The Tropical Fruit Forum

OK thanks guys for the ID help, sorry to crash the Grimal thread!

Hey don't feel too down. At least you have some tasty fruit! Now GTFO until you get a real Grimal, buddy. You're lucky we don't have you charged with trespassing

Oh and speaking of possible Grimal hybrids... This was from a batch of Restinga seeds. The new growth comes in dark red like Restinga, but the older leaves look like Grimal or phitrantha. They're smooth, despite looking a bit bullate due to the waviness and chlorosis, which is why I thought Grimal first. I've seen a lot of variation on Restinga, but this one stood out. What do you guys think?



Oh and first fruits on 3/4 Grimals! All from Mimosa and all upright. Seems to be a good year for Jabos. I've seen quite a few first fruitings.



K-Rimes your weeping Grimal looks awesome! One of the more ornamental Grimals I've ever seen. Mine are straight up ugly lol

The yard looks great Docky! That is an amazing collection

Check out Mimosa Nursery in Rosemead or LA. I prefer the Rosemead location, plus it has a tropical fruit store right across the street called Ut Trai Cay. There's quite a few of these stores in the area. I second Huntington Gardens, but you have to purchase tickets in advance and admission is expensive. Should be amazing this time of year and worth it if you haven't been. The Arcadia Arboretum, down the street from HG, is not quite the same experience, but it's nice and more affordable. Also, Fullerton Arboretum has tons of fruit and tropical fruit trees

A little update on my one and only fruit almost 4 months from my last post. Certainly taking it's time... I can't imagine it takes this long to ripen after the tree matures. Or does it?

It's about 1/2" wide and just started turning red. I assume it's eventually turning purple/black

Hey Bill! I'm in again

Exactly 3 years from seed, my one and only fruit fell off yesterday. I'm surprised it hung on as long as it did. I noticed a few weeks ago it was hanging by a sliver at the calix. I figured it wouldn't ripen. Last week it turned yellow, nearly doubled in sized, then fell off.

Taste was good! Mildly sweet, but good flavor. Like a mild peach and strawberry mix. Not musky, sour or astringent. Like Kevin said, it's similar to pink guava. A little sweeter than any pink guava I've tried, but I've only tried store bought. It reminded me of those guava nectar drinks, but not as sweet

Quote from: shmojojojo on November 23, 2024, 05:50:26 PM

Quote from: Rispa on November 22, 2024, 09:21:30 PM

Uncaria bark is an excellent immune booster that I've used in humans, birds, and dogs with great results. I'm talking to a lady about getting parvo puppies on purpose in future and giving it to them to see if they have a better survival rate. Based on a sample set of one it helps.

The aculeata looks worth growing too. What's your experience with using and the taste of the different parts of the plant?

The leaves are crisp and have a very mild spinach taste. They're almost tasteless tbh, which is a good thing. They're great in a salad and good source of protein. The fruits are like a washed out loquat. Very juicy with a mild sour/sweet taste and 3-5 small black seeds. The flowers are really beautiful and bring tons of bees. I couldn't recommend a better plant if you're looking to attract pollinators. I have an old video with my plant buzzing with 100's of bees

Okay, you sold me. That would fit in very well with my garden too. You have a cutting or seeds to spare? 😉

Sure, I can send you some cuttings. I will DM you

Gooseberry is an annual outside of it's native tropical environment. Most people's plants are dying off right now unless they're protected. It's like a tomato in that you can go seed to fruit in about 5-6 months, so you're probably better off buying seeds. I grew some Cossack Pineapple Gooseberry a few years back that were really tasty. Aunt Molly's is supposed to be a good tasting variety

Yup, bought many plants from that guy. Sometimes I wonder how he's doing. That was one wild set-up.

Yes it was! I bought a dragon fruit plant from him about 8 years ago. Still have it.

Just looked him up. His name was Ernie Alderete and apparently he passed away in February of this year at 71 years old

Broken up pieces of packing foam as a planting medium is dirty dirty underhanded bizness right there. That really takes the cake for giving a big ol middle finger to your customers. That’s on par with the intentional mis label.

Quote from: BayAreaMicroClimate on November 20, 2024, 08:22:31 AM

They have good deals but one time I went to visit the worker told me I couldn’t sample one of the white sapotes even though there was fruit falling to the ground rotting. I also bought a sri chompoo longan from them and it ended up dying. I went to pull it out of soil and I noticed instead of using perlite it was all broken up pieces of packing foam. I don’t trust anybody that does that. I’ve had that happen with an online order from another company too

I've bought a few plants from them and they aren't using packing foam. That was probably their "shipping medium" to keep weight down. After all, BayArea said it happened to them with another nursery's online order too. They mention on their site that anything above 3gal will be put into a 3gal and possibly trimmed to fit in the box. So they do some modifying before shipping. I think you have to consider the plant you're getting as bare root and do your own inspection before planting. Also, not allowing customers to eat fruit is pretty common at most nurseries. They're a nursery, not a restaurant. They don't want to deal with anyone getting sick and them getting sued

Congrats Kevin. That fruit looks great. Hopefully the taste will improve. I recommend everyone giving
their fruiting trees (especially guava) a couple years before assessing the fruit. I've experienced this
growing guavas from seed to fruit and read it a few times on this forum.   

I have a single fern leaf guava fruit hanging on! It's quarter sized, still green and hasn't grown in almost
a month. I don't think it's going to make it with the weather cooling down. Hopefully I can harvest some
seeds

Oof. Sadly, I can’t go there and don’t know anyone in the area to help. I ordered an Achacha from them and I still haven't heard back and they don’t answer their phone. I’d just have to open a claim with my bank if I don’t hear back from them. Lets hope they can fulfill my order.🥲

So you ordered it between now and the time you made this post 4 days ago? Give them
some time. They're a small, very much family run nursery. The worker, who's usually there
alone, doesn't answer the phone. Try calling earlier in the day when one of the owners/family
is in

No fruit set during the first flowering, but a second round came a couple weeks later...





Not sure if these will make it, but she's trying!