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Messages - Fruitguy

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76
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical Fruit Tree Poll
« on: April 06, 2013, 11:04:38 AM »
The southern third of the Florida Keys are quite amenable for growing breadfruit and there were a few large specimens growing there on my last visit several years ago.  There are (or at least have been) several fruiting breadfruit here in Dade County (Miami).  I planted one last year and it managed to come through our winter (43F was the low) with only some defoliation.

An 8-foot tall rambutan in a pot similarly made it through out winter, albeit in a somewhat protected location, so if we allow get rambutan trees large enough, I think they will be able to fruit here.  I think Paulette has a large male in-ground.

Durian don't like our soil (Phytophera), so accomodations will have to be made in that area in order to have a fighting chance.  I've not yet seen Durio k. here, nor anywhere else for that matter.  One day....

Pulasan will be a real challenge here.  Whitman had a air-layered tree 15 foot in circumfrence and about 10 feet tall that never even flowered.  His expert (I can't remember who) from Hawaii told him it would have to double in size before he got flowers and fruit.    Not sure why as there are smaller fruiting trees in PR, but perhaps it would have to be larger here to build up the necessary sugars?

Mangosteen - see Paulette!  :)

77
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Guess who?
« on: April 03, 2013, 09:23:53 PM »
Well I couldn't find any pictures of A. crassiflora or A. microcarpa, so those are my last two guesses.  I did like the A. cornifolia flowers as a suspect, but found multiple pictures.  :(

78
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Eating fresh picked Akee
« on: April 03, 2013, 09:03:28 PM »
I have never met any Cubans that have eaten it.  Jamaicans however frequently eat it and it is part of their national dish - ackee and saltfish.  If possible, I would encourage you to have a Jamaican show you how to harvest, clean and prepare it.  Or you could just send me a ticket and I'll be happy to show you!  :) ;)

79
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Eating fresh picked Akee
« on: April 03, 2013, 07:15:34 PM »
I'm not in Oscar's class, but I too have eaten fresh ackee.  It wasn't very exciting.  I much prefer them cooked.  To piggyback on Oscar's comment, make sure you remove all of the pinkish red strings inside.  They can sometimes "hide" underneath folds in the aril.   

80
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Guess who?
« on: April 03, 2013, 07:11:47 PM »
Annona globiflora?

81
I grow many types of fire chiles:
Scorpions (Moruga, Trinidad Butch T, Trinidad Chocolate, Yellow Moruga)
Bhut Jolokia (Red, Peach, Chocolate)
Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion
Carolina Reaper (just starting these)
Trinidad 7 Pot (Yellow, Jonah, Douglah)
Red Rocoto
Habanero (Roatan Pumpkin, Caribbean Red, Chocolate)
Yellow Mushroom
Chocolate Scotch Bonnet
Malaysian Goronong
Black Naga
Aji Lemon Drop
Naranja Picante
Devils Tongue
Trinidad Perfume (not a true fire chile but one with great characteristics that is great for blending when making sauces)

That is an impressive collection!  Do you grow them to eat yourself or just for the challenge?

82
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Durian Trees in South Florida
« on: April 02, 2013, 12:57:25 PM »
If you don't try, you are guaranteed not to succeed.   :)

83
If you come down south to Miami, I have several varieties I can share.

84
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: siriguela germination help
« on: March 21, 2013, 10:00:52 AM »
If you are talking about the Spondeas sp., then it may depend on your seed source.  Here in S. Florida the trees are mostly female (all?) and therefore set fruit without pollination, resulting in seeds that do not germinate.  Propagation is typically done by cuttings, which involves simply sticking the cutting in the ground and getting out of the way.

85
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is earthworm in pot a threat?
« on: March 20, 2013, 09:40:58 AM »
Here are a couple of websites with simple steps to build worm compost bins.

http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/easywormbin.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Worm-Compost-System

86
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is it a goner?
« on: March 19, 2013, 01:05:03 PM »
As I am not able to see the full size image at work (only a thumbnail), I cannot see how "fried" the leaves are, but if they are crispy, they are not coming back.  I would remove them immediately to lessen any further potential water loss. 

If the roots are healthy, there is a good chance that the tree will recover.

87
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: FL Gulf Coast Fruit Tour March 2013
« on: March 15, 2013, 07:59:51 AM »
If you are heading to the West Coast of Florida, I would recommend a visit to Naples Botanical Garden.  I was there recently and the landscape design is quite impressive.  http://www.naplesgarden.org/live_map.shtml   Fruit trees are interspersed amongst the various collections and in groupings as well.   The do have the 'Silas Woods' sapodilla.

88
Has anyone tried connecting to the www.borneofruits.com website displayed on the left-hand side of the page?  I was not able to get onto it, but it could be my settings here at work.

90
Hi Berns,

If you are asking about moving plants from the Philippines to the US, then you will need someone to act as an importer in the U.S.  There is at least one permit required (plant import permit - available from USDA) and possibly a second (quarantine permit) depending on the genus.  The first permit is obtained by filing out an application online (after establishing the recipient's identity) and if the second permit is necessary, a 2-year quarantine (no moving, selling or propagating the quarantined material) as well as a site inspection of the quarantine area are required from the State where the plants will be kept during the quarantine period.  Here in Florida, the State Department of Agriculture comes by every 6 months during the quarantine period to inspect the plants.  Once permit approval is accomplished, the plants must be pathogen-free and pass inspection by the USDA upon arrival.  When I brought in some plants from Thailand a few years back, they inspected every leaf and root on the plants I imported.  If any pathogens are found, the shipment is sent to be treated with some type of gas. 

That was my experience.  Perhaps it is a little different for nurseries, or maybe some on the forum have had different experiences.

91
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Looking for a Cecropia tree
« on: March 04, 2013, 08:23:00 AM »
If you can find a kind soul with a tree, these will propagate from large cuttings.  I got a 50% take on stems that were 2 feet long and 2 inches plus in diameter.

92
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pitahaya
« on: March 04, 2013, 08:15:37 AM »
Yes lots of possibilities.  but i think personally that dragon fruit isnt truly self-sterile, it just has good flower morphology to prevent self fertilization.  Do the people who have to hand pollinate ever get any fruit at all if they have a number of flowers that are not hand pollinated?

Fruit set is another area needing further research, despite all the work done by the Israelis and others.  I have some plants that have never set fruit with hand self-pollination and thus require cross-pollination.  Even the pollen source for cross-pollination has an influence.  Some crosses will not set fruit, which I assume is because the plants are too closely related.  Also the pollen source for the cross-pollination has an effect on the resulting fruit size.

yes this is why i find it so hard.  cactus taxonomy is basically bad at best, but seems Hylcoereus classification puts a lot of weight behind rib form and flower morphology.  I have keyed out plants to find they are wrong as to their description leading me to the belief the study is incomplete/under studied (usually the case with cactus) or that all the plants we have grown were hybrids, although we used to grow wild collect seed too and still have variation outside of descriptions. 

I think you have identified the root problem.  Since Hylocereus spp. cross so easily between one another, even wild-collected plants can be hybrids.  Some of the early work by Y. Mizrahi would indicate that the species cited in his research were based upon the names provided by the germplasm suppliers.  Later works cited the ID number in the Israeli collection.

Are PDFs allowed to be posted here if we dont own them or have permission?

Not sure.  If only one of our moderators was an attorney.....

You could always PM them to those interested in receiving them. 

here, no one really knows much about the taxonomy other than those in science parks, museums or schools.  market place has Chinese varieties but their origins are barely known and people here unfortunately dont keep records well for this kind of thing, so it is commonly just said undatus = white and poly = red, which isnt very accurate i agree.

Same here, and probably everywhere else.  Easy hybridization makes things very difficult.  Are you studying at the university or just interested in dragonfruit?

I never know about hormone treatment used with Hylcoereus, thank you for saying.  I have interest in inducing flowers in rarer cactus species which are harder to grow up form seed, so more flowers and seed better chance.

If you are at the university, I would recommend tissue culture for the rare species.  This works well for many Cactaceae species.


93
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pitahaya
« on: March 03, 2013, 11:10:11 AM »
here in Taiwan i am not sure if red/purple fruit are self fertile or if we have natural pollinators, but red here are commercially grown and no hand pollination.  Sometimes i wonder about hawk moths.

That is a good observation.  Moths, bats, some species of bees and even a butterfly in the Maduca genus are reportedly possible pollinators.  Another possibility is that the self-pollination trait has been cross bred into a red-fleshed type.

Red is usually said to be Hylocereus polyrhizus, not undatus.  they seem to hybridize OK.  but identification of Hylocereus genus seem very hard.

This is a very common misconception - identifying Hylocereus species based on the flesh color rather than the traditional morphological characteristics of the flowers and plant.  Looking at the original descriptions by Britton and Rose, they made no such distinctions. Some of the distinguishing characteristics related to stems used by researchers are number of spines (ranging from 0 to 8 or more per areole), distance between areoles, depth of the undulation between areoles, stem color, and those that apply to the flower are too numerous to list but include flower size, color, whether or not the stigmas are forked, etc.


Hylocereus also seem to flower based on photoperiod, so some farms can use lighting to try and control fruiting time more.  it is getting close to a 12 month season here.

Off-season flowering can be induced through the use of KNO3 or artificial lighting.  The former has been done by placing 75W incandescant bulbs between the rows for 2-3 weeks. The key is to insure that light strikes all surfaces of the plants.  If done successfully, flower buds will appear in less than one week's time after the lights are discontinued. The use of plant growth regulators can also be used to promote early flowering or to delay flowering.

I personally also notice huge variation in flavor based on dirt type.  you can almost taste the soil int eh fruit sometimes, so fruit grown near dirty areas often have horrible fruit taste i think.

Interesting observation.  Sounds like something worthy of further study. :-)

94
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pitahaya
« on: March 02, 2013, 08:09:53 AM »
Might have help if I included the link!   :)

http://www.fws.gov/international/plants/cacti.html

95
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pitahaya
« on: March 02, 2013, 08:09:15 AM »
My wife said that i better not get cuttings from USA without a phyto-report because you never know with the thai customs. Most of the time they are easy but if they want to give you problems (aka get money out of you)  then they sure have something when you receive a  plant with a phyto-report.

If you want to be totally above board, you might have to get a CITES permit as well.  I'm not well-versed in this area, but from what the link below indicates, the permit would be necessary for most cacti coming into or out of the U.S.

96
Excellent article link.  I was interested in this species years back due to its reported coconut flavor, but I never got around to growing it.   The USDA in Miami has a specimen http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1471514 and while this link indicates it is available for distribution, I wonder if it is currently so due to the laurel wilt?

Oscar is your plant grafted or is it a seedling?

97
Jay, I'm sorry for your loss.  Hopefully you will do better with the ladies soon! ;-)

I've noticed on my MIA-1 seedling that stems which ultimately have female flowers on them always (or nearly so) have a male on the end.  (I'll get on the pictures tonight.) Is that the case with other varieties?

98
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pitahaya
« on: February 28, 2013, 09:42:39 AM »
One should be able to get fruit from seed in about 4 years.

99
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pitahaya
« on: February 27, 2013, 09:34:17 AM »
http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/dragon/pages/Zamorano.htm

i really wanted to fruit this one years ago, as a newbie...and it got ravaged by the cold...much faster than the other varieties I had growing at the time...

has anyone tasted this one? or is anyone growing it?

Zamorano looks so dark red!!


I've got a couple of cuttings going that I got last year.  I could break you off a piece if you want to give it another go.

100
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Asian Culture Festival 2013
« on: February 27, 2013, 09:33:03 AM »
I'll keep an eye out for you.  I expect to be there about the same time.  I'll be at the Tropical Fruit & Veggie Society's fruit display.  I'll have a name badge on to make ID a little easier.   See you then.  :-)

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