Author Topic: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear  (Read 8399 times)

nullzero

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Here are some recent pictures from the garden. I also was able to try the first FL grown prickly pear from Torrance PCH#1. Warning a lot of pictures, end of thread I will show the prickly pear with description of taste.

Don's Giant Guava


One of the unknown coconut palms


Some of the Coconuts (was drinking a good amount of coconut water)


Recently transplanted 'Sharwil' avocado. Its looking a little weakly, the rootstock suffered some sun scald in the past (I am pretty confident it will thrive in the future, if not I will regraft it to a new rootstock)


'Choquette' Avocado


'Holiday' Avocado (pugged backed)


Reed seedling (recently planted)


Dovyalis hybrid (Tropical Apricot)


'Medoccyi Vahsha' pomegranate (recently planted)


'Red Silk' Pomegranate


Macadamia seedling


'Manzanillo' Olive


'Saracena' Olive


'Luc's Garcinia'


Eugenia neonitida (Seedling, established with waterboxx)


Waterboxx have worked very well for me, 100% survivability for seedling. I have not added any irrigation besides what the unit offers through its innovative water collection. I am not using this for just recently root sprouted peach palms as well.

A view of the waterboxx with E. neonitida inside.


'Big Life' Goji Berry (Was hit back with some bugs but seems to be bouncing back now)


'GI-7-62' Jujube


'GA-866' Jujube


'Sihong' Jujube


Okrung seedling mango


'Coconut Cream' Mango


'Lemon Zest' Mango


'Cogshall' Mango


'Keitt' Mango (IDed as that)


'Glenn' Mango


I have various dragon fruit growing up the palms.


African Locust Bean (Parkia sp., seedling in waterboxx)


Aframomum sp. seedlings (in waterboxx)


'Dream' Atemoya (I am not sure if this is a Cherimoya so calling Atemoya, tree suffered some minor lawn edger damage. I have since put a tree guard around).


'Lisa' Atemoya


Annona dioce (Does fine with no added irrigation, have it off in the corner in partly shaded area)


'Sabara' Jaboticaba (located near the rain gutter discharge)


'Ross' Sapote


'Silas Woods' Sapodilla (removed the fruit after photo)


Lucuma (I think the nematodes are doing damage, I placed a generous layer of oyster mulch around it)


'Capelas' fig (The white mulch is crushed oyster shells, I have been adding around a number of plants.


'Dark Portuguese' fig


Butia sp.


'Torrance PCH#1' Prickly Pear



Here is the fruit :), Florida grown.




The taste of the fruit was very good. It was a sweet very pleasant melon flavor, with a unique but enjoyable salty flavor right near the skin! (I am assuming that this is from the plant picking up the salt from the ground and depositing some of that in the fruit near the skin.


Whats left of the fruit after me and my GF ate it. I would say a good +95% of the fruit is edible. Seed count was moderate to low, with seeds that were on the smaller side and not that hard. Excellent fruit to consider especially for late fall to winter fruit. Great smoothie fruit or fresh eating.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2013, 10:49:18 PM by nullzero »
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Joshua_TX

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2013, 07:39:54 PM »
I see the beginnings of something magical, excited for you!

nch

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2013, 07:59:46 PM »
Congrats, Nullzero. Great collection of tropical plants, and it looks like you have plenty of room for it. Thanks for sharing.

JF

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2013, 08:53:25 PM »
Stephen, congratulations on your collection, hope to see live in the next few years.

LEOOEL

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2013, 12:34:16 AM »
Congratulations Nullzero, there is now Prickly Pear Fruit in Florida!

Great photos and collection of fruit trees.

I sure hope the 'Sharwil' avocado pulls through and gets established sometime next year.

I'm amazed at your prickly pear fruit, that cactus sure couldn't wait to give you fruit, that is great. No fruit yet from the prickly pear cactus I got from you, everytime it starts to develop something that looks like a fruit, it turns into another pad. But, I'm not really in a hurry to get fruit, if the cactus wants to take its time to get established first, that's fine by me.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2013, 10:32:27 PM by LEOOEL »
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Luisport

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2013, 09:38:51 AM »
Congratulations! Nice colection you have! By the way the black portuguese fig is sooo good!!!  :P :P :P

adiel

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2013, 10:51:27 AM »
Congrats, nice collection.  :)
Adiel

Mark in Texas

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2013, 11:03:57 AM »
Nice job!  You're gonna have a bunch of fine fruit, congrats.

Prickly pear?  Arrrrggggggggghhhhh, come get it.  It's an invasive cacti here and tough to get rid of.  Guess I should try the fruit sometime.

Good luck!

nullzero

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2013, 11:30:03 AM »
Nice job!  You're gonna have a bunch of fine fruit, congrats.

Prickly pear?  Arrrrggggggggghhhhh, come get it.  It's an invasive cacti here and tough to get rid of.  Guess I should try the fruit sometime.

Good luck!

Mark,

You should really try some prickly pear selections. Most of the wild growing prickly pear is subpar. If you interested in pads I should have some in the future.
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FlyingFoxFruits

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2013, 11:45:37 AM »
Nullzero

congrats on the opuntia fruit...I can't wait to taste some from the cuttings I got from u.

your plants look great!!  That dream looks super happy...I think the weedwhacker incident might have helped it!

I bet your dovyalis will fruit 2014.

sorry I couldnt make it visit your house!

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Ethan

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2013, 11:55:52 AM »
Nice slice of paradise you've got going there, congrats on the fruit too.

nullzero

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2013, 12:09:35 PM »
Nullzero

congrats on the opuntia fruit...I can't wait to taste some from the cuttings I got from u.

your plants look great!!  That dream looks super happy...I think the weedwhacker incident might have helped it!

I bet your dovyalis will fruit 2014.

sorry I couldnt make it visit your house!

Adam,

Thanks you should stop by and have some fruits and coconuts sometime. Dream is looking good, I placed a tree guard around it now :).

Ethan,

Thanks, I forgot to take a number of pictures of various plants. I am hoping it turns into a fruiting paradise in a couple of years. If mother nature cooperates with no hard freezes, I should have a nice mango grove going.
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edself65

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #12 on: December 04, 2013, 02:46:09 PM »
Null great collection and photos!

Here's a photo of a Jeronimo prickly pear that I harvested this morning. It had nice melon flavors! The other fruit is a Triumph feijoa.

Ed






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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #13 on: December 04, 2013, 02:47:47 PM »
One more image of prickly pear.

Ed




nullzero

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #14 on: December 04, 2013, 02:59:09 PM »
Ed,

Congrats, sounds like you enjoyed the fruit a lot. It sure looks delicious, did it have a good amount of sugar in it?

I have not planted a Feijoa yet, but I intend to do it soon. Jeronimo M.V. has not fruited for me yet in FL. I will update for sure once it does. I really enjoy the late fall into winter fruit of the Prickly Pear, it helps fill a void in fresh fruit.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Mark in Texas

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #15 on: December 04, 2013, 03:12:06 PM »
Mark,

You should really try some prickly pear selections. Most of the wild growing prickly pear is subpar. If you interested in pads I should have some in the future.

Appreciate the offer.  There used to be a big annual prickly pear fruit festival in south Texas.   They used it for just about every concoction you can imagine especially jams and jellies.

ScottR

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #16 on: December 04, 2013, 11:21:45 PM »
Great pic's Stephen, you've got quite the variety of plants best of luck growing the little guy's out.

LEOOEL

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #17 on: December 05, 2013, 10:40:16 PM »
Mark,

You should really try some prickly pear selections. Most of the wild growing prickly pear is subpar. If you interested in pads I should have some in the future.

Appreciate the offer.  There used to be a big annual prickly pear fruit festival in south Texas.   They used it for just about every concoction you can imagine especially jams and jellies.

That's too bad if they don't have a big annual prickly pear fruit festival in S. Texas anymore. Perhaps under the guidance of prickly pear experts like Nullzero, we'll be able to have an annual festival here in Florida. I certainly wouldn't miss it for the world.
'Virtue' should be taught, learned and propagated, in order to save others and oneself.

nullzero

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #18 on: December 05, 2013, 11:24:32 PM »
Mark,

You should really try some prickly pear selections. Most of the wild growing prickly pear is subpar. If you interested in pads I should have some in the future.

Appreciate the offer.  There used to be a big annual prickly pear fruit festival in south Texas.   They used it for just about every concoction you can imagine especially jams and jellies.

That's too bad if they don't have a big annual prickly pear fruit festival in S. Texas anymore. Perhaps under the guidance of prickly pear experts like Nullzero, we'll be able to have an annual festival here in Florida. I certainly wouldn't miss it for the world.

I am no expert, I am still learning myself. Opuntia sp. are incredibly forgiving with neglect and growing conditions. I found Opuntia sp. very eager to fruit even in less then optimal conditions. Leooel, I would recommend trying out bone meal and kelp meal applications (It may help with fruiting, perhaps the selection of Opuntia is getting too much nitrogen).
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

nch

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #19 on: December 05, 2013, 11:32:13 PM »
Nullzero, just curious to know how you harvested the coconuts. I know in the tropics people climb the trees to cut them down, but I hope you don't have to do that.

nullzero

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #20 on: December 05, 2013, 11:36:41 PM »
Nullzero, just curious to know how you harvested the coconuts. I know in the tropics people climb the trees to cut them down, but I hope you don't have to do that.

I used a pole hand saw, just cut the stem between the coconut and the tree. Only cracked 2 coconut out of 15 or so on the fall (was still able to salvage majority of the water from both). The grass with the mostly sand soil, did not impact the younger coconuts that bad.
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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #21 on: December 06, 2013, 12:40:11 AM »
Things look great Null. Keep us posted on your progression

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #22 on: December 06, 2013, 01:06:05 AM »
Null,

The fruit was fairly sweet but I think I waited to long to harvest. I think if I had harvested just a little sooner the fruit would have had better quality. It was starting to get mushy. I will let you know how the other varieties do.

Thanks,

Ed

Ed,

Congrats, sounds like you enjoyed the fruit a lot. It sure looks delicious, did it have a good amount of sugar in it?

I have not planted a Feijoa yet, but I intend to do it soon. Jeronimo M.V. has not fruited for me yet in FL. I will update for sure once it does. I really enjoy the late fall into winter fruit of the Prickly Pear, it helps fill a void in fresh fruit.

nullzero

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #23 on: December 06, 2013, 01:27:24 AM »
Null,

The fruit was fairly sweet but I think I waited to long to harvest. I think if I had harvested just a little sooner the fruit would have had better quality. It was starting to get mushy. I will let you know how the other varieties do.

Thanks,

Ed

Ed,

Congrats, sounds like you enjoyed the fruit a lot. It sure looks delicious, did it have a good amount of sugar in it?

I have not planted a Feijoa yet, but I intend to do it soon. Jeronimo M.V. has not fruited for me yet in FL. I will update for sure once it does. I really enjoy the late fall into winter fruit of the Prickly Pear, it helps fill a void in fresh fruit.

Its more of a August/September harvest for Jeronimo M.V.  Torrance PCH#1 is a late fall into winter harvest.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

NathanC

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Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« Reply #24 on: February 28, 2014, 07:09:07 PM »
What an amazing collection! You are so lucky to live in Florida; I envy you. ;D I live in Arizona, so my selection for tropical fruit is quite limited, and so I too, share the same dream you have.  It's a shame I can't grow many favorites such as atemoyas, avocados, nor coconut. :'( Half of the plants you mention CAN grow here such as jujube, goji berry, and pitahaya (with some effort), so I am satisfied. What varieties of pitahaya and pricky pear do you own? I only have a common Physical Graffiti and no prickly pear.