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Messages - tropical-farmer

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1
Always a pleasure to meet Frank. Thank you Frank for the Mai 3 cuttings and the Big Red seeds.
Mai 3 is an excellent tasting jackfruit. Here is a review of Frank's Mai 3 that we were fortunate to taste test: https://youtu.be/Wda33YlZdmc
Enjoy!!

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Berry jackfruit seedling fruit
« on: August 14, 2020, 04:39:30 PM »
Nice looking fruit, was it sweet?

Simon

It's usually sweet and very flavorful.

This one was too soft for me so I only tried a tiny piece and then threw the rest away after I removed the seeds.

The first fruit I ever got from the tree a few years ago was so ripe it fell off the tree and was mushy but I sampled it and even that had really good flavor just a horrible texture.

My preferred texture is firm and somewhat crunchy. The only problem with the fruit at that stage is the amount of latex.

I haven't had anyone on the forum try the fruit for a second opinion but I have another fruit on the tree right now so maybe I can share half of it with someone so they can try it.

I would be happy to do a taste testing video together. Have been doing a lot of mangoes and some jackfruit tastings this summer. Please let me know when this another fruit ripens.

Satya

3
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Wanted: mango scions
« on: August 06, 2020, 11:08:40 AM »
Did you already get your scions? I have Fairchild, Lemon zest. Pickering just flushed so it isn’t ready.

4
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Mallika scions
« on: August 06, 2020, 11:06:30 AM »
Can ship from FL, $4 per scion with priority shipping but will be better and scions will be fresh if you can get to pick up from local growers around you.

5
Good points Rich, nice video, seems like most of your grafts have taken. I have only tried the clothespin method once in the past and it had good take but i haven't done a case-control study of clothespin, rubber band, and just electric tape side by side to compare results. And there are variables like my own preference for electric tape over rubber band. But will give this a try again soon. My mango grafts are done for now after Ambika, Carla and Amrapali i did two weeks ago. But have some mulberry and annona scions coming in next week.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Reviews
« on: July 18, 2020, 01:38:55 AM »
Wanted to share two wonderful Indian variety mangoes i tasted this week. The first was Bombay mango, a gift from forum member FLNative and it was my first time tasting this particular variety. The other one was Sonpari, a highly recommended Indian mango variety by Har.

Bombay had intense fruity aroma, almost akin to Glenn when i first got it and our car was smelling with this aroma as we drove from Delray Beach to our home. The mango though mentioned to have issues with powdery mildew didn't seem to be affected and the fruit as well was spotless, orange blush with yellow background color.



Inside was deep orange. The first one i had, had a uniform color , this one in picture had a deeper orange closer to seed.

This was an exceptional spicy flavor mango, and to me the taste trumped Kesar, Mallika , Suvarnarekha and Alphonso i have had so far. Closer to seed it had started to get too ripe and this tasted like a peach nectar to my wife, to me it tasted a bit medicinal in the over-ripe area. I guess it is peak flavor when not allowed to go over ripe and it can go overripe within a day after its ripe. Texture juicy and soft. No fiber except minimal close to skin. No uneven ripening. Overall extremely good tasting spicy flavor mango in my opinion.

Then next came Sonpari, again my first time tasting. It ripened over many days and turned to pale yellow color, even stayed in fridge for a few days while i returned from my out-of-state work....



And it was very sweet, could not get the spicy flavor until i reached the skin, did i let it go too ripe? but it had no over-ripe fermented flavor, no funky taste, but very sweet filling firm creamy texture. I could not compare the two, i felt Bombay had a better balance of sweetness and spicyness and Sonpari more candy tasting with no subacid flavor.



A video says way more than words, if you like visuals please watch the whole tasting here: https://youtu.be/wNaGkc1q3sc

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Reviews
« on: July 09, 2020, 03:21:31 PM »

Satya,

I got an Orange  Essence mango from my tree yesterday. Outstanding mango. I have it grafted onto three trees now :) If space is limited, you might want to go with Honey Kiss. OE is medium vigor but from what I have seen, doesn't stay small.

Keep in mind when you topwork onto an established tree the growth habit if the topworked variety tends to be different (usually more vigorous) than if started from a nursery grafted tree.  For prime examples, look at the towering sizes of the Honey Kiss and Pickering at Walter Zill's.


Would a nursery grafted Orange Essence grow slow and stay small, like Honey Kiss or Pickering? Pickering seems to grow faster than HK in my yard.  Is that unusual?

Yes OE bought at 3g from Zill’s and eventually uppotted to 7g has grown almost like a bonsai so far, thick trunk with low branching but who knows may take off and grow vigorously any day soon, but so far it is behaving like it wants to be a compact tree.
I need Carla scions now, i have a branch of Fruit Punch that can be converted. Does anyone know about the origin of the name Carla for this mango? I would have named it Sweet sensation :)

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Reviews
« on: July 09, 2020, 10:07:19 AM »

Satya,

I got an Orange  Essence mango from my tree yesterday. Outstanding mango. I have it grafted onto three trees now :) If space is limited, you might want to go with Honey Kiss. OE is medium vigor but from what I have seen, doesn't stay small.

Thanks. I wonder how a tree ripe OE would taste like, very impressed. I have a HK without any additional grafts on it. The OE got grafted to a Cotton Candy which i have not been impressed so far (probably i don’t like a candy cotton candy flavor in general) but i won’t judge until i try it next year again.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Reviews
« on: July 09, 2020, 07:31:47 AM »
Just before i left for the battlefield, well it’s work, but when they say we are at war with the virus, then it is like a battlefield : ) , i got opportunity to taste a few mangoes one of which was an eye opener. Only other mango able to do that to me this year was Pina Colada.



Ripened from light green to yellow to  yellowish orange, clean fruit almost spotless, large size, what not to like. When i cut open it was a pale orange flesh with no fiber. Sorry these words don’t do justice to the explosion of flavors and happiness hormone bursting inside when i took my first bit, that is captured in the video. And i wish i was a poet and could describe in beautiful words, but indeed it is a great tasting mango and it was my first time tasting it. This is Carla mango. Flesh surprisingly was crunchy and juicy at the same time. Flavor was a intensely concentrated mix of fruit drink with high sweetness to balance the subacid flavor. No coconut or spice after taste just a wow factor at each bite. Very close to the seed it had ripened more and almost become mushy and soft with dull sweet flavor. Skin is very thick, few fibers but just leathery thick skin.

Then came another mango, similar size to Carla, the Orange Essence, beautiful colors of yellow and orange, clean with no black spots. Also similarly stayed more than a week in the garage ripening. Sweet citrusy and mango ripening smell i could smell from it even before it cut it. After i cut i could see it was strangely ripening, darker orange by the skin and then pale and again dark orange around the seed. Was afraid the pale part would be subpar taste but i was surprised, citrusy delight, with good sweetness.




The citrus flavor distinctly different from OS and LZ or LM mango but it is there a subtle nuance of the orange drink but milder version and with this good flesh seed ratio i was impressed. Flesh was similarly a bit crunchy but drier compared to Carla. Also a thick skinned mango which will travel well and ripen over many days and if it is a late season it will compete Honey Kiss for a spot if space is limited, or a cocktail tree perhaps :). HK is a completely different flavor and one of those mangoes i can eat all day and not get tired.


The whole tasting drama if you like visuals more than words is captured here : https://youtu.be/X9g6sCjekPU




10
I am looking for the same, actually for rootstock for regular white sapote to plant here in FL. If anyone has please message me.

11
I am sure some forum members in CA are growing it or have a source to get it, let's see if they can help.

12
Want to buy 5-10 seeds of yellow sapote,. This is for rootstock as i heard it dwarfs the white sapote grafted onto it. Please let me know. Thanks.

13
Thank you Behl. This time i followed the protocol and did not bug you/ send any alarmed messages :) .  Paid via paypal, filled in the details in paypal message section and in a few days the scion package arrived. Well packaged and clean. Thank you very much.

14
Suvarnarekha/Sundari mango, O-15 mango, Dwarf Hawaiian and Julie are the ones i tasted this season that had strong spicyness. Graham is still ripening on countertop. Neelam is a late season and more of a horizontal grower so you would want to graft someone similar with compact growing habit.  Amrapali is another compact and late season Indian mango but i am not sure of its spicy level grown here in FL.

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Jaboticaba in limestone?
« on: June 25, 2020, 10:58:32 AM »
I have a sabara, a red, and 2 grimals in ground. Dug a long trench 20 ft long and 3 ft wide and filled with peat moss, perlite, vermiculite and planted them. Then i put a foot of oak leaves mulch on top. So far they have been doing ok. I water them with collected rain water if no rain for 2-3 days, otherwise soil underneath has stayed moist. I have done the same with rainforest plums i got. All are doing well, flushing lot of new leaves. No deficiency signs so far so there is hope. We will see how they do with time and during dry season when i will have to use the city water.

How long have you had them in the ground so far?



The sabara has been for 3 yrs now. Rest all are in ground for 2 months now and really loving it.

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Reviews
« on: June 24, 2020, 09:01:12 PM »
Tried ZINC, J-14, Orange Sherbet and Peach Cobbler this morning.

For those who prefer visual content, the same review but in pictures: https://youtu.be/RkBLjbwLWJc

ZINC
First time trying this. The color changed to light yellow to golden yellow over the counter, and had a sweet fruity aroma to it as it was ripening. I would hold it everyday and smell it and keep it back as it felt hard and was waiting for it to give. The pulp was creamy, not juicy or melting. Sweet but not as sweet as sweet tart i tried this year and had a good balance of sub-acid flavor. I think those who love the Indochinese flavor group of mangoes will love this mango. Comparing to Sweet tart thought did not have one for side-by-side comparison, i felt ZINC to be a milder version of sweet tart.







J-14
I think it deceived me as i kept thinking it still looks like its just changing color from light green to pale yellow, and still hard to touch, and then some black spots on the skin started to grow bigger. Finally decided to cut and to my surprise it was orange inside. It was creamy texture and had started to go over-ripe. Flavor to me felt like a combo of Classic and Indochinese, perhaps the indochinese would have been more pronounced if it was not going over-ripe. All in all i preferred it over ZINC, as it being a seedling of ZINC. I checked the seed and it seemed to be mono-embryonic











Orange Sherbet
Amazed how it slowly changed from pale green to yellow to deep yellow color over a week, no skin blemishes while it ripened for a few days in garage and then over the counter top for the last 2 days. This one was as sweet, creamy and tasty as all OS i have tried before this season, so i feel it is a consistently flavorful mango. Good balance of sweetness and citrus drink flavor. The citrus flavor has a subacid component to it. I can not compare it to LemonZest, to me they are two different flavors and both are outstanding.






Peach Cobbler
Very deceptive indeed. I had an earlier Peach Cobbler about 2 weeks ago, that looked pale green after being over counter for a few day and was giving a lot. Cut it and it was pale yellow , unripe. This one i was doubtful too. Pale yellow with some light yellow at top, and slight giving. Cut inside and it was deep orange to my surprise. Taste was outstanding. To me the flavor was a combo of classic mango with sweet citrusy tone and a good sweetness to balance it all. I did not taste any peach flavor, earlier one i tasted had a peach after taste though.








Out of these 4, Peach Cobbler was my tastiest, although all 4 had my different taste buds satisfied.


17
Thanks.
No the top portion of the flap is there for making the connection tight. The bottom-most portion of the flap does join the scion though. I cut the flap back after the fusion is a success. 

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Jaboticaba in limestone?
« on: June 23, 2020, 11:31:00 PM »
I have a sabara, a red, and 2 grimals in ground. Dug a long trench 20 ft long and 3 ft wide and filled with peat moss, perlite, vermiculite and planted them. Then i put a foot of oak leaves mulch on top. So far they have been doing ok. I water them with collected rain water if no rain for 2-3 days, otherwise soil underneath has stayed moist. I have done the same with rainforest plums i got. All are doing well, flushing lot of new leaves. No deficiency signs so far so there is hope. We will see how they do with time and during dry season when i will have to use the city water.

19
Hi Adam,
i also got inspired by you and made one with my grafting mistakes:

https://youtu.be/tTEUnQJSbzA

 I actually loved those 30-35 minute videos from truly tropical when i was tryimg to improve so i like the length you made. There is so much detail that i don’t think one could finish in 5-10 minutes. But i agree, grafting series with episodes could break them into like reasons to graft/why graft or what can be grafted, tools to graft, seasons/when to graft, ways to graft, and how to follow up on the grafts. Thanks for sharing and keep them coming.

20
Thank you Sapote. This actually took and is doing well. I changed the technique already. Instead of cutting a wider coffin to be able to push the scion well against the rootstock cambium, i actually keep the rootstocks flap that covers the cambium and don’t cut it out but use it to cover the scion and then secure the whole thing with a zip tie. This may allow water to collect though but i ususlly cover the whole thing with a plastic bag trying not to allow rain/moisture to enter.




21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Productive Jackfruit Varieties
« on: June 18, 2020, 09:09:04 PM »
Here is my recent tasting videos on both varieties:

https://youtu.be/QQ-rjbAAmos

https://youtu.be/k3L5jfBDH7s


Highly recommend Bangkok Lemon. Tried Blackgold, Amber, J-31 and Bangkok Lemon..Bangkok lemon for me tasted far superior. Got the fruit from a member here, his tree looks very productive and is not as vigorous as they say, probably was 12- 15ft tall after 7-8yrs and loaded with fruits.

I tried J31 years ago and remember it being excellent. Where did you purchase yours??

22
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Fairchild mango scions for sale
« on: June 18, 2020, 07:22:22 PM »
Hi guys i have limited amount of Fairchild mango scions for sale. First come first serve basis.  Anyone interested please pm me here.
Scions are pencil size or larger in diameter with buds and will be wrapped in genuine buddy tape with moist paper towel at the base of the scion and enclosed in a ziploc bag. 
Shipping is priority mail box $8.
Minimum 5 scions. Each scion is $2, will be wrapped in buddy tape.

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How to ripen Mangoes
« on: June 18, 2020, 05:45:53 PM »
Hi Sam,
i understand your problem. I also grew up with mangoes that we would pick green mature and ripen inside big containers of rice and they would never ever have a single black spot or stem rot issues. The mango trees and flower/fruitlets were never sprayed but that was because it was not a humid climate like in Florida. I don't have containers of rice here in FL but i tried to wrap them in paper and put inside a ventilated box with 3-4 holes but this did not work. The ones with small amount of black spots grew their black spots in size and quantity over the days and the by the time mangoes were ripe the skin was full of spots that most of the time extended into the flesh as black rotted spots. This happened to almost all of the mangoes and were sourced from different growers so it wasn't a location or ripening issue. Certain varieties got it more than the others so it certainly is a variety issue and importantly humidity issue. Those i tried to ripen on the countertop did not get it most of the time but would not ripen fast enough although i keep my house at 81F. Perhaps keeping it at 76F or lower would constantly make the AC run and pull more moisture out and avoid this issue.

I am starting a new experiment after i talked with Walter Zill this week. He told me to wipe the mangoes with a paper towel dipped in diluted chlorox(bleach) and mentioned that Erikson farms dipped their mangoes in bleach after harvest to prevent this skin issue. I am checking the mangoes everyday and so far all looks good. I will update on how it goes. The concentration i used is 1:5 with 5 parts of water and 1 part of 100% bleach. Just wipe with the paper towel around the skin of the mango and place the mangoes in a box over some crumpled paper and then make a few holes in the box for ventilation and leave it in garage(with no AC) or sometimes i leave it in my car parked under the roof, not in direct sun. Do not wipe with bleach if there is crack /opening on the skin of the mango.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Productive Jackfruit Varieties
« on: June 17, 2020, 10:10:59 PM »
I am growing black gold. Positives for Black gold are very compact tree size(for grafted tree) and tree has not suffered cold damage without protection. Production is good so far. Some branch die back upper branches due to heavy fruiting in the lower trunk. Taste is mediocre compared to BL, fruity bubble gum flavor and has good amount of latex. J-31 is a better black gold in terms pf taste for me.

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Productive Jackfruit Varieties
« on: June 17, 2020, 09:37:17 PM »
Highly recommend Bangkok Lemon. Tried Blackgold, Amber, J-31 and Bangkok Lemon..Bangkok lemon for me tasted far superior. Got the fruit from a member here, his tree looks very productive and is not as vigorous as they say, probably was 12- 15ft tall after 7-8yrs and loaded with fruits.

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