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I picked up a few seeds from Red Durian. One shot up like a rocket and is still looking happy in the depths of winter here. The other five or so broke in half, but were still green, so we will see if they shoot when the weather picks up... I have a few places where I can put a monster vine, depending on its cold tolerance. If its looking tender I will offer it to folk up north who will be happy to recieve it. I know it had been brought in earlier, as with nearly all good SE Asian fruits, but I dont know who up north has them growing or fruiting, if anyone. Mike might know something more. If you could tell more about Lardizabala, maybe in another thread, I'd love to know more...
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OK, looks like I screwed up the "quote box" by trying to whittle down my response. I raised the topic of zabala fruit previously (
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=5268.msg71549#msg71549 ) but there seemed to be little response. Things I find out about it are sketchy and sometimes conflicting. It is from Chile and
can occur at some altitude. Wikipedia (often not reliable) reports it as temperate but other reports suggest probably subtropical. It sounds like the seeds need a cool damp stratification (maybe even two! - but not freezing) to germinate. This would be a plus if it grew here as it would not be at all invasive at lower elevations. Fruit is reportedly highly esteemed locally.
An interesting aside (at least to me) is people keep getting criticized for raising topics that have been raised before on the forum. Well, this did not come up in a search; if I hadn't posted about it personally before I would not have known it was in here. I suspect that there is a wealth of info on the site that is not coming up consistently on searches.
I ordered a bunch of Willughbeia seed from RD as well but none have germinated yet & I am worried that they may not. I was hoping that you guys down under might have some planted up north -- you do have some amazing stuff down there.
John