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Messages - W.

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Official Duguetia Thread
« on: November 08, 2025, 09:57:17 PM »
Quote from: endemic2earth on November 04, 2025, 01:28:07 PM
I've really enjoyed the monograph on the genus Duguetia, published in 2003. Includes botanical description of all species to that date, location/distribution info, local names, some information on fruit edibility, distribution maps, botanical illustrations, etc.

You can get it at least two ways:

1) online access through jstor.org, where you can sign up for a "free to read" account. Unfortunately this particular publication is not text searchable, but hey it's free! Once you set up your free account you can use this link to access:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4393920

2) purchase the hardcover monograph from the publisher, New York Botanical Garden. I got one along with the monograph on Sapotaceae which is not hardcover and can also be accessed through jstor. Very pleased with the production quality of the publication.

https://www.nybgshop.org/collections/nybg-press/products/duguetia-annonaceae-flora-neotropica-88

Don't tempt me with the Flora Neotropica series. I already have too many plants; my bank account tells me that I don't need too many plant books.

JSTOR does have a text search feature within articles and books. Plus, Duguetia has an index of scientific names.

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: New Grape- Autumn Crisp
« on: November 08, 2025, 09:36:46 PM »
Good Fruit Guide looks like a great, informative resource. I'm going to have to use it more often. According to it, Sun World was issued the patent for Autumn Crisp (also known as Sugra35) in November 2009. Only four more years until growers will legally be able to grow this variety, assuming anyone will actually be able to acquire it.

The variety's parentage sounds promising regarding its flavor. From Good Fruit Guide:
Quote
Origin: In the 1980’s, Sun World crossbred Italia, Muscat of Alexandria and Dzhidzhigi Kara from Turkmenistan with seedless varieties such as Sugraone to produce a number of interesting cultivars, one of which was eventually developed into Autumn Crisp. The Sunworld grape breeder responsible for the selection was Michael Striem. The first commercial production was in 2012 after an 11 year development programme.

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Official Duguetia Thread
« on: October 31, 2025, 01:27:37 PM »
I wonder if this thread should get a catchy name like the other genera-related threads. Perhaps Duguetia Dreams: The Official Thread.

I personally have never been foolhardy enough to try and grow Duguetia from seed. I know it would be a waste of money. I've had enough problems with rarer Annona species and no luck with Uvarias. I would probably have just as much chance of germinating a healthy Duguetia seedling from a $10 bill planted in the dirt as I would planting a Duguetia seed.

4
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Rare Plant Sale
« on: October 24, 2025, 09:50:59 PM »
Bump.

Get your plants before cooler weather hits, and the US Postal Service has even more reason to abuse the mail.

5
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Wide assortment of fruit trees for sale
« on: October 24, 2025, 02:15:51 AM »
Here is the link to his eBay profile: https://www.ebay.com/usr/triplethreat615.

Also, if you ever need to find what a specific seller on eBay has for sale, without having a link directly to that seller's page, here's how you do it. Starting from the eBay homepage, select the "Advanced" link to the right of the Search button. Scroll down to where it says "Sellers." Click the box where it says "Only show items from" then enter the seller's name in the text box below. Hit search and you are good to go.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Jaboticaba at asia supermarket
« on: October 12, 2025, 06:01:21 PM »
Quote from: RS on October 12, 2025, 11:38:14 AM
Quote from: W. on October 12, 2025, 05:14:36 AM
The last decade or so, I've seen muscadines in at least half a dozen (maybe a dozen) different grocery chains in three states; I can't recall ever seeing a brand other than Paulk. At least they're great tasting muscadines.

Cottle Farms bronze and black muscadines are available at supermarkets here from Aug-Sept/early Oct (NC grown). Season recently ended.

Bizarre that some Asian markets are labeling muscadines as jabos. Wonder where they're grown

You can buy muscadines wholesale from Paulk; presumably other muscadines growers with a large enough production would also do this.

I have never seen Cottle Farms. I guess Paulk has the Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee markets covered; they're in Georgia, so a little closer than Cottle.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Jaboticaba at asia supermarket
« on: October 12, 2025, 05:14:36 AM »
Muscadines, as others have stated. I'm not sure what variety, probably Paulk or whatever other varieties Paulk Vineyards is growing predominantly. At least where I live, I never see anything other than Paulk branded muscadines, doesn't matter what grocery. The last decade or so, I've seen muscadines in at least half a dozen (maybe a dozen) different grocery chains in three states; I can't recall ever seeing a brand other than Paulk. At least they're great tasting muscadines.

My question is: How were these fruits labeled at the Asian supermarket?

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: another precocious Eugenia - sp. "Pitangão Amarelo da Unicamp"
« on: October 08, 2025, 09:34:17 PM »
Quote from: Jaboticaba45 on October 08, 2025, 08:53:44 PM
Quote from: smitchell7 on October 08, 2025, 08:18:46 PM
Genuinely no shade to anyone who likes growing eugenias, but I've noticed a general consensus that about 90% of eugenia fruits being mediocre to awful, so why is there so much hype around growing and collecting them. Is it just because they're ornamental and fruit at small sizes?
Yes...also a lot of sellers in Brazil and elsewhere overhyped them when they realized they could manipulate the USA seed market.
There are some decent and even good/great ones out there, but most likely, most eugenias will not top a top-quality temperate cherry.
It's cool to grow them though cause they are quick to fruit and it is exciting to be one of the first people in USA to fruit a new species.

It is possible that we have all been duped into believing that there are hundreds of species of high-quality Eugenias. There is also the possibility that there are delicious tasting fruits from some (or even many) of these Eugenias species in their native range but that not every plant of those species produces great fruit. Since Eugenias are not true-to-type, that deliciousness would not necessarily be passed on the any progeny. It has taken hundreds, in some cases thousands, of years of breeding and selection to produce the best tasting apples, plums, cherries, grapes, etc. and in the end they're propagated through cuttings and grafting. Grow any of those things from seed, and you're not guaranteed to get something exceptional. Hell, we don't even have reliable fruit quality from seed-grown Eugenias that are known to be delicious. Compare a random seed-grown Eugenia uniflora to a Zill Dark. Cherry of the Rio Grande varies in size, color, and taste from plant to plant. Helton may have a Pitangão Amarelo da Unicamp plant that tastes great, but that great tasting fruit may only be passed down to 50% or 10% or 1% of its progeny and only appear when the plant is several years old. Before greening wiped them all out, Duncan grapefruits were by far the sweetest grapefruit variety, but young ones were just about as bitter as a standard red grapefruit; it took nearly twenty years for that sweetness to really increase, and the best trees were ones over fifty years old. I agree that there is a little too much hype around the newest Eugenias (and other fruits), but I think these plants should still be grown. Growers should just keep in mind that they are on the absolute cutting edge, experimenting and exploring, the equivalent of someone a thousand years ago on the Central Asian steppes who thought there might be something to this new small red fruit found there—the apple.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: The slow progress of my little Thai garden
« on: October 08, 2025, 01:07:08 AM »
Quote from: BloomAndSprout on September 23, 2025, 11:15:30 PM
Quote from: TropicalFruitHunters on September 23, 2025, 10:33:31 PM
I've been in Thailand for 3 years now.  I've tried to collect varieties not normally found growing in Thailand.  I'm sure there may be a few others with backyard specimens, but I just don't hear about it very often.  More and more rare stuff are becoming available here and that's really good news for collectors.  Most stuff that is available range from seeds to very tiny seedlings and rarer still...a grafted specimen.  The still more rare, bucket-list type of trees are unfortunately only found in Malaysia/Indonesia.  So you need to take a chance in ordering or going there yourself.  If that were my only obstacle, it would be no big deal.  The biggest hurdle I have here in my area is freaking low humidity most of the year.  Yeah...Bangkok is not the tropical paradise I hoped it would be.  Low humidity is a killer of most of everything I want to grow.  I've learned that while there is no substitute for good, butt crack dripping humidity, daily watering will at least keep things alive and going in the right direction...mostly.  It's been a struggle.  It's been frustrating.  But it keeps me busy and engaged.

I've heard just one night in Bangkok can make the hard man humble, but three years? When it comes to gardening, there's not much between despair and ecstasy.  Can't be too careful with low humidity. I can see durian is next-to frustrating.

Remember that one night in Bangkok and the world's your orchard. The gardens are temples but the fruits ain't free.

I'm a little rusty on my geography, so I had to go look this up. I didn't realize that Thailand is classified as being in the tropical savanna climate. Not tropical rainforest or even tropical monsoon but hot, relatively dry savanna. Bangkok only gets an average of 10 in. of rain more than I do in Alabama! My rain is spread more evenly throughout the year, too. I doubt that Bangkok's heat island effect is helping matters, and that's before even getting to how climate change is affecting the place. I hate to think that after all those years of fighting to get tropical plants to fruit in Ohio, Jay is going to as difficult a time doing so in Thailand.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Myrciaria Madness and Eugenia Mania
« on: October 08, 2025, 12:22:13 AM »
I've taken some time to read through the thread. Definitely some things I'm going to be referring to grow and maintain my collection. But, I do think that Roblack missed a trick with "Eugenia Mania." "Eugenia Mania" rhymes but isn't alliterative. My humble suggestion would be "Eugenia Euphoria" which both rhymes and is alliterative.

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Syzygium Symphony
« on: October 07, 2025, 11:54:42 PM »
My Syzygium symphony is rather one note, just a standard rose apple—Syzygium jambos.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Plant ID - Weed or Rare Fruit sapling
« on: October 07, 2025, 03:08:12 AM »
It isn't noni. I still think it's an Annona due to the bud at the end, possibly Annona scleroderma based on how the leaves are curved. It could be a rarer type than that, since Bellamy has offered several rare types. Let me know if you don't want it, I might take a flyer on it depending on the shipping costs.

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Plant ID - Weed or Rare Fruit sapling
« on: October 06, 2025, 09:42:01 PM »
It isn't a southern weed or tree. It looks like an Annona of some sort.

14
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Antidesma dallachyanum - Herbert River Cherry
« on: October 05, 2025, 06:14:15 PM »
I just sent you a PM.

15
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Rare Plant Sale
« on: October 05, 2025, 05:47:26 PM »
Price drop on the remaining plants.

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: first fruit from Eugenia spp. "aff Arvensis"
« on: September 26, 2025, 02:26:27 PM »
Is there any update on whether Brian's plant got better with age or became compost?

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lima Trip - 2025
« on: September 18, 2025, 11:32:45 PM »
Great post, like others have said.

I remember several years ago, when I first started fruit growing, hearing a lot about camu camu. It was supposed to be the next superfood, and I did see some powder in the organic health food section of Publix. There was a Forum member, greg794855, who was growing hundreds of them in Louisiana (protected during winter in a hoop house). He hasn't been on the Forum in a while (his website is down, as well). I believe camu camu is both hard to germinate from seed and get established as a seedling; not exactly the best combination for growers.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Best fruiting plants for an office
« on: September 18, 2025, 02:11:52 PM »
Quote from: Dimitry Fisher on September 18, 2025, 12:19:21 AM
This is exactly the problem.  Light levels drop off pretty fast away from the windows, and the regular office light is neither bright enough nor the right spectrum.  Depending on the office policy and rules, you may be able to replace or add a light source that has a broad enough spectrum.  Not the horrible looking blurple grow-light, but a good 6500K fluorescent that's got enough power in both the red and the blue absorption bands of chlorophyll.  You need both, AFAIK.   The other problem is watering:  when you're on vacation or away on business, you would need someone to water the plant.  A long break would probably require you to take your plant(s) home with you; at least that's what I do.  You can't risk a spill in the office from an automated watering system.  The third problem is humidity: office air tends to be dry.   The plants that succeed in deep shade usually need high humidity, as they evolved as understory plants under thick canopies; so this is a bigger problem than you think.  Office plants like Sansevieria / Dracaena or Zamioculcas / ZZ plant don't thrive in the office "climate" (low light, dry air, sporadic watering); they just don't die as quickly as others. 

I like your point about common houseplants not really thriving in certain indoor conditions but just surviving. If you want an example of what one of those plants does in optimum conditions, look at my basket plants. I'm growing them with some of my citrus as a companion plant. Basket plants do alright in offices and people's houses; they explode with growth in a high-humidity, high-light, and nutrient-rich growing environment. I've had leaf stalks shoot up nearly three feet tall, with flower stalks longer than that.

19
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Rare Plant Sale
« on: September 13, 2025, 02:26:49 PM »
Bump

20
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is it legal to grow Del Monte PinkGlow Pineapple?
« on: September 09, 2025, 01:24:19 PM »
Quote from: Jaboticaba45 on September 08, 2025, 10:22:35 PM
People have sprouted the seeds etc

Although like mentioned you probably won’t get in trouble, I still stay away from that
Anyways, it’s not like the pink pineapple tastes any better than others, it’s just cosmetic.

I’m waiting for the meli kalima pineapples to make their way over to mainland now that patent is expired (they only sell to HI residents) but I assume in the future they will eventually sell to mainland🙃

Sexually reproducing a patented plant variety through seeds is an entirely different matter, legally (not just botanically), to asexually reproducing a plant. It is legal, but there are exceptions to that, if for instance, the sexually reproduced plant has enough characteristics of the patented variety to be indistinguishable from the patented variety. Growing a patented plant variety from seed also becomes an issue if there is a utility patent on the plant. I believe that is how Monsanto and other big ag companies have sued (and won) over their GMO corn.

The best advice about this subject (and anything else in life, really) is just don't do anything stupid. Follow that and you (and whatever plants are in your collection) will be fine.

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is it legal to grow Del Monte PinkGlow Pineapple?
« on: September 08, 2025, 08:59:50 PM »
I've never seen one for sale with a top, or at least enough of a top left to be able to grow one successfully, so I've assumed this would be a moot point with PinkGlow.

From the Plant Patent Act of 1930, Pub. L. 71-245: "Every patent shall... grant to the patentee, his heirs or assigns, for the term of seventeen years [I believe this has been extended to twenty years], of the exclusive right to make, use, and vend the invention or discovery (including in the case of a plant patent the exclusive right to asexually reproduce the plant) throughout the United States and the Territories thereof, referring to the specification for the particulars thereof."

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture gives a couple of examples of how stringently this can be applied: "[What if] I remove suckers from patented brambles and give them away, is this infringement? - Planting, selling or giving away the plants would be considered infringement; you would be liable for damages and could incur legal penalties. [What if] I prune suckers from patented brambles and some of them in the cull pile take root, can I be penalized? - This would still be considered infringement even though the reproduction is unintentional."

Fair use does not apply because it was established by the Copyright Act of 1976, which covers writing, music, drama, dance, movies, architecture, and all manner of art, photography, graphic arts, and anything visual. It does not cover plants, as copyright law and patent law are in two different sections of the legal code, so no fair use doctrine to allow private individuals to grow plants for non-commercial use. Fair use has been expanded and modified by the courts over the past nearly fifty years, but it has not been expanded to plant patents specifically or patent law generally (that would be a huge expansion).

To sum things up; frankly, no, you cannot legally grow a new PinkGlow from the top, although Del Monte is likely not going to come to your house to ascertain what you have done with the stub they left on the pineapple you bought from them.

22
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Psidium Guineense plants wanted
« on: August 31, 2025, 01:35:41 AM »
I got a fruit off one of my Psidium guineense plants last year, but it was basically seedless, otherwise I would be able to help you. As far as the other plants in that list, I have an Eugenia caipora. You can see my sale post from a couple of weeks ago: https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=59578.0.

Also, how are the Striatulum and Longipetiolatum that you got from me?

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Air-layering Sabara jaboticaba - possible ???
« on: August 29, 2025, 05:24:12 PM »
Jaboticabas are air-layered in other countries. I've seen or read about examples in Brazil and Costa Rica. The key is that weather is not much of an issue those places, not getting too cold or too dry, because it takes over six months for a finger or thumb-sized branch to root enough to sustain itself. If you think about it, the technique makes sense. You get a fruiting jaboticaba in far less time compared to growing one from seed. You also avoid the possibility of a graft failing or the tree getting broken at or below the graft. The downside is that I do not believe the root system ever becomes as strong as a seed-grown plant. That might not be an issue if you want a container plant and live in an area where storms are not an issue. I am not sure the technique is the right one for Florida but maybe is for California or greenhouse grown plants in temperate areas. I have thought about air-layering one of my Grimals; it has a fairly substantial branch I want to cut off to improve its shape. That may be a garden project for next year, if I have the time.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 25, 2025, 06:49:05 PM »
Quote from: TropicalFruitHunters on August 25, 2025, 06:15:55 PM
Some people will steal anything at all.

I couldn't agree more.

25
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Very bad potted citrus year
« on: August 24, 2025, 08:41:31 PM »
I've started adding more sand to my citrus mixes. I also companion plant my container citrus with various houseplants, such as basket plant. My mom had some extra pieces that had broken off one of her plants. I placed some in one of my Moro blood oranges on a whim. Both the basket plant and the orange exploded with growth. Now, my citrus are all mostly filled with various heirloom houseplants. Because a basket plant (and the other houseplants I got from her) can soak up any amount of extra water, I have heavily reduced the possibility of my citrus getting wet feet. My citrus also aren't showing any nutrient deficiencies from this experiment, even though I have barely fertilized them in the past year due to my busy schedule. The jury is still out on my companion planting experiment, but I definitely like what I've seen the past couple of years.

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