Do you find that different cultivars of carambola fruit at pretty much the same time of year as each other?  I have a kari and am considering adding either a bell or sri kembangan if they have somewhat different times that they produce ripe fruit

Brad

White Sapote (Sue Belle).  Excalibur felt it was their best bet for productivity and taste.  I enjoyed the taste of a ripe Suebelle a few weeks ago when we were there. 





White Sapote (Redlands).  After reading so much about people having difficulty fruiting White Sapote in South Florida, I decided I'd better hedge my bets.  At Treehouse Nursery on Pine Island, one of the co-owners suggested that the Redlands and Suebelle were my best bet for fruiting in Southwest Florida. 





Jujube  (Thai Giant).  I was originally interested in adding an apple tree to my collection. However, I realized I would need two different trees (two of the following: Anna/Dorsett Golden/Tropicsweet).  That meant two apple trees, which would only produce apples that wouldn't compare to store bought ones.  Instead, I saw the jujube described as an apple type mild taste, and it was noted that they can even be eaten a bit early and sprinkled with hot pepper/sauce (asians like to do this; my wife is asian).  Plus, the jujube comes ripe in Dec/Jan, which is otherwise a quiet time for fruit ripening.




Sapodilla (Makok).  This supposedly fruits from May to Nov.  Small, sweet fruits.  A long fruiting season makes more sense as far as consumption by one family (or more likely one specific individual).  I liked the larger sapodilla cultivars such as Oxkutzcab, but that one in particular has a harvest of June/July, all coming ripe at that shorter window of time. 




Sapodilla (Alana).  This seemed like a logical companion tree to the Makok, as it supposedly fruits from Nov to Jun.  Year round sapodillas




Avocado (Doni).  I chose this for its mild smooth flavor (one of my faves) and its early harvest season.  It's basically one of the earliest, ripening in June.





Avocado (Miguel).  I chose this for its ripening time (Aug/Sept) and its larger size and commercial productivity. 




Avocado (Marcus Pumpkin).  I chose this because I was visiting Frank DeNardis' yard/nursery in Naples, and it just looked impressive, and I liked the fact that it produces huge round avocados.  Fruiting October. 




Avocado (Monroe).  I chose this for its flavor as well as large size, productivity, and the fact that it's the last major cultivar of the season (Dec to mid Feb)




Persimmon (Triumph).  I chose this one because of its good performance in south Florida, being productive.  Fruits Sept/Oct.




Persimmon (Winterset).  This appealed to me because of its Oct/Nov later fruiting.  After seeing pics of the fruit (larger, oval, yellow), it makes me wonder if it's a Tanenashi seedling.  The tree's leaves look sad, but perhaps that's how most persimmons look here in the heat of South Florida.  Hope it makes it.






Key Lime (true key lime, not limequat).  These are my two small key lime bushes/trees.  I will keep them small when they go in the ground, so I can protect them easier in the cold.  I think I will require two trees in order to enjoy lime in my water each day of the year   I enjoy the smell that the fruits and leaves give off.  Makes me actually enjoy drinking water.  However, I don't enjoy the efforts of the citrus leafminer.   Going to start spraying neem oil on the leaves every 2 weeks.




Miracle Fruit (2 different varities; one has larger leaves and slightly larger fruit).  Still trying to figure out the optimal water and sunlight for these. 




Lychee (Mauritius).  I like the funny shape this one has.  Recently pugged.




Lychee (Kaimana).  Imported from Hawaii.  Hope this performs as well as Harry's rave reviews




Lychee (Poamoho).  Imported from Hawaii.  My rarest tree.  A Hak Ip seedling from the Univ of Hawaii, supposedly excellent taste and productivity in Hawaii.





Lychee (Sweetheart).  This is my largest lychee tree, prob 4 yrs old.  It seems to have the "sweetheart" shape and not the "hak ip" shape.  Hoping it gives me the golfball sized fruit with chicken tongue seeds.




Lychee (No Mai Tsze/Chee).  Steve of Fruitscapes on Pine Island told me that these are excellent and actually fruit here in Southwest Florida, but just not every year. 




Lychee (Ohia).  Steve said these produce the best of the lychee cultivars on Pine Island.




Lychee (Groff).  I chose this because of its late fruiting season (July).  However, I'm not sure if it's going to stay, as I have only heard negative reviews of its taste and size, even though it's supposed to be productive in this area.




Atemoya (Gefner).   Before.  Tree was about 6' tall, 8' wide in this picture.  Strange, unbalanced shape.




Atemoya (Gefner).  After.  I pugged it at 24".  Two little buds are already starting, around 22" level.




Carambola (Kari).  Recently pruned.  I have been pruning this every few months, in order to establish a nice, full structure.





Jaboticaba (Sabarah).  Found this at a fruit festival for $40.  It's about 4-5' tall, and 5' wide.  It gets soaked with water daily.  Rich potting soil.




Jaboticaba (Red/Hybrid).  Picked this up at Pine Island Nursery.  It is growing fast.  Also gets soaked daily.





Longan (Biew Kiew).  Before.  It came down to either See Chompoo or Biew Kiew as far as tops with flavor and productivity.  One grower told me the See Chompoo is almost too sweet.  Another grower mentioned that the Biew Kiew is more productive in this area.  However, it apparently suffered from some drought due to my miscalculations.




Longan (Biew Kiew).  After.  Thanks to Oscar's suggestion, I pruned about 50% of the foliage off, and potted it up.  Fingers crossed



Pomegranate (Vietnam)  Not sure if this tree will stay.  Taste reviews have been pretty poor from fellow forum members and others I have spoken with. 




Not my yard, but a Wonderful Pomegranate seen at a local nursery.  This is one of the reasons I chose the Vietnam cultivar (to avoid the rot/fungus issues).   



Again, not in my yard, but an interesting cultivar of lemon

 

I would eventually like to have enough key limes to be able to use a few each day in ice water. Would one key lime tree provide an adequate supply for that?  I plan on keeping it in a bush shape and not letting it get more than about 6-8 feet (for ease of cold protection).

Brad

I just got a longan tree which doesn't look too healthy.  It's in too small of a pot, first of all.  I also suspect it went for a while without receiving adequate water and fertilizer, as it is from a nursery which had changed ownership in the past few months. 

I bought it several days ago.  To add insult to injury, it went through several days of nonstop rain and wind with the tropical storm here in south florida. 

Does this tree have hope, or does it look like it's on the way out?

Brad

Against better judgment, I purchased 2 white sapote trees recently. A couple of weeks ago when I visited Excalibur, I saw some fruiting white sapote trees and sampled the sue belle fruit.  It was very nice - moderately sweet and a hint of lemon/citrus. So I purchased a sue belle tree.

Today I visited treehouse nursery and I saw a row of small Redlands white sapote trees, some of which already had a few small golfball sized fruits on them.  That is how the second tree came into my possession.

However, I have not found much consistent information about the fruiting of these trees in my area.

For instance Charles Boning (in his Florida fruits book) shows the white sapote to be fruitful in southern Florida and recommends it.

A local grower on pine island who used to manage treehouse stated that he has never seen white sapote do well in the area.  He feels that the trees set deep roots and that the trees dont do well in areas where the water table is high, such as coastal areas.  But the current owners of treehouse say that the white sapotes fruit well here and that they just harvested a bunch of white sapotes which they are using for the seeds for rootstock.

Most people on this forum in southern Florida seem to have a hard time getting white sapotes to fruit. However, I have now seen mature fruiting trees at Excalibur and young fruiting trees at treehouse in Bokeelia.

Perhaps with my small yard I should just play it safe and plant both white sapote trees in the same hole

Any thoughts on the variability or discrepancies?

Brad

Can anyone give me an idea of the taste of a Geffner atemoya?  I have had a couple of Cherimoyas (one was at Harry's house from his friend in California, which was delicious, with nice tropical flavors but not overpoweringly sweet...when chilled, it reminded me of sherbert) (the other was a Pierce from Cherimoya.com which I found to be overpowering sweet, and I struggled to eat the entire fruit because it was candy sweet).

Thanks,

Brad

Anyone have experience with the Thai Giant Jujube?  How would you describe its taste? 

I'm trying to fill the gap, and wonder if anyone could give me ideas of when during these three months the following come ripe in south Florida:

Jaboticaba
Jaboticaba hybrid
Sapodilla Makok
Pomegranate Vietnam
Grumichama

Thanks!

Brad

Is this fungus / anthracnose?  I have 4 different trees, all different varieties, but they have different degrees of browning to the leaves.  Seems to be mostly on the mature leaves.  Trees have been fertilized, have had minor elements, and I believe they are watered properly.  They are all in containers.  I water them roughly every other day or so, and they are in full sun. 

Thanks,

Brad

I'm looking for about 5 jackfruit seedlings, to be used as rootstock for grafting.  Preferably with trunk diameter a bit smaller than a pencil.

Would anyone happen to have some, or know where I could obtain some in central or southern FL?

Brad

Has anyone had firsthand experience with the Vietnam variety of Pomegranate?  Is it truly everbearing, or does it typically bear one crop?  How hard are the seeds?  I typically eat the seeds from the supermarket poms - would the seeds be harder than those?

How well do they produce?  Do the fruits and leaves succumb to fungus?

Brad

I'm curious about any opinions as to which varieties of Mameys or Jackfruits might survive in a location that is barely in zone 10a in Osprey, FL (1/4 mile from Intracoastal waterway).  It is between Sarasota and Venice, FL.

I have been considering Mai 1 Jackfruit.  Or would Black Gold be more realistic?

I have also been considering Pace and Viejo Mamey Sapotes.

Any thoughts?

Brad