The Tropical Fruit Forum

Being at a mango festival will definately introduce you to a lot of Indian varieties but since it is in New Delhi I think mostly those would be varieties grown in Northern India. If you are planning to visit Mumbai, you might get to taste different varieties than those at Delhi. And if you are to visit Mumbai before the monsoons you may have Alphonso which is the most popular among all.

Something is eating the leaves of my guava tree. I've tried to but could never find the culprit. What shall I do stop it?

I just checked the pack and found that all the seeds have sprouted. Wasn't expecting 100% results. Thought it would be difficult to get even a couple to start. Yours too should start soon. All the best.

May take 7 to 10 years or so I've read. I will try to get a grafted one or procure scions and use the seedlings as rootstocks to minimise the waiting.

A relative brought a bael fruit a couple of weeks ago from North India where it is usually grown. Ive been trying to get a grafted bael tree for some time but its not available in or even around Mumbai. Its grown here mostly for the leaves so not propagated by grafting. Also the fruit size here is very small.

Unripe fruit. This was the smallest of the lot. The bigger one rot away when we were waiting for it to ripen and didn't keep an eye on its progress. It was twice the size of the one in picture in diameter.



After ripening.



The insides.





Since the pulp was full of fibres, its best consumed as a juice. The pulp on the inside of the shell can be scooped with a spoon and eaten directly. But I find the juice more appealing.



Tried to germinate the seeds in moist toilet paper and most of them sprouted. Now I have an excess of these.

Had similar issue with my mango tree and I tip pruned it. Got many new branches flushing out. Will have to wait and see if this helps in thickening of the trunk.

They have the size of Strawberry Guavas...how do they taste?

Never had strawberry guava but these taste like the normal guavas we get here. Seeds are a problem for this small fruit. Mostly growing them as an ornamental. Although fruits are edible but one grows bored of all those seeds.

Thanks Dom, I planted those seeds thinking it was an atemoya but after some googling and confusion was hoping it to be a cherimoya due to the uncertainty of fruiting. Now I hope to get a decent fruit from this seedling in a few years as I cant get an atemoya/cherimoya scion because nobody grows them here.

Quote from: nakulv1 on January 20, 2016, 06:30:13 AM

Does it look like an upcoming flower bud?  I feel the tree is still very young for bearing fruit. Heres the tree:

Is it an alphonsol graft or seedling? I can't tell if it is flower or not from photo -- highly not flower for you tropical climate at this young tree.

Sapote

It is an alphonso graft.

The tree was planted at the spot three months ago. It is grafted, Alphonso variety(According to the nursery). I dont know about the root stock but the leaves look like alphonso. When I got the plant it had almost ten leaves around the crown and the rest have grown after transplanting. It could take the weight of those ten leaves well but now is struggling due to the new growth. The support was placed initially to prevent the tree from blowing away due to wind also the structure is single storey and the tree receives 6-8 hrs of sunlight.

I was going to ask if you would be able to remove some more pavers (is that concrete) and have the old stump taken out? Poor growth (spindly stem being your main problem) could be a combination of not enough bright, direct sunlight and in general the tree doesn't have an awful lot room to expand its roots onto?

I cannot remove anymore tiles. The tiles were installed due to the menace of rats burrowing everywhere but now we have instances where they are burrowing even through concrete. Cannot remove the stump as it would disturb the the surrounding developments(inhabited building is around 4 meters away from the stump and its foundations are very old). I know theres little room for the roots and that may be the reason but spaces for planting trees are very limited and we have to do our best to get the most of what's available. I hope the stem develops with time and till then it'll be dependent on supports.

The stem of my Mango tree is very thin and it just cannot support the weight of the growth above. Is there something I can do to make the stemwood grow thicker and stronger? Currently I've tied it to supports but the moment those are untied the tree lays down to the ground.

Yes those are mealybugs.