The Tropical Fruit Forum

Truly Tropical is on my list of stops for tomorrow.  I went on Friday but they were closed.  Just looking through those gates and seeing those mangos hanging had me drooling.  How would I find out where to go to get from Alex/ Squam?

My barbados cherry (acerola) tree is laden with fruit and I have tons of seeds up for grabs.  This one is of the "Florida Sweet" variety and is a prolific producer almost all year long.  I have kept mine at about 8' x 8' and it produces more fruit than we know what to do with.  For those who are unfamiliar with it, here is some info courtesy of tradewindsfruit.com:

Small, bright red, berry-sized fruit with a vitamin C content up to 65 times that of an orange. A single fruit contains the minimum daily recommended vitamin C requirements. Fruit resembles the common cherry, with a very tasty sweet flavor having a slight bite of acid.

Description: A bushy shrub up to 20ft. Acerola's often form small multi-trunked trees. Trees without adequate pollination can set seedless fruit. Flowers usually appear after periods of rainfall or irrigation. Flowering may occur any time during the year (depending on local rainfall and climate patterns), and can last year-round. After flower set, fruit soon follows and will ripen in just 3-4 weeks. Fruits lose their flavor and nutritional content very rapidly upon harvest. Ripe acerola's should be picked and eaten within a few hours to preserve taste. As a result, the tree is not cultivated for commercial production of fresh fruits.

There is some confusion regarding the botanical name, with the name M. glabra often used for the acerola. There is a closely related species, the true M. glabra, having smaller fruits and larger leaves. The common acerola, with its larger fruits is generally classified as M. punicifolia.

The Haitian mango came from Western Beef and the mystery mexican came from Publix.

Thanks to all who offers suggestions on this.  My trip was far too busy to take advantage of anything beyond the Miami beach whole foods (where i got some nice Mamey sapotes for $6.99 a pound, ataulfo and Madame Francis mangoes).   Alas, next time at least I have some other reference points to scope out.  For the minute (well less than 25 hours) I was in Barbados, it looked good.  Mangoes are coming into season (I had no time to get anything locally) and there were plenty of breadfruits.  I saw some sugar apples here and there and had a local describe some of the other fruits which were unfamiliar to me "(duncs" anyone?)

I think the Bajan "duncs" are the Trinidadian "Downs or Dongs" or the american version is Jujube.  Sheehan, can you confirm?

I have a canistel tree in ground and doing great.  I planted it about a year ago on the recommendation of someone at Excalibur.  I tried the fruit for the first time a few months ago and it is not my thing.  i would cut it down but the thing is flourishing.  I am willing to trade it for darn near anything that grows in South Florida. Ideally a cool type of mango I don't have, a sweetheart lychee, some type of avocado, or ANYTHING.  The only catch is that you need to dig it up and NOT fill in the hole so I can drop a new plant in the spot.  Send ANY and ALL offers.  It is probably about 7 feet tall and ready to be transplanted to your house.

Wow, that sounds like a ton of hoops to jump through.  What percentage of packages get incinerated compared to what get through without the certificate?  Is the worst penalty the loss of seeds?

I buried my donkey and I guess the seed in his throat sprouted.  I now have a tree that is covered with the coveted donkey killer fruit.  I can not tell you the location for fear of both disrupting my donkey's burial site as well as you guys taking scion wood until I am down to a stump and a donkey corpse. 

Sheehan, I am going to Trinidad in June.  Is the fruit you mentioned earlier worth the humiliation of asking random vendors for Donkey Stones?

Perhaps I can help you get to the bottom of this.  I recently had a donkey of mine pass away and the autopsy revealed a mango embedded in his throat.  After an extensive investigation, the police ruled out an accidental death and suspected foul play.    After a trial that lasted two months where the donkeys widow was required to take the stand and that trees very own sapling was forced to testify against it, that tree was convicted. It is now forced to wear a tag labeling it a donkey killer to alert all other animals to its checkered past.  Please keep your ass away from that tree. 

I currently have the following seeds to trade:

Caimito (Star Apple - purple)
Tamarind
Congo Watermelon
Jaboticaba (Sabara) seedlings
Hawaiian solo papaya
Scarlet Princess papaya
Sunset Papaya
Custard Apple (A BOAT LOAD OF THESE)
Surinam Cherry

Please contact me if you would like to trade for any.  I am looking for any interesting fruit that grows in zone 10b.

Even after the 6 trades I made after the last post, I am still sitting on an obscene amount of these seeds.  I am drowning in custard apple seeds from these gigantic fruit (4 pounders) so I will trade them for literally anything.  Send me an email and you have yourself a deal. It will break my heart to throw these away so please offer anything and they are yours.

I'll try to post a pic of it tomorrow. 

5 gal pot purchased 2 weeks ago from Excalibur but this past weekend I visited Patrick and Sheehan and purchased 4 more mango trees.  Someones head has to roll and it is Valencia Pride.