You would rather live in Florida than San Diego...you should visit FL in the summer.

You da man, thanks Chris! Unfortunately there were only a few left on the tree or I’d say get over there and grab one. Hoping I can get these seeds to sprout. I really enjoyed the fruit.

Thank ya very much!

Had a bunch on my blueberries a couple weeks ago. I used Soap and water to immobilize, then squished them with my fingers, or you can just hose them off your tree.

Well you could just tie the wooden uprights to the wall. Usually concrete anchors work by drilling a hole in the concrete and expanding when screwed in. Aluminum flat stock is easy to bend to an "L" shape, easy to drill and doesn't rust. It is available at hardware outlets.

Thanks for the great ideas my friend. I really appreciate your time. Happy growing!

Thanks Pineislander. I like your idea, nice and easy. However, I have small children so I’d llike to have a more secure way of keeping the trees in place, especially since I built that structure pretty quick and it’s not THAT sturdy. Also, if that structure were to collapse because of the weight of bananas and crush my kids, I wouldn’t hear the end of it from the wife   I guess not too many members have experience with anchoring to a wall (or don’t care to help) so I’ll figure something out and try to post what I come up with in case  someone else has a similar problem.

Thanks Bill. I wonder if anyone has fruited one in Cali yet...
Nate

Got this seedling in December 2018 when it had one or two sets of leaves. Since then it has grown two or three new sets of leaves, with the most recent set being huge compared to the other ones. I hope to get it in the ground this fall.

I also have a small ramputan tree that I grew from a seed this year. So far my plant is doing really good in a container. Have anyone have success in growing one with fruits on it? I heard they need another tree to  pollinate...


What’s up Tina, my plant turned out to be a coffee plant, NOT RAMBUTAN. The two seedlings I got in the last year both put on a couple new growth flushes and then kicked the bucket Good luck with yours, please keep us posted. Peace.

Looks like they’re lacking iron, but I’m no expert. Good luck.

Does anyone know if Haley’s Comet is self fertile? Thanks in advance.

When hunting for new avocados, Campbell and Ledesma browse such outdoor markets in search of fruits with outstanding physical features. “We basically want trees that have unusual fruit—whether long, big, purple-skinned, without a seed, whatever,” Campbell explains.

If the local market lacks interesting fruits, Campbell and Ledesma may work a trick that has many times drawn great avocados out from hiding: They drive slowly through the dirt streets of a village and, using a bullhorn, invite all the locals to bring their homegrown avocados to a weekend fruit competition, at which the best avocado will win its owner a new bicycle, previously purchased at a local shop on the expedition’s expense account. A small crowd of locals, Campbell says, is almost sure to gather at the appointed place with samples of their backyard fruits.

The next step is tracing an interesting fruit back to the tree from which it was picked—an often challenging feat that may depend on the assistance of a local guide familiar with the region’s geography and its farmers. Even after the collector has pinpointed the location of a tree, another hurdle may be convincing its owner to allow branches to be cut. “They’re often worried that we’re trying to put them out of business or that they’ll lose their income if they give us any wood,” Campbell says. Sometimes, befriending locals in the village bar over several rounds of beer can do the trick. And to quell any lingering suspicions, Campbell usually provides written assurances of royalties on fruit sales should the tree ever become a cultivated commercial variety.

Through their many expeditions and negotiations, Campbell and Ledesma have brought some knockout avocados back to the Fairchild Garden. There is one they found in a backyard garden in Rivas, Nicaragua called the Pura Vida. The Pura Vida bears gourd-shaped fruits averaging 18 inches in length, with some growing as long as 3 feet. Then there’s the Juan Jose, an avocado Campbell and Ledesma found growing on a tree in Costa Rica and whose fruits contain no seed at all—just light, creamy flesh within a soft, green skin. Campbell and Ledesma dubbed another the “car wash avocado” after the rural outpost where they found the tree growing in Guatemala. Similarly, there are two “truck stop avocados,” each collected from a roadside truckers’ café in Guatemala.

Is anyone growing the seedless “Juan Jose”?  Wait...an avocado with NO seed?! Yes please!!!