Grimal Grove April 2017

[Alejandro45]

Hello fruit members!

I made a short trip down to the lower keys to do some wildlife and tropical fruit exploring since I work for the fire department in Marathon it really gives me incentive to go explore that area. First thing I did was walk around the native big pine habitat. The harshest I have ever seen in Florida. Behind the grove is just straight caprock with these small pools of freshwater here and there.







I heard some rustling in the bushes and found a great little Florida keys rat snake! Elaphe guttata rosacea.


Upon some light flipping I found a very pretty bark scorpion with neat red legs Centruroides gracilis.


Now on wards to the grove itself.




























Here are the legendary cisterns Adolf blew out of the ground with dynamite. There was a pretty narly looking pachimascus beetle stuck in one of them...He wasn't very grateful and bit me as I released him.















































I must admit, seeing a Alupang really blew my shirt up!!









A really neat fruit that  kinda taste like bannana.




Biggest lychee tree I have ever seen!


This is not the whole place but you guys get the idea

I will wrap this up with a trip to the humble little nursery, with a super friendly guy named Tim who talked with me for about a hour about fruits trees and how this place came to be. He also makes these neat little ukuleles.

[LivingParadise]

Thanks for this - so awesome! I never manage to make it there when it's actually open. I hope to in the next few months. I didn't know they had a nursery! Is it easy to find? I never saw it when I was there last.

I'm amazed the scorpion didn't sting you.

The land there is harsh, but at least they have fresh water. Here in the Upper Keys, we don't even have the water - it's way drier than other parts of FL, as I have learned since moving here. Then again, we don't have to worry about Key deer constantly chewing up the plants up here, just constant iguanas.

Great to have another member who is familiar with the area, and who works on Marathon! Hope to see you post often.

[Triloba Tracker]

Excellent report!
I had not heard of the "Nuaga Sapote" being there. They way they have it written-up on the placard, sounds pretty special.

Thanks again - I have been intrigued by the Grove but doubt i'll ever get there.

[sildanani]

Nice array of photos! I have not been there yet, but I do follow their Instagram page. Were there any opportunities to try some fruits?

[Alejandro45]

Thank you guys. There are opportunities for tasting and the Nuaga sapote is flowering right now, maybe in a few weeks.

The nursery is on the Oceanside of Big pine. It's attached to a hardware store. Scorpions are not bad at all the sting is even less painful than a bee! Now piss ants those are a hazard!!

The nursury and the grove itself is a work in progress... Those cisterns need to be filled up badly....Maybe the owner could contact monroe county fire department to do a public service and fill those massive cisterns. Adolf used a desert technique of huge sheets of plastic and rocks to pitch a upside down tent  over the cistern to catch water.

[JonathonForester]

Awesome post, I'm going to have to make a trip down there soon.

[ras954]

Nice!  Air layer that Nuaga Sapote!