The Tropical Fruit Forum

Indeed, but the scanners are looking for weapons.  I've never heard of anyone being asked to present papers on what they're bringing at the security checkpoint.  Maybe it happens sometimes, but...

Now, if you do stupid stuff, I've heard of people getting caught.  I read about one guy who was trying to smuggle endangered birds.  He had them bundled up and taped, each one fit inside a piece of a paper towel roll tube, all of the tube segments wrapped around his body under his clothes.  I'm sure he thought he was so clever, but A) can you think of anything that would look *more* suspicious to a security screener, and B) I don't think even the best liar could pass that one off as an accident 

Hehe, indoor light is not a problem    Got big south and east facing windows plus 1000 watts of LED + fluorescent on 24/7.  Gotta love having cheap, clean electricity!  The challenge at least in the short term will be not breaking my budget on large pots and soil for transplants, lol 

Thanks for mentioning how heavy they get; that didn't occur to me, as I'm not used to heavy climbers (my biggest climber so far has been passionfruit).  Any clue how big they need to be to fruit?  I general, I just want to get my plants up to the minimum size needed to where it's possible induce fruiting.  I don't need a ton of fruit, I'm not looking to sell.  I just love being around my plants and nurturing them up to maturity... and possibly getting some rewards for doing so, to enjoy myself and to give to friends 

Also consider the practicalities of shipping plants on a plane, especially ones of non-trivial size, on an international flight.  You have to count on them being "in transit" for a day or so, because you have to pack them in advance of your flight (and since this takes time to do right and you won't want to miss an international flight, at least several hours before, best the night before).  If it's like coming from the US to Iceland, they'll have to be soilless, so you'll be coddling the roots quite a bit trying to make sure it's a gentle transition.  You may tell yourself that you'll plan to just put them in a sterile potting mix in your suitcase but when it comes down to practicality, in most cases, you'll find that just wrapping well in damp paper towels / cloth / etc and then protecting with plastic is best.  You're going to have to find luggage that fits them, difficult with trees.  I modified a box for tube lights to fit the plane specs without going oversize (although I did have one bag go overweight).  Even if you go oversize, you have to know that there are limitations on what they'll allow period even if you pay the extra fee.  Trees that are too tall, you'll just have to prune or, as in the case of my mango and cherimoya, carefully bend (their tallest branches are still deformed, lol... it became permanent).  If you're taking a number of plants, you're going to have to pack them in tightly.  Expect some leaf damage from all of the sliding and squishing (might want to try to protect your leaves better than I did mine).  You'll want to consider that it's cold at altitude, potentially even below freezing, and decide whether you want to just chance that or to take precautions.  Insulating a box full of plants isn't as easy as it sounds.  The best you'll probably be able to do is stuffing clothes into gaps, although you may decide that stuffing more plants into those gaps is a better plan    I used heat packs (and tons of them) to keep up the temperature, but therein lies another problem: heat packs don't last that long.  So instead of following the instructions and removing the center part (a package of iron powder which rusts when exposed to air to release heat) from its oxygen-blocking plastic wrapper, I had success with simply making small pinpricks in the wrapper to let the O2 in slower - less heat but over a longer period.  When you get home, remember that it'll take time, not insigificant, not just to get your bags, leave the airport, and get home, but also to unpack each plant and repot it.  Hopefully you'll be more prepared for the repotting than I was when I arrived.  :Þ.  Oh, and of course, hope your bags don't get lost or damaged!  And then, settle in for the time it takes for your plants to reestablish themselves and heal.  4 months later my passionfruit still has some really ugly damaged leaves from the transport.  They bug me, but they're still green and contributing to the plant's health, so I don't want to remove them.

And that's just about the transporting of the plants, let alone getting them approved for export/import!

Yeah, it's a pain to transport live plants with you internationally.

Behlgarden: Tradewinds didn't label the variety.  I could take pictures, but at this seedling stage, I don't think it'd help much, lol     Thanks for the olive tip. 

Fruitzilla: Thanks for the info about the taproot; I'll be sure to use tall pots wherever possible.  Lots of stores here sell these super-tall, rather narrow pots, which should work well.  Of course I don't want them to get huge, they have to be kept at a manageable size for indoors and I don't need them to be too prolific (I'm not looking to try to establish a market here in Iceland for selling moringa products, lol!).  Ultimately I'll probably only keep one plant, maybe sell the others on bland.is.  Come to think of it, I should probably do that with some of my surplus coffee and dragonfruit plants (I plan to hang onto my spare biriba at least for now, though, lol!)

What's the policy on carrying food on the plane with you for consumption purposes - is entry of said food banned?  Food that might perchance, you know, happen to have some seeds in it?

I've planted leftovers before..   

I guess it depends on what the policy on coming with fruit from Peru is.  As for the declarations, fill out every plant in the book that you might have interest in to cover your bases.  At least when importing seeds to Iceland, I've had on multiple occasions not had all of the seeds that I listed due to various delays or mixups in acquisition.  Nobody cares if you bring *less* than you declare (at least not here, and I'd doubt in the US as well).

Soren: But then again...  :

http://satwcomic.com/no-flag-for-you

Lol, well, every last seed sprouted so I have six already - but if lots of friends want some, that's good to know.  Thanks for the tip on water, too.  I've already been keeping my mango on a reduced watering schedule since they're root-rot sensitive; I'll do the same with my moringas.

So the first set of seeds from my latest import have sprouted, and unsurprisingly it was Moringa oleifera (most of the others can take months to germinate).  I searched the forum and not a lot of people here seem to be growing it (I guess because it's mainly grown as a vegetable?), so while it's a tropical, if it's out of line here to ask about it, just let me know (I have the same concerns about asking about my olive, lol, since while it's not cold tolerant, it's not a traditional "tropical" fruiting tree).

The questions aren't specifics, just in general.  I've never grown it before and am wondering if there are any potential pitfalls/common hazards I should be aware of (too much moisture, not enough moisture, deficiencies, etc).  They'll be grown indoors under lights, of course.

(On that subject, any tips for the olive, too, would be appreciated; I just got it recently and it already has flower buds).

That would be Iceland    I'm not sure if they sell anything commercially; I'm pretty sure that all of the "bananar" that I find at the grocery store are imported.  Now, tomatoes, mushrooms, and "salad" crops, those are really taking off in the greenhouses.  There was an article a couple months back that greenhouse construction continues as planned, we could be a net exporter of tomatoes soon.  Iceland, exporting tomatoes - isn't that crazy?  We're getting daily highs of 12-18C right now and people are complaining about the summer heat    (Hint: if you're too hot, *stop wearing heavy wool sweaters in the summer!*)

I'm renting right now, but I am awfully tempted to do what someone I knew (online) in Iowa did with a palm tree: growing it outdoors in the ground in a totally unsuited climate to confuse the heck out of people    Their trick was when winter rolled around, to cut off the lower leaves, bundle the whole thing up into a vertical column, wrap it with incandescent christmas lights (including the base around the soil), then wrap the whole thing in insulation.  It lasted many years, only dying when a big storm ripped off the insulation one winter.  Problem here is that while our winter isn't really cold, it's really long.

I read an article recently about discussions of growing more exotic plants, along the lines of what I'm growing, in the commercial greenhouses.  They noted that it should be possible (well, duh, I think I'm a testament to that  ) but the question is whether or not an economic argument for it can be made.  I bet at least they could make a case for coffee: we're #3 per-capita worldwide in coffee consumption, so there has to at least be some people willing to pay a premium for locally grown:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_coffee_consumption_per_capita

You need to get the grass away from that banana.....than feed with plenty of water and "natural fertilizers".  Bananas love to be fed just about anything (compost those fruit/veggie scraps, coffee grinds, etc.)...maybe you have a kitchen sink you aren't using

Hehe, yup.  My experience is that there are many types of plants out there that are easy to "love them to death" (overwatering, overfertilizing, etc).  Bananas are not among them    Short of growing it in a lake or dumping a bucket of fertilizer on it at once, itĺl be happy with you.  They're related to grasses - treat them like you'd treat your lawn (except the whole "mowing them down" aspect....    )

I believe they were from tradewinds and are the Chinese variety.

It's *much* easier to import seeds here than live plants, from shipping-difficulty, shipping cost, and legal-headache perspectives.  So even a long shot with a seed is generally worth it.  Of course, that doesn't help any with plants that need to be grafted.  You should have seen my luggage when I came with most of my live plants from the US... it was insane.    Insulation, dozens and dozens of heatpacks (each only slightly punctured, to slow down their heating), plants crammed atop plants atop plants, carefully wrapped rootballs... a couple dozen plants in three pieces of baggage.  My mango has a now permanent bend in its uppermost branch from being crammed into its box with the cherimoya... I'm amazed that the branch didn't simply break.  And I had to get certified as a grower under USDA phytosanitary control to get the paperwork.  Just crazy.

Great  to know this about jaboticaba!  I've got what's probably the only one in Iceland, and it's a pain and a half to import plants, so I *really* don't want it to die!

Eek, definitely sounds like too much water.  I lost a carrie a couple years ago to root rot.  Who would say to water a mango every other day?  :Þ  Maybe a banana...  pretty hard to rot them unless they're in standing water 

I have nothing better to add than what fruitlovers said - standard procedure for root rot and dehydration in general (remedy the cause of dehydration, limit the leaf area to a bare minimum, keep out of direct sun, and tent).  Best of luck toward your mango's recovery!