Few pics of my back yard

[xshen]

My backyard is no where near as nice or organized as most of the members here but I just wanted to share a few photos of my back yard in So Cal by the foothills.

This one of the two grafted cherimoya trees from temple nursery.  The cultivar is unknown.


A couple of fruit set




Here are two African pride fruit hanging from a graft done earlier this spring.


Here is a variegated cherimoya in a 1 gal pot.  Not sure if the variegation is stable or what caused it.



Some tomato vines.  There were some sun sugar cherries, tangerines, black krim, zebras, and a few others. They were all indeterminate and became invasive.  I already pulled them all out.



Anyone else growing kakai pumpkins?  I am mainly growing them for the seeds without the hull.


Here is a Brewster lychee.  It's been in the ground for 3 years and no fruit so far.  It did bloom for the first time this year but no fruit set.


This carambola has also been in the ground for three years.  It bloomed throughout most of the year for the last three years but the flowers just dries and falls onto the ground without fruit set.  Maybe my soil is too alkaline?  This is the first fruit in 3 years and its not perfectly formed.



Here is a franken-loquat on two rootstocks with big jim and champagne grafted.  Big jim is on the top on a cleft graft.  Champagne is on a wedge graft below big jim.




Some lychee airlayers from my friend's tree.  I started the airlayer earlier this March but they were not removed from the mother plant until this July.  It's flushed out nicely.  Anyone know what kind of lychee this is?  The fruit is quite large with a large pit.  One fruit out of a hand full will have a chicken tongue seed.  Another Brewster or is it a Mauritious? I did 3 airlayers and the tallest is about 5 feet tall.




Thanks for looking.

[thao]

Nice list, but is it just me, or you forgot something, I can't see any pictures.

[xshen]

I added the links but they're not showing up.  How do I fix this?

[Sanddollarmoon]

I added the links but they're not showing up.  How do I fix this?

You added the “direct link”? Or just a link?

[xshen]

I used the insert image button and added the link.

I think I got it.  I'll fix the rest.

[Ethan]

Great looking place Xshen, I like how close everything is planted, you are using every bit of your space.  The annonas look great, congrats!

[thao]

Now, I can see them, nice annona trees. They look very nice and healthy. Wished for my small grafted Selma cherimoya and lindstorm atemoya from Ethan, to be that size in 5 or so years from now.

[Hollywood]

Great collection!

[Zambezi]

Beautiful plants xshen... Love that varigated Cherimoya... 

[Illia]

Very beautiful!! I wish to someday see some Atemoyas in my greenhouse

I grow Kakai pumpkins. Unlike some other hull-less varieties, or claimed so, the Kakais are consistently so. In my greenhouse where it's hot and humid they produce few fruit then die off though. Not sure if it's the heat and humidity or another issue. I had three or four plants, which by the way are bushes not vines and I'm a vine person, and out of those plants I only got four mature pumpkins. They're very attractive when mature though and the seeds taste good.

[simon_grow]

Hey xshen, that's an awesome yard and super healthy looking plants. Your Brewster has healthy looking leaves, I wish my Lychee plants leaves looked like that. How often do you water and what do you fertilize with? It would help with the Lychee ID if you had a picture. Was the fruit more sweet or was it slightly sour? Also, what color was the ripe fruit?
Simon

[PltdWorld]

Nice fruit set on the cherimoya... and you give me hope with the carambola!  That's a nice collection you have.

[xshen]

Thanks Ethan, Hollywood, Greenthumb, and Plntworld.   

Thao, your cherimoya and atemoya trees will grow in no time.  When I first bought the two cherimoyas, they were only about 4-5 feet tall.  They shot up ~12 feet in 3 years.  This year is the first year I started to prune them back because I wanted a privacy screen.

Illia, I didn't get a very good yield either from the Kakai pumpkins.  Only about 3-4 pumpkins per plant.  I didn't pick them until the pumpkins are dead ripe where the seeds are nice and fat. Clean the seeds and let them dry in the sun for 2 days and it'll pure deliciousness.  I make soup with some of the meat and the rest are fed to my tortoises who also help me keep the weed under a bit more of a manageable level. 

Simon, I gave all my trees some steer manure and home made compost (which is mostly kitchen scraps, liquid amber leaves, and tortoise poop) earlier this spring.  All the trees are watered every other day.  I started mulching a lot of the trees this year with tree trimmings and grass clipping and I think this helped a lot with moisture retention with the recent heat waves we've been having.  The Brewster you're talking about looks good but about 7 feet away from this Brewster is another Brewster that died this year.  You can see it in front of the compost bin.Not sure what happened to this tree since it never grew an inch and both lychee were bought at the same around the same size.   I started applying comfrey tea this month.  Let's see how the trees will respond.

[digigarden]

plants are looking really good

[KarenRei]

Tasty looking cherimoyas.    Also, I see you didn't mention your dragons, look like they're getting ready to take off. 

[xshen]

Thanks Digigarden and Karen.  We actually harvested a few dragon fruit this year.  The fruit were not big but they were very sweet and flavorful.

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Very nice!  I think everything looks really good and healthy...even your carambola.  I don't believe it is your PH.  It's obviously starting to produce so maybe it just needed some patience.  Good job on everything.

[Tim]

Nice looking collection, Xshen.  I like that variegated cherimoya, you've got to start propagating it.

That unknown cherimoya of yours looks like a WHITE to me?

[LEOOEL]

xshen, I loved the pictures of you dragonfruit. It looks like you've done a good gob growing them. Do you know what is the variety name? And, how long did it take from planting to fruit? Mine are over one year old, I guess it's not enough time for them to produce fruit. Good pictures and your plants look happy, thanks for posting.

[ScottR]

Xshen, thanks for posting pic's of your yard you have great looking plants. Beautiful annona's and dragon fruit. Great job you can't even see the dirt! Lot's of plants all look great!

[Rtreid]

Xshen,

Thanks for posting your pics, your plants all look beautiful!

richard

[xshen]

Here's a couple of atemoya grafts.  The seedlings are about 2-3 months old before grafting and these were grafted about 3-4 months ago.  The scion wood was the green terminal growth with the soft/flexible tip cut off. I kept about 2-3 leaves that were trimmed in half.  In an attempt to force the scion to push the new growth at the top of the scion (instead of having it branch out on every node), the leaf on the top of the scionwood was cut off at the petiole.   The grafted plants were left inside a fully enclosed fish tank covered by a 50% shade cloth.






Some jaboticaba graft I did about 2 months ago.  The scion wood is less than ~2mm thick.


Some have buds are starting to push through the parafilm.




Some black sugarcane from a very generous forum member.  Can't wait to try these.  When can they be harvested?  They're nice and thick. 


Turnbull guava from the papaya tree nursery I bought when they were at the Fullerton green scene earlier this year.  The fruit on this tree is huge but the tip of the fruit will crack and develop mold if left to fully ripen yellow on the tree.  The fruit is very sweet with a very nice aroma that isn't too overwhelming.  Some fruit have as little as ~20 seeds while some have a moderate amount of seeds.


Pear shaped fruit from the same tree.


I am a huge guava fanatic and always on the look out for superior cultivars of guavas.  I haven't been very successful with grafting guavas but I am more than happy to buy some seeds from anyone who have a cv. worth talking about.


Here is an approach graft I did few days ago.  Sweetheart lychee onto an unknown lychee airlayer.


What's wrong with this inga bean? Is it sunburn or malnutrition?  It's under a 50% shade cloth.  It gets diluted fish emulsion once in a while.

[xshen]

Here are a couple of pictures taken recently.  I bought 17 yards of mulch and covered all the planters in the front yard and the entire back yard.  The mulch really keeps the soil moist.  The drip irrigation did not kick in for an entire month when the solenoid went out.  Everything looked fine during the recent So Cal heat wave.  Spreading the mulch throughout the property was a 2 day job for two guy.



There are more than half a dozen of guavas planted in this planter.  I am looking to create a hedge effect when the trees mature.  I've been topping them off to encourage them to branch out.




I got a feijoa in the mix also.  I am not sure what variety this is.  Probably a nametz.


Here's another planter with two chompoo longans planted about 10-12 feet apart.


Room for more trees!!  This is a ~5x22 ft planter waiting for some grafted jabos mature a bit more before putting them in the ground.


A newly planted bhiew kiew


Backyard is now completely covered in mulch with new drip lines

[xshen]

Two kahala longans with decent crops this year.  The guava in this photo is also quite productive.  No dragon fruit flowers yet though.  These are the white variety.


A couple of turnbull guavas grafted on a seedling tree that produces inedible fruits.  I am looking to change the entire canopy.


All the branches grafted this March are already flowering


Cleft and saddle graft works great!  More than 90% takes.  I am not sure if it's the right timing or the bark/cambium of the turnbull variety is a bit thicker than the typical guava.




A little grafting experiment with jaboticaba sabara on a seedling guava


I have a fetish for guavas.  Here are some more taiwan seedless and the 7 inch guava grafted last year.




2 in 1 guava!!


Taiwan pearl guava

[xshen]

Our crop of cherries from March/April.  We ate a lot of them prematurely because the birds were getting to them faster than we could.
+

[nullzero]

Nice job with the backyard mulching. Should help with the water conservation and health of the trees.

[Dexter_FTG]

I know this thread is originally from a while ago, but XSHEN your setup looks great. Can you post some updated pics to show how everything is doing?

[socal10b]

good job xshen you are taking good care of your babies, you will be rewarded big time.

[Fruittree2013]

Hi xshen,where is your sp guava!.

[JF]

Great job Max! The mulch will help a lot in our hot dry climate.

[xshen]

Thanks.  I want to get rid of my front lawn and mulch the entire front yard too but I am not sure if the city allows that.

Mike, here is the "special" guava.  Its very sweet and super crisp.  Also completely seedless with a hollow pit.  There were some allegations that the seedless variety are shy bearers but this seedless guava appears to be a prolific bearer.  There were more than a few fruit set for a small bushy tree.

[MangCau]

May I ask where can I get that special seedless guava?

[xshen]

I got it from a lady in Garden Grove.  Her name is Mai.  Mike/Fruittree2013 has her contact info if you are serious about it.  It's an expensive tree though.

[MangCau]

Thanks Xshen. I'm very interested in getting one. Will pm Mike. Btw How's your indonesian seedless from Ong?

[MangoFang]

...what kind of cherries xshen?

Gary

[pigeonracer]

What a downright spectacular yard!!

[xshen]

Thanks.  The Indonesian guava I got from Ongs died last year when I tried to transplant it into a pot.  I was careless.

The cherry tree was originally a black tartarian - I bought this when I knew nothing about fruit trees.  It was in the ground for 3 years and never produced.  I later learned they need chill hours.  It's now grafted with minnie royal and royal lee.  They were grafted last year and they produced a few pounds of fruit this year.

[thao]

Everything looks so nice and healthy. That's great to see and hear that the sugar cane is growing well for you. As for readiness, I would wait till this coming
October-December time frame. That is the usually time we harvest ours at the farm. Plant new cuttings in the spring and harvest by Fall-winter season. They should have grown taller by then too.

[xshen]

The one of the two sabara jabo grafted on guava is pushing after a month!  Would the combination of these two really be compatible in the long run?  I've grafted wampee on grapefruit about two years ago and the growth was stunted after a year.  This is probably due to incompatibility.

Anyone else tried intergenetic grafting?