Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Brebarian

Pages: [1] 2
1
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: ODDS & SODS - PLANTS FOR SALE
« on: March 12, 2024, 03:56:43 PM »
Got my Barbie Pink Guava yesterday, thanks Kevin!



The plant is looking good and appears to have handled the week-long trip cross-country with no issues.



Looks to be a very healthy, sturdy little tree.

Willem

2
Sounds like fun, I'll try to make it! My Orange Sherbet mangos won't be ripe by then but I can chip in a few Nazemetz pineapple guavas.


3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Favorite banana?
« on: March 17, 2023, 03:43:41 AM »
I'm no expert, but I love my FHIA-01 "Goldfinger". Resilient, solid producer of small bananas with that sweet-tart apple banana quality you describe. In my experience it is compact, wind-resistant, doesn't need propping, etc.

If you're looking for another dwarf apple-type banana, I'd probably try the Dwarf Brazilian. I haven't tried it, but it apparently grows really well in Southern California. The downside here would be the fact that it's a parent of the FHIA-01 Goldfinger, so the fruit are probably on the similar side. If you're looking for a lot of variety, I might go with one or the other.

Tangent: If you're looking for variety, because you're in SD, I think you might be able to get away with growing the dwarf Gros Michel variety, "Highgate". I don't think it's a true dwarf and it's definitely closer to a traditional banana, but it would be a cool one if you're able to grow it.   

I'd personally grow Goldfinger and Dwarf Brazilian if I was looking for two bulletproof apple-type bananas.

 

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pakistan mulberry help
« on: August 24, 2022, 04:39:20 PM »
I was under the impression that Pakistani mulberries are one of those mulberry varieties that need to be grafted, as they don't respond well to rooting as a cutting.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sudden lychee death ?
« on: August 24, 2022, 04:35:31 PM »
I'm in CA in already marginal growing zone for lychees, but FWIW, I had a grafted SweetHeart lychee die on me after 2 years of doing reasonably well.

It coincided after a period of heavy rain in the winter and despite there being plenty of moisture in the soil, it went from green and healthy looking to completely dried up, dead as a doornail, in about 48 hours. Never seen anything like it, but it sounds exactly like what happened to your tree. I figured it was phomopsis or something similar.

I do think there's something to the sudden change in conditions, whether it's just the change in temperature/moisture itself or whether the change sparks a crazy fungal attack, I don't know.

6
Sounds great, count me in!

I'm happy to contribute whatever is ripe in my yard at the time, might not be much though.


7
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: 🥭 Mangos for sale
« on: June 11, 2022, 07:40:35 PM »
Thanks for doing this, kind of hard to find mangos this year! PM sent.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Santa Barbara Tropical Fruit
« on: August 01, 2020, 11:30:07 PM »
The Orange Sherbet has the slightly wavy leaf edges and is grafted on Manila, so I believe it will fruit true. Same with the Guava and the PPK, all grafted on Manila by Frank. I have no idea why the Guava and Orange Sherbet didn't flower this year, just lucky I guess.

The Turpentine rootstock is a seedling of course, so it makes sense that it didn't flower this year, and I'm sure it will eventually produce Turpentine-like fruit.

I agree that planting a seed is the best way to go, and I have a Buttercream seedling in the ground in a greenhouse just out of frame of the Orange Sherbet picture, which will hopefully overtake all three grafted mangos in time.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Santa Barbara Tropical Fruit
« on: August 01, 2020, 07:30:24 PM »
What is faux mangosteen?

If I had to guess, I'd say 'faux mangosteen' is probably one of the species of Garcinia that's more cold-hardy than a mangosteen, such as Luc's Garcinia, Achacha, Lemon Drop or Imbe.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Santa Barbara Tropical Fruit
« on: August 01, 2020, 07:24:17 PM »
You have a good selection of subtropicals. How old are your mango trees?

I bought the Guava, PPK and Orange Sherbet mangos from Frank (JF) in May 2019. They put out a bit of vegetative growth later that summer, but the Guava and Orange Sherbet are on their first major flush right now, with no blooms in sight, which is pretty incredible, considering they received no winter protection. Unfortunately, the PPK decided to bloom in May, and has no shown no signs of wanting to grow further.

The Turpentine is actually the water sprouts off of a Pickering that I picked up from Champa or Mimosa in 2017 (Florida rootstock). The Pickering didn't do well so I let the Turpentine rootstock take off and it's done surprisingly well (good shape, no drooping or flowering). I'll probably graft on SweetTart at some point in the future.

First picture is of my Orange Sherbet, the second is my Turpentine.





11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Santa Barbara Tropical Fruit
« on: August 01, 2020, 04:24:16 PM »
Fellow Santa Barbarian here! I'm in the San Roque area and have had a decent amount of luck with sub-tropicals.

Reliable Fruiting Success: Goldfinger banana (FHIA-01), Fredericks passionfruit, strawberry guava, lemon guava, Nazemetz and Coolidge pineapple guava.

Good vegetative growth but no fruit (yet): Orange Sherbet, Guava and Turpentine mangos, Honeyhart and seedling cherimoyas, Surinam cherry.

Poor vegetative growth + over-flowering or death: Sweetheart lychee, Biew Kiew longan, Pickering and PPK mango, grafted black sapote (Black Beauty from Florida).   

Too soon to see: seedling jaboticaba, seedling eugenias and seedling mangos from trade with a fellow TFF forum member.


12
Thanks for the nursery recommendations. I've purchased a few plants from Alex in the past, looks like he has exactly what I need.

13
Which nursery did you get it from?

I purchased my Surinam Cherry from a local nursery here in Santa Barbara, it goes by the name of Island Seed & Feed.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any information as to variety or history. Surinam Cherries are exceedingly rare finds where I live, so it was more of a impulse buy driven by blind excitement than anything else. Looking back, that probably wasn't the best idea.

I'll have to look around for a reputable source of grafted Surinam cherries before I buy my second plant.

14
It looks like a combination of patience and planting another Surinam Cherry to ensure cross-pollination is the way to go. I've been looking for a reason to go out and find a grafted Zill Dark or Black Star for the garden, so it looks like I've found one!

Thank you for all of the helpful advice everyone!


15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Surinam Cherry Flowering But Not Fruiting
« on: April 08, 2020, 01:39:37 PM »
Hi everyone,

I was hoping someone could help me figure out why my Surinam Cherry flowers profusely but never fruits.

Background: I purchased a very small Surinam Cherry from a local nursery three years ago. It's quite possibly a seedling, although it sends up suckers at the base, a characteristic I thought was more prevalent in grafted plants. The growing conditions are coastal 9B/10A in Santa Barbara, full sun, but relatively protected. Soil is mulched clay-loam, lightly fertilized with a balanced fertilizer a few times a year during the growing season. The plant grows fairly slowly (it's probably 2.5ft high and 2 ft diameter), but it otherwise healthy, and flowers like crazy, like it has the last two years. As it is in a marginal growing climate, all of the leaves turn red in the winter, and are semi deciduous.

Situation: The plant started flowering in early March, but there is so far no fruit set. I was under the impression that all Surinam Cherries are self-fruitful, but I have pollinated flowers with others from the same plant just to be sure it wasn't lack of pollen.

Potential Issues that I've considered: 1) It's a seedling, and too young to fruit, but not to flower. 2) It's still too small to bear fruit. 3) This particular plant is not self-fruitful for some reason. 4) From February to April, night-time lows in the 40's and 50's and rain prevent it from setting fruit.

Are one or more of these potential issues the reason it flowers but won't set fruit? Or am I missing something else?

Any advice is appreciated!

 

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mangos in Hamakua, Hawaii
« on: April 08, 2020, 01:05:55 PM »
Welcome!

I'm no expert, so take what I say with a grain of salt, but here are my recommendations:

If you want to keep the varieties you have, there are several copper-based anti-fungal sprays that a number of growers on the forum, especially in Florida, use to successfully combat anthracnose and get good crops of mangos. I'm sure there are several threads here you could dig up with product recommendations, and best practices for use. I live in a dry climate, so I don't have any personal experience spraying anti-fungals, but a lot of folks here do.

If you want to experiment with new varieties that should produce without spraying, I would start with varieties from Hawaii and Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, etc). Those varieties will have been selected in high-humidity environments, likely with a lot of anthracnose pressure.

Hawaiian varieties: Start with Rapoza and ST Maui. Both are excellent mangos, and one of best mangos I ever had was a Rapoza in Kailua-Kona (probably grown on-island). I'd also ask the local mango growers about what does well there, I bet there a lot of good, unnamed varieties nearby with owners who would share a scion or two. For example, there's a guy in Hilo with a YouTube Channel: GreenGardenGuy1. He put out a video about a great rain-proof mango variety he found in Kurtistown. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMCkKl1AksU. You might see if you can track him down and find out if that variety is being propagated or if scions are available. From the video, it sounds like that mango might be your best bet.

Southeast Asian varieties: I talked to a nursery on Oahu about SE Asian varieties that do well within 1/4 mile of the ocean, and they said people have had luck with Cac (Coc). In a similar veins, you might experiment with varieties like Maha Chanok (chanok, Chanok), Po Pyu Kalay (PPK), and other SE Asian varieties. Try fruitlovers.com (based on the Big Island, I think) for scions if local nurseries don't have any.

Although it's a Florida variety, Fairchild is listed by an old UH Manoa mango research paper as relatively anthracnose resistant. Fruitlovers.com lists Fairchild as an available scion on their website.     

Alternatively, I bet there's a thread somewhere on this forum that compiles a list of mango varieties people have found to be anthracnose-resistant. The potential issue here will be scion availability in Hawaii. Not sure how limited the pool is, considering how difficult it is to ship plant material there.

Hope this helps!

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Purple passion and lilikoi in half shade?
« on: December 02, 2019, 01:27:05 PM »
I don't think sun exposure should be a problem. Half-shade should be fine for a passion fruit vine in my (totally anecdotal) experience with the Fredericks variety. Both my vines are in dappled sun/part shade during most of the day, and produce good-sized crops twice a year. Also, vines in general are understory plants, and should be able to fruit in the shade. 

That said, I agree with Spaugh about the size/critical mass, the larger the vines the better. While I've seen plenty of potted vines (5 gal, trellised to 4-5 ft tall) in nurseries putting on fruit, they seem to lack in quantity and quality. After putting them in the ground, they seem to take a year to really start producing bumper crops.

I wonder if perhaps you don't have a lack-of-nutrient issue, but a too-much-nutrient issue. The more I neglect my passion fruits, the better they seem to do (I don't fertilize at all), and I know that too much nitrogen can cause some fruiting plants to hold off flowering and fruiting, and put on the spectacular growth you mentioned instead. You might try holding off the fertilizer entirely with a plant or two and seeing how it goes.


18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: New Nursery on Maui
« on: August 19, 2019, 02:28:12 AM »
I can vouch for the cultivars.  Much of the scion wood comes from verified bearing trees on my place.  Itʻs one guy trying to translate his lifelong passion and work with fruit trees island wide.

That's great to hear. Thanks for the info Steph!

I visited Frankie's this spring to check out the mangos, but there were only had a handful of varieties at the time. I'm looking for Cac, Rapoza and S.T. Maui to start, and now it looks like I can knock out at least 2 of them at Natureworks!

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: New Nursery on Maui
« on: August 13, 2019, 12:26:40 PM »
Thanks for the tip!

I've been looking for a lot of these local varieties, I hope they're the real deal. The spelling errors on stuff that really shouldn't be misspelled (White puree) and the sheer amount of varieties available make me a little concerned.

Hopefully they ship to Oahu.

20
Do you have the for sale ad for his house? I'm sitting at work in Goleta right now so not far to look. Indeed, development is raging onwards here. The tract housing installation north of Goleta is enormous.

Here you go: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/200-Ellwood-Ridge-Rd-Goleta-CA-93117/15915922_zpid/

21
I wonder if this grom is still fruit crazy?
How is old Norman?

I don't know if he's still around, but his place is for sale right now. It'll probably go to a developer, considering the asking price and the direction Goleta is headed  :(

22
Hi All,

I'm looking to purchase a box of Florida lychees online for shipping to the Midwest for the upcoming season. Interested in all varieties, especially SweetHeart.

Any recommendations on who to buy from? I'm waiting to hear back from lycheesonline.com and Local Harvest doesn't seem to have anything listed.

23
Elderberries raw gave me an unpleasand and mild case of stomach ache, but are perfectly ok as marmalade. Processed flowers are better. Elderberry flower's champagne is fine. Bottles can explode but as drink is fine.

The reason you react poorly to raw elderberries is probably because they are mildly poisonous, on account of the cyanide precursors the raw berries contain.

Cooking them takes care of the issue, which is why the marmalade is ok.

I would recommend that no one eat elderberries raw.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Bananas in 9B NorCal: Variety Inquiry
« on: December 13, 2018, 09:53:49 PM »
Yep, Gold Finger is FHIA-01. I'm growing it in coastal 9B/10A and it does very well. It seems to thrive on neglect, has delicious bananas and never needs supporting. I'm planning on adding dwarf namwah and dwarf brazilian next year.

Check out http://webebananas.com/culture.html. At the very bottom of that webpage is Joe Real's cold-hardy list for reference. California Gold is regarded as the most cold-hardy edible banana, so I believe the list is accurate.

I would also head over to www.bananas.org and search there. There's an entire sub-forum dedicated to cold-hardy bananas, both edible and ornamental.

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Where can I get a Tice Mulberry?
« on: December 07, 2018, 03:52:20 PM »
Jene's Tropicals seems to stock Tice in 7 gal, according to their in-store inventory. Might be worth a call.

Pages: [1] 2