The Tropical Fruit Forum

I think it also depends on your natural cloud cover.  In the tropics, "full sun" includes a lot of clouds, which helps keep the soil cooler than here in SW Idaho, where we are high desert, and may not see a cloud for three months.  Tropicals in full sun here are scorched to a crisp in a week, poor things!  I quit hauling my plants in and out of the greenhouse in the summer because it just took too long for them to adapt to the pounding rays of the sun, then to adapt to the more shaded greenhouse in the fall. Plus, they picked up "hitchhikers" that I don't want in my greenhouse.  They stay in the greenhouse all year long now, and are much happier. 

Incidentally, I spent the entire last year picking and processing my coffee, only to discover that my roasting skills are HORRIBLE.  I burnt a lot of coffee, under-roasted some and had to roast it again, and finally decided it wasn't worth the effort.  But in case of a zombie apocalypse, I will make a fortune selling the only fresh coffee in Idaho!

Like my dad always said when I wanted to pick up a colorful snake -
Red against black, friend of Jack.
Red against yellow, kills a fellow.

Hopefully the cute, dangerous little guy is keeping you pest-free!

I pick mina according to plumpness, not length.  If you just keep an eye on them, when they quit getting fatter, they are ready.  Once you get the hang of it, you can spot them more easily. For example, I would say the one in the picture is not ready, but is getting close.
But others might have a better way to doing it.

Carolyn

Awasyd, I am in Boise too! 
I have a few cuttings from fruitlover that I got literally days before the volcano went off.  If they get going (two look promising) I will give you some cuttings once they mature.

Carolyn

PM me if you want to come see my greenhouse!

I have a rose apple, and now I want a wax jambu, too!

Carolyn

I order from them fairly frequently, and just received my latest order from Wirsiy at Forest House Cameroon two weeks ago.
I find them very good to deal with.  I have a USDA permit, so my seeds never get confiscated.

As for sprouting en route, yes, I have had that happen on several occasions, but that is certainly nothing that FHC can control.  Recalcitrant seeds are traveling half way round the world through a sometimes very "iffy" African postal system. I just throw those puppies in the dirt and jump back! I always order way more seeds than I need in case of low germination, then usually wind up with a dozen weird African trees that nobody in Idaho wants.

I do know that they personally sprout seeds from each batch to make sure they are good.
Recently they processed a special order for me, which took months.  They had to find growers for the vegetable plants I wanted, pay them to let the plants go to seed then harvest the seeds, travel to pick up the seeds, process them and ship them. Wirsiy planted his batch of seeds about two weeks before I did, and immediately notified me when he noticed that his germination rate was fairly low.  These were plants that the locals only grow from cuttings, and they had no experience growing them from seed, but my permit doesn't allow cuttings  . I told him I was willing to take the risk. It isn't like buying from the local garden shop. And that was all for less than the price of two movie tickets and popcorn!  Can't beat that.

Plus, these folks are doing tremendous good by training young people to use their forests in a sustainable manner to help support their families, in an area where the logistics of getting these seeds sent out is affected by civil unrest, government shutdowns, power outages and wet season weather.

So I would say give them more chances, and remember that not everything to do with the shipment is under their control.

Carolyn

Matt,
What a good "plant parent" you are, to be so worried!
You should be fine.  Yes, there may be a tiny amount of grease particles in the water, but, for example, a lot of dormant oils have petroleum products in them, and folks put a lot of dormant oil on plants and they do fine.  The tiny amount you had on your hands should have no effect at all, unless there was a LOT of grease, and you were watering very tiny, delicate seedlings.  Even then, it probably won't affect them adversely.
I have watered my plants before with hand lotion on, for example, and could tell that hand lotion was getting into the water, and it never caused any problems.  Grease shouldn't bother them at all (maybe keep some insects away if you are lucky, but that is doubtful).
Happy watering!
Carolyn

Yep, same here.  Every one sprouted.  But due to space limitations, I generally only keep one or two of everything.

Carolyn

I put citrus peels in my regular compost all the time, but I DON'T use them for vermicomposting.

Carolyn

"Old" news, but still really cool!
A teenager from South Africa won the 2016 Google science fair by developing a biodegradable SAP in her home kitchen using orange peels, avocado skins and lemon juice. The only other things used were time, sunshine, and electricity (for her stove).

Sure hope this pans out, for South Africa AND the world.  Put me on the list to buy some, but for now, I think I will try and make my own.  I certainly produce lots of citrus peels (not all orange, so I will be curious to see if I get similar results with a mix of lemon, lime and orange) and avocado skins.  My worms can't eat either one, so "wahoo!"

This girl has a great sense of humor, also.  Check out the required "health and safety" portion of her entry.
I wonder how her current experiments are going...

https://www.googlesciencefair.com/projects/en/2016/deb654bce83b15eed364f52fa8685634649014602eca78858c58fec00aa6041a

My Nigerian walnut vines (Plukenetia conophora) are very eager growers, and can put on several feet in a week or so during the growing season.  If it weren't for the height of my greenhouse, they would probably just keep on going.
They are evergreen, and make a sort of pattypan-shaped fruit, inside of which is a nut that looks like an English walnut, hence the common name. 
The boiled nuts are a very nutritious and tasty snack food. You don't have to rip the vines down to harvest - just wait until the fruit drops.

Fun local history - in parts of Nigeria, it is known as "babies call babies", and folklore says that if a mother washes her child with the leaves, it will help the mother conceive again.  Thought that was a cute story.

Carolyn

I have one fabric pot, and the rest plastic.

Pros to the fabric pot -
My strawberry guava seems happy
It was way cheaper than the plastic pots

Con -
It needs watering more often.  If I have ALL fabric pots, it wouldn't be an issue, but as of right now, I have to water it by itself, more frequently.

So I would say if you are going fabric, do ALL of them.  Even though I am happy with this one, I will be switching back to plastic just for the ease of not having to water this one more frequently.

Carolyn