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Topics - Mike T

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351
Tropical Fruit Discussion / chilli overload
« on: June 10, 2012, 05:51:07 PM »







Fruit waste in yard is greatest with chillis and with many crazy productive plants including the thai gourmet and bhut jolokia above even the foraging birds can't keep up.When the morugas and butch T's start producing the jolokias will be the 3rd hottest in the yard and I will have to try using them properly.

352
Tropical Fruit Discussion / grafted vs marcotted trees vs seedlings
« on: June 10, 2012, 07:42:28 AM »







My marcotted rambutan was planted at the same time as the grafted one but has grown more slowly,needs support and suffers more in dry spells.My marcotted durian,longkong and ross sapote have also shown less vigour and are more prone to environmental stresses than their grafted counterparts.Locally many trees are now marcotted and often pruned short or espaliered and those that were not copped a flogging in recent cyclones.While marcotted trees seem to start producing as early grafted trees yield do not increase as quickly thereafter.A friend noticed this was the case with abius in particular.
I think seedling trees have many advantages in terms of hardiness,longevity and health.The drawbacks of a longer juvenile period and not being true to type I think are often overstated.I have seen numerous examples of seedling trees producing faster than published advice indicates and having fruit quality and yields that are very good.This includes avos,poly mangoes,annonas,abius,durians,artocarpus and many others.I would be interested o hear other peoples experiences where seedlings met or exceeded expectations.

353
Tropical Fruit Discussion / It';s what's inside that counts
« on: June 08, 2012, 05:58:51 PM »







My breakfast looks different in the sun and the shade.The deep orange of the passionfruit pulp means it will be a sweetie and there is a riot of aromas.

354
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Profile of a good malay apple
« on: June 08, 2012, 04:06:00 AM »







I have found have that in my area there is lots of variation in the quality of malay apples.This particular red variety from Cebu I believe, seems to have a better flavor and aroma than others.They are avocado shaped,sweet with a relatively small seed and a good proportion of fruit over 300g.

355
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Market Day Again How good are You?
« on: June 08, 2012, 02:23:28 AM »
Another week goes by and I went to the market and could not help myself.Well I did help myself.Here is what I go helped out by some backyard volunteers.I would not insult people by naming all the species and varieties but no one on the planet could get this lot down to variety level off the top of their head.50% is a pass mark.




356
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Backyard and hobbyist breeders
« on: June 06, 2012, 04:37:08 PM »
So many great fruit types around here seem to have originated from hobbyists and backyard breeders.Chance seedlings and specially bred lines of abius,black sapotes,jackfruit and many others came about this way.Granny smith apples,ellendale mandarins,several passionfruit,sharwill avos,limberlost and johnson durians are examples and many of my rarer fruit trees came from elite backyard accidents or willful breeding.My pineapple brazil guava,ud ambarells, a new canistel and some types already mentioned seem to have such origins and there are many more still in yards awaiting discovery.
I would encourage hobby breeders aspecially with annonas,dragonfruit,jackfruit,papayas and many other types to give seeds a try if you have room.
I bet here are just as many examples in your area and backyard gems waiting to be discovered.Do many forum participants have ambitions of breeding and crossing in their own little patch?

357
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Be careful with variety fakes.
« on: June 03, 2012, 08:37:50 AM »
In my quest to get good varieties of fruit trees and even chillies I have noticed there are many fakes out there.With chillies Bhut jolokia fake seeds have been bought many times and now Butch T scorpion and moruga scorpion are usually disappointing purchasers.The identity of durian culivars was in chaos for a long time due to lesser types bein passed off as elite clones.I had a difficult time etting the real mapran wan when maprang mayon chid was commonly being passed off as wan.The labelled durians and maprangs at a local research facility were all wrong for years and even distributed with incorrect labels.Getting the real sumalee salak has taken me years and the genuine sweet types of tamarind have been the same.Now I see it with dragonfruit.
It is such a long time to wait for fruit and then be disappointed.Much of the time no one knows because there is nothing to judge it by.Have other people had experiences with fake variety identities?

358
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Breadfruit for the sub tropics?
« on: June 03, 2012, 04:54:15 AM »







These 2 breadfruit types handle winter temperatures down to 36f with no sign of ill effects.They could no doubt be taken quite a bit lower.

359
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Pomelo to start breakfast
« on: June 02, 2012, 04:39:18 PM »







It is no wonder pomelos seen to be getting more common around here and grapefruit are diminishing as they are bigger and taste better.In defence of grapefruit they are easier to juice.My scungy breakfast pomelo from a friend's overflow does not match the whopping red fleshed ones I saw on the farm yesterday.

360







A place I visited today had a greenhouse jam packed with perhaps 100's of rarer tropical fruit species and cultivars and I have never seen so many Garcinias,Eugenias,artocarpus,rambutans,sapotes,annonas and many others of the very best varieties.My assortment is pretty miserable and my level of knowledge is pretty modest compared to the professionals who have been at it for decades.It was so rainy and so rushed I could not get any seeds and no good soncoyas for BMc (sorry) just 2 plants for me.

361
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mangosteen grafting
« on: June 02, 2012, 03:53:56 AM »







Mangosteen grafting is becoming more common for farms so trees fruit faster and have greater early vigour.Compatability is unpredictable with some rootstock/scion combinations causing adventitious rootstock shooting and scions not developing.Other combinations show booming scion development.Above is a successful graft and mangosteen rootstock seedlings.

362







Between rain squalls I took a couple of shots of a tropical fruit farms espalier system for high density production in dozens of tropical species.It also allows trees to survive cateory 5 storms.This farm copped 2 cat 5's in 6 years.

363
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Lovely new Papayas
« on: June 02, 2012, 03:15:17 AM »







Carica papaya seems to be getting a facelift as well as the fruit improving.The 2 cultivars are still nameless and the broadleafed one has red veins.

364
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Wasted Citrus and other fruits
« on: June 01, 2012, 05:58:59 PM »







It is a pity so much of the extra fruit I grow gets wasted.The citrus have so many fruit that I can't give it away fast enough.

365
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Huge sweet winter longans
« on: June 01, 2012, 02:52:15 AM »







These are exceptional quality longans being sweet and spicey together and having crisp flesh.Long after the kohalas and biew kiews have gone this giant amongst longans hits the markets.It is between 1 oz and 2 oz (25 to 50g) each fruit.

366
Tropical Fruit Discussion / New Market Day 1st day of Winter
« on: June 01, 2012, 02:44:07 AM »







It was not like summer or autumn but there is always a few interesting fruits at rusty's market.This lot is easy to identify.

367
http://blog.agriculture.ph/tag/flower-induce-carabao-mango
Potassium Nitrate is routinely used to induce flowering in mangoes in the PhilipinesIt doesn't seem to be ever used to my knowledge in Australia.I am wondering if people are familiar with its use and if it is regularly used in other countries such as the USA?

368

http://www.australiantropicalfruits.org.au/tropical_fruits/produce_types/exotic_and_emerging/
I hope this link is active.This shows what are considered the best fruit types for backyards and farms in Queensland.Some of the links take you to more detailed assessments and associations.

369
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Seedlings that are winners and losers
« on: May 19, 2012, 10:09:02 PM »



On the right the seedlings that I can't give away will not be potted out but destroyed.They include yellow gramichama,jaboticabas,burmese grapes and top quality marangs.Those on the left are popular and will be offloaded to new homes and they include moruga scorpion,luang durian,pineapple brazil guava cuttings,mangosteen and red sugar apple.
People are fickle.I planted about 100 each of duku langsat,duku,longkong and langsat before and gave people the small trees.I was left with nearly all the langsats and half the duku because people just wanted the other 2 and they were for free.

370
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Is this dragonfruit H.ocamponis?
« on: May 18, 2012, 10:01:02 PM »



A friend brought over the first fruit off their mystery prickly dragonfruit for me to identify.I assured them I could only know for sure if I tasted it.It is not true of course but it was delicious and tasted grapey and now I need a name.Here it is beside my last gefner and it is less than half a lb.

371
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mystery Passionfruit Seedling
« on: May 16, 2012, 03:16:08 AM »
A friend passed on a tiny passionfruit that he said came from a very nice tasting brown passionfruit that was not an edulis,maliformis or ligularis.It struggled to survive summer and is starting to grow now with cooler weather.I assume it is subtropical and I don't know what it could be.




372
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Plucking Every Day
« on: May 16, 2012, 03:06:42 AM »



When selecting what to grow it is good to try to have a range of fruit available at all times.Even at the leanest time of the year I enjoy grabbing a few fruit to bring in and some to pick and eat while I'm in the yard.I picked a few odds and ends about 10 minutes ago and I'm eating some now.Vegetables are plentiful here through winter but most fruits peak in abundance in summer.

373
I have only one really good prepared spot in my yard where no tree has been allocated.I have 3 seedling trees that are contenders for the spot and I have only read descriptions of the fruit and I'm not familiar with the species.They are Garcinia 'mexico', Eugenia stipitata -araca and a pitomba.I don't know which of these is the most valued species, has better tasting fruit and is easy to grow.

374
Tropical Fruit Discussion / trees bought today in my street
« on: May 12, 2012, 08:51:09 PM »
For mothers day there was a bit of a plant show at the end of my street so I went looking for 'white whales'.I bought four plants including one good one.In the picture a seedling marang and pot with ackees muscled in when they saw the camera,but what are the other 4? It might be a tough one for even the hardened campaigner.


Mike T

375
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Vegies with your fruit?
« on: May 11, 2012, 05:47:15 PM »











In my garden I have herbs,greens,vines and tubers all over the place.Each year 4 weeks prior to winter I plant winter vegies in my garden beds and here is my largest garden bed nearly 4 weeks after planting.It is well worthwhile to have the biggest range of vegies,herbs and other useful plants possible so you can go out pluckin' any time.Do other forum members also grow vegies and herbs?
Mike T

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