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Messages - fruitlovers

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13201
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: lycheeeeeeeeeeeeeeees have hit town
« on: May 19, 2012, 02:29:03 AM »
"Don't need freezing to induce flowering"

I agree. But, they do need some kind of shock.  Either winter drought, or fertilizer, or something.  I believe in tropical Thailand they do something to stress the tree into flowering. 

My observations on my Mauritius is that it responds to temps below 32F by flowering.   I'm sure that temp shocks the tree enough into flowering. 

My tree has gone down to 28F with water freezing under it and has not shown any damage from cold.  However, it is a large tree and I always want it to get nipped back so I don't have to trim it. I'll take photos of it this weekend and show how tall it is.   

I also have the sweetheart, hak ip, emperor, sweet cliff, and brewster variety.   I've tried kaimana but it croaked in the cold.  It was a small tree and had no protection.

The Mauritius has been my best tree and also the oldest and in full sun.  The others are in shade, so thus, less fruit. Which is okay. Eventually something will take out the canopy above it and then it can take over.   LOL...I'm guilty of over planting...

Fertilizing lychees will not stress them, quite the opposite. It will induce new foliage flushes which will be counterproductive for fruiting. The something that is done in Thailand that you refer to to induce flowering is probably girdling, also called cincturing. This isn't done only in Thailand, it's done in a lot of tropical locations to help induce stress so that the trees will flower and fruit.

13202
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Market with Tropical fruit
« on: May 19, 2012, 02:20:11 AM »
Fruitlovers G.dulcis is mundu or maphuut in thai. I didn't realize dulcis was mundu .They are sour as buggery and way smaller (about 2 inches av, vs 3 inches +) than xanthochymus without the shoulders.The people who told me of this sweet large xanthochymus style fruit are intimately familiar with dulcis and were talking about a sweet nice eating fruit outa hand.

Because you don't have it in Australia then it doesn't exist? There are different forms of mundu. See the book Fruit and Fruit Culture in the Dutch West Indies, J.J. Ochse, published 1931:
"Of cultivated plants {of mundu} one distinguises a small form with sour flesh and few seeds (Golodog panto) and a pear shaped large fruited form with sour-sweet pulp tasting somewhat of apricots (Moondoo, Djawoora). Especially the improved pear shaped forms deserve more tinterest; they promise to become good table fruits."
Sound like what you have there is Golodog panto.

13203
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Dwarf Amberella
« on: May 18, 2012, 04:44:13 AM »
Just did a taste comparison between my dwarf and regular sized tree. Regular one the fruits were 4x more tasty. No comparison.

13204
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Market with Tropical fruit
« on: May 18, 2012, 04:42:31 AM »
Soren they are a small type of bulbifera and these are smaller thsan average ones for propagation.Alata,esculenta and a couple of others are usually there as as well.
Fruitlovers G.dulcis rings a distant bell you could be right.When one of these sweet fruit comes my way I will post a pic for your scrutiny.
The mamey is completely smooth,moist and sweet and of great quality.That type has a drawback in that seeds are sprouting with roots inside the fruit most of the time.It weighs a feather over a pound so is not a big type.

Can't tell G. dulcis fruit apart  from the G. xanthochymus fruit in exterior appearance. Main distinguishing characterisitic, as i remember at this late hour, is the G. dulcis leaves are hairy on underside and G. xantho. not.

13205
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: In the Heart of Durian Country
« on: May 18, 2012, 04:37:48 AM »
Fruitlovers I posted a picture before of my Z4 (Joe Zapalla number 4) next to my E4.Z4 is the common commercial one to 2lbs,often with 2 seeds, firm whitish flesh,deep yellow skin that is quite thick with latex and very spherical.It has a good taste rivalling Z2,T25 and inca gold but some people prefer gray.E4 abius are similar in size,spherical,paler yellow when ripe,more tranluscent flesh, they have an elongated teat, thinner skin but less prone to bruising,less latex and a richer caramel/vanilla flavour.The interest was not as a commercial species but as a premier backyard type.E4 can also be eaten when quite green.

Thanks for the info. Guess you don't have oriental fruit fly there? They nail all the abius here.

13206
Yes, the odds for fruitset can't get much lower.! You should not by any chance have seeds of it?

Never seen galip nut (indicum) over here. Plenty of pili nuts. Pili nut (ovatum) is awesome. Very tasty, and very buttery, top notch nut--rivals macadamias.

13207
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Question for JF
« on: May 18, 2012, 03:29:39 AM »
Nice looking plants. I would suggest getting some scion wood eventually to graft onto your seedling mamey. Otherwise it will take very long to fruit and you risk it not having very good fruit.
As to how the 3-4 ft. mangos can have such small root systems, i would guess they pump the trees regularly with foliar fertilizers.

13208
Hi Rob, can you be more specific please about what the problem with TT is? I haven't bought anything from them, but they have come here and purchased plants from me? Their money was ok, not counterfeit or Russian rubles.  ;)

13209
I remember a photo from Thurston which tells the tale. Btw; I only got one Canarium indicum  :-[

Thurston's Canarium schweinfurthii grew faster than mine, not surprising with his hotter climate. Only one C. indicum?? Oh, oh!.  :-\

13210
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: In the Heart of Durian Country
« on: May 18, 2012, 03:00:36 AM »
E4 Abiu? I guess you meant Z4 Abiu?

13211
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Market with Tropical fruit
« on: May 18, 2012, 02:58:40 AM »
The sweet fruit that looks like xanthochymus is most probably Garcinia dulcis, of which there are sweet types, as the name would suggest.

13212
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is this an atemoya or cherimoya?
« on: May 17, 2012, 07:50:29 PM »
Take a look at my AP atemoya:

13213
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Question for JF
« on: May 17, 2012, 07:47:39 PM »
I must be confused. Plantogram offers Mamey under sapodilla, so I was wondering if its a sapodilla or sapote. from my understanding sapodilla and sapote are two differ things. no?

Sapodilla, means little sapote.  Also known as chico, which means litte. I call it the brown sugar fruit, because of it's taste. In olde days was mostly used for making chewing gum from it's latex, but fruits are very sweet also. Mamey is in a different genus: Pouteria sapota. Sapodilla is: Manilkara zapota.

13214
Passed the market during my lunch break, and found a handful of fresh Canarium schweinfurthii fruits. This is one of the best fruits in central Uganda, and have a nice olive taste. Not a container tree as it grows to 40+ m.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jegindo/6537328319/#in/set-72157628482393403/

My trees, from seeds from you Soren, are like the Jack and the Beanstalk story, headed for another dimension. They really do get tall! I think i goofed and planted only 2. I think i should have planted at least 3 as they are dioecious.  :'(

13215
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is this an atemoya or cherimoya?
« on: May 17, 2012, 06:43:12 PM »
Definitely an atermoya. JF is right, looks like African Pride.

13216
The timing of chill during fruit development should be able to influence flavour alot I reckon.

Like i said before this all depend on the cultivar. Here we have lots of citrus that have been selected for our area that do really well, and that i mentioned previously, including oranges, tangerines, tangelos, tangors, grapefruits, and pommelos. There are commercial citrus orchards here, and one very large nursery just specializing in citrus. If what Rob was saying was correct none of them could exist. What Mike said is true about areas closer to equator. But Florida, which is what we were discussing, is 25+ degrees north of the equator and should have no problem as far as temperature for growing lot of very many citrus cultivars. Here at 19N also not a problem. Once you get closer to 10 degrees from the equator many citrus will not color up well and tends to be more watery. In those equatorial areas you need higher elevation to grow good citrus.

13217
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Malformation
« on: May 17, 2012, 06:21:24 PM »
look for it and you will find it.

By golly, enduser is right! Thank you enduser!!

13218

Oscar you crack me up.! Adam too with your charcoal comment - was getting a bit bored here in office so thanks a lot.! Great photos by the way - Adam, how old is your tree on the photo?

Soren, glad i was able to excite up your Ho Hum day a little bit there in your Kampala office. ;) Please don't laugh too loud or your office co-workers might think you are not actually working!  ;)

13219
Looking good Adam! I think one of these days, when you have enough trees in 25 gallon pots ready to burst apart, then you will have to get yourself a piece of land, pop them in the ground (with a crane) and will have yourself an instant orchard.  :)

13220
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: lycheeeeeeeeeeeeeeees have hit town
« on: May 17, 2012, 05:28:30 PM »
I doubt they are Florida lychee at $1/pound then.  Most likely from Mexico. 

My lychee have gone down to 28F with no burn to them.  And, when it does drop below 32F they flower really good in the spring.    I only saw a low of around 35F this winter and the duration was only a few hours in the morning.   09/10 winter was super cold and we had a week of lows around 29F. I got a ton of fruit after that.  10/11 winter had a few cold snaps below 32F and again my big mauritius fruited a ton. 

My biggest lychee (mauritius) is around 20 feet tall and am in the process of knocking it down to 10 feet  since they didn't flower this spring and it was too tall to harvest.   Plus it is growing into the power lines.   My other lychee are all smaller and are not in full sun so I don't get as much production from them.   But, they weren't always shaded out and about ten years ago I was getting good production out of them.  Since then everything has grown up and over most of my lychee and now they are understory plants (unfortunately)...

CentralFloridaDave, lycheeluva is right. Lychees don't need temperatures close to freezing to induce flowering. Chill hours for lychees is very different than chill hours for temperate frut. Lychees come from areas in Southern China that rarely ever have a freeze. Actually prolonged freezing temperatures are injurious to the lychee trees. The actual temperatures needed to induce flowering will depend very much on the cultivar. Most chinese cultivars need a certain amount of hours below 55F to have good flowering. Many of the cultivars developed here and other tropical areas don't ever get 55F and still flower. Kaimana is a good example of that. In Thailand also they developed tropical lychee cultvars that will flower even though they never have temperatures below 65F.

13221
So I got my trees in!  The packaging was very nice.  The trees from toptropics didn't look damaged.  The leaves are a little brown at the ends.  These were all 3 gallon trees but one of the trees is taller than me (I guess that's not saying much since I'm only 5'1" but still!). Anyways I went to the M & M nursery and they did not have ANY of the tropical soil left! They said that they are reformulating their mix so they have to get it approved first.   So I went with the ocean forest organic potting soil.  I hope I didn't make a mistake by potting the trees in 5 gallon containers.  The directions said pot the trees in sizes closest to their rootball to avoid root rot.  Do you guys think that will make a big difference? Do you also loosen the soil around the rootball?  The directions that came with the trees didn't say anything about that so I just placed the trees right in the containers in the potting soil to level it with the top of the container.  I then sprayed the leaves and watered them just a little since the soil was moist.  OMG I've never planted a tree in a pot in my life! I hope I did it okay!!!  ;D

Sounds like you did a great job. 5 gallon pot should be fine.

13222
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: sticky clear slime on mango
« on: May 17, 2012, 01:45:51 AM »
You should avoid getting that sticky latex on your skin. Can cause rashes in many people. Also when picking mangos it's best to wear gloves and not get exposed to this liquid that can squirt out when mangos are picked. Even if you are not now allergic constant exposure can lead to future allergy.

13223

Well, I did do some googling and it seems to be questionable whether the cold actually enhances the flavor.

Here is one quote that I found regarding the cold weather sweeting the fruit:
"Fred Gmitter, a professor of citrus breeding and genetics at the University of Florida, told ABC News today that he was not aware of any data proving this theory and that he believed it was a “sort of wives’ tale.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/01/a-bit-of-cold-weather-the-sweeter-the-orange/

It also said that the cold damage could possibly damage the skin of the orange causing water evaporation and concentrating the sugars but I don't know how much it is actually ehancing the flavor as much as damaging the fruit.

I remember reading in a book that it was the soil in Indian River that caused the better tasting Citrus in that area as compared to the rest of FL and not the weather.

I agree this is a fairy tale for most, but maybe not all citrus. I know for example that with blood oranges without a chill you will not get the coloration and full flavor. But with most others have no difficulty growing good quality citrus here in land of zero chill. About pummelo, don't understand Rob why you wouldn't get good quality on that one either? Pummelo is very widely grown in the tropics, and i believe also originates in tropical Malaysia. I think Sheehan must be right and has something to do with your soil rather than temperature growing requirements.

13224
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fmaringa.odiario.com%2Fmaringa%2Fnoticia%2F499756%2Fagronomo-desvenda-misterio-de-jabuticabeira-que-da-acerola%2F

More mysteries from Brazil? As article points out acerola is from a totally different family than jaboticaba, so don't think acerola grafted onto jaboticaba is possible. Photo wasn't very convincing either! I'm much more likely to believe that passionfruits can form in the shape of male genitalia.

13225
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Free Compost from County
« on: May 17, 2012, 12:43:27 AM »
Sorry to hear that Ethan. Nutsedge is one of the hardest weeds to get rid of. I had a veggie garden in San Diego with it, and eventually decided to just give up and abandoned it due to nutsedge.

I put down layers of cardboard over the soil to suppress the nut sedge in the veg garden, w/out it nothing can compete. 

-Ethan

I remember putting 6 mil plastic over the nutsedge area to try to kill it out. Darned stuff poked right through that thick plastic. Then i tried to get the nuts out by screening all the soil. That didn't work either.  That's when i threw in the towel on that garden plot.

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