Author Topic: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012  (Read 9636 times)

stressbaby

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Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« on: April 29, 2012, 02:32:20 PM »
It is rainy and cold and too nasty to do anything outside today so I thought I would make my first post with pics to the forum. 

View from the door.  Center is Staghorn fern and Variegated Shell Ginger.  Clockwise from upper left, papaya 'TR Hovey,' Lychee 'Sweetheart,' banana 'Dw. Namwah,' Coffea arabica, one of my citrus, Annona squamosa, and just a couple of branches of jaboticaba:



I had my dragonfruit in ~25gal pot to which I added a support structure.  It rotted.  I rooted cuttings, sunk this 6x6 in the ground, and moved them there:



Cogshall mango:





My larger jaboticaba.  Six fruits at the moment, including one on the main trunk virtually at soil level:







Garcinia medrona, 1.5 yrs old, from PR seed.  The one on the left got so top heavy I had to stake it:



Garcinia laterifolia, 1.5 yrs old, from PR seed.  Interesting difference in height.  They are in exactly the same mix and on the same fert schedule.  Th one on the left has been dwarfed virtually since the beginning:



Abui, 1.5 yrs old, from PR seed.  I've topped it:



Sapodilla 'Silas Woods' which I just got a couple of weeks ago:



Rollinias, each 1.5 yrs old from PR seed.  All of them have been topped/pruned in an effort to achieve some sort of decent structure:





Cherimoya from seed; both of my cherimoyas have flowered, but no fruit set:



Sapodilla from PR labelled as 'Nipser Mexicano 7' which is very slow growing but now has some blooms:



Pitomba.  I like this plant in spite of the fact that it is very slow growing and sparse; the bark is crepe myrtle-ish; finally this year some blooms and maybe fruit set:





Pitanga:



This is a Purple Grumichama over 6' tall but it has never bloomed:



Carambola 'Kari,' can you count the fruit?



Lychee 'Brewster' which had great bloom and zero fruit set despite meticulous hand pollination with a brush.  I wonder if our freaky temps could have anything to do with it:



Sugar apples blooming:



This is the jab from Bryan in PR:



Lychee 'Sweetheart' which did not bloom this year.  I'm thinking that both lychees need to go back into pots to better regulate the temps (get chill requirements met sooner):



Strawberry guavas:



Another new plant, Loquat 'Premier'



Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2012, 02:51:04 PM »
Hi Stressbaby,

Your Greenhouse and Trees look super awesome! ;)

Thanks for sharing!!!!

Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

puglvr1

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2012, 03:01:11 PM »
Wow...Great plants Stressbaby!! I can't believe how many strawberry guavas you have on that one branch. Nice Cogshall. I really like them...My one lychee tree didn't bloom this year either even although its still kind of small ...definitely weather related here as well.

Thanks for posting!

Jacob13

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2012, 03:09:58 PM »
Hey Stress,

Utterly Ridiculous.....and in Missouri of all places.  Your plants looks Great, and you've got a wonderful collection.  You truly have a gift for growing.  Thanks for sharing the great pics.

 - Jacob

CoPlantNut

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2012, 04:03:22 PM »
Great looking plants...  Is the 'Kari' carambola the only one you have?  In other words, is it self-compatible for pollination?

   Kevin

fruitlovers

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2012, 05:18:37 PM »
Never ceases to amaze me that Stressbaby, CoPlantNut, OhioJay and others in what i consider super cold/hostile climates can pull this off with tropical fruit trees. It's a real inspiration. Congratulations to all of you, and thanks stressbaby for posting your photos. Good luck with all.
Oscar

lycheeluva

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2012, 05:36:01 PM »
Never ceases to amaze me that Stressbaby, CoPlantNut, OhioJay and others in what i consider super cold/hostile climates can pull this off with tropical fruit trees. It's a real inspiration. Congratulations to all of you, and thanks stressbaby for posting your photos. Good luck with all.

Oscar.... should I feel snubbed?

Robert- long live the cold weather in MS- if it leads to you finally posting some pics. Insane collections. how do you move in there. it looks as though your plants have zero space between them? love the carembola pic- the fruit are so pretty in green. are they any good? and thats a monster growth spurt on your sweetheart. shame about the brewster. maybe try my patented tweezer method next year and see if that works for you.
your jab is about 3 times the size of mine which I picked up from Bryan as well at the same time as you. awesome pics. thanks for posting.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2012, 11:53:06 PM by lycheeluva »

TropicalFruitHunters

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2012, 05:39:37 PM »
Wonderful dude!  I wish my Bell carambola would fruit like that.  Everything looking good.  Makes me feel reeeeeeeeeaaaallllly good to see your greenhouse as packed as mine!  Thanks for the pics.

amrkhalido

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2012, 08:01:06 PM »
Amazing looking trees and fruit ,, its more healthy and precious than the trees originally planted in their environment. you must have been taking extra care to them. Keep it up

Amr

stressbaby

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2012, 09:05:39 PM »
Thanks for the compliments everyone.

Gerry, I intend to try your tweezer technique next time.  It is just really frustrating to spend all of that time standing over the tree and get NADA.   >:(

The Carambola 'Kari' is self fertile.  That is the only starfruit in the greenhouse.  It is my intention to make carambola wine this year.  I have two carboys of guava wine fertmenting right now.   8)

A couple of questions...

Should I prune the smaller jaboticaba (Adam or Gerry)?

Also, does anyone have a theory on the size discrepancy between the two Garcinia laterifolia?

Finally, any thoughts on how to handle the Rollinias?

MarinFla

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2012, 11:05:05 PM »
Congrats on such great success with your greenhouse. You are doing an amazing job for any zone let alone zone 6a!
Thanks for sharing your pics and your wisdom

fruitlovers

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2012, 01:31:21 AM »
Thanks for the compliments everyone.

Gerry, I intend to try your tweezer technique next time.  It is just really frustrating to spend all of that time standing over the tree and get NADA.   >:(

The Carambola 'Kari' is self fertile.  That is the only starfruit in the greenhouse.  It is my intention to make carambola wine this year.  I have two carboys of guava wine fertmenting right now.   8)

A couple of questions...

Should I prune the smaller jaboticaba (Adam or Gerry)?

Also, does anyone have a theory on the size discrepancy between the two Garcinia laterifolia?

Finally, any thoughts on how to handle the Rollinias?

My theory is that the little achachairu is a runt. When you have the luxury of a lot of seeds runts get thrown away. In 100 seedlings usually there are 2-5 runts. For Rollinia delciosa plants i suggest foliar feeding regularly and also micro sprinkler or mister to keep plants at high humidity at all times.
Oscar

stressbaby

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2012, 07:42:14 AM »
My theory is that the little achachairu is a runt. When you have the luxury of a lot of seeds runts get thrown away. In 100 seedlings usually there are 2-5 runts. For Rollinia delciosa plants i suggest foliar feeding regularly and also micro sprinkler or mister to keep plants at high humidity at all times.

Thanks Oscar.  I've grown fond of this little achachairu runt...he's spunky...I think I'll keep him.
Is extra humidity particularly critical for the Rollinias?  I run misters during the summer for cooling, but I don't generally run them in cooler months due to risk of disease.

nullzero

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2012, 12:07:10 PM »
stressbaby,

Amazing greenhouse and setup you have there. It looks like a tropical rain forest inside ,everything is thriving keep up the excellent work!
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

NewGen

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #14 on: April 30, 2012, 12:28:56 PM »
What an amazing setup. How large is it? Which of your trees are inground, and what's the soil temperature in the greenhouse in the winter? Hope you'll get lots more fruits. We don't need no stinkin' pollinating insects!

Tomas

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #15 on: April 30, 2012, 12:46:06 PM »
Very cool stressbaby! You are doing a great job growing all those in a greenhouse. How do you deal with pests in the greenhouse?

Tomas

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #16 on: April 30, 2012, 01:50:33 PM »
Nice greenhouse and fruit trees!  :)
Alexi

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #17 on: April 30, 2012, 02:22:37 PM »
If I lived in Missouri and saw your plants under glass my jaw would drop. Great job you've done. You must have a fail proof heating arrangement.

lkailburn

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #18 on: April 30, 2012, 04:46:31 PM »
Amazing! absolutely beautiful plants.
Did you pick up that sillas woods from logees? They recently had that one on sale :-)
And Kevin beat me to the questions about the carambola if it was the only one in the greenhouse. What size are you keeping that tree at? How would you rate the fruit? i've heard Kari to be an excellent variety.
Last question how old are those cherimoya seedlings that flowered for you?

You should post up more details about your greenhouse, the struture itself and how you keep it heated/maintened etc. I'm sure we'd all love to hear.

Congrats on having such a greenthumb.

-Luke

stressbaby

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #19 on: April 30, 2012, 08:03:40 PM »
Luke - you nailed it, I'm impressed.  Actually, I don't normally order from Logee's, but I got a gift certificate for Christmas.  The loquat is also from Logee's, and I was pretty impressed, actually, with the loquat.
Kari is excellent.  As I might have said, I intend to make wine this year from them.
The cherimoyas are about 4 years old.
I will post a GH thread separately.   :D

Tomas, pests can definitely be a problem, but interestingly, as time goes on, much less so.  For the first couple of years, pests were a constant battle.  I have gradually reduced or eliminated mealybugs, thrips, and whiteflies through a combination of plant selection and careful sprays.  I still have flares of soft scale on a few plants which I control with about 1 application/yr of horticultural oil, 3-4 applications of neem, and a fall applicatioin of systemics on the ornamentals which come in from outside.  One key, interestingly, is getting plants OUT of the greenhouse iin the summer...the whole concept of thigmomorphogenesis-related disease resistance really has worked for me, at least.

NewGen, the GH is 24 x 20.  Most of the plants you see are in containers, but the lychees, grumichama, bananas, one rollinia, and guava are in raised beds.  I will post a GH thread later and invite others to post as well.


fruitlovers

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #20 on: April 30, 2012, 11:29:22 PM »
My theory is that the little achachairu is a runt. When you have the luxury of a lot of seeds runts get thrown away. In 100 seedlings usually there are 2-5 runts. For Rollinia delciosa plants i suggest foliar feeding regularly and also micro sprinkler or mister to keep plants at high humidity at all times.

Thanks Oscar.  I've grown fond of this little achachairu runt...he's spunky...I think I'll keep him.
Is extra humidity particularly critical for the Rollinias?  I run misters during the summer for cooling, but I don't generally run them in cooler months due to risk of disease.

Yes the rollinias do like a lot of humidity. You could do it very simply, as i suggested to the cacao grower on another thread: one mister on a pole over the plant rigged to a timer to go on a couple minutes per hour. Yeah, i usually end up keeping the runts myself, too soft-hearted to throw them away usually. They will fruit, just will take longer. Sometimes also runts i notice are more bug and disease prone than the vigorous ones.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2012, 12:12:01 AM by fruitlovers »
Oscar

lkailburn

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #21 on: April 30, 2012, 11:49:09 PM »
Luke - you nailed it, I'm impressed.  Actually, I don't normally order from Logee's, but I got a gift certificate for Christmas.  The loquat is also from Logee's, and I was pretty impressed, actually, with the loquat.
Kari is excellent.  As I might have said, I intend to make wine this year from them.
The cherimoyas are about 4 years old.
I will post a GH thread separately.   :D

Tomas, pests can definitely be a problem, but interestingly, as time goes on, much less so.  For the first couple of years, pests were a constant battle.  I have gradually reduced or eliminated mealybugs, thrips, and whiteflies through a combination of plant selection and careful sprays.  I still have flares of soft scale on a few plants which I control with about 1 application/yr of horticultural oil, 3-4 applications of neem, and a fall applicatioin of systemics on the ornamentals which come in from outside.  One key, interestingly, is getting plants OUT of the greenhouse iin the summer...the whole concept of thigmomorphogenesis-related disease resistance really has worked for me, at least.

NewGen, the GH is 24 x 20.  Most of the plants you see are in containers, but the lychees, grumichama, bananas, one rollinia, and guava are in raised beds.  I will post a GH thread later and invite others to post as well.

Kevin and I just split an order from Logee's and he got one of the sillas woods so that's how i knew it was on sale  :P All our stuff came in looking great!

About how large do you maintain that Kari?

Thanks,
-Luke

stressbaby

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #22 on: May 01, 2012, 07:26:23 AM »
Luke, the Kari is in a 2' raised bed and is about 5' tall.  It can't get much taller without hitting the roof of the GH.
Logee's gets a bad rap for being overpriced, but I have to say I was impressed with the plant material I got from them recently.

Tim

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #23 on: May 01, 2012, 11:04:07 AM »
wow ... that's an absolute jungle, I love it.  Amazing what you, Jay & Gerry are able to do up north.  Keep them thumbs green  ;D
Tim

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Re: Stressbaby's Greenhouse 4/2012
« Reply #24 on: May 02, 2012, 03:48:13 AM »
Great job Stress,
your abiu is looking incredible!  Is your achachairu runt single trunked?  With mine I get single and multitrunked trees (2-4'trunks').  The multitrunked are much shorter but they seem better suited for potted culture too.  Many people will "Pug" their trees to achieve a low branching structure, you can't get much lower than the soil. :)  Wow that grumichama is a monster and no fruits?! 

-Ethan