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Messages - simon_grow

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5451
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Multi species plant fusion
« on: January 06, 2015, 08:32:54 AM »
This is a little different but Agrobacterium can be used to transfer genes into plants. This can be used for improving plants.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15703747/http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v433/n7026/abs/nature03309.html
http://www.cambia.org/daisy/cambia/393/version/default/part/AttachmentData/data/%282005%29%20Gene%20transfer%20to%20plants%20by%20diverse%20species%20of%20bacteria%20-%20Nature%20.pdf

Simon

5452
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cured Parfianka Pomegranates
« on: January 05, 2015, 11:35:49 PM »
I've never tried grafting Poms but have decent success with mango and great results with cherimoya and stone fruit. As long as it's possible, I'll give it a try. Multigraft trees are great if you are short on space but you have to be careful with pruning as some grafts can be very vigorous and others may be weak and die off.

Simon

5453
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cured Parfianka Pomegranates
« on: January 05, 2015, 09:02:29 PM »
Thanks for the information Fang. It would be great if you can grab a cutting next time you are in town. My Poms are just starting to drop their leaves now. I think Poms may be native to Persia/Iran so if the lady you got it from like it, Im hoping will as well. I'm out of space but love the thought of the heart healthy benefits of Pom juice do I'm going to try multigrafting my trees.

Simon

5454
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cured Parfianka Pomegranates
« on: January 04, 2015, 06:34:37 PM »
Hey Fang,

Thanks for the heads up on Desertnyi! That was the next variety I was looking for but alas, I have run out of space. I suppose I can always grow one in a pot. Does it really have an orange like flavor? Please let me know if you have any scion wood available, I would love to try and graft it onto my other varieties.

Simon

5455
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Cured Parfianka Pomegranates
« on: January 03, 2015, 10:54:44 PM »
Hello everyone, I harvested some large Parfianka Pomegranates around July-August and threw some of the smaller fruit in the fridge until now. I did this last year as well and noticed that the pomegranates that were left to mellow out and dry up a little over the course of several months actually tastes sweeter with less acidity. I did not have a Refractometer in the Summer so I have no "pre-cured" Brix readings but the Brix reading for my Parfiankas post curing is 19.5%. 

The rind of the fruit looks absolutely horrible after many months in the fridge, I didn't think to take any pics of the rind although you can see a bit of the rind in the first picture.  The rind also turns really hard and somewhat leathery. I'm very surprised at the ability for this fruit to store so well for such a long time. Of the 4 Parfianka and 1 Freishman that I just opened up, none of them were rotting, the arils were all in excellent condition.

I do not have a complicated palate but I am a bit of a fruit snob and I must say that the cured Pomegranates were absolutely fantastic! I like Pom Wonderful but I would like it more if it had a little less wine/astringent taste and I aslo wish it were a bit sweeter. Well, this cured Parfianka has all these great attributes of sweetness, complexity, acid balance and soft seeds. The United-cured Parfiankas are excellent but from my memory, since I can't do a side by side, I prefer the cured or aged Parfianka.

The Fleishman, cured had a Brix of 18% but it tasted at least twice as sweet as the Parfianka because Fleishman lacks acidity to balance out the sugar. The ideal mixture of arils is 3/4 Parfianka and 1/4 Fleishman. Angel Red is another favorite of mine. The dark red fruit is Parfianka and the pink fruit is Fleishman.

Simon






5456
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Brace for Frost!
« on: January 02, 2015, 08:47:25 PM »
Even with the frost, the tender new growth on my mangos and Lychee appear fine. Some volunteer watermelon vines died back slightly, obviously damaged by the frost but the vines are still alive. All my mango seedlings left outside still look fine. I'm starting to believe that if your mango trees are healthy, they can easily take some light frost of a couple hours. I had a couple hours of frost last year also and my trees did fine.

Simon

5457
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Brace for Frost!
« on: January 02, 2015, 04:34:10 PM »
I got a littlefrost yesterday morning but the temp was supposedly only 34F? The frost was only low to the ground and not on the rooftops. I also did not see any frost on any of the leaves of my trees. My friends outdoor potted soursop survived fine without any protection but it was next to the house. Here's a pic of the frost I had.

Simon

5458
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Jabo or Longan?
« on: January 02, 2015, 04:13:06 PM »
That's a trick question and you already know the answer, you just want us to confirm, lol! If you only have room for three trees, of course you're going to plant all four! You know you're going to do it anyways, just plant a little closer. Happy new year!

Simon

5459
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sunrise papaya took the upper 30's like a champ
« on: January 02, 2015, 04:08:20 PM »
I've had great luck with papaya taking light frost. Just make sure not to over water papayas in winter. Please let us know how they taste! Congrats on a beautiful tree and happy new year!

Simon

5460
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Awesome Yellow Dragonfruit hybrids
« on: December 30, 2014, 11:54:28 PM »
I had some much smaller Frankies Red that looks just like the picture posted above with the Yellows mixed in. Once the fruit is ripe, the thorns are easily brushed off, mine don't fall off by themselves. This can be a great benefit for deterring animals.
Simon

5461
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Awesome Yellow Dragonfruit hybrids
« on: December 30, 2014, 06:21:16 PM »
I believe Frankies Red is a cross between S Megalanthus and a red fleshed variety. My Frankies Red never reached 21% Brix. I believe mine averaged around 19% Brix.

Simon

5462
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Awesome Yellow Dragonfruit hybrids
« on: December 30, 2014, 01:35:15 PM »
Hello La Jolla, yes the Frankies red is orangish red. Both the Frankies Red and Yellow Dragon took about 2-3 years to fruit from a cutting. You can probably get them to fruit in about 1.5 years if you water and fertilize properly. I neglected my plants.

Simon

5463
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Wanted: Lychee seeds
« on: December 29, 2014, 05:06:17 PM »
Richard, try seafood city or some ifthe other Asian markets. I've seen bagged frozen lychees at seafood city in Mira Mesa but that was several months ago. Are you trying to avoid chemicals for callus and root formation?

5464
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Eating Dragonfruit pollen???
« on: December 29, 2014, 01:37:54 PM »
I make a type of soup with the flowers and there is a bit of pollen in there. I never thought about just eating the pollen. Thanks for pointing it out!

Simon

5465
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: lychee chlorosis?
« on: December 27, 2014, 06:35:04 PM »
Looks like sunburn to me.

Simon

5466
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Success planting an Avocado after 8 years of failures and 5 dead trees!
« on: December 22, 2014, 05:52:07 PM »
Avocado seeds loose viability within about a month. It should really be planted or put in wAter within a few days for best results. https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/avocado_ars.html
Simon

5467
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Southern CA has actually got some good Mangoes in the Market..The Planets aligne
« on: December 22, 2014, 01:24:34 PM »
Thanks for the report! I've seen NDM being sold occasionally in the markets here in SoCal. The fruit shop in Convoy get them occasionally and Whole Foods in La Jolla also gets them on occasion. Did you get any that were starting to turn brown inside?

Simon

5468
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Ashoks SoCal Cherimoya tasting cancelled
« on: December 20, 2014, 12:52:20 PM »
Hello everyone,

I just wanted to inform all those that were invited to Ashoks January Cherimoya tasting that the event has been cancelled due to unusual weather causing early fruit drop and improper ripening in some varieties. Please pass the word along as some that were invited do not frequent this forum. I was really looking forward to the event but the fruit would not have been representative for some of the varieties. I will post any additional information I'm made aware on this post. Thanks for your understanding and I wish everyone a safe and happy holidays.

Simon

5469
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sugar Cane Juicer
« on: December 18, 2014, 11:06:01 AM »
LEOOEL, the video is the GPF1, that is the older model that I have. There is a little rust I had to clean off but it's definitely industrial strength and will last a long time. If you had the extra cash, I would get the GPF2 which is slightly better designed. Also, if you read the earlier posts, you can get these juicers for cheaper from overseas but you risk getting damaged equipment and false representations with pictures of wrong machines. I'm pretty sure the machines from GPF are ordered from overseas but at least their machines are already in the states and they have a one year guarantee. I am definitely very happy with my purchase.

Simon

5470
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: LaVerne's Vietnamese Cherimoya Info
« on: December 18, 2014, 10:56:19 AM »
Is that the super sized cherimoya from Peru? I would love scion if anyone gets ahold of any. I have a friend from Peru and I asked him to keep an eye out for any giant cherimoya when he goes back to visit. I wonder about the quality.

Simon

5471
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Picture of large yellow S. Megalanthus
« on: December 18, 2014, 02:29:58 AM »
You could be right ricshaw. Some of the fruit look large but some look normal sized.  I do know for sure, however that there is a large fruited selection.

Simon

5472
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Awesome Yellow Dragonfruit hybrids
« on: December 17, 2014, 08:43:47 PM »
LEOOEL, the large fruited yellows were extremely sweet, like Agave nectar. They were in fact a little too sweet so I wonder if they would have tasted better if picked a little earlier? The smaller fruiting Yelliw Dragons have a very good balance of sweet to flavor according to my palate. I do really like Halley's Comet and American beauty but the Brix fluctuates a lot between early, mid and late season fruit. Someone will eventually come up with a new hybrid that will combine multiple good traits into one fruit. I can't wait for that day to come.

I think breeding with the giant Yellow DF will be a good start. I would love to cross a Frankies Red with the Giant Yellow until I get a stable strain that is large, sweet, red or purple fleshed and spineless. I would love to throw in some Halleys Comet genetics but this is best left to professionals or at least someone with a larger yard than what I have.

Simon

Simon

5473
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Picture of large yellow S. Megalanthus
« on: December 17, 2014, 09:05:53 AM »
Thanks for the lead Richard!

Simon

5474
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: I bought a "seedless" lychee today
« on: December 16, 2014, 10:32:34 PM »
There are several commonly available varieties that have aborted seeds like Groff and Sweetheart and there is more information behind these varieties. BTW, their Picture of Brewster is inaccurate. The variety you purchased could turn out to be really high quality so please keep us updated.

Simon

5475
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: LaVerne's Vietnamese Cherimoya Info
« on: December 16, 2014, 03:00:04 PM »
Sam, those look like Dr White. I have one fruiting in my yard with fruit that look identical. It's one of my favorite varieties. Super juicy and nice size.

Simon

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