The Tropical Fruit Forum

Just purchased this from Publix. Does anyone know what variety it is?

As usual, my Carrie bloomed like crazy a couple weeks ago (see pic!), but set almost no fruit (maybe 6-8 fruit total). It's set so poorly every year since planting that I'm about ready to rip it out and replace it with something else.

What's odd is that I saw no sign of black fungus or anything. Is it common for Carrie to be such a poor producer? I read somewhere about someone never seeing fruit in 10 years on their Carrie.
Someone give me a reason to keep the hope alive, or this tree gets the ax!

Purchased a few fruits from the West Palm location. I don't think  that I've ever tried these before - Irwin, Edward, Duncan, and Simmons. Thanks Squam!

I believe Muntingia calabura may be most commonly propagated by air-layer. I have been offered air-layers several times from different sources.

Good call on eating something salty first. However, even by itself I think I would enjoy eating 2 or 3 of these at a sitting. It's got that watery refreshing thing going for it, sort of like watermelon in that respect.  The color is outstanding. If thinly sliced, the pink flesh looks truly electric.

My first home-grown dragon-fruit to produce is Natural Mystic. I only had one flower, and it pollinated itself with no help from me. I have not seen any other dragonfruit plants in the neighborhood.

I planted my Natural Mystic 3 years ago at the base of this cabbage palm, not realizing it wouldn't produce as well in semi-shade. Got it as a Pine Island Nursery 3-gallon trellised plant, purchased locally in Vero Beach. I paid half price ($15) because the local nursery (Everything Outdoors) was having a moving sale.



I picked the fruit today. It weighs 8 ounces and is roughly the size of a tennis ball. I stuck it in the fridge for a few hours to chill.

Wow BluePalm, those are some great ideas for themes! I like your thinking.

Tree is a compact, or at least a slow grower...fruit is mediocre at best.  It is more of a novelty issue to produce the big "fruit" as opposed to growing for quality fruit.  If you want to grow 5+ pound mangoes, than Lancetilla ids a tree for you.  If you want to grow quality, good tasting mangoes, pass this variety by...

The description from Fairchild doesn't sound so mediocre to me:

"‘Lancetilla’ This impressive mango comes from the north coast of Honduras. The fruit are quite large, ranging from two to five pounds. The thick skin, bright red color with radiant, crimson on the shoulders is tolerant of rough handling and is easily separated from the firm, juicy lemon-yellow flesh. The fiberless flesh is aromatic and has an intensely sweet, flavor. The fruit ripen from mid-August through September, almost the end of the mango season in South Florida. With branch tipping and selective pruning, it can be formed into a small, productive ten-foot tree. ‘Lancetilla,’ with its excellent disease tolerance, is the perfect late season mango, offering beauty, compact size and flavor."

Neither does PIN's description make it sound mediocre:

"Lancetilla is a Honduran selection made famous by Dr. Richard Campbell. Its debut at the 2001 International Mango Festival at Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens made it an instant South Florida sensation. Its immediate acceptance by homeowners can be attributed to the tree’s ability to be maintained at just ten feet. The five pound blood red fruit is firm, sweet, and completely fiberless. The fruit ripens from mid August to September."

This is definitely one I would like to try for myself at peak ripeness...

Hi RodneyS, I sent you a PM.

Thanks Bradflorida and Ethan. The fruit was large and excellent. I let it ripen to a full orange color and it was quite sweet. I actually like some acidity to my starfruit so in the future I think I'll eat the fruit slightly less ripe, maybe with a touch of green still on the ribs. Will try to update this post with photos when it is a bit older and carrying a proper crop.

Great pics, thanks for sharing. Creative with the CDs - I bet that would work well for the birds.
Looking forward to my Carrie beefing up to the size of yours.

I have a cutting of Natural Mystic dragonfruit (can't confirm 100% from having fruited it but I purchased it from a nursery and the label from Pine Island Nursery identified it as such). Info on this variety from PIN: http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/dragon/pages/natural-mystic.htm

I would like to trade it for a cutting of either Halley's Comet, Physical Graffiti, American Beauty, Purple Haze, or perhaps another self-fertile variety if you can convince me of it's worth in my yard  .

These cuttings ship cheaply in Priority Mail boxes. I'm in Vero Beach, FL.