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Topics - MassSpectrum

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Fencing out Citrus Greening, Pierce's Disease (grapes)?

« on: April 05, 2015, 04:46:10 PM »

Why not mesh fences surrounding vineyards, groves? Couldn't it be a potentially mere height issue (along with a nice angled plastic cap they can't climb over)? Wouldn't it just come down to how high they can jump (or 'fly')? So then how high do they?

Tropical Fruit Discussion / My $100 25x12' Milk Crate Greenhouse!

« on: February 22, 2015, 01:49:25 AM »

Managed to get this done ('right' anyways) at the last minute (2AM'ish) the other night as our first freezing temps where setting in. Forecast starting like the weekend before last was pitching us multiple nights below 40F. Greenhouse being semi-optional was OVER. Since the freak cold snaps started up back in Oct. I'd been contemplating all sorts of make shift snap together COTS (commercial off the shelf) greenhouse ideas such as PVC etc. Winter actually proved a bit more forgiving than fall actually had though, so doing anything about the ideal situation of having a greenhouse or 3 in place kept getting back seated to getting other things done. But then the blue on the forecast had me seeing only red since last week. When pushed to the task the one clear choice was milk crates, as they're already the backbone.

WIRE FRAME
After the first couple nights in sorting out deployment I had settled for 10G insulated electrical wire to hoist the plastic up with. I knew this simply wouldn't last for more than a few days, but I had it on hand and time was short as I had <40F on the doorstep that night.

OH NOES
Had bought too little of granite gravel for the crate columns, which BTW only the 4 corners and 2 long-run center columns were to be built 'right' at the time(still are technically), but ran out of gravel. Gravel in the bottom 1-2 crates in each (the proper Home Depot bags for 2 full crates is about 2.5), with ties on most sides of all crates is the idea. But I ran short only grabbing 5 bags of gravel. By morning the far long side (the center column over there was the one given no gravel, and not properly tied). Well that center column flew right down by morning, and both corners over there were bowed all the way in. [Not sure if I got photos we'll see. (okay, the tarped over images above do show after the first collapse event)] Kind of expected really, was a quick fix for the night. But it did weaken the soil underneath those corners crates (not to be the first time lol).

LOL

All the center path columns are filled with various rootcrop bulbs and etc plants suited for the cramp at the moment, including all those in those 2 collapsed doorway columns. What fun lol.
Got that fixed eventually, still with wire frame though, which did last a few more nights for the little plants...

UPGRADES
Now with proper fix in mind & motion, the FREEZE was fast approaching. Now the design is a nice outer edge 2x4" cap complete with 2000' twine web. I actually managed majority of the building portions myself, including the spiders webbing portion which took maybe an hour & half. For the web the roll ran as one continuous strand until the very end I attached straight shot, TIGHT pulled lines across each way all the way to each far side, from each center and then corner to corner. should help channel of the inevitable rain with the web proper being there to hopefully sort of make it 'springy' as needed.

Tried to go in there to take a photo but the lens would fog up in 1 second.

Its still holding pretty tight, but not like a drum as I sort of had it at first. Will build proper door and be adding all sorts of bracing tweeks, as we as dedicating the center corridor columns and really ruggedizing them out. Sprayers, etc. Plastic should be toast right around when its time to switch to shade nets...

Oh, it cost a bit more than $100 having to buy the gravel on short notice, and would have cost more without the scrap strips of lumber I had on hand. The right garage could run most of this project with parts on hand, except maybe the crates (where I get them is secret, but given to me by the owners).

So we saved all of the little plants, still in business, but took some hits on the bigger ones having to rush all this last minute left little time for the entire op.

Will post back after it rains....

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / WTB: Areca Catechu Palm Fruits (for fresh VIABLE seeds)

« on: November 12, 2014, 02:43:46 AM »

Am willing to pay. Or can do volume for volume trading on all sorts of different live root/plant/etc. Sick of getting jerked around trying to order from online seed vendors. Have some decent fruit stuff, and some decent ethnobotanicals to offer on trade. Also looking for kava kava cultivars.

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Need Bulk Seeds Pepino Melon, maybe Tamarillo

« on: November 08, 2014, 06:01:28 AM »

Need 300+ seeds pricing/schedules , bulk seeds. Got cleaned out recently; one guy big order of both. I've managed to find a workable bulk deal on tamarillo, but price is right might get more from you. Pepino the big one right now, and have scoured around thoroughly. $11 per 100 best I can find, but they cart is screwed up or something at the moment. For pepino 300 will get me on trackagain at least, but could really use more than that so pricing on 500,1000 seeds ought to prove wirthwhile.

Willing to pay cash, or overpay via trades from my quite wide selection of seeds/roots/plants/chems (of a mostly useful nature).

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Have Korean Purple SP & others, Need Okinawan Purple Sweet Potato maybe others

« on: October 06, 2014, 10:39:28 AM »

I have 50+ types of sweet potatoes: many heirlooms, all different colors including some ornamental types. Well stocked with Japanese purple skin white flesh (Murasaki), Korean Purple skin/flesh, Caribbean purple skin white flesh. Also have many other fancy/tropical rootcrop plant types, some fruit stuff and more if thats what it takes.

Korean Purple:

I can match tubers for tubers, but they must be from your garden not from the store (not Okinawan). I'll also match tubers for your strips of vines, or whatever. If sending vines its best they're packed in moistened cocopeat, or first soaked for a couple days in water (leaves sticking out) in a simple bucket or whatever. If you're interested in swapping per volume (say matching sized Priority Mail boxes) I'd be willing to put more than one type of thing in the space.

Motivated & flexible. Also interested in making my list longer of course

My other trade threads:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=10816.0
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=11157.0

Some other SP types I've gotten in this year:
All Purple/Purple Delight
Allgold
Amish Bush Porto Rico
Barberman
Beauregard
Becca's Purple
Boniato
Bugtussle
Bunch Porto Rico
Carolina Nugget
Carolina Ruby
Cook's Family Heirloom
Dingess White with Pink Eye
Envy
Ginseng Orange
Georgia Jet
Georgia Red
Hatki
Hernandez
Ivis White Cream
Jersey White
Korean Purple
Mahan/Bradshaw
Marguerite / Margarita (Ornamental)
Memphis Pride
Midnight Lace (Ornamental)
Mirasaki
Oklahoma Nugget
Porto Rico
Razorback
Red Wine Velvet
Ringley's Porto Rico
Satsuma-imo
Travis
Wakenda
White Triumph
and a few yet ID'ed types + some other new stuff mostly ornamental

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Glueberry / Gunda (Cordia sp?) ID Help?

« on: August 05, 2014, 12:53:37 AM »

I think I found a huge Gunda tree, but I've only ever seen the fruits in their unripe nonglue/veggie stage so hope you guys can help me realize if its Cordia dichotoma, or some other species?

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Red Pineapple (Ananas bracteatus)

« on: July 31, 2014, 04:13:42 AM »

I have access to some massive wild stands of 'Wild" Red Pineapple. Can anyone offer any experience of its fruit value, etc?

Are these suckers 'ripe'?

Interesting how so many offsets are bursting out of them fruits. Some of them even had them erupting out of the bottoms etc odd spots besides the tops.

Citrus General Discussion / Greening... argh... do I KILL them all?

« on: June 25, 2014, 11:00:10 PM »

I have 17 different citrus cultivars. Been growing them in big pots for a few years each now. I'm pretty sure at least a couple got greening, but no signs on my Everbearing Keylime or Calamondin. I figure most the rest all complex/interspecies hybrids, some real nice stuff like Blood Orange, some different variegated lemons/limes. A shame to just start nuking them, but same time I'm done screwing around and need to KILL this damned disease from my realm. A lot of them were in my old 'jungle' grow out yard design I used to run in the yard, when it was all still just hobby, all mixed up stuff a lot of stuff got smothered including most the citrus. A lot of them, most of them had rooted into the ground it took weeks of chopping roots and trimming stuff way back as also needed to be cutting such roots etc. Trying to put all the big stuff off site, to grow out here mostly only the little plants I mail order. But he's got (unspected) citrus over there too (including wild stuff a couple generations old from the hybrid porrage soup, running off into the woods behind there. Yeah, complicated.

Any insights about how to approach this cluster-f would be wildly appreciated.

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Looking for Piper spp. plants (esp. P. Longum) & Vanilla (green & variegated)

« on: June 14, 2014, 11:28:30 AM »

Have secured a couple P. Nigrum traders in this thread, so now interested in P. Longum. If you're only willing to sell any then shoot me your price(s), but I'm hoping might be able to trade. Also interested in other useful members of the Piper genus that I dont yet have...
Piper aduncum
Piper ornatum
Piper borbonense
Piper cubeba
Piper darienense
Piper kadsura
Piper lolot
Piper novae-hollandiae
Piper guineense
Piper retrofractum
Piper sarmentosum
Piper subpeltatum
etc

From the Piper genus I have Kava Kava (Central FLorida adapted), Rootbeer Plant and Piper betel (wont be able to ship this out again for a few weeks).

I have lots of various seeds/plants of tropical fruits (& more), rootcrops (gingers, cassava, malanga's/taro's, 30+ types of sweet potatoes, proper yams and so on), many super hot pepper types, several cultivars of dragon fruit (and other fruiting cacti), wide array of PGR's (good for rooting, grafting, sprouting, branching, flowering, vigor etc). Etc.

Interested in one, or maybe a box worth. Let me know how much you can supply, what interests you, and I can try and figure you out the best offer in return I can make you (I have a lot of stuff not yet in my site). I can match you box for box pretty much whatever you want is what I'm trying to say.

Thanks.

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / For Trade: Self-fertile Seagrape

« on: June 10, 2014, 05:17:53 PM »

Despite this plant supposedly being dioecious, for 2 years in a row my single tree has borne some fruits. It's been kept here a few years now in an 18" container. At some point it started rooting into the ground.... The section of big pots where it used to be hardly ever got irrigated (being all trees). I'm nowhere near the water. Tampa isn't the ideal location for this plant either (although I kept the yard frost free 2 years in a row now). But it still managed to make some little fruits without having any companions around. They taste very good much like Concord Grape.

SO when I was moving it over the winter (had to chop roots to do so) I decided to test root some of the materials I took down for the cut roots. The smaller leaf cuttings were pointless. But did some longer/thicker pieces in a long taproot pot with coco, after soaking in my 'Root Juice" blend. The 2 thin ones nope. But 2 of the longer thicker pieces made it, 2 did not.

AVAILABLE: I have 2 healthy pieces, but am leaning towards keeping the bigger one... One is about 3' long with many leaves big old looking roots. The other should fit into 24" mailing tube quite comfortably. Not tons of roots but some nice lush white ones and some green leaf attachments and feel confident it's ready to move on to bigger places.

BUT will consider giving up both.

Since I only have so little of this to offer for now I'd like to get some kind of named cultivar -whether clones or grafts doesn't matter- from maybe out of the Sapote tribe, Annona tribe, or something along those lines. Have other stuff to sweeten the deal if need be.

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Cassabanana Pollination?

« on: June 03, 2014, 04:45:22 AM »

I have a real decent specimen that's about 3 or 4 years old. Ever since the 2nd year it flowers like crazy. Not one fruit. Searching online very little info, and no indication a male/female component etc pollinator is needed.

Anyone have any experience with this one?

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Jaboticaba - how thick trunk has to be for fruit bearing?

« on: May 29, 2014, 08:30:02 PM »

I bought a nice sized 3' specimen from a local nursery (Dondros Gardens) a few years ago now. Dondro picked it up down in Miami area where he gets his big stuff. I kept in it an 18" pot until this winter, upgraded to a 24". My yard was all rows of big pots and dense jungle until last fall. It didn't seem to grow very much during this period, in particular the trunk didn't seem to get much thicker. Most the big stuff now all been moved to another property, but I kept this one here in one single straight row along a fenceline. It gets real decent sun most the day, most everyday now even with the suns position in the sky switching so much already this year, and I'm noticing lots of new shoot growth everywhere.

The trunk is and always has been very dense, seems like a very hardwood. Bark seems nonexistent. It's hard to imagine tons of flower buds erupting from it. So of course any insights into how this process goes would be greatly appreciated.

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Trading for Fruiting Cacti (Dragon Fruit, others), Tropical Root Crops & more

« on: May 26, 2014, 03:20:24 AM »

I'm looking for every cultivar of Dragon Fruit and other proper fruiting cacti (tuna fruits, etc) I dont have. I have a lot to offer for trade from various fruiting & edible perennial seeds & plants (root crops, hot/super-hot peppers, medicinal and so on) to an impressive list of various plant growth hormones and related plant biostimulants.

Before I mentioned I have secured 'Yellow Dragon Fruit', from a local guy, but apparently I still need supply for that....

Fruiting Cacti that I have enough of for trading:
dragon fruit Bloody Mary (cuttings)
dragon fruit Halley's Comet (including rooted plants)
dragon fruit Physical Graffiti (cuttings)
dragon fruit Seminole (cuttings)
dragon fruit Vietnamese Jaina (white) (including rooted plants)
dragon fruit 'generic' 'white', and 'purple' (cuttings)
opuntia Xoconostle (seeds)
Queen of the Night (Selenicereus grandiflorus) (cuttings)
Peruvian Apple Cactus (Cereus repandus) (cuttings)
Sword Pear Cactus (Acanthocereus tetragonus) (all sizes)

Newer Cacti I have secured but cant trade with yet (don't need):
dragon fruit American Beauty
dragon fruit Arizona Purple
dragon fruit Bien Hoa Red
dragon fruit Cosmic Charlie
dragon fruit Dark Star
dragon fruit Delight
dragon fruit Giant Viet
dragon fruit Natural Mystic
dragon fruit Maria Rosa
dragon fruit Phoenix Red
dragon fruit Thai Red
dragon fruit Yellow (always open to more)
dragon fruit Zamorano
Hylocereus bronxensis
opuntia PARL 246
opuntia PARL 256
opuntia PARL 262
opuntia Jeronimo M.V.
Selenicereus setaceus Pineapple Cactus

Tropical Root Crops:
Sweet Potatoes:
All Purple/Purple Delight
Allgold
Amish Bush Porto Rico
Barberman
Beauregard
Becca's Purple
Boniato
Bugtussle
Bunch Porto Rico
Carolina Nugget
Carolina Ruby
Cook's Family Heirloom
Dingess White with Pink Eye
Envy
Ginseng Orange
Georgia Jet
Georgia Red
Hatki
Hernandez
Ivis White Cream
Jersey White
Korean Purple
Mahan/Bradshaw
Marguerite / Margarita (Ornamental)
Memphis Pride
Midnight Lace (Ornamental)
Mirasaki
Oklahoma Nugget
Porto Rico
Razorback
Red Wine Velvet
Ringley's Porto Rico
Satsuma-imo
Travis
Wakenda
White Triumph
and a few yet ID'ed types

Other Root Crops:
various gingers, malangas / taros and more (list under construction...)

Fruit:
list under construction...

Super Hot Peppers
7 Pot / Brain Strain Red & Yellow
7 Pot Primo
Butch T
Carolina Reaper
Dorset Naga
Ghost Bhut Jalokia Chocolate
Ghost Bhut Jalokia Red
Trinidad Moruga Red
Trinidad Moruga Yellow
Trinidad Scorpion Chocolate
Trinidad Scorpion Red
plus over 100 other 'normal' peppers:
http://thehotpepper.com/user/2818-drpeppar/ (trade list)

I'll be working at this effort from now on so please check back in every so often to see if I now have anything you wanted, but didn't before.

Other fruiting cacti I'm wittingly interested in:
Burbank's Opuntia
Cereus jamacaru
Consolea corallicola
Corryocactus brevistylus
Corryocactus melanotrichus
Cylindropuntia arbuscula
Eulychnia acida
Haageocereus pseudoversicolor
Harrisia fragrans
Hylocereus Bronxensis
Hylocereus megalanthus
Hylocereus Ocamponis
Hylocereus spp.
Jasminocereus thoursii
Mammillaria sp.
Myrtillocactus geometrizans
Opuntia dillenii
Opuntia engelmannii var. linguiformis
Opuntia ficus-indica cultivars
Polaskia chichipe
Selenicereus boeckmannii
Selenicereus pteranthus
Selenicereus validus
Stenocereus griseus
Stenocereus pruinosis
Stenocereus gummosus
Stenocereus queretaroensis
Stenocereus stellatus
Stenocereus thurberi
Stenocereus treleasei
Trichocereus validus

With Dragon Fruit I'm not interested in any more generic colors such as 'pink'. Cultivars only please, thanks.

I'm also looking for Piper genus plants, and Vanilla orchid cuttings:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=11157.0

I can also offer for trade various exotic Plant Growth Hormones (PGR's) and related Plant Biostimulants. I can speak from experiences cacti & succulents commonly produce acutely dramatic results in growth boosting enhancements. Everyone's heard of rooting hormones, and nobody disputes their overall effectiveness. It turns out there's plenty of other interesting effects that can be 'dictated'. Some people might be put off by this 'new' angle of horticulture, but if you've eaten broccoli or seedless grapes you've already eaten the chems I'm referring to, while you can't eat any piece of any plant without eating plant phytohormones in general, while all of industrial agriculture / horticulture uses them extensively (both pre & post harvest with produce). With these stigmas averted, especially if you have smaller plants you're trying to bulk up, PGR's assuredly are the certain way to achieve the maximum growth rates scientifically possible in a season. Some even only influence natural health and vigor mechanisms that might be weakened otherwise by the stresses they've endured. Understand that nutrients don't DRIVE growth, but PGR's do. Likewise, nutrients & water are but mere fuel, so when you stomp on the (PGR) GAS PEDAL, to harness all of the potential you need to boost the fuel tank & octane.
PGR's & Biostimulants I can offer:
Atonik [natural based antioxidant precursor good for everything from rooting cuttings but especially overall vigor]
6-Benzylaminopurine (6BA) [the most popular / widely useful "Cytokinin" 'branching hormone' in the world]
Brassinolide (BL) [interesting nature based 'brassinosteroid' first derived from Rapeseed flowers, gives broad growth boosting effects usually only done via several others PGR classes combined)
Chitosan [another interesting vigor booster; shellfish extract commonly used as a food additive; good for germinating seeds & increased yield with overall vigor boosting being the main effect. has actual human medical uses]
Fulvic Acid [choice chelating agent; highly bioabsorbable sometimes touted as helping effects of other chem effects]
6-Furfurylaminopurine (Kinetin)[natural analog to 6BAP; has been detected in virtually every living biological cell on all of planet earth]
Forchlorfenuron (CPPU) [a more exotic Cytokinin. mainly used for making seedless grapes & kiwi; not sure yet how it would influence cacti]
Gibberellic Acid (GA3) [earths ultimate 'seed sprouting hormone'; has many other uses but alone to drive realistic intense growth needs be mixed with the likes of 6BAP & IAA to balance out the effects (prevent raw stretching)]
Indole-3-Acetic Acid (IAA) [primary Auxin PGR produced by all plants; plays role in all stages of growth but best known for driving 'straight up' meristem growth]
Indole-3-Butyric Acid (IBA) [the most effective & widely used Auxin rooting hormone in the world]
Indole-3-Butyric Acid-K (K-IBA) [water soluble, changes the pH of the solution though]
Kinetin (6FA) (natural analog of 6BAP; said to be a natural component of virtually every living cell on earth]
Mepiquat Chloride [a Gibberellin Inhibitor. similar to the now semi-infamous Paclobutrazol but without of the health threats]
Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA) [2nd most important Auxin rooting hormone; main ingredient in Superthrive]
Salicylic Acid (SA) [related to Aspirin, this the proper form for plants (boosts natural health mechanisms. main component in willow leaves]
Triacontanol [extracted from beeswax. good all around yield booster on paper similar to Brassinolide. real safe, but difficult to use]

You can follow my profile to see the rest of what I have to offer. Majority of everything listed as live plants / cuttings I now maintain a steady supply of specimens ready to go year round. Also open to all sorts of other trades, for pretty much any seeds or 'plants of a useful nature' that I don't already have. Very interested in root crops outside of the 'potato' species. Thanks for reading.