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Topics - simon_grow

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mangos from Leo's yard and Mango tree talk

« on: November 03, 2015, 08:00:55 PM »

I just visited Leo and he's still got lots of Mangos hanging on his trees. Some of his clusters of fruit were so heavy that I'm surprised it didn't snap the branch. Some of his clusters must have had about 10 mangos and they weren't small mangos. There were lots of mangos hiding in the canopy but are clearly visible if you up from under the tree.

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Harvest from my yard in San Diego

« on: October 30, 2015, 02:37:24 PM »

Here are some fruit I harvested from my yard recently, most were harvested today. Booth and El Bumpo Cherimoya, Simons Purple, American Beauty, Halleys Comet, Vietnamese, Yellow Dragon and Frankie's Red Dragon Fruit, Maha Chanok Mango, Angel Red and Parfianka Pomegranates, Meyer Lemons and Kohala Longan.

Ripe on the tree but not shown in pictures are Carrie Mango, Key Lime, Tango Tangerine, Eureka Lemon, Miracle Fruit, Seedless Guava and Asian Black and San Diego Yellow Sugarcane.

Ripening soon are Behl, Dr White, Selma, Honeyhart and more Booth Cherimoya, Golden Nugget Tangerine and more Maha Chanok Mangos and some nubbin Lemon Zest Mangos that taste tangerinish and very sweet although they are only the size of Manilla nubbins.

This list does not include any fruit that I planted in my friends, family nor neighbors yards.

Simon

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Looking for large Grimal Jaboticaba in SoCal for multiple rootstock experiments

« on: October 02, 2015, 01:05:27 PM »

Does anyone know where I can find and purchase a larger Grimal Jaboticaba down here in SoCal? I'm starting work on multiple rootstock Jaboticabas and would like a larger tree to harvest fresh scion from, preferably one that is fruiting, I know probably one in a million chance of finding one here.

Also I would be interested if you have a plant and are willing to sell me some scions. I plan on growing out many seedlings that are tolerant of our high pH soils and horrible city water and then approach grafting about 4-5 of them together and ultimately grafting the Grimal on top. I will also try to approach graft multiple seedlings onto a Grimal.

I want to create a very precocious heavy fruiting Grimal that can thrive in our soil and city water. I'm also curious to see if multiple rootstocks will increase the size of the fruit.

I know that Grimal is already relatively precocious and I will get better information if I worked on a variety that takes much longer to fruit but I want to work with Grimal because from what I've read, it is one of the best tasting varieties.

I don't even have seedlings going yet but I'm in the early planning stages and want to have everything lined up before I get started. I'm trying to avoid tissue cultured plants because I want a taproot. Thanks in advance!

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Which two of these mango varieties to plant in ground?

« on: September 20, 2015, 01:13:45 AM »

I'm starting to really get into Mangos and decided that I will be removing one of my Pomegranate trees and an Avocado in order to make room for two more Mangos. I currently have three Lemon Zests, Edwards, Carrie, Alphonso, Spirit of 76, Nam Doc Mai, Glenn , Maha Chanok, Coconut Cream and a multigrafted tree of Imam Passand, Nam Doc Mai, Pineapple Pleasure, unnamed Thai Mango, Mallika, Lemon Zest and regular Kesar.

I recently grafted ( double and single rootstock) trees of these varieties and need to select two to put into the ground. I have : J-12, Gary, Ugly Betty, Sweet Tart, Venus, DOT, Dupius Saigon, Julie, St Maui, Jumbo Kesar. I may also consider putting two trees into each hole instead of multigrafting. Which two varieties would you plant? Thanks

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Induction of flowering in Mango through Smudging

« on: September 15, 2015, 09:56:55 PM »

Just wondering if anyone has tried Smudging their Mango trees to induce flowering or for an early crop? I would assume smudging is not permitted in many municipalities but perhaps members in other countries have tried it.
http://www.academia.edu/3012221/FLOWERING_MANIPULATION_IN_MANGO_A_SCIENCE_COMES_OF_AGE

Simon

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Looking for Ice Cream Mango scions

« on: September 08, 2015, 06:33:12 PM »

Hello everyone,

I recently had the pleasure of trying the Ice Cream Mango and it tastes fantastic with a depth of flavor that is very sophisticated and hard to describe. I live in San Diego and the Florida rootstock does not perform well in my climate and that is why I'm looking for scions instead of trees. I have heard that Ice Cream is very slow growing and prone to disease so I plan on performing Double Stone Grafting on any scions I can get. I feel that the double rootstocks will help with increased vigor, fruiting and possibly disease resistance. I plan on using one Manilla rootstock and one Keitt rootstock. I'm looking for scions that are approximately 3/8 inch in diameter and will need shipping to San Diego, California. I would gladly pay for the scions and shipping. Thanks,

Simon

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Giant Yellow Dragonfruit seedlings

« on: September 03, 2015, 02:48:57 AM »

Hello everyone, I was looking for cuttings of the giant Yellow Dragonfruit(S/H Megalantus) for the longest time and I couldn't find any so I acquired some seeds from Leo and others and planted them out. See http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=5193.0.

The seedlings sprouted many months ago but they grow at a snails pace so they are only about an inch or two long. I have two extra seedlings up for grabs( free) for local pick up in San Diego only. For those of you in Florida, I am growing out my seedlings to a larger size and I will ship some free cuttings to Floridians once the plants are large enough. Please pm me for those of you interested in local pick up.

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Socal grown Glenn's and Maha Chanoks not bland

« on: September 03, 2015, 02:11:48 AM »

I just cut open a small Glenn mango and it tasted like it smelled, amazing! I only got five mangos from my small tree and I don't water my tree very much which probably explains the small size of the fruit and the concentrated flavor. The Glenn left on my counter to ripen for a couple days smelled extremely aromatic and sweet. I cut it open when it was still pretty firm because the anthracnose on it was pretty bad, I had tomatos growing into the Glenn. The Glenn had a Brix of 21%, another one from my yard a couple weeks ago was only 17% Brix and was not as tasty. The earlier Glenn was picked early because it had really bad sap burn.

My Maha Chanok also had a Brix of 21% and it was sweet but the flavor was very subtle and creamy in Edwards fashion. This is the first Maha off my tree and it's the smallest fruit. I have several more on the tree that are much larger and much more S shaped. I don't water my fruiting mango trees much and my soil has heavy clay and rocks. It seems that minimizing the amount of water we give our fruit bearing trees really hikes up the Brix and concentrates the flavor. Downside is that if we get heavy rains, the fruit may crack.

Simon
The Glenn had an aborted seed, picture of two different Glenn's from my yard

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Micro air layer and micro softwood Approach Tongue Graft

« on: August 13, 2015, 04:39:20 PM »

After reading this article: https://books.google.com/books?id=49PB5MhHqkcC&pg=PA41&lpg=PA41&dq=micro+air+layer&source=bl&ots=cbPnMzFsrh&sig=XQL-ItWGYheUx-Lrq1YJ1YEEceY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDcQ6AEwBmoVChMIkbv69LOlxwIVT1qICh3BfAAb#v=onepage&q=micro%20air%20layer&f=false

It got me to think what is the smallest air layer you have done or seen? I have a No Mai Chee and Hanging Green AKA Kwa Luk Lychee that is in the ground and growing but it is a slow grower. I would like to make micro air layers as an insurance policy in case something happens to my trees. The article says that air layers on branches as thin as 5mm have been created with success, has anyone tried this? For Lychee, do I have to use brown wood in order to scrape the cambium and phloem off? I would believe it's nearly impossible to scrape the cambium and phloem off of a small diameter green Lychee branch without killing it.

A couple years ago, I experimented with grafting Watermelons onto disease resistant rootstock and during my research on the subject, I learned that a Z shaped graft was relatively easy to perform on soft green vines. I decided to see if I can use this type of graft to approach graft a Lychee Seedling onto my No Mai Chee Lychee that is in the ground. The seedling was only about three inches tall and about 1-2 mm thick so it was a lot more difficult to make the cuts than I expected. I selected a green branch of new and active growth from my NMC and grafted the two plants together. About 2 weeks after the micro graft, one side of the grafted portion of the scion had died but the other half is still alive. The seedling is also still alive and pushing new growth.

I will leave this graft for another couple weeks and then make a cut below the graft of the in ground parent tree so that the scion will be less defendant on the mother tree. One week later, I will complete the cut to remove all depandance from the mother tree. This technique is adapted from shramajeevi's grafting videos.
Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / August 2015 SoCal Mango tasting

« on: August 11, 2015, 12:03:47 AM »

Hello everyone,

I had one of the most perfect days in my life today! Thanks to JF, Peter, Leo, Jim and Mark among others for coordinating and contributing their knowledge and fruit on this absolutely beautiful San Diego day. We had a fruit tasting at Peters amazing Park Hills Orchard and the fruit spread was amazing! We had Mangos, Lychees, Cherimoyas, Jaboticabas, Sapodilla, Starfruit, Dragonfruit, Passionfruit and probably others I can't remember. Peters Orchard has just about every type of top tier fruit imaginable and more importantly, he has made every effort to acquire the best tasting varieties of each type of fruit. His orchard had so many fruit trees, I just gave up on taking pictures aside from the few I took in the beginning of the tour. I'm not even going to touch on the stone fruit he has, it was overwhelming is all I can say.

Well, its getting late and I have to work early tomorrow so I'm going to cut to the chase now and post the Brix readings of the Mangos that we tried today. As per usual, I have to mention how difficult it is to pick fruit early and try to have them all ripen on the same day. Some fruit were picked early, some were over/under ripe. This is somewhat of an early season mango tasting and I feel that some of the mangos will taste better as the season progresses. There were also many local varieties of mangos that were not on the tasting table because they are not ready for harvesting yet.

Tropical Fruit Discussion / SoCal Hak Ip vs Sweetheart Lychees

« on: August 06, 2015, 12:42:33 AM »

I visited Leo Manuel today and he was kind enough to offer me a bunch of Brewster Lychees and also a few of his Hak Ip and Sweetheart Lychees. His Hak Ip and Sweetheart were much less fruitful than his Brewster which was completely loaded from the top to bottom with fruit.

His Lychees were planted in different parts of his yard and his Sweetheart is much larger than his Hak Ip so it's not really comparing Lychees to Lychees. The color of the leaves were slightly different but I feel it was due to being planted in different parts of the yard, age of tree, etc... I noticed that even on the same tree, the size, shape and color of the leaves can be drastically different from each other. Even the fruit from the same tree can be drastically different. Leo's Sweetheart Lychee had a few super small fruit that were about the size of a Groff but it was fully red and on the same tree, he had one fruit that weighed 49 grams and had a unique flattened heart shape very much like some of the pictures of Fei Zhi Siu from Australia.

I harvested two Hak Ip fruit and four Sweetheart fruit. The Hak Ip had an average weight of 38.1 grams and had an average Brix of 17.5%. The Sweetheart had an average weight of 36.4 grams, I only weighed 3 of 4 Sweethearts because one fruit was bad and I only used it for a Brix reading and to observe seed size. The sweethearts had an average Brix of 19.75%.

As far as taste, they both tasted the same to me even though they had different Brix levels. They both had a slight honey taste to them and I detected some Tannin taste in both varieties. Both had a medium level of Lychee/Rose flavor. I believe both varieties were harvested a bit past their prime. They both had relatively low production this year although the Hak Ip is much smaller than the Sweetheart.

In conclusion, I don't know for sure wether or not these two varieties are the same and probably the only way to find out is through sequencing their DNA. In my opinion, they are the same or at least they are so similar that I can't tell the difference.

When looking at these pictures, the color of the fruit is quite different but the differences in color can be attributed to the difference in growing conditions, age of tree, exposure to sunlight and everything else I touched upon above.

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Fruit sightings in San Diego

« on: July 02, 2015, 04:00:16 PM »

Hello everyone,

The Indian Mangos are finally showing up in San Diego. Miramar Cash and Carry has Excellent quality Kesar mangos that are in excellent condition. They are mostly yellow with some fruit having some green and they are not overly mature nor wrinkly. I just cut one open and it is insanely delicious, the best Kesar I've had in the last three years with a Brix reading of 21% near the skin. I'm starting to take Brix readings from juice near the skin as someone pointed out that it is the sweetest near the skin which I have found to be true except for unripe fruit.

Trader Joes has excellent Brewster Lychees grown in Mexico and they retain the wonderful Rose/Lychee flavor and aroma. Brix at 19%. TJs also has organic Cotton Candy grapes.

Most places have good Kent's, the smaller cheaper ones have Brix around 18% and the larger ones with filled out shoulders have Brix around 19-20%.

If you happen to see any good quality fruit around, please post here with the information.
Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Double stone grafting for Mango

« on: June 25, 2015, 03:00:59 PM »

Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone has attempted double stone grafting and what was your success rate? Here is an excellent video that talks about different grafting techniques and double stone grafting is at 19 minutes and 20 seconds. Somebody else on this forum posted it in another thread and thus is one of my favorite grafting videos: https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=19m18s&feature=youtu.be&v=hzBerXm1WCY

Multiple rootstock technology: http://www.philstar.com/agriculture/252796/promise-multiple-rootstock-technology?nomobile=1
Seems the key is to use seedlings with copper colored leaves because the seedling will still be relying on the seed for growth. I performed several double stone grafts about ten days ago and I should know whether I was successful or not in the next two weeks. One of the buds is already pushing out but that is because I only have limited scions to choose from and the buds were a bit over mature for my preference but there are smaller buds lower down the scion.

According to Bernie Dizons website, http://www.dizonexoticfruittrees.com/ref/technology.htm the multiple rootstocks is supposed to promote faster growth. Multiple rootstocks are also supposed to increase yields and inhibit alternate bearing.

This technique may be especially beneficial for anyone pushing the boundaries for where mango can grow. My trees purchased from Florida seem to grow very slowly, even after removing fruit every year for four years. I believe the double rootstocks and the fully intact tap root will help my double stone grafted trees grow with a lot more vigor.

You can see the double rootstocks at the base of the plant.

Edited to add link to multiple rootstock grafting
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=109.25

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Lychees in San Diego, possibly Kaimana

« on: June 19, 2015, 02:34:49 PM »

Hello everyone, there are about six different varieties of fresh lychees available in San Diego right now. Below is a picture of three of the varieties I found today. The smallest is an unnamed organic variety, very small fruit with tiny seed, she'll color I'd green with varying degrees of red with prominent sharp bumps. The flesh is the juicy type and this lychee has an acidic component like Mauritius and this variety has absolutely no Lychee/rose flavor or scent and has a low Brix of just 13%. Don't even bother with this variety as it is horrible.

The second largest are some small Brewsters which have excellent Lychee/rose flavor and smell. These were from Trader Joes and are very fresh. They taste great with no acidity and are very sweet with a Brix of 19%. These are definitely worth buying. The Lychee/rose flavor is fleeting and may be gone by tomorrow so get them today if you can.

The largest variety was an unnamed variety also from Lucky Seafood. At first glance, I thought they were Real Hak Ips but quickly realized they were not because of the color and the strange amount and location of some sharp bumps. Unlike many other varieties, this Lychee has smooth bumps all the way around the fruit except on the upper one side of the fruit, there is a very small line of sharp, unflattened bumps. This was a large fruit with a relatively small seed and the flesh was very sweet with a Brix of 20%. There was not really any detectable Lychee/rose flavor, instead it had a nectar like floral note which reminded me a bit of Nam Doc Mai Mangos. The shape of the fruit was identical to Kaimanas I've seen on the internet so I did a Google search for pictures to see if Kaimanas have that ridge of sharp bumps and I was surprised to find that they do so this leads me to believe these are Kaimana Lychees. Definitely worth purchasing. Can anyone confirm that your Kaimana Lychees have this thin line of Sharp bumps on the top shoulder of an otherwise flattened bump fruit?

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Banganpalli Mangos

« on: June 17, 2015, 07:47:42 PM »

I just recieved a box of Baganpalli Mangos from India and they taste fantastic! I took a bite and the flesh was fiberless and very sweet. Then, I pulled out my refractometer to test the Brix and was very surprised that it only tested at 16% Brix! Most the mangos I consider sweet are more in the 20+% range. I thought I took a bad reading so I calibrated my refractometer and took another reading and got the same result.

If you like a strong resinous Mango like the Kesar and Alphonso, you'll probably like this Mango. This Mango has much more resin taste than a Bombay, Kesar and Alphonso. This mango is also very juicy! An excellent strong flavored Mango!

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / What variety of Lychee is this?

« on: May 10, 2015, 01:14:49 AM »

What variety of Lychee does this look like to you? I purchased these from the local Asian market for $5 a pound and they are from Mexico. The flavor is good and they are relatively fresh. The points or bumps have not flattened out and they are ripe although they could have been left on the tree a couple more days to fully sweeten up. Slight Lychee flavor with the riper fruit having more of a honey nuance. This is a water type lychee with high percentage of small and chicken tongue seeds. There is a lot of rag on this variety and a slight tannic flavor. Fruit size is medium/large.

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Florida Mango trees planted in California

« on: May 04, 2015, 10:21:35 AM »

Hello everyone, I'm looking for pictures of large Florida grafted/purchased Mango trees that are grown in California. Most of my trees are grafted trees purchased from Florida and they grow slowly. Even when they do grow with some vigor, the new growth is droopy and not strong and erect. I've seen some Florida grafted trees grown by well known and respected members of the CRFG and their grafted trees are dwarf compared to seedlings they grow and later grafted.

I would like to see pictures of large vigorous mango trees on their original rootstock. I'm sure there are some with nice large growing trees but I'm interested to see how many there actually are. If it turns out that very few people in California have large vigorous trees on Florida rootstock, we may want to consider an alternative method of growing Mangos here.

Please feel free to provide any pictures, thoughts, insight or ideas.

I'm thinking that I will be planting a lot more mango seeds directly into the ground and grafting them at the appropriate time. Thanks in advance!

Simon

Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Anti cancer Ashitaba, Angelica Keiskei

« on: April 17, 2015, 11:33:12 PM »

Is anyone growing this vegetable from Japan? I've never heard of it until recently and there are claims that it has some anti cancer properties.

My friends mom has cancer and I'm looking for any plant, fruit, vegetable, herb that might help her beat the cancer. She's already had chemo and radiation. Of course I will ask her to speak to her doctor before trying anything but this veggie seems promising and very benign.

It appears that the main active compound is chalcones and I've read that chalcones are found in multiple various plants but I'm assuming Ashitaba, Angrlica Keiskei may have higher concentrations or that it has been studied more. Please share any info you have on this plant as well as any other anticancer plants that are efficacious against cancer.

Here's a few links:
https://mdpi.com/1420-3049/17/6/6179/molecules-17-06179.pdf
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m7-S4QlRPco

Tropical Fruit Discussion / 2015 SoCal Mango bloom updates

« on: April 16, 2015, 08:12:14 PM »

Hello everyone, here are some updates of the blooms and initial fruit set on some of my mango trees. My oldest mango tree has been in the ground for about 3 years but all my trees are very small and slow growing. My trees are in heavy clay and rocks. This year, I will be planting mango seeds directly into the ground and grafting onto them so I can compare the growth rate to the grafted trees purchased from Florida which I presume are mostly grown on Turpentine rootstock. I will also attempt multiple rootstock mango trees directly planted into the ground and grafting onto them later.

In all these three years, I have only harvested on Nam Doc Mai mango which later died. My Mango trees bloom every year and hold small fruit which I remove when marble sized. My oldest mango tree, a Glenn has been in ground for three years now and is only about 3.5 feet tall and wide. It is partially shaded. I think I've waited long enough and this year, I will let it hold one fruit. I will be removing fruit from all other mango trees. About half of my mangos with blooms or small fruit are recent grafts and although I'm sure it could probably hold one fruit to maturity, I'm removing the fruit so that the energy will be diverted to more vegetative growth. Please feel free to post updates of your mango trees here.

Simon
Pineapple Pleasure, recent graft

Unknown Thai Green Mango

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Best way to trellis Yellow Dragonfruit?

« on: March 01, 2015, 11:29:29 AM »

Yellow DragonFruit grows differently compared to other DF varieties. They do not attach to posts as well as other DF and it is more difficult, in my experience, to form it into the typical DF tree shape because it seems that apical dominance may not play as large a roll as in other DF varieties. For example, I grew my Yelliow Dragonfruit straight up a post(it did not cling) removing all lower branches and topped it around 5-6 feet in hopes of stimulating growth at the top of my post directly behind the area that I topped but that was not the case. Some growth did sprout near the top but I also got growth all up and down the plant. I'm wondering if anyone has any success growing the S Megalanthus into the typical DF tree shape.

It would be great to see how others are trellising their Yellow Dragonfruit vines. It would also be great if anyone has any tips or tricks on growing, fertilizing and fruiting Yellow Dragons.

I've heard several reports of people, especially here in California, complaining that their Yellow Dragons grow much slower than their other DF varieties. I've also found them to be slow growers when they are establishing but grow very quickly after they have established. One trick to get them to grow at about twice the rate(potted plants) is to grow your plant using T5 lights. On two separate occasions, I moved potted Yellow Dragons under T5 lighting and the growth was amazing. My cutting had just sprouted a single growth bud when I moved it under artificial lighting and in about six weeks, it had grown about two feet, in the Winter! The growth was very thin but this bit of information can be useful if o e wanted to get their DF vines to a certain height in order to reach the top of a trellis.

I've also noticed that these DF like loose soil with organic matter. I gave my plants minerals through the addition of rock dust(Azomite) and I also gave it a bloom type fertilizer around late Spring and Summer and found that I had an incredible amount of blooms which the majority eventually turned into fruit. My small vine produced around 75 fruit. I posted pictures in another post, I'll see if I can find it.

I've noticed that the Yellow Dragons sometimes appear to show micronutrient deficiencies so a make sure to give them a fertilizer with trace and minor elements. Please feel free to post pictures and setups for your Yellow Dragonfruit. Any information is greatly appreciated.

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Any info on Imam Passand Mango?

« on: February 21, 2015, 11:41:43 AM »

Hello everyone,

I have an Imam Passand graft that took and is currently flowering. I did a search on the forum but couldn't really find any info other than that Squam is growing and evaluating it. Does anyone have any info on growth, productivity, taste when grown in the USA?

I did find some interesting read by Googling:

http://m.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/a-king-among-mangoes/article6040843.ece/
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2009-05-22/news/27663492_1_mangoes-alphonso-varieties

Several articles from India seem to suggest it is a highly regarded mango.
Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / First Behls Cherimoya fruit

« on: February 18, 2015, 10:46:11 PM »

I grafted a scion of Behls Cherimoya about one and a half years ago and just harvest the first fruits. These two were grown side by side on a multigrafted tree so they will probably be larger if they were grown singly or if the branch were bigger. Each fruit weighed about 1.5 lbs and their skin was dis colored by the frost we had. I'll update on the flavor and Brix when they ripen. I believe Behlgarden is selling grafted trees on the buy/sell forum. Anyone else have one growing and how would you describe the flavor and texture?

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / My first home grown Dr White Cherimoya!

« on: February 01, 2015, 11:06:35 PM »

Hello everyone, here is my first Dr White cherimoya fruit from my tree. My tree has been in the ground about two years and last year, I hand pollinated several flowers and then thinned to two fruit so that I don't over stress this young tree. I multigrafted several other varieties onto this tree and this tree is also holding two small Behls fruit.

This fruit weighed 2lbs 6 3/4 oz. The fruit has some dark spotting that I noticed after the two nights of frost we got several weeks ago. I'm hoping the fruit will ripen ok. I'll report back on how it tastes if it ripens properly.

Simon

Tropical Fruit Discussion / This makes me frigging mad! OJ

« on: January 19, 2015, 09:41:35 PM »

See this post from the Citrus forum: http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=13964.msg176682#msg176682

I know it's more relevant in the Citrus forum but I wanted everyone else to know the truth also in case you do not frequent the Citrus forum.

I feel like I've been lied to. Please share this with all your friends and family.

Simon

100

Citrus General Discussion / Smith Red Valencia

« on: January 08, 2015, 06:39:55 PM »

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?