The Tropical Fruit Forum

I am pretty sure this is So-Shang, but I lost the tag. Any help IDing it would be helpful.

Could this be a So-Shang?

I planted it next to a Cherimoya and a guava. I didn't really know what it was. All I know is it popped up in my tomato garden where I throw my discarded seeds that don't germinate. I always want to give seeds and seedlings a chance no matter what. So-Shang was one of the seeds I bought off Ebay that didn't germinate, and were tossed in the tomato garden.

It grew fast and big last year, and really took off this spring. Unfortunately it was blocking sun from the guava, so last week I dug it up and tossed into a bucket. Thinking it was some kind of citrus seedling, I wasn't too careful and basically butchered it extracting from the ground. A week later it doesn't look good.    I'm not sure if it's going to survive. I wish I had come across this post last week.

The leaf pattern looks similar but not as green. Could this be a So-Shang?






Edit: As bad as it looks. The really dried leaves are from the 27 degree frost we had this January.

Well I guess the obvious and honest answer would be I'm cheap and greedy.

100 sapodilla seeds for $7 shipped. I couldn't pass it up. 50 carambola seeds for $5 shipped etc. 

If you go to the smoothie shop ask them not to put the seeds in the refrigerator. I have a feeling that's why so many of mine didn't germinate. Judging by how cold the seeds felt when they gave them to me, I'm guessing they were stored between 34-40 degrees. Then again, they held them for a week so they probably didn't want them molding and attracting flies.

I know they won't do good in constant 105-115(40-46 C) degree weather. I've tried to grow 2 Haas  in Eastern exposure only and they both died during the summer.  I have tried 2 Mexicolas, and most of their leaves get burnt to a crisp during the summer, but one is still alive after 6 years. It is a pitiful tree though. I have a Mexican avocado seedling that is almost 6 feet after 3 years that seems to do the best out if all of them. But I have no idea if it will produce decent fruit or any at all. Mango trees however seem to do pretty good here.

Quote from: WaterFowler on March 13, 2017, 01:12:59 PM

Quote from: achetadomestica on March 13, 2017, 09:31:25 AM

When you see a Asplundh truck (usually orange) in your area. Approach the crew and ask them for the mulch.
They always want a local place to dump. I have never had them say no. You will be swimming in mulch in no time!
Mike

Don't you guys ever worry about that stuff having weed killer in it, and wiping out your trees? Those trucks pass by my house all the time, in fact my sister's ex boyfriend is a manager for a tree trimming service but I'm afraid they might have chemicals in them. Am I just paranoid?

Yes, you're being paranoid and speculating based on feelings not facts.  It's manure from horses grazing fields that have been treated you have to worry about.  Most if not all spray, at one time or another, broadleaf herbicides.  Some are short lived like 2,4-D.   Some are long lived (but being phased out) like picloram, which WILL kill any broadleaf plant whether it be tomatoes or bananas.   Chemicals like picloram are never found in your big box or nursery herbicide mixes.  It's usually stuff like 2-4D.

Get to know conventional gardening/farming chemicals even if you don't apply them.  They are not all the same.

Mark

Hmmm maybe you are right. I remember watching a YouTube video, I think it was from Phoenix grower Shamus O'leary blaming tainted mulch he had delivered by a landscaping or tree service company, for killing some trees, including a rare $3000 tree. That probably didn't ease my fears.

Several forum members should be selling seeds of A. reticulata over the next few months since it it starting to be fruiting season.  It would be interesting to try them in Palm Springs to see how they fair.  Just make sure you have them protected from those 125F temps in the summer and the occasional 25F-27F extremes in the winter. A friend of mine lives in Rancho Mirage and he has tried several fruit trees with many failures.  Mango and citrus to well, but completely shut down growth after July, just too hot!

Here is an annona at the ranch of a farmer I know. They never protect it in the winter or summer. And this is in Thermal which is normally 2-3 degrees hotter than Rancho Mirage in the summer and 2-3 degrees colder in the winter. The poor thing looks miserable most of the year. The never care for it other than running a drip line by it. I asked the rancher what is was, he said he wasn't sure. One of his workers put it there a few years back.

Any guesses?(I mean it's an annona right?  )

not sure why website won't let me post image or they came out sideways through Tinypic.

Quote from: WaterFowler on March 08, 2017, 07:00:32 PM

Quote from: luc on March 08, 2017, 02:26:02 PM

the area where these grow is very hot and dry , so maybe some type of reticulata ?

You just convinced me to order some seeds. 

The cherimoyas I have been growing are still alive but are not thriving 6 months out of the year. It's either too hot or too cold here. Likewise I know a farmer here who has what looks like a super bushy 8 foot tall cherimoya(that's what it looks like to me at least), it has never fruited, flowers shrivel and die before they bloom, and it almost never looks happy. Maybe this one will fare better in our hot, dry climate.

Have you considered an Atemoya? I think it would take the heat in Palm Springs much better, but you may want to give it part shade in the afternoon.  They are grown in Israel so i would assume that they would do well in P.S. too.

Yes. I plan on putting an Atemoya at my renter's home but it's spot is currently being occupied by a struggling avocado. I'll probably yank it next spring unless it makes a dramatic comeback but it hasn't really grown much in 5-6 years. All the prime eastern real estate at my parent's ranch is already filled up and I have no space for anything where I live now. I don't mind subjecting seedlings to less than optimal conditions but if I'm paying for a tree, I want to give it the best opportunity possible.

So many trees I want, so lititle space....

A couple of years ago I sowed quite a few tropical fruit tree seeds. A year later, I sowed all the seeds that didn't germinate in an unused plot, plus some misc tropical fruit tree seeds I didn't want anymore as well as some samples that sellers sometimes include.

Of the stuff that popped up, I kept a few, and gave most away but there are 2 I don't recognize. The first one in the ground, I'm pretty sure is not a fruit tree. The second in the container I'm not so sure. I didn't protect either one from the cold and neither lost leaves, but the one in the container has yellowed just a bit.

Any clue?

TK, how does the Wilma handle your heat spells? I know your area doesn't see temp quite as high as in Phoenix or here, but you guys occasionally see 110 temperatures don't you?

I'm looking for a decent tasting, heat tolerant avocado if such a thing exists. I know there is the Aravaipa, but I've heard nothing but bad reports on taste. I planted 2 Mexicolas and a Haas 6 years ago. The Haas didn't make it to the end of the summer. One of the Mexis gave up the ghost at the end of the 2nd summer. I still have one Mexicola 6 years later but it's only 5 feet tall still. It grows and grows during the fall, winter and spring, then the summer comes along and kills all the top growth. Poor thing, I feel like a bad parent and should donate it to a nice family in temperate San Diego. 

Per their FAQ page, they are not frozen:

"They're never frozen. After harvest, Bautista Dates are stored at 42-45°F, maintaining their exceptionally fresh flavor and texture."

http://7hotdates.com/faq.html

45 degrees seems a little warm to be storing organic dates. Have you come across any moth larvae inside their dates? Most of the big packing sheds send their organic dates to the freezer immediately  because they cannot fumigate them, this is vitally important during the latter half of the season so they can kill the eggs before they hatch.

September thru November is the best time of year to get dates. I wonder if these guys are still shipping dates that haven't been frozen and thawed. You can keep them at least 2 months(probably longer) at 33 degrees in low humidity without having to worry about them sugaring or getting mold. Even thawed they are delicious, and the average consumer probably can't tell the difference between thawed and fresh.

I should start my own mail order date business haha(although that might represent a conflict of interest I won't get into). You can buy them here all day long at $40/11#box for jumbo wet medjools, or $1.25-.35/lb for bulk top quality field run jumbo medjools during season. You even see guys parked on the side of the road this time of year selling 11# boxes for $20, but those are usually lower quality, sometimes yellow end medjools.

You can probably look forward to cheaper dates in the future and many more online outlets for dates. It seems like every bit of vacant land here is popping up with new medjool palms. One of the largest grape producers here in the valley even tore out their grape vines and put hundreds of acres of medjools. We may have reached a saturation point despite the increasing demand for medjool dates here in the US. I believe bulk dates dropped .15-.20/lb this season versus last.

This spring I planted a bunch of subtropical seedlings and the gophers sucked down 1 mango, 2 guavas, and 3 passion fruit vines. It's heartbreaking to grow a seedling for a year or more and watch it dissappear overnight. I can only imagine the disappointment in losing a 5 year old tree.

I bought a CINCH trap, which I hesitated buying at first because they are a little expensive, and I'm glad I did. It killed 6 gophers in the first week. After that I stopped seeing lots of surface gopher activity so I put the trap away.

But I wasn't going to let up on these guys just yet. I drive rural routes a lot and see lots of snakes on the road. I collected 2 gopher snakes, and a king snake and put them in the gopher holes in the yard. In addition by nephew had got bored of his 2 Rosy Boas, so he gave them to me, and I sent those down the holes too. He said the king snake might end up locating the Rosy Boas and making a meal out of them but I saw one the other day curled up between 2 nursery pots 5 months after I released it.

So far, so good. I haven't lost any more plants or trees, and I see very little gopher activity. I even put 2 banana plants in the ground in May and they grew big unmolested, one grew from 8 inches to 12 feet in these 5 months.