it helps keeping it in a smaller container so there is not much excess water, but you have to monitor and water more regularly. I was watering it twice a day during the hottest part of the summer. In the garage I water it maybe once a week.

I certainly want to try again, but mangoes are quite expensive, and I want to do everything I can to get it right this time.

Do you have your mango in a window or under artificial light while it is in the garage?

My sunroom is also attached to the south side of my house.  (That's why I call it a sunroom rather than a greenhouse.)  I watch the weather in October and bring my plants inside during the week before the first overnight frost is predicted.

While it remains relatively warm, on sunny days I open the outer door to the porch and run the vent fan to keep it from overheating.  Once it turns cold, I open the vents of the central heat system and open the inside doors to the living room.

I have six 5,000 lumen LED shop lights hanging from the ceiling that I tend to use on cloudy days and the evenings.  They're the $20 Harbor Freight lights and I have no idea if their spectrum is usable by plants or not.  At least I can see....

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pickering's Charge
« on: November 18, 2020, 11:44:38 AM »
I'm sorry to hear you lost it.

A few questions.

What size pot was it in?
Does it have holes in the bottom?
Is the bottom touching the ground?
Also, fine Coir mixed with Potting soil alone wouldn't make it fast-draining, did you add anything extra?

I have grown many mangos in pots with no problem but I'm not an expert in that subject.
In SoFlo our PH is pretty high so I don't think it matters much

Sounds to me like an overwatering/too much water issue.

I appreciate the sympathy.

It was in about a 24 inch diameter pot with about 14 inches of soil depth.  This is about 6333 cubic inches or 3-2/3 cubic feet or a little over 27 gallons.

Yes, of course the pot has drainage holes.  I drilled 3/4 inch holes in the bottom where they could freely drain without hindrance by the base.  I lined the bottom with welded wire hardware cloth with half inch centers.  Next I put in a layer of black, non-woven, mulch cloth.  This is normally used in gardens to prevent weeds from growing through the mulch.  I use it to keep the potting mix from falling out of the drainage holes

It was off the ground.  For my large containers (18 inch diameter on up) I build a base of preservative treated "two-by" wood.  I paint the inside and bottom of this box with black Flex Seal, and the outside with regular house paint to match the color of the bricks on my house.  The purpose of the base is so I can mount casters on the bottom for ease of movement.  I have to bring all my tropical plants indoors, into my sunroom, for the winter.  As you can imagine, 27 gallons of moist soil, plus container would be unmanageable without casters.

Originally the soil depth was 16 or 17 inches, but it settled over time.  The coir was not finely ground (like peat), it was more of a course grind (like sand).  It soaked in so fast that it was impossible for water to pool on the surface.  However, both the Sta-Green and the coir do retain a lot of water.

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pickering's Charge
« on: November 17, 2020, 12:57:14 PM »
Looks like you live pretty near me...For my mangoes, I have had no problem with root rot no matter what mix it is in- peat/perlite, miracle grow potting soil etc. My mangoes have done well without ferts, now I do use a little 8-3-9 here and there. I would remove all flower panicles until the mango tree reaches a good size. In winter I don't water as much to avoid root rot. My trees have taken 40-45 and no damage. My mallika does well in the greenhouse and is a fairly compact grower imo. From what I have heard, pickering is a good mango to grow and stays pretty compact.

Thanks for a quick response!

As I recall, I mixed Sta-Green regular potting mix and ground coconut coir.  Sta-Green has a lot of peat and I wanted to add something that would resist rotting away.  Maybe mangoes and coconuts are anti-companion plants?

I'm in Sevier County, probably Zone 7A, not that that matters much with a heated sunroom.

What size container do you have your mangoes in?

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Pickering's Charge
« on: November 17, 2020, 12:37:51 PM »
Well, after struggling for the last two years, my Pickering mango finally bit the dust.  It never was very healthy, yet early on it apparently spent what little strength it had on huge flowers instead of leaves.  The first year I foolishly left the flower stalk alone.  Last year I cut it off shortly after I identified that was what it was.  That didn't help.  The decline continued.

Despite a very well drained potting mix, it showed all the symptoms of root rot.  There were numerous sprouts of small leaves but the leaves all too soon dried up and fell off.  The inside container dimensions are 22 inch diameter by 14 inch soil depth.  It started with 17 inches, but it settled more than I expected.  Or maybe the pH was wrong...or not enough fertilizer....  I'm grasping at straws.

My cheap pH meter reads 7 on everything, even my azaleas, and I've added copious amounts of soil acidifier.

I don't think it's sheer incompetence on my part--my Kona coffee tree is producing cherries nicely.  I harvested a over a dozen very tasty satsuma oranges in October.  I've got green fruit hanging on my papaya.

I'd like to try for mangoes again, but I must solicit advice on the ideal potting mix and a variety of mango that is well suited for containers and cool temperatures.  My sunroom has unavoidably dipped below 50 degrees F on rare occasion.  I take my tropical fruit plants outside for the summer and bring them in over the winter.  Can you tell me the ideal pH for mango?

Pickett's...Pickering's...get it?  Maybe I'm channeling too much Dennis Miller.

18
Are Piper nigrum plants strictly dioecious?  In other words, are there males (only produce pollen), females (no pollen but bear seeds), and no self-fertile plants?

Clearly the Piper kadsura I have is a male (only) since it produces worlds of pollen but I've never seen a seed.

Thanks for the images.


19
In fact it is not the Piper nigrum. These plants are frequently sold across whole EU as true P. nigrum, but it is probably P. kadsura easier for indoor growing but only as a decorative plant. True peppercorn has different leaves and you must get the clonal variety which develop the fruits without polination, otherwise you will need female and male plants for succesfull fruiting. Many other species of wild peppers are dioecious (P. cubeba, guineense, retrofractum, longum etc.)

Thanks.  So you're pretty sure this isn't simply a male and if I had a female I might get peppercorns?

Do you have a picture of the leaves of a known P. nigrum?

20
I have a plant that was sold to me as Black Pepper (Piper nigrum).  There are lots and lots of flowers, but none of the flower spikes has ever grown a peppercorn.  They start off green, turn yellow and shed lots of pollen, then turn brown and fall off.  I've had it for about 3 years.  It's growing in an 18 inch square, 12 inch high planter.  I keep it in my heated sunroom over the winter.  I'm giving it partial shade.






If you are familiar with Piper nigrum, can you verify that is what this is?  I'm pretty sure this is something in the Piper genus, but I'm beginning to doubt it's nigrum.

If you grow Piper nigrum, can you suggest what I might need to do to get peppercorns?

Thanks!

21
Years ago I planted some clover (whatever kind it is that's growing in my yard--red? white? I don't know) alongside my container plants.  I thought as a legume it would help provide a natural source of nitrogen.  What it actually provided was a natural source of white flies.   >:(  They loved it and once they ate it up, they spread to several of my other plants.  I was not pleased.  You have been warned....

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Carambola Juice
« on: November 23, 2019, 04:48:31 PM »
The problem with oxalate is it tends to occur as oxalic acid in the plants.  Oxalic acid, like most organic acids, is readily soluble.  Once in the body, the acid tends to be neutralized with a base to form the oxalate (technically it's a salt--but obviously not table salt which is sodium chloride).  Most oxalates have a relatively low solubility.  Your kidneys naturally concentrate salts in urine.  High concentrations of low solubility salts tend to crystallize a portion of the solute out of the solution.  If you've ever made rock candy, you've seen this phenomenon firsthand.

The answer is, if you eat foods high in oxalic acid, be sure to drink plenty of fluids so the resulting oxalates don't have a chance to form kidney stones.  Staying well hydrated is a good idea for most healthy people anyway.

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How big does Jackfruit need to be...?
« on: November 23, 2019, 04:07:19 PM »
Here are three views of my sunroom.  You might say it's more of a greenhouse than a sunroom because most of the ceiling is glass.  It's a bit longer than 27 feet East to West; not quite 12 feet North to South; approximately 300 square feet.

This is the view looking toward the East.  The window is approximately 4-1/2 feet high by 8-1/2 feet wide.  The six glass panes in the ceiling and the three windows across the South wall are the same size.  Notice the Hawaiian heritage coffee tree full of cherries on the left.  ;D


This is the view looking toward the South.  The tree line is far enough away and at a lower elevation (down the hill) that I get full sun all day long.  That's a Frankincense in the foreground.   ;D


This is the view looking toward the West.  The double doors are 8 feet tall.  I take all my plants outside in late Spring to enjoy the wind, rain, Summer heat and humidity.  I bring them back inside in mid October before the first frost.  That's why all my larger plant containers are mounted on rolling platforms.


The floor is concrete.  There's just enough slope to let excess water flow to the drainage channel along the South wall.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / How big does Jackfruit need to be...?
« on: November 12, 2019, 01:38:27 PM »
How big does a Jackfruit tree need to be in order to bear fruit?  I've read these trees reach 40 feet tall at maturity, but at best, I've got only about 12 feet in my sunroom.  I know many plants naturally dwarf if they are grown in a container, but if I can't grow fruit in a "patio" size tree, there's not much point.  It sure wouldn't live through the winter outdoors here in Zone 7.

My wife and I took the Taste of Jamaica Tour out of Ocho Rios a couple of weeks ago.  The tour guide provided over a dozen different fruits and vegetables for us to taste.  Jackfruit was by far the sweetest and most delicious.  From what I've read, what we tasted must have been fully matured fruit and not the "young" Jackfruit.

If you get a chance, I heartily recommend this tour.  As we drove up and down the mountains, the driver/tour guide would stop the bus, point out a plant or tree, and then let us taste a sample of that fruit.  There were at least half a dozen fruits I had never even seen before, much less tasted.  Jackfruit was among the fruits that were entirely new to me.  Yummy!

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Greenhouse Ideas - Construction Photos
« on: November 12, 2019, 01:20:13 PM »
Regarding electric heaters, I learned a very hard lesson several years ago.  I had been using a pretty nice oscillating heater with a built-in thermostat.  Unfortunately, if the power goes off, these types of heaters do not turn themselves back on.  The power doesn't have to be off very long for this to happen.  A flicker might do it.

We left the house to visit family and friends over Christmas and were gone a week.  Apparently, there was an outage.  I lost dozens and dozens of little coffee saplings.  (Strangely, a few saplings survived.  I have no idea if a tiny minority of coffee trees are slightly more cold tolerant than most or not.  It's not the kind of experiment I want to repeat.)

If there's any chance you won't be on site to monitor and remedy any power outages, I strongly recommend a basic heater with no electronics.  Since then, I've used a thermostat-free blower type heater and an oil-based radiator type heater.  If the power is on, these heaters are on.  Fortunately, basic heaters tend to be less expensive than the fancy ones with thermostats.

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