Here's an update of my Smith Red Valencia/blood orange. I still can't figure out if it's a true Valencia type orange meaning that it lacks the enzymes that makes Valencia oranges a great juice orange. Navel type oranges contain an enzyme or perhaps just have more of the enzyme that breaks down the juice. I've had this tree for about 2 years now and it's on dwarfing rootstock so it's only grown about a foot in height since I got it. I've never tasted the fruit before but it's definitely larger in size than Moro. It's also supposed to be sweeter with good pigmentation if weather is cool enough.

The fruit is about the size of a naval orange and the rind is just starting to get a red blush with the recent cold we've had. They just turned fully orange/red about two weeks ago and I have no idea when they will be fully ripe and sweet?

Simon

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to inform all those that were invited to Ashoks January Cherimoya tasting that the event has been cancelled due to unusual weather causing early fruit drop and improper ripening in some varieties. Please pass the word along as some that were invited do not frequent this forum. I was really looking forward to the event but the fruit would not have been representative for some of the varieties. I will post any additional information I'm made aware on this post. Thanks for your understanding and I wish everyone a safe and happy holidays.

Simon

I visited Leo today and he's still got some mangos hanging on his trees. He still has NDM, Keitt, Maha Chanok, #4, Kent and several others. His #4 seedling produces a very large and nicely colored fruit that weighs about 3 pounds approximately. His trees are all in great condition with flowers forming on some varieties.

I left with a couple also #2 and a two pound Keitt. The Leo #2 smells absolutely amazing and it has great color with yellow as the base and a sunset red blush. There are lenticels, otherwise this fruit can be as beautiful as a Maha Chanok ripened in the sun. The Leo #2 is an excellent tasting fruit with high Brix the last time I tested it. These fruit are not ripe yet but I'll get a Brix reading on them when they ripen up.

The large fruit Leo is holding is his #4.



Some shots of his trees









And some fruit I took home

I went out to my backyard just now to water my plants and noticed that my large Sweetheart Lychee tree is dying. I've had this tree in the ground about three years and it's been growing fine until today. The leaves are wilted and drying up and this came on all of a sudden. I love this tree and want to do everything I can to save it.

I have not fertilizer it for a couple months and when I do, I just give it kelp and fish emulsion so I don't believe it's fertilizer burn. I water it regularly the same way I've been watering it for the last three years so I don't think its the watering.

What else could it be? I'm thinking its some sort of disease or root issue. Can lychees get root rot? My soil is super healthy with lots of worms and organic matter.

The only other thing I notticed is that my Rosemary bush about ten feet away started to dry up in the same way and it is now dead. A cherimoya tree in between my Lychee and Rosemary is perfectly healthy as are all my other trees in the garden.

I did also notice a large colony of ants have taken up residence in the soil near the trunk of this Lychee tree. My neighbors have also been working on their yard and I wonder if they may have severed a main root. I'm really bummed as this is my favorite tree. I do have other Lychee trees but if it's a disease that's killing this Lychee, I'm afraid the others will be next. Anyone have dny guesses to what can be causing this?

Simon

Hello everyone, I just recieved a box of arguably some of the best cherimoya varieties to come out of California. You can see in the picture that each fruit is color coded with a sticker. The varieties I recieved are: green-Sabor, white-Campas, yellow-El Bumpo, orange-Fino De Jete, red-HoneyHart, red and white-Pierce. I also recieved some extra Longan, Jaboticaba and a green fruit i can't remember what it is at the moment. I'm super excited Cherimoya season has begun!

Simon

Hello everyone, thanks to clay for the heads up about Atkins nursery selling Cherimoya! I called them this morning and they said they had White cherimoyas so I drove by to purchase some. On the drive there, there were many many Opuntia cactus with fruit on the sides of the road but I was on a mission so I didn't stop to pick pads nor fruit, not this time at least!

Making my way up the dirt road, I saw lots of large fruit trees and also lots of potted fruit trees. Most their citrus were completely loaded with fruit. They have 10 acres of trees but I only took a quick tour around their main areas.

As I walked myself under the canopy of trees, I felt like I was in Paradise. It was extremely peaceful feeling the cool breeze and hearing twigs snap as I made my way through their tropical fruit jungle. There were many roosters and hens scratching for feed around the property which gave the sense of feeling like I was back in Asia.

To me, the Nursery was a bit unorganized. If you want to find something, definitely give them a call ahead so they can show you around to whatever trees you are looking for. I was really focused on Cherimoya today so I was super excited to find many large producing cherimoyas trees close to their fruit stand. They do not hand pollinate but they have lots of fruit because their trees are mature and I'm sure the bugs on the property are enough for pollination.

Here are some pictures of a few cherimoya trees and a shot from beneath the canopy.

Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone has updates on their multiple rootstock mango tree? My multiple rootstock Maha Chanok was growing fine but the second rootstock died after 1 year. There was good healing but my grafting cuts were horrible and in hindsite, both rootstocks I used were much too mature and this is what I'm attributing my failure to.

I feel that multiple rootstock Mango trees are under utilized, especially here in California were Mangos don't grow as fast as in areas like Florida. The benefits of multiple rootstocks are reported to be increased precosity, increased growth but with dwarfing effect on size, inhibition of alternate bearing, increased yield, possible increased disease resistance and for those that live in hurricane prone areas, I would assume multiple rootstocks have better resistance to high winds and uprooting of trees.

I know that there are several people out there with multiple rootstock trees and I was wondering how they are doing? Do you notice a difference in growth rate or a difference in the structure of the tree? Are any of your trees bearing yet? Please feel free to post anything relating to multiple rootstock technology including pictures, techniques, links. Thanks in advance!

Simon

My friend has attempted to grow an Avocado tree multiple times over the past 8 years or so without success. He would plant a grafted store bought avocado into his soil and they would all eventually get brown leaves which fall off before the trees died. I believe he killed 5 trees before giving up. He tried planting different varieties from different retailers but they all eventually died. He lives on the side of a canyon that gets windy and perhaps his soil may be high in salts, I'm not sure.

Anyways, about three years ago, I suggested to him that he plant some avocado seeds directly into the ground in the spot where he wanted his avocado tree to be. He planted a single seed, I would suggest planting at least three, and several months after the seed sprouted, I grafted it for him with Hass scion. The original seedling was extremely vigorous before I grafted it and I believe this is the main reason the graft successfully took.

One year after the graft took, the plant was growing extremely well so my friend was a little sad when I suggested he topped his tree to promote lower more lateral growth as Hass trees are extremely vigorous, not to mention his rootstock was a seedling so it has a tap root.

Now, approximately 3 years from planting the seed, his tree produced a nice crop of about 20 Avocados. We first harvested one avocado about two weeks ago and it ripened perfectly so we harvested another 10 yesterday.

I just wanted to post this success story to motivate others out there that desperately want an Avocado tree but has failed in the past. Please try one more time with this technique and I can help you along. Start by planting 3-5 seeds in spring when the soil has warmed. If you plant the seeds early enough, you can graft it the same year. We got lucky with our one seedling graft but if I were to do it again, I would have my friend plant more seeds in case the graft fails.

My friend was so excited about this success that last year he planted a Reed Avocado seed several feet away from this Hass and he grafted this Reed Seedling with an actual Reed scion and it took. The Reed scion has since pushed a lot of new growth and you can kinda see it to the left of the Hass in the picture although the Hass has grown around the Reed.

Please feel free to post here if you've had a similar experience or if you need help.

Simon

Here is an update on Frankies Red. It ripens in between regular DF and the S. Megalanthus yellow DF. The fruit are similar size to the megalanthus. They start to turn from a green to yellow to orange to red color as they ripen. I picked one that just turned from yellow to orange and it was only 16% Brix yet it had great sugar acid balance, this fruit is definitely very tasty. It has more of the S. Megalanthus flavor profile than the red or purple DF. The flesh is also more firm which make it taste exceptional.

My second Frankies red was harvested when it just turned from Orange to Red and it was much sweeter with a Brix of 18% but it tastes just as sweet if not more so than my purple DF with a Brix of 21%. This fruit that was picked when just red also had a better flavor to it than the one picked orange. I only have a few more left but I will also get a Brix reading from a FR that is fully red and ripe in the coming days. I highly recommend this variety due to its flavor profile, crisp texture and the fact that it fills the void between regular DF and the Yellow DF.

The short comings of this variety is that it has thorns that easily brush off when the fruit is ripe and the fruit ison the small side.

Simon

Hello Everyone,

After tasting the infamous Lemon Zest, I can't stop thinking about how amazing it was. I already have two decent sized grafted trees but now I'm also multigrafting LZ onto some of my other mango trees. In addition to this, I have planted out a LZ seed and intend to grow out all sprouts to see what I get.

I would like to know if others are growing out any LZ seeds and how many sprouts you got from each seed? Did some have multiple sprouts that eventually died ? How are your seedlings doing now? Do the seedlings have that curvy look to its leaves? It would be great if we can use this thread to track the progress of all the LZ seedlings out there all the way to fruition.

Since LZ is polyembryonic, I would like to keep track of each sprout from a seed so that we can document wether the dominant or smaller sprouts eventually have fruit that tastes like the parent. I only have one LZ seed to work with but I'll use this thread to track its progress. So far, only one sprout has emerged. I'll post a picture in the coming days.

Simon

I recently ordered 100 (I only received 92)miracle fruit from an online company based in Florida and was surprised at the size of the fruit when I received them.  They were extremely large, the largest were about the size of a penny but not as wide. This is about double the size of the fruit from my trees. I was really excited to try them out so I popped one and sucked on a lime but the lime was not very sweet. There was also some residual tartness but just a hint.

I figured I had a bad berry so I waited several hours and tried another berry with the same results. The fruit worked well enough to make strawberries and blueberries taste amazing but they are definitely not as strong as the ones I grow. I squeezed some lime juice into a glass and topped it off with ice and water and the large miracle fruit only took the edge off the tartness and sweetened the lime water slightly. When I do this with my miracle fruit, it tastes like the sweetest limeade I've ever had.

I've tried my miracle fruit next to these commercial ones and mine are definitely more potent. Does anyone know why this happens? I figure it's because they pump them up with a lot of water and this dilutes down the active glycoproteins?

Here are a few pictures of some of their smaller fruit next to some regular sized fruits from my tree. I ate all the larger fruit (ordered online)first and didn't think to take pictures but they were much larger than the ones in this picture. Thanks,
Simon

I just visited Namaste Plaza in Mira Mesa and saw that they have Indian Alphonso Mangos for $3.00 a fruit or $23.00 for a box. I bet some of the other Indian markets will have them available as well.
Simon

Hello everyone,

I stopped by H Mart yesterday and noticed that they now have Lychees available. They are from Mexico and appear to be the Mauritius variety. These were horrible! They were very tart and had a relatively large seed. There were only about two fruit in the whole box that were properly mature with filled in shoulders and these were quite good. Every year, I pick up a box of the first Lychees of the season hoping that they will be good but I have never ever had good quality early season lychees. I think the packing houses just pick the fruit early so that they can get increased sales. If you like tart and low sugar, you may like these but otherwise I recommend you pass on them. These Lychees have no "Lychee flavor", by this I mean the rose scent and flavor of a good variety picked at the optimum time. If you happen upon any good Lychees, please keep us informed! I can't wait for the good Lychees to come in!
Simon