I had the pleasure of meeting Chris at Truly Tropical today after hearing quite a bit about it from the other members.  I also got my first chance of the season to enjoy mangos that are not the bland swill served up at the grocery store and, admittedly, I went a little wild.   Who can identify all 12 varieties in this picture?

My barbados cherry (acerola) tree is laden with fruit and I have tons of seeds up for grabs.  This one is of the "Florida Sweet" variety and is a prolific producer almost all year long.  I have kept mine at about 8' x 8' and it produces more fruit than we know what to do with.  For those who are unfamiliar with it, here is some info courtesy of tradewindsfruit.com:

Small, bright red, berry-sized fruit with a vitamin C content up to 65 times that of an orange. A single fruit contains the minimum daily recommended vitamin C requirements. Fruit resembles the common cherry, with a very tasty sweet flavor having a slight bite of acid.

Description: A bushy shrub up to 20ft. Acerola's often form small multi-trunked trees. Trees without adequate pollination can set seedless fruit. Flowers usually appear after periods of rainfall or irrigation. Flowering may occur any time during the year (depending on local rainfall and climate patterns), and can last year-round. After flower set, fruit soon follows and will ripen in just 3-4 weeks. Fruits lose their flavor and nutritional content very rapidly upon harvest. Ripe acerola's should be picked and eaten within a few hours to preserve taste. As a result, the tree is not cultivated for commercial production of fresh fruits.

There is some confusion regarding the botanical name, with the name M. glabra often used for the acerola. There is a closely related species, the true M. glabra, having smaller fruits and larger leaves. The common acerola, with its larger fruits is generally classified as M. punicifolia.

I have a canistel tree in ground and doing great.  I planted it about a year ago on the recommendation of someone at Excalibur.  I tried the fruit for the first time a few months ago and it is not my thing.  i would cut it down but the thing is flourishing.  I am willing to trade it for darn near anything that grows in South Florida. Ideally a cool type of mango I don't have, a sweetheart lychee, some type of avocado, or ANYTHING.  The only catch is that you need to dig it up and NOT fill in the hole so I can drop a new plant in the spot.  Send ANY and ALL offers.  It is probably about 7 feet tall and ready to be transplanted to your house.

I took my wife and kids to Disney and want to see if there is any "must hit" fruit tree or exotic fruit places to buy something that may not be readily available in South Florida.  Any guidance will be appreciated.

I have a 6' - 7' Valencia Pride grafted mango tree that I need to trade.  it is currently in a pot and is too big to ship so it must be traded to someone in South Florida.  I need to strike a deal before next weekend or I will be planting it in my parents yard.  I am willing to entertain and and all offers. 

This is my version of the classic game when you put so and so's head on blah blahs body.  What would be your perfect mango cocktail tree including rootstock?

I am now trying my hand at grafting after a fair bit of practice and I have really been giving this project a lot of thought.  I saw Sleepdoc and Asaffron's creations and they look simply amazing and have inspired me.  They got me to questioning what has similar growth habits, differing fruiting schedules, and different flavors to give me a true taste of the spectrum of mango flavors  Any input would be greatly appreciated before I take knife and parafilm in hand.

On a side note, Noris Ledesma of the Fairchild Gardens told me that cocktail trees produce poor quality fruit and stress out the tree by forcing it to bloom and fruit numerous different times in a row.   Have any of you seen any inferior quality fruit as a result of cocktail trees?  Has cross pollenating been an issue?

I am trying to continue to hone my grafting ability and am looking for mango scions and can trade either my own scions or seeds.  I just got Caimito (Star Apple), Custard Apple, and Jaboticaba.  I am also willing to buy the scions. 

Regards,
George

I am looking to diversify my collection so I am interested in buying anything that you have that I don't.  Just let me know what you have up for grabs, the price and the size. 

Thanks,
George

Does anyone know of anyone who has had success both growing and fruiting durian in South Florida?

My sister is coming in from Trinidad tomorrow and bringing me a treasure trove of pepper seeds as well as local mango, sapodilla and others.  I will have extra pepper seeds from the Moruga Scorpion fresh from Moruga, Trinidad.   These are the hottest peppers in the world.  I am also getting some other varieties of peppers that I should have extras of.  If anyone is interested, willing to trade for anything that grows in S. Florida. 

Let me know what you have up for grabs.  I have 5 miracle fruit plants and they currently produce more than I can use.  I figured I can thin the herd and get something new in its place. 

I have a garden containing: Sugar Cane, Miracle Fruit, Lychee, Longan, Canistel, Loquat, Bardados Cherry, Surinam Cherry, Nam Doc Mai Mango, Myer Lemon, Jaboticaba and more.  I am offering cuttings or, when available, seeds in exchange for similar.  I am mostly looking for small plants of any variety of mango, avocado, sapodilla or citrus but will look at anything cool that I don't have.  I love in Parkland (South Florida) and will happily add cash to the deal if someone has something enticing.