The Tropical Fruit Forum

I posted this on the citrus forum, but it seems to be infected with some sort of spam, so I am posting it here also, to see if anyone can help.

I cannot figure out what this guy needs. It has looked this way since I got it last summer.  Soil is not overly dry or sopping wet. I have checked the roots, they are fine. It gets the same treatment as all my other greenhouse citrus that are blooming now.  It is not dropping leaves, but has never put on a new leaf, and these leaves wont perk up. The leaves feel normal, noat wilted or dried out. It gets Osmocote, MiracelGro and foliar citrus nitritional spray just like all the others.
I am stumped...




 Thanks, Carolyn

I have a bunch of Malabar Chestnut seedlings, and am wondering - if I braid three together, will the roots get too crowded together?  They will eventually wind up in a 25 gallon pot.  I am hoping they will bloom/fruit in my greenhouse. Most of my fruit trees are in that size of pot, but there is only one per pot.

Thanks!
Carolyn

We are visitng Australia and I thought I would bring back some young finger lime trees in my hand baggage if I can find a place in the Sydney area that can issue me a phytosanitary cert for them.

Thanks!
Carolyn

I have two Pouteria campechiana in my greenhouse that are four years old. They seem to be growing well, but lately, the majority of their leaves are looking like this.
I am thinking it is a nutrient problem. 
Too much of something?
Too little?
They get Miracle Gro and Osmocote Plus. Lately, with the irrigation water getting into the greenhouse, the pot has felt a bit heavy. Too much water?
There are little specks that can be seen on the leaves, but there are no insects on them, even under a microscope. If it is something like spider mites (which I DO have in there in a very limited way), they are not showing themselves.  The white specks look like dandruff under the microscope.



Any assistance would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Carolyn

My greenhouse, Daintree Arboretum, is now a proud member of Botanic Gardens Conservation International.
Looks like the BGCI has a lot of awesome resources that I look forward to utilizing.
Plus, I got this really cool certificate!



Carolyn

https://www.bgci.org

I have a LOT of jaboticaba setting on right now, and boy are they yummy! 
However, I was getting tired of trying to suck the pulp off the seeds and began eating the pulp with seeds and all, and just sucking the skin dry.
I love the seeds' spicy taste!

But now my question is -
Is it actually ok to eat the seeds? Can't find any references, yay or nay...

Thanks!
Carolyn

These seeds came from Tradewind as Javanese Cardamom, which it obviously is not.  It is sort of a "branchy", "viney" thing, and the "berries" are these weird clumps.
Anybody recognize it???

Thanks!
Carolyn

Last year we doubled the size of the orangerie from 10x18 to 20x18.
The attached tropical house still remains at 15x20 since it is a kit and difficult to enlarge.
We had to rip out the old greenhouse deck and pergola to make room for the expansion, and just today, we finished the NEW deck and pergola, all except for painting.
Because we used half new wood and half from the old deck, we decided to paint it, so soon it will be a lovely sage green, using non-skid deck repair gunk.  It has been raining a lot lately, so everything needs to dry out before we can paint. 

So, if anyone is passing near Boise Idaho, come on over! We'll fire up the pizza oven (on the far right of picture, just past the bar...)!!!

Cheers,
Carolyn

So, I have some Spondias dulcis seeds that are coming up.
I planted one seed per pot. In one pot, I now have FOUR sprouts.
So, do I let them all grow?
Or select the strongest? If so, how big should they be before I cull?
I have six seeds, and the second seed has just sprouted (one sprout, so far...)

Guidance would help!
Thanks!

Carolyn

So, my back is killing me from having to dig out my greenhouse.
The bark mulch I have used for the past 10 years has - A) built up to the point it has lost me several inches of height, and B) it is decomposing into dust, which, when the fans hit it, blow the dust all over the greenhouse and coat everything.
Thank goodness for grandkids to help!
I am wondering what other folks use for flooring.  I have had poor results with gravel/rock because the floor gets SUPER hot in the summer, and SUPER cold on winter nights. Can't do concrete because my greenhouse is already full of plants.
The soil is clay, and I can't dig down deeper because it is situated under our maple tree to help with summer shade.
Does anyone use rubber matting, weed block (by itself, without bark on top), or any other surface I may want to try?
I have been thinking about used soccer field turf, or new indoor/outdoor stuff from Home Depot, rubber horse stall mats, etc. Or, maybe I just need bigger, better bark...
Our property is flood irrigated, so it will get an inch or so of water weekly in the summer.  It seeps in under the cinder blocks, it is not intentional. But it does keep the mice out!
So, what do you all use on your floor???

Thanks!
Carolyn

So, in my greenhouse I have a 175 gallon pond. I heat the water with a large aquarium heater so my tropicals don't freak out when they get watered.
When I don't fertilize, I just drop a sump pump into the pond and water away.
However, when I fertilize, I have to either use the same stuff and concentration for everyone and just dump the fertilizer into the pond, or I have to mix it by the gallon in watering cans and water 120 plants individually.
The problem is that all hose-end fertilizer sprayer applicators that I have tried will NOT work with something as low pressure as a sump pump.  The water just drizzles out the end of the sprayer while the sump pump overheats because the flow is restricted.
I would prefer not to have to buy a hugely expensive high-pressure pump.
Anyone know of a solution? Maybe a hose-end sprayer that works with low pressure pumps? The pump does not say how many PSI it generates and I have not been able to find the info online. It is a 1/3 HP pump connected to 40 ft of 1/2 inch hose. This gives me a little over 2 gallons per minute out the end of the hose.

Thanks!

Carolyn

Hi,
I am looking for spondias dulcis seeds, shipped to US.

Thanks!

Carolyn