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Topics - Ethan

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / 2018, the year of the airlayer!
« on: October 23, 2018, 12:45:22 PM »
In the past, I have tried airlayering in a 1/2 arsed way and not surprisingly, failed. So this year, I decided to learn how to airlayer. It is actually not that hard, just takes a little technique. I tried two methods, one where you remove a layer of cambium from around the branch, i used this for larger branches. I also tried cutting underneath the leaf buds, without completely separating, them and placing a wedge (wooden toothpick) between the bud and branch. From there, it is the same for both, paint with hormone, wrap in damp peat, wrap in plastic, tie ends, wrap in foil and write the date on it  Then the hardest part, waiting. . . . Some take a couple weeks, others, 30, 60, 90+ days to form roots.

2019 is going to be year of the chip/T budding.  :)

My yellow fruited muntingia calabura tree, I wanted to propagate but had zero luck with seeds and very little luck with cuttings. I was able to make a bunch of airlayers with a high % of takes.







Macadamia nut



White guava



Olosapo  (Couepia Polyandra)



Uvaria Rufa



Akee (Blighia Sapida)



I'll try a few things next year that looked like they might have worked this year if I'd had more patience.

2
I've been repotting my epiphytic cacti recently and am statting to run out of room. I'm wondering if David Bowie and Roger Meyer dragon fruits are worth the royal treatment? I have others like Asunta, Zamorano,  etc.

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Raul's Soncoya seeds (annona purpurea)
« on: November 22, 2017, 10:08:36 PM »
Soncoya seeds soaking in 150ppm GA3 for 24hrs. to hopefully help speed up germination. I'll post when the seeds sprout.


4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Rauls's illama (annona diversifolia) seeds
« on: November 01, 2017, 04:54:47 PM »
Raul's illama (annona diversifolia) seeds cracking open, one week after 24hr soak in GA3.


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Tropical Fruit Discussion / How can they justify lumping?
« on: August 27, 2017, 02:10:33 AM »
How can they justify lumping randia in with artocarpus? Do they base these decisions on flowers, fruits, leaves or some kind of magic? I like randia and don't want to update my plant list, so I'm sticking with it! :)

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mangifera lauriana, when to pick?
« on: August 14, 2017, 10:21:43 AM »
My first year having mangifera lauriana fruits, when do I pick them? Green, a little color, full orange?

Thanks for your help!
-Ethan

7
I have an in ground seedling Dang Rasimi tree.  Since jacks fruit on the trunk, I approach grafted 2 different cultivars (so far) onto the trunk. The first picture is from a grafted 'Dang Saria' that I did last year. The second picture is from a seedling 'Mr. Berry' that was grafted this year. Since last year, the 'Dang Saria' looks like it has grown in diameter. I have a few more varieties to graft onto the trunk, then I'll attempt lakoocha, Chama and maybe a few other artocarpus that fruit on their branches.

Dang Saria



Mr. Berry




8
I'm curious if chempeJack  (A.integer x A.heterophyllus ) fruits on the trunk like jack or from the branches like chempedak?

9
I acquired a "nutmeg" tree a few years ago only to discover later it was actually a "Jamaican nutmeg".  At first I was disappointed but after learning about monodoras, looking at pics of the blooms and seeing it grow, I think I like it even better!  It overwintered in the GH and probably received low 40F temps (if not lower on a couple nights) and looks like it has not stopped growing.  I'm going to have to try grafting a piece of it onto cherimoya and see what happens. 8)


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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Year of the Durian seed shipment.
« on: February 24, 2014, 08:54:54 PM »
For those of you who haven't seen it yet, one of our forum members has a  8) blog, 'Year of the Durian'. 

http://www.yearofthedurian.com/

A month or so ago Lindsay arranged for seeds of some durian sp. to be sold in an incredibly easy manner.  This is my experience and my "haul".  First off Lindsay set up her blog with a very simple way to order the seeds you wanted and pay for them plus an area to upload your import permit.  I dont remember how long it took but it was less than 2 weeks for the seeds to arrive.  When they showed up, I had only average expectations or else I would have taken pictures.  These were THE BEST seeds I've ever received, including ones I've sent myself.  Each seed was plump and looked polished with not trace of pulp, very fresh and ready to sprout.  they came well labeled in a zip top plastic bag that had a bit of moistened paper towel(?) inside.  They were wrapped in a spiral of cardboard packing material and then boxed with import paper work inside and label on the outside.

Here are some pics I took later, before potting them up, of the seeds sprouting.  I ordered a couple D. kutejensis and red/orange/yellow D. graveolens.  I ran out of room on the heating mats for them so they've been a little slower to shed their seed coats than I would normally want.

D. kutejensis









Potted up



After they shed their seed, I expose them to more ambient (but still high) humidity.



One of them turned out to be polyembryonic!




So suffice to say, awesome job Lindsay and the people you used did a tremendous job!!!  8) 8) 8)

Please let me know when you do it again. :)

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / December annona tasting in Orange County
« on: December 22, 2013, 11:16:53 PM »
This past Saturday, Dec 21 I was lucky enough to attend an annona tasting at the incredible home of a gentleman named Ashok and his beautiful family.  There was 20+ people there and everyone was very excited about the upcoming feast!  There were atemoyas and cherimoyas brought from San Diego and in the Orange County area.  There were all sort of varieties, lots of old favorites and some very new cvs. too.  Thank you to JF, Ashok, his family and anyone else that had a hand in the planning of this event, it was really a nice time.  I met lots of new friends and lots of old ones were there too, in fact from the TF forum there were at least 6 active members.  The event started with boxes of fruit being sorted and the fruit laid out on the tables, labeling was attached, judges score sheets passed out and we were just about ready to go.























Our host, JF and few dignitaires, Mrs. Elixir (Eunice Messner), Mr. El bumpo (Rudy Haluza) and Mr. Big Sister (Jim Neitzel)



Time to get down to business, the names of the fruits were drawn at random for the order in which they were tried.  Cherimoyas and atemoyas were tried side by side.



Our kind host Ashok, holding some of his cherimoyas up for people to judge the size and appearance of the fruit.



Seed count was taken in consideration along with taste and texture.



Lisa



Big Sister



Santa Rosa




Some of the discerning judges





And the winner of the day!





Our very own forum member Behl's cherimoya, damn good fruit!




Another interesting note, most of the atemoyas fell to the bottom of the score sheet when compared to cherimoyas, except AP which did OK.  A few of the cherimoya growers were concerned about recent rains and this fruit was not perfectly ripe or you should have tasted this other fruit last week or in another month.  Like any tasting, it is impossible to get a bunch of fruit picked perfectly ripe and have them all ripen at the same time, with that said, we had some amazing fruits.

The last part of the day I neglected to take photos of, I was too busy stuffing my face.  Ashok and his family were kind enough to bring in some absolutely incredible Indian food and one Cubano brought a pretty tasty guava pastry to top it all off.

Just to show you it was not all annona, there were a few dragon fruits for color. :)



Here are some pics of Ashoks trees, cherimoyas





One of his mangoes



Guava tree with giant guavas (name escapes me)



Trunk of the guava tree



No wonder the trees are so happy, they've got quite a view.



Thank you again to Ashok and his family for there kind hospitality, JF for all the work helping to put it together, his son for all the hard work he did and anyone else that made that day so much fun.  Hopefully I'll get invited back next year! 8)

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Patinoa almirajo anyone growing it?
« on: December 19, 2013, 01:10:09 PM »
Is anyone growing almirajo (patinoa almirajo) or know where to get some seeds?  It is from Colombia and the taste is supposed to be quite good but I've never seen it for sale.

Thanks for the help,
-Ethan

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Phet Pakchong or Nuathong?
« on: October 28, 2013, 02:34:30 PM »
A kind friend shared scions with me of Petch Pakchong and Nuathong but unfortunately the labeling was lost.  Can you guys help me put a name to these plants?

The first one grows with more of a bushy habit the leaves are thinner and more pointed. (I added the fly for size comparison)



The other has large rounded leaves and is growing upright like a tree.



Here are the two side by side.



Thank you!

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Prainea limpato, dioecious?
« on: July 27, 2013, 06:42:04 PM »
I'm a little confused about prainea limpato, I've read it is dioecious but in some literature they talk about single trees with fruit and when you look at pictures of the flowers, both the male and female appear on the same branch.   Is it just that male and female trees are planted very close together or do single trees produce both male and female blooms?  I wonder if the tree could be propagated from cuttings like it's cousin the fig?

15
A very kind friend brought me a 15lb. jack fruit from Orange County that I believe was grown in Mexico.  I've had fresh jack before but have always been lucky to have most the dirty work done for me, not this time and I was kind of excited about it. 



The smell that filled my house was incredible, it smelled so good I almost wanted to keep it as an air freshener. 



After laying down some protective cardboard and grabbing my knife, I was on my way.  I chose not to oil the knife or my hands as I wanted the full experience, plus I wasn't cutting through the core so I hoped I'd be OK.  Using a small knife I made a shallow incision into the skin and proceeded to cut the skin into wedge shapes and peel it back.  Being as this was an imported, store bought fruit, it was most likely picked a little young for shipping so in a few spots I had to cut the rag from the peel. 



Then proceeded to pull out the lobes, pop out the seed and peel away the tough part with the seed sheath attached.  After stuffing my face for a bit, I realized I should probably save a few pieces.  When the first side was done, I flipped it over and proceeded with the second half. 



By the end I had some beautiful jack ready for the freezer,  some seeds ready for cooking and surprisingly not a giant sticky mess.



I think because the fruit may have been off the tree for days (week?) there was not a lot of latex left, I even cut through the core when I was done and didn't notice any major latex.  The texture of the jack was crunchy and the flavor sweet with hints of pineapple, banana and cantaloupe with a finish that reminded me a bit of durian? 



I think frozen jack has become a must during the hot summer, I find myself grabbing two or three frozen pieces and gnawing on them to enjoy the great flavor and cool down a bit.  This is a fruit I need to grow here.....my 'Cochen' has already had male blooms! 8)

BTW, I learned next time to wash the fruit off before cutting into it.  After peeling back the skin, I'd have to wash all the bits of dirt and debris from my hands before I wanted to touch the edible parts.

16
Can anyone tell me how long it takes under normal conditions for a banana to go from flower to ripe fruit?  I remember a gent used to right his projected harvest date on the P-stem as a reminder.

Thank you.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Vietnamese fig (Ficus auriculata?)
« on: June 09, 2013, 09:52:40 PM »
I wanted to double check the  ID of this fig, it was purchased as 'Vietnamese fig' from Mimosa LA.  I'm curious if Ficus auriculata is the proper name and when do you harvest the fruit?





Thank you. 8)

18
I have a VP mango that I'm espaliering and now multigrafting.  There are two sections of horizontal growth that is lower than the main canopy and I plan to put Ice cream on one and Pickering on the other.  I had plans just to bark graft them in line with the trunks and expect the new growth to grow vertically towards the sun.  After thinking about it, a perpendicular graft would look 'prettier' but wondered about any possible complications that could arise. 

Any thoughts?

19
I have a small lot seed permit but I dont think it covers anything but unsprouted seeds.  There was talk about durian scions and the best way would be to cut and carry home on a plane rather than mailing to assure the freshest scion.  Well, how do you go about doing this legally?


20
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Unknown plant ID
« on: April 13, 2013, 06:26:34 PM »
For you experts out there, can someone please help me ID this thing.  For some reason it is labeled Bhut Jolokia but it doesn't look like any pepper I've grown.  It strikes me as an annona of some sort?  Unfortunately the ants decided to farm some scale on it so alcohol swabs to the rescue.  Did I mention the leaves are fuzzy?

Leaves



trunk with bugs still attached



overview



Thank you! 8)


21
I really need to repot my pitomba and cabelluda plants and plan to in the near future.  My question is, how delicate do I need to be?  I've been doing dormant figs lately like Jason from the Friday the 13th movies but since the Eugenias are still awake, I should be more subdued?  Any tips?

thanks!

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / A quick tour of the greenhouses
« on: December 28, 2012, 12:16:08 AM »
Here is a quick tour showing some of my plants, both how they are grown during warmer months and how they get through the winter too.

Sorry the labels disappear so fast, I need to work on my editing.  I hope you enjoy,

Red Sea Gardens1

23
I did some grafting recently onto cherimoya rootstocks and wondered what annonas would work.  So far I've had success with cherimoya, atemoya, custard apple (A. reticulata), soncoya (A. purpurea) and wild custard apple (A. senegalensis).  Still on the list to try as soon as the rootstock is big enough:  sugar apple (A. squamosa), poshte (A. scerloderma), illama (A. diversifolia), soursop (A. muricata), pond apple (A. glabra), A. cornifolia, A. emarginata, rollinia deliciosa, triple crosses (cherimoya, sugar apple, custard apple) and even uvaria rufa.

Here are a few pics:
cherimoya with Selma on one side Incan red on the other



Lisa 48-26 atemoya



Sateneja custard apple



blooms



Soncoya



pretty new growth



Senegalensis



up close



Hopefully the rest will take, then we'll have to see how they all last long term.

-Ethan

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / The golden arches
« on: September 15, 2012, 05:21:55 PM »
Definitely not those clowns, much better, Durian seeds sprouting!  These guys seem to take forever to completely unfurl from their seed coats and do not appreciate anyone trying to rush them.  The final products, both tree and fruit, are worth the wait.





BTW, the unnatural looking green thing in the background is a piece of ribbon.

just a few short years 'til they fruit, ???

-Ethan

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Myrcianthes pungens (guabiju), first fruits
« on: September 14, 2012, 06:22:35 PM »
A few weeks ago I tasted the first fruits from my myrcianthes pungens (guabiju) and I'm happy to say they were quite good.  The tree was covered in blooms and only set 2 fruits but considering it was the first time and the tree is only about 3.5' tall, I was happy.  The fruits had a tough dark purple skin and golden flesh that separated easily from the skin and moderately well from the seed.  There was not a ton of flesh but the flesh was juicy and sweet with a touch of spice, maybe slight nutmeg in the finish? (my taste buds aren't the most delicate)  Hopefully as the tree gets bigger the fruits will get a little larger and a lot more of them.

Here is the fruit, sorry for the blur but beautiful DARK purple color.



inside



I have my fingers crossed for next year.
-Ethan

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