The Tropical Fruit Forum

We call these iniaku here, pasu in Peru, and gustavia macarenensis in Latin.

It’s fatty, kind of salty taste.. thin flesh

Sorry I don’t have a photo, I might soon. So recently I was surprised a discarded black sapote stem that was discarded onto the soil of a potted black sapote as mulch or whatever stayed alive for maybe a couple months, still green I figured I’d toss it out of the container and up came a nice little root. So I figured black sapote take by cutting very easily.

Today I searched the internet and found nothing about black sapote cuttings so far. Besides some none experienced based questions of why not.

While grafting some black sapote today I figured I’d put the rootstock trimmings into some random unused pots with soil in them to see if they take as easily as the other one. I should wait a few months and post more content but I’m eager to pick brains of others. I’ll update this post if there is quality success.

So anyone have experienced with black sapote cuttings or noticed black sapote trimmings taking root before?

Check out these new plants we got!

https://youtu.be/WqWlLd7_5Zc

I have been having difficulty ripening plantains for consuming raw. We know to wait until they are black but usually the outer flesh is rotten before the inner flesh turns from starch to soft sweet juicy flesh.

Does anyone know if this is because of the variety being grown or if it is based on harvesting time or ambient humidity or available ripening gases in the ripening area?

Big thanks to anyone with a reliable clear answer to this!

We are building an army, all of the Amazon jungle will eat these fruits! Food for the people, social security via backyard produce, health insurance from organic fruit based food intake, avoid pollution and taxes with homegrown local abundance! Spreading the ideas with irresistibly tasty nectar of godlike quality, some of the best genetics known worldwide turning carnivores into caring lovers of nature! Anyone in South America that is looking for these genetics, feel welcome to contact us, during the coming years we plan to be giving these out to experienced people and nurseries. Terrafrutis.com

Hey there from Terra Frutis down in Ecuador! Summertime here!
I am using air Pruning Trays and Pots to encourage more adventitious root growth and less tap root, in the wet tropics we need to focus on stimulating flower sets, when there is a short dry season a fruit tree may not even be stressed enough to flower which means no fruit. A big factor that causes the plant to get stressed is the supply of water, tap roots go deep to get a reliable water supply while most of the surface adventitious roots reaching to the sides of the tree provide the nutrients from fallen leaves, fungus and hummus.
The roots dry in the air and respond ideally by producing more root growth near the source instead of at the tip like when physically cutting a root. The plants vitality is greatly increased with this process, in the photos are some young ackee trays and underneath a grafted green sapote pot.

Any thoughts, criticism or advice?

So after 2 days I am seeing water drops inside the grafting tape. It has been 4 days now. This is worrying me of course. Any thoughts on the cause and the risks? These are outdoor Some covered with bags some not, both have droplets. 12 mango grafts in total, 2 are already pushin growth. Suggestions for actions to take?   
Ecuador, mixed rainy sunny days, temps are avg 21 degrees C lows are maybe 16-17. Highs are mid to upper 20s. Y foto..

Hello, buenos días,

So we have some ant problems here, we have waited to determine if they were simply a pain to us and not the plants, but now after seeing various trees with many flowers and no fruits that have these ants on them and another type of tiny ant that local Ecuadorian people state damages the plants, we decided to look into our best options to deal with them!

So I have been looking into options so far it seems we have.

Borax and sugar
Baking soda and sugar
Trunk rings of tanglefoot or similar products and Vaseline
Ash
Diatomaceous earth
Soap
Boiling water
Fire
Cinnamon, garlic, cayenne (on a cloth or around base of trunk)
Chemical based Insecticides
Oecophylla longinoda Or weaver ants

Worst types of ants we have so far are leafs cutter ants, they will just chop off a young trees foliage overnight. cambas or tiny fire ants as we call them which leave no eruption but hurt and itch for half an hour or more and usually can't be noticed until many are on you and 10-20 stings can induce a fever, and apparently cause root damage. Black ants that make a termite like trail and molest the flowers beyond acceptable amounts.

We have Implememted a few of these options listed and are looking for something more long term and effective. We are wondering what personal experience people have with Oecophylla longinoda or green/weaver ants how bad their sting is vs their help in a orchard. The bite of green ants might be less than the cambas or black ants which would be worth trading out if they don't damage the trees. Does anyone know if green ants damage any specific trees? Or just help most fruit trees?

I know of a farm(dry climate) that has already imported them to Ecuador but are is a drastically different climate than us here in the humid tropics. I would also like to hear people thoughts on their invasive potential, it seems to me that green ants building a small to large nest is a easy target if they do get out of control. I read they are a great benefit for citrus, coconuts, mangoes and?

Thanks for your information.

So most of these papayas are doing well but every so often i see or pick one that has this skin damage or rotting going on.

Also something i have not figured out is what makes some papayas get tumor looking bumps while others have nice smooth skin?!

here is the video showing the papayas and the tree.
https://youtu.be/QDdlXyPqqqw

2 images each of the 2 most resiliant ground weeds i've been dealing with, I would love help identifying them and any information on suggestions for dealing with them, if they are good mulch etc, anything you know.  This is located in Ecuador 1900mm rainfall 700 meters elevation. Amazonian side of the andes south east Ecuador.







second subject:










any resources or pdf on weeds n plants of latin tropics etc are helpful. I have been searching online for these two all morning n macheting them forever!! 

Here is a video we made specifically for this post!
https://youtu.be/P-M6EbpzEmQ

Hey Everyone!
A group of People and myself have started a farm, Terra Frutis. We are trying to collect all the best fruits to grow in the tropics. Our hope by creating this video and post are to attract more similar minded people to start something similar, help us by getting their hands dirty, sharing information, sending seeds or financially donating. Our website www.terrafrutis.com has more information about us and at http://www.terrafrutis.com/starter-packs we have a seed wishlist. Green Sapote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pouteria_viridis Is a seed we are really hoping to find.

We are very glad to hear suggestions for seeds or strategies that you think can improve our situation. We are striving to live more and more sustainable in time and do the least damage meanwhile. We really appreciate reading through the website as a resource for information and look forward to contributing more soon. We have lots of land to work with and a decent seed collection so far, after roughly 1 year since starting most of our trees are still young. currently we have 10 people living and working on the land. There is climate info and more on the about us page of the website. I am glad to answer any questions anyone has and fill requests for trading seeds, videos etc.

-TF