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Messages - barath

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101
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« on: September 03, 2017, 03:16:19 PM »
They had some California Keitts at Monterey Market in the East Bay a couple days ago.  They weren't the really large ones, though.

102
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Artocarpus rootstock in California
« on: September 03, 2017, 03:12:56 PM »
I'm curious if anyone in California has figured out which Artocarpus is the most vigorous for use as rootstock.  Right now I'm growing seedlings of Jackfruit, Wild Jack, and Kwai Muk, and of the three Wild Jack (A. hirsutus) grows the fastest for me.  I haven't tried grafting any Artocarpus yet, and I've heard in general it can be a bit tricky, but I'm willing to try if one might be a good rootstock for some of the more rare Artocarpus species that generally don't do well in our climate.

103
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Nice size sweet flesh (Inga Xalapensis)
« on: September 03, 2017, 03:00:13 PM »
Looks great!  Two quick questions:

1. How does it compare to Inga spectabilis in size and in amount of pulp (if you have that species as well)?

2. Are the seeds of all Inga species edible when cooked, and do they all taste about the same?  Or is this one particularly good?

104
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Kwai Muk Artocarpus hypargyreus seeds for sale
« on: September 03, 2017, 02:57:12 PM »
How old is your tree?  It looks really nice, and I'm wondering how long it'd take to grow one to that size in Southern California.

105
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« on: August 26, 2017, 09:45:31 PM »
I found some California-grown Esquire Mangoes today at El Cerrito Naturals (East Bay) -- they were listed as Keitt offspring.  I hadn't heard of them before.  They are actually the first non-Indian mango I've gotten at a store with the Indian mango (pine-y) flavor, though not quite as sweet.

106
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone here from the Bay Area grows Cherimoyas?
« on: August 26, 2017, 08:35:08 PM »
For what it's worth, long time Redwood Empire CRFG member Florence Strange grew Cherimoyas in the hills of Petaluma:

http://www.crfg-redwood.org/july_newsletter.pdf

107
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone here from the Bay Area grows Cherimoyas?
« on: August 26, 2017, 06:45:13 PM »
Quote from: jbaqai on August 26, 2017, 03:01:24 AM
I think we (Bay Area residents) should get together sometime to share our experience , may be form a group for group purchases from Florida


If you haven't attended, you are most welcome to attend the Santa Clara or Golden Gate CRFG chapter meetings:

https://scvcrfg.wordpress.com/

http://www.crfg.org/chapters/golden_gate/index.htm

108
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Columbian Sapote 5 seeds for 10 USD /Quararibea cordata/
« on: August 25, 2017, 10:14:18 AM »
What do you pack the seeds in?  From what I remember, Quararibea seeds are very perishable and so will rot in shipping unless carefully packed.

109
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone here from the Bay Area grows Cherimoyas?
« on: August 24, 2017, 01:03:49 PM »
I know folks who grow Cherimoyas in the San Jose area.  It does seem to depend where you are -- parts of San Jose get only mild frosts each year whereas other parts get pretty severe frosts.  In the milder areas, you can get away with leaving them uncovered when they are mature -- they'll be damaged but grow back just fine.  In the colder parts you do need to protect them every winter, but a blanket, sprinklers, or some lights should be enough most of the time.

110
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Best Jaboticaba for Southern California?
« on: August 23, 2017, 01:09:49 AM »
Thanks everyone for the feedback.  I have a few Grimals I started from seed a few years ago in containers, and some other Jabos whose tags are missing.  I remember Red Jabo grew slowly when I had a small plant, but maybe I need to try again.

111
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Best Jaboticaba for Southern California?
« on: August 21, 2017, 10:12:45 PM »
What might be the best Jaboticaba varieties and/or cultivars for Southern California?  The main criteria for me, in order from most important to least important, are: productivity, flavor, fruit size, some drought tolerance, alkaline soil tolerance.

112
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Three Ingas
« on: August 18, 2017, 02:17:10 AM »
Quote from: fruitlovers on August 18, 2017, 01:22:23 AM
Quote from: barath on August 18, 2017, 01:17:49 AM
Oscar, any idea how I might get Inga spectabilis to grow upwards rather than outward?  I have one I. spectabilis that is growing really well, but it is much wider than it is tall, and the branches seem to want to spread rather than go up (I'm not seeing any upward-facing shoots).  I've pruned some of the low lateral branches, but it didn't make a difference.

Natural tendency of this tree is to form big umbrella shape. Just keep shortening the shoots that go horizontally, and eventually you will get upward growth.

Sounds good -- will do.

113
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing Mango trees in Southern California
« on: August 18, 2017, 01:19:38 AM »
Has anyone here bought any of La Verne's pre-grafted mangos and then grafted more varieties on those?  (Do they use their "Manila" trees as rootstock for their grafted ones?)

114
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Three Ingas
« on: August 18, 2017, 01:17:49 AM »
Oscar, any idea how I might get Inga spectabilis to grow upwards rather than outward?  I have one I. spectabilis that is growing really well, but it is much wider than it is tall, and the branches seem to want to spread rather than go up (I'm not seeing any upward-facing shoots).  I've pruned some of the low lateral branches, but it didn't make a difference.

115
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: When and where are California Keitt's available?
« on: August 17, 2017, 02:33:05 AM »
I got a number of California Keitt's last year that weren't very good, which was disappointing because in previous years they were excellent.  Anyone know if some brands are better than others?

116
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Three Ingas
« on: August 15, 2017, 10:41:56 PM »
Quote from: Solko on March 31, 2017, 02:30:19 PM
Quote from: 00christian00 on March 31, 2017, 10:28:40 AM
What is the most cold hardy Ingas?

That is a good question. I'd like to find out as well. Is it the Inga Uruguensis (Inga Vera)?

I am growing Inga uruguayensis, grown from seed from a tree in Montevideo, in Northern California.  It's a slow/weak grower.  On the other hand, I've grown several other Ingas -- Inga spectabilis (seed from Oscar) and some unknown Ingas and they all -- especially Inga spectabilis -- have been vigorous.  In unprotected spots here, in Zone 10a, they get a bit of cold damage in the winter but bounce back quickly in Spring.  The funny thing about it is that Inga spectabilis was a slow grower initially, but then took off once it got a bit bigger.

117
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Special Sweet Starfruit / Carambola seeds, 10 for 8 usd
« on: August 07, 2017, 09:51:18 AM »
Quote from: nimfasnursery on August 04, 2017, 10:39:32 AM
My favourite Starfruit💛 The colour is lighter and it is a lot sweeter than the regular Starfruit.
10 seeds for 8 usd


Sounds interesting!  How do you propagate this one?  If I remember right, starfruit isn't that true from seed.

118
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Capulin Cherry seeds available
« on: August 03, 2017, 11:33:02 PM »
Quote from: RiversOFT on August 03, 2017, 08:44:33 PM
Do you have to cold stratify seeds before they'll sprout ? I never have luck with that

I've grown them in the past without cold stratifying them and got good germination.

119
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing Artocarpus Hirsutus
« on: July 28, 2017, 12:24:44 AM »
I can't speak to its cold hardiness, but it's actually one of the faster tropicals for me.  Around here, with daytime temperatures usually in the low 70s F in the summer, my wild jack plants are putting out a new fairly large (hand sized) leaf each week.  (Well, the larger ones are -- the smaller ones are slow growing.)  That's pretty good for a tropical.  I doubt it could survive the winter unprotected here, but I don't plan on finding out.  If it's as hardy as normal jackfruit, I'll be happy.

120
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Best tasting Inga?
« on: July 20, 2017, 06:29:26 AM »
Quote from: arvind on July 20, 2017, 05:38:31 AM
Quote from: barath on July 20, 2017, 12:32:59 AM
Quote from: fruitlovers on July 19, 2017, 08:25:35 PM
I am growing the following species of inga, which i think are all correctly labeled:
edulis, vulpina, gauchil, fastuosa, cinnamomea, feuillei, spectabilis. Hope to get a few more to grow and compare. But too soon to tell you which is the "best" tasting. Hope to have a taste report in time to come. Right now i'm kind of especially fond of spectabilis, mostly because it is very large and has lots of good pulp. I just planted a windbreak row with all these different species, 4 of each species.

Great to hear.  I planted one Inga spectabilis I grew from seed from you -- it survived the winter here with some damage (in a spot that probably hit 30F or so this winter) but is growing well again.
how old and how tall is the tree?

It's maybe 2-3 years old now but I only planted it in the ground about 9 months ago.  It's probably 3.5 feet tall, but it's quite wide -- maybe 5 feet in diameter.  The branches are spreading out.

121
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Best tasting Inga?
« on: July 20, 2017, 12:32:59 AM »
Quote from: fruitlovers on July 19, 2017, 08:25:35 PM
I am growing the following species of inga, which i think are all correctly labeled:
edulis, vulpina, gauchil, fastuosa, cinnamomea, feuillei, spectabilis. Hope to get a few more to grow and compare. But too soon to tell you which is the "best" tasting. Hope to have a taste report in time to come. Right now i'm kind of especially fond of spectabilis, mostly because it is very large and has lots of good pulp. I just planted a windbreak row with all these different species, 4 of each species.

Great to hear.  I planted one Inga spectabilis I grew from seed from you -- it survived the winter here with some damage (in a spot that probably hit 30F or so this winter) but is growing well again.

122
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Best tasting Inga?
« on: July 19, 2017, 11:44:39 AM »
I've been curious what folks think are the best tasting Inga species / varieties.  I've tried a few different types but have never been sure about the differences in flavor between species, especially when grown in California.  And the labeling for this genus seems pretty bad -- most folks who I know who are growing it don't know the species.  Anyone have thoughts on which species produce the best tasting pulp?

123
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing Chucte (Persea schiedeana) Relative of Avocado
« on: July 18, 2017, 09:46:34 PM »
Quote from: druss on July 18, 2017, 09:10:19 PM
It will be interesting to compare the fruit from the seedling you have from Jay to Oscars one. I  wonder if he took seed from the best quality fruit in his research. Im guessing the one at ucl the crfg are talking about is either g755A aka martin grande, a rootstock of Guatemalan x scheideana parentage or G875 a persea listed as probably not P. Americana . It is assumed to be a persea Hybrid as well. This paper has some neat tables showing the relations between the wild sp and cultivars. UCL did used to have P. Scheideana as well.

https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article/94/5/407/2187292/Microsatellite-Markers-in-Avocado-Persea-americana

Yeah, that would be very interesting.  Here's what Julie Frink's email said:

"We have an avocado that it called G755C and is an avocado X Schiedeana that was going to be tried as a root rot resistant rootstock.  The tree gets huge, does flower, but hasn't had any fruit, at least in the last 22 years."

124
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing Chucte (Persea schiedeana) Relative of Avocado
« on: July 18, 2017, 11:52:13 AM »
Quote from: fruitlovers on July 17, 2017, 06:19:03 PM
Has anyone fruited chucte in Florida or California? Any photos?

I asked this question through CRFG and the only word that came back was from Julie Frink (who would know) that there is a tree that is thought to be a cross between Avocado and Chucte that has not fruited in the UC collection in Irvine.  There also were several trees of straight Chucte in the fruit tree collection at UCLA (back when UCLA had a collection), but I think all those trees were cut down -- I remember reading mentions of it in old California Avocado Society yearbooks.

125
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing Mango trees in Southern California
« on: July 11, 2017, 10:17:32 PM »
Quote from: spaugh on July 11, 2017, 04:22:26 PM
Quote from: barath on July 11, 2017, 12:59:51 AM
I can't speak to the effectiveness for mango trees, but for various subtropicals that need lower pH soils I have had great luck with tons of coffee grounds.  I guess I've had better luck with this than others have, because most folks I've suggested it to haven't found it to work as well, but I think it's because I use way more grounds.  I get them from coffee shops and give each tree a lot (during the growing season you can give each tree a 5 gallon bucket of grounds every couple weeks, mixed with a bit of tree trimmings / woody mulch to prevent it from forming a hard layer).


Opinions on this are all over the place.  It would be best to do an actual test of the PH of the grounds.  Using sulfer is a more surefire way to lower soil PH.  Or if you garden on a small scale, using RO water and PH adjusting the water with nutrients/buffers is best.

http://www.gardenmyths.com/coffee-grounds-acidifies-soil/


I do use sulfur, sometimes.  But I prefer coffee grounds because: 1) it builds soil organic matter, 2) worms seem to love it, 3) it serves as a mild, relatively balanced fertilizer, 4) it gently adjusts pH, 5) it's widely available, and 6) most importantly, it seems to work really well to correct the problems associated with high pH soils for subtropicals around here.

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