The Tropical Fruit Forum

Ok, the information is starting to dribble in and is subject to change.
The Counties are notoriously bad at getting the information out there until the last minute then the sale information sits on their sites until the last minute of the following year.

I am looking to put up a greenhouse in another state next year.  One of the things that I am looking is the ability to track temperature and humidity levels in a new greenhouse, have the data logged, set email/text alarms, and do it remotely.  I will have WiFi access at the greenhouse.
Does anyone have a recommendations for a system?  I guess I'd like to have some scalability for future upgrades, but this is not a requirement.

Well my red raspberry crop took a hit.  We've been real wet here as of late which isn't real good for any berry, but we got hit by a hard hard rain yesterday and went outside to pick for the day, all of the red raspberries are gone, even the pink almost ready berries.  the rain appears to have knocked them all off.  That was a good chunk of my crop too, there are some left that are going to be a few days before they are ready to go but, bummer.  The yellows are behind so don't think they will be affected, not as big of a fan of the yellows but they work.  The black raspberries seem to be gone as well, not that I had that many.
The blackberries and the blueberries don't seem to have been affected but it is still a little early for them.

In a previous thread I was talking about how my Navajo blackberries were failing, well the are dead now (bad location).  But I was just talking to a local U-Pick farm and they said that a good chunk of their farm is Navajo, so apparently they will grow here, maybe just not by me.  I need to try again, Navajo is supposed to be one of the best blackberries out there.  I had a wonderful blackberry patch up north, the thorns were brutal, but wow they were good, but maybe getting stabbed made the fruit taste sweeter, or maybe that was my blood.

Is there a bonafide turpentine rootstock, or is any seed used as rootstock classified as a turpentine?

I'd like to reduce my feathered friend fruit loss.
Does anyone have wren houses (wrens) for the purpose of keeping mockingbirds away?  Do they work?
I recently heard that wrens are highly territorial and they won't tolerate mockingbirds around the nest.  I was told that you need to get the nests up pretty soon in my neck of the woods, Spring I would assume.

So I have a mangosteen seedling.
It is about 6 inches tall, I think it is doing great (her little sister is a little disfunctional but is starting to come along).
Anyways, the most recent push at 6 inches tall has produced branches.  Two to be exact.

6 inches is a bit close the the ground to have a tree branch, now this tree will probably never place its feet in Mother Earth, so allowing it to branch may not be a terrible thing.  Since it is a mangosteen, I will keep repotting to taller and taller pots.

Normally I have no problem pruning trees, I'm still a little frightened of topping mangos, but I do it.

Funny how you have a prized tree and the rationale goes out the window.

I'm clearly too close to this plant, can anyone offer outside thought on this.
Do I murder the branches or let them live?

Forgot to take my camera, it was a single aisle that ran the entire length of a football stadium (175 yards?).  Must have been 2000+ people.

I got all nine that I wanted.  You buy first, then find space afterwards right?
Sorry for picture quality, after the repots.
Down front, two Mysore Raspberries.
Left to Right, Tropic Snow Peach,  Dana White Macadamia (didn't learn the first time), Blanc Du Bois and Spanish Black grapes, Grafted five variety Plum, and two Abundance Blueberries.

Is anyone aware of a listing of the biological classification of fruit trees (along with the common name)?
Everyone talks terms of genus-species but I think it would be interesting to see the family, order, and class of the fruit world.

I think it would interesting to see how mangosteen relates to pineapple for example.  How far up the tree do you need to go to find relation.

I would like it with the common names if possible, my eyes can start to roll in the back of my head with Latin overload.

I planted a poly Manila seed, two popped up.

What is the best size to split them apart and repot?

I've done some fairly extensive research trying to find grafted varieties of chermoya that I can get shipped to me.  Not to be found.
Occassionally they will show up on Ebay, crazy overpriced.

Anyone know of any retailers that will ship grafted plants?

I have preference for Booth, Pierce or El Bumpo, but will consider...