The Tropical Fruit Forum

I have a Seedless Papaya tree.
The fruit is excellent quality.

I would really appreciate any suggestions on how I can propagate it, since it doesn’t have any seeds.

These are guavas from my favorite of three varieties that I have in my yard. I like to pick them when still hard so there are no worms inside. But, even when they ripen, the worm content is minimal, if any. This is the main reason why I love this guava tree. I don’t know if it’s an old variety or a new one. It’s very productive. And, as the years go by, the fruit size and production has increased. It’s as if it’s saying: Look, I’m immune to worms, I Am Spartacus! If it’s indeed a new guava variety, that’s what I would like to name it: ‘Spartacus.’

I originally got this tree as a ‘pup’ that was growing from the roots of my neighbors’ guava tree. He would always bring us guavas. His tree would produce an excessive amount of fruit. He had been living there for over 50 years. His wonderful sweet wife died a few years ago and his property was sold. The new owners tore everything down, including the fantastic guava tree! Now, all that is left from the original guava tree of my former neighbor is the guava ‘pup’ that he gave me, which has now grown and is thriving.

The color inside the guavas is pink! (Follow-up photo(s) to come, God Willing). The flavor is not too sweet, and it has a nice refreshing wake-up kick taste to it.

I feel very fortunate to have this variety. It kinda grows branches out like if it’s on steroids. It’s very productive. I neglect it completely but it thrives and just loves the environment that it’s in, which is exactly the same behavior of the original mother tree of my former neighbor, including my favorite characteristic: Great Worm Resistance.

I am - I mean my guava is - : Spartacus!

I'm considering getting a 'Morena' sapodilla tree.

Question: Do I have this right?

'Morena' sapodilla, when compared to 'Hasya' and 'Tikal' (I have both) is:

Much larger fruit than 'Tikal' and about as productive?

Slightly less-large (smaller) fruit than 'Hasya,' but much more productive?

If the above is true and quality of 'Morena' is good, then it's a must have, IMO.

P.S.   The saying that Sapodilla tastes like Brown-Sugar is a good descriptive approximation of the taste. However, having said that, this description does not do justice to the taste of an excellent quality, perfectly ripened sapodilla, IMO.

I would appreciate any recommendations/opinions on the Best: Early, Mid and Late Season Jackfruit Varieties.

I went to the Homestead, (South) Florida, Fruit & Spice Park Festival about 2 weeks ago and picked up some UF (University of Florida) printed info on recommended Jackfruit Varieties.

From this info I made the following selections to create this Jackfruit Variety List, with the purpose of having fruit during the whole Jackfruit Season:

Early: 'NS1;' Fruit Size & Weight (lbs.): Small to Medium, 9-12; Yield per tree (lbs.): Heavy, 200; Season and months: Early, May-June; Color: Dark Orange; Texture: Firm; Quality: Sweet; Comments: Excellent Texture;

Mid: 'Cheena;' Small, 5-10; Moderately heavy, 110-154; Mid, July-August; Deep Orange; Soft, melting, somewhat fibrous; Excellent, very aromatic; Flesh easily removed.

Late: 'Black Gold;' Medium, 22; Heavy, 120-200; Late, September-October; Deep Orange; Medium-firm to melting, soft; Good, sweet, aromatic; Flesh easily removed.


P.S.   Of this list above, I only have 'Black Gold,' it's in a pot, I'm waiting for it to get some size before planting it.

Sometimes it's really tedious to pick fruit that are high up on a fruit tree, like my large 'Pakistani' mulberry tree, using a ladder and frequently moving it gets to be very tedious.

The most convenient way to pick fruit from a fruit tree may be by using one of the new, real, flying hover-boards, although we might have to wait for safety to be at adequate levels and for the price to come down.

If I had one of these later generation, tested and safe flying hover-boards, I would certainly put it to good use by using it to easily and conveniently pick fruit off of my fruit trees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esUogzafUug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEDrMriKsFM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shytRkz65R4

http://www.arcaspace.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfa9HrieUyQ

Plethora of new, perfect fruit varieties, is coming, thanks to the recently discovered DNA easy editing technique: ‘CRISPR/CAS9.’

On my wish list:

‘Ox’ sapodilla currently has low fruit production of very large fruit. So, make it very productive using the CRISPR/CAS9 DNA editing technology.

‘Young’ mango is a perfect mango fruit, but with less than optimal sugar content. So, increase the sugar content to optimal.

‘Pakistani’ mulberry is the largest mulberry variety, but not large enough. So, double or triple the size!

‘Brewster’ lychee has excellent fruit quality, but produces fruit every 3-4 years. So, make it produce fruit every year.

Jackfruit is a giant awesome tasting fruit, but has that sticky sap that is a hassle to clean. So, remove the sap! And, while at it, remove the rag too.

Citrus is a legendary great fruit, but is susceptible to canker and greening. So, make it canker and greening proof!

Jaboticaba could use an increase in sugar content. So, increase the sugar content and make it the best tasting Jabo in the world!

And last but not least - 'Kampong' avocado fills the South Florida Avocado Void month of April, but only in alternating years. So, make sure it fills the S. FL Avocado Void consistently, year after year.

…

The Article is a bit 'scientifiqky' but it substantiates the above.

Article-1: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0734975014001931

The coming era is one where “editing DNA is as easy as editing a Microsoft Word document.” (*).

Edible/usable plants currently being improved (as mentioned in Article-1): Tomato, sweet-orange, rice, tobacco, soybean, maize (corn)…

Upcoming edible plants to be improved (...Article-1): wheat, barley…

“…It (CRISPR/CAS9) will allow the growing amount of genomic and systems biology data to be exploited more comprehensively, speeding up both gene discovery and trait development in many plant species…”

“…Given the large number of researchers working with CRISPR/Cas9 technology and the speed at which it has developed since the first reports of genome editing only 2 years ago, further advances in our understanding and control of the system are likely to come rapidly, potentially leading to the design of a new generation of genome editing tools…”


(*)   Article-2: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2015/09/08/why-theres-an-urgent-need-for-a-moratorium-on-gene-editing/

List of Productive Fruit Trees that Are a Must Have. These fruit tree varieties produce fruit in great quantities.

'Keitt' mango (difficult to think of an improvement, this variety is almost perfect).
'Arkin' carambola (same here)
Muscadine Grapes (I have two popular varieties for my area but I've lost the variety names; I wish the size were larger though)
'Pakistany/Tigertail' Mulberry  (although one of the largest sized varieties, a larger one would be very welcomed)
Banana: 'Goldfinger;' 'NamWa'

These are the five, most consistently productive, quality fruit trees in my home yard; surprisingly it's just five.

My Ross Sapote is about 3 years old, about 7' tall and is full of small and growing fruit.

This is an unexpected development. I was under the impression that this fruit tree was a slow grower and thus also slow to produce fruit. But, none of that, this tree has grown at a nice clip, and did I say the tree is full of small and growing fruit?

Looks like in this year I'll finally be tasting for the first time a Ross Sapote fruit. This Ross Sapote fruit has been repeatedly reported to taste better than a Canistel fruit. I have an 'Oro' canistel that was planted before the Ross Sapote but the 'Oro' hasn't produced any fruit yet. Both trees are about the same height, perhaps the 'Oro' will produce fruit next year.

I didn't get longan fruit this year from my 'Kohala' longan tree, very dissappointing. So, I've made up my mind, it's 'Diamond-River' longan to the rescue, I can't wait to get it.

After doing some research, I've learned that 'Diamond-River' produces fruit every year, on the clock, regardless of whether there was enough winter cold in the previous year or not. But, the longan fruit quality of the 'Diamond-River' is somewhat inferior to 'Sri-Chompoo' and 'Biew-Kiew.' My plan to get around some of this problem is to cull about 25% of the inferior fruitlings and let the rest develop to a large, enjoyable, tasty, size.

If I'm not mistaken, the 'Diamond-River' may also be susceptible to wind. I've already selected a spot on the yard where it'll get some wind protection yet have adequate sun. I sure hope, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed, that everything turns out well, and that the tree does not develop into an ugly/hellish looking situation. Perhaps with proper care and maintenance, 'this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship (Casablanca).'

Today I ate some of the flesh of a gigantic fruit from my Monstera-Deliciosa plant, for the first time ever. It tasted like Sour-Sop, but better, and with no seeds!

The width of the fruit at the base was the size of a large Sugar-Apple, and only decreasing in width about 3-4 inches before reaching the pointed tip of the fruit. The fruit was over one foot long.

I've never seen Monstera-Deliciosa fruit of this size before. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the fruit-tree fertilizer I gave it about 5 months ago. Consequently, this tells me that to get good fruit size, the plant likes/needs to be pushed. Now I'm thinking of propagating this plant to other locations in my yard. I need/want more of this fruit.

Is it possible? Does anyone know of a way to propagate seedless papaya?

I have/had a tree in my yard that produces seedless fruit. I have no idea if it can be propagated, help!

Growing seedlings is like the lottery. Although it's not guaranteed that you're going to win, you could, and someone always does.

There is also good money to be made in growing fruit seedlings, as I've learned from others who've grown avocado fruit seedlings.

'South Florida - Winter Avocado Void' (S.FL-WAV') Update:
Today I spoke with the person who Dr. Balerdi said was able to come up with a new avocado cultivar that produces mature/ripe fruit in the 'S.Florida - Winter Avocado Void' ('S.FL-WAV') months in South Florida (February, March, April, May).
This person (whom I'll call T.P. to respect his privacy) said to have sold the patent to another individual, and because it was a legal matter, couldn't go into details.
When I told T.P. that he probably planted hundred(s) or thousand(s) of seedlings, to accomplish this feat of filling the 'S.FL-WAV' with a cultivar that produced ripe/mature avocados during this time, surprisingly, T.P. replied "None of that," T.P. said that it was "just a luck of the draw." T.P said that he just grew a seedling avocado that produced ripe/mature fruit during the 'S.FL-WAV.'
Planting a seedling(s) is a valid means to develop a new avocado cultivar that 'fills-in' the 'S.FL-WAV.'
The only problem is, that when an individual solves/fills-in the 'S.FL-WAV,' by the 'Seedling Method,' he/she immediatly realizes that a lot of money can be made and patents the cultivar, effectively removing it from the general population.

I have 118 potted avocado fruit tree seedlings (I guess I'm a Capitalist  ), about half are Catalina, and the other half are Simmonds. Since I do not have the space to plant all of them, I guess the smart thing to do is to graft their budwood onto my producing/in-the-ground trees. I see the future, I see myself, I'm doing a lot of grafting. 

I suspect that growing other type of seedling fruit trees, such as mango, can be just as rewarding. In South Florida, USA, there are no mangos to be found during the months of most of December, but especially during January and February.

I used to think that it was silly to grow seedlling fruit trees, since they usually take longer to bear fruit. And the fruit quality, well, like Forrest Gump said, 'it's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.' But now I've made a 180 degree turn, I just love growing fruit tree seedlings. Even if I don't win the seedling fruit tree lottery, it's OK, I just love watching them grow. Some grow fast and tall, some die... it's exciting because/since they each have a different DNA, there is that potential for a great new fruit tree variety/cultivar.

I've been trying for some years now to find mango and avocado cultivars, so that I'll have ripe fruit of either/both species year round. And now, I think I've found a way.

The tricky months in my Zone 10b, when there are no mangos or avocados, are somewhat fuzzy to say for sure. Based on my observations, they are either January to April, or March to April. I guess the weather plays a lot into it.

Ok, here it is.

Mangos:

I've been eating Rosy-Gold mangos sine March 1, 2013. I'm trying to fnd out if I fertilize, say in November, whether I can start eating mangos next February, we'll see.

Avocados:

I went to the Fruit & Spice Park on March 1, 2013, to check out the different varieties of avocado trees.

Only the Lula avocado tree variety had any, and it was just about full of them. Considering, that the tree size looked to me like a medium sized young tree, of about 20 feet tall.
About half the avocado fruit exibited a 70% green color, with the remaining 30% of the fruit exibiting a somewhat brownish/callus coloration. I suspect this had to do with the cold temperatures of the winter season.
The other half of the avocado fruit was about 40% green and 60% brownish/callus coloration.

To the touch, all the fruit felt super hard. As if they had been somehow mummified by the cold temperatures and rendered unedible. Although, on the ground, under the tree, there was half of an avocado that had obviously just been split open. The flesh looked green, even colored, and for a split second I was tempted to taste it, but of course, no way.

I went again to the Park on March 23, to check on the Lula avocado tree. This time, it only had one avocado left on the tree.
There was a Park employee nearby and I was lucky enough that I was allowed to pick this last Lula avocado from the tree. It was very hard to the touch. I took it home to let it ripen and soften.
Yesterday, March 27, 2013, it was soft and I ate it, and also shared it. I couldn't believe I was eating an avocado that I picked from a tree, at this time of year.

Well, I would have preferred the seed to be a little smaller, in relation to the rest of the size of the fruit.
About the  thickness of the flesh, well, I would have preferred it to have been thicker, in relation to the rest of the size of the fruit.
The color, again, I would have preferred it to be greener.
The size, larger than a Hass avocado, I would say medium sized.
And, the taste, although I liked it, I think regular season avocado probably tastes somewhat better.

But I must say, taking into consideration that I was eating an avocado that was just picked off a tree, way out of season, believe me, I was a happy camper and any complaints were the furthest thing from my mind.

Well, there you have it. I've found an avocado cultivar, Lula, that crossess into the mango season, with the Rosy-Gold mango cultivar.
Therefore, the goal of 'Mango OR Avocado, 24/7' is then accomplished.

Nevertheless, I think there has to be a higher quality avocado cultivar that could replace the Lula variety in this effort.
Possibly an avocado cultivar from California. In California they really have avocados year round. I don't see why the same thing cannot be accomplished in South Florida, USA.