What’s a fruit tree that you would -NOT- recommend growing?

[Orkine]

I am sure there are worse fruits but a Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra) I had looked so good but the taste did not match the looks.  I am waiting to see if it gets better with time but it is skating on thin ice.  If it weren't supposed to be such a good vitamin C source it might have been replaced already. 

.. and I didn't like Muntingia calabura too either.  It tasted good the first couple of times but never grew on me.

[Flgarden]

I am underwhelmed by jaboticabas, too.  The flesh is good but the clingy seed and thick skin makes it hard to eat them.  They are so nice looking I will definitely keep one, but I see no reason to collect more.

I was having the same thoughts about jabos and wondering why nobody mentioned it. Clingy seed makes it impossible to enjoy the fruit. Especially if you want to save the  seed.

[yoski]

In Florida I wouldn't try to grow:
Pomegranate (small fruit, fungus)
Fig (slowly declines and finally dies)
Cherry of the Rio Grande (not a favorite)
Canistel (not a favorite)
Rollinia (slowly declines and then dies)
Noni (tastes awful, like rotten socks)
any citrus (disease prone)
Atemoya (chronic underperformer, disease prone)
At some point I tried to grow any of those, some multiple times before I gave up.

[brian]

Canistel is great for me so far, easy growing and good production.  I have a grafted 'Bruce' and the fruit is fairly moist.  I like it so much I am growing a Ross Sapote out now to see if it is even better. 

[drymifolia]

I'll agree with those who said canistel. While they aren't all dry, they do all taste "off" and the dry ones are like eating an old dried out hard boiled egg yolk. A friend of mine in Miami tried to convince me there are good ones and let me try one of his favorites when I was visiting a few years ago (I don't remember the cultivar), and it still was gross tasting to me. I have had good smoothies that mix it with other things.

Black sapote, on the other hand, is one of my favorite fruits, so I'm surprised to see so much hate here. I like to just eat it with a spoon when properly ripened, but it's also good in a smoothie even when not perfectly ripe. I'm eventually hoping to try to hybridize it with D. texana, which at least has the same chromosome count so might be able to cross (I couldn't find any research papers where it was attempted, though). I have a bunch of texana seedlings I'm planning to trial outside here, and plan to add a grafted black sapote to my greenhouse in a year or so.

[K-Rimes]

I was having the same thoughts about jabos and wondering why nobody mentioned it

My opinion is that unless you have at least 10-20 to enjoy in a sitting, it's underwhelming. When you can be kind of wasteful and just mush out what you can in your mouth, spit the seeds, and be done with it - man, they are good stuff.

[Vegan Potato Man]

I'll agree with those who said canistel. While they aren't all dry, they do all taste "off" and the dry ones are like eating an old dried out hard boiled egg yolk. A friend of mine in Miami tried to convince me there are good ones and let me try one of his favorites when I was visiting a few years ago (I don't remember the cultivar), and it still was gross tasting to me. I have had good smoothies that mix it with other things.

Black sapote, on the other hand, is one of my favorite fruits, so I'm surprised to see so much hate here. I like to just eat it with a spoon when properly ripened, but it's also good in a smoothie even when not perfectly ripe. I'm eventually hoping to try to hybridize it with D. texana, which at least has the same chromosome count so might be able to cross (I couldn't find any research papers where it was attempted, though). I have a bunch of texana seedlings I'm planning to trial outside here, and plan to add a grafted black sapote to my greenhouse in a year or so.

You should try "Ross Sapote" before writing off canistel. The ones I've had were like a really good mamey, and I haven't had a mamey that I liked yet.

[Mick Mick]

Gday mate
Haven’t sent a message to someone that hadn’t sent me a message first so I’m trying a couple different ways lol, I have Garcinia praniana seedlings  available plus many other rare tropical fruit tree seedlings and established, you can email me if you like or here on the forum? mickmyeah@gmail.com
Cheers Mick

[Caesar]

I am underwhelmed by jaboticabas, too.  The flesh is good but the clingy seed and thick skin makes it hard to eat them.  They are so nice looking I will definitely keep one, but I see no reason to collect more.

Goji berry is bland, I had two types from cuttings and threw them all away after a year or two

I have the Red Hybrid Jaboticaba, and it broke all the expectations I had based off the Sabara’s description. Neither the skin nor the seed were tough or tannic. I eat ‘em whole unless I’m saving the seed for planting. The skin has a pleasant, mild tartness, and I find the seed tender enough to be unobjectionable (as easy to eat as a peanut, with a tad less crunch). Definitely one of my best keepers, but my fruit collection is quite small.

Different gojis have different tastes. L. chinense supposedly tastes bad, like a weird pepper. I found L. barbarum Crimson Star to be decent (not spectacular, but worth growing), but it failed to thrive for me. I’ve read that Yellow Gojis are the best for juicing, and L. ruthenicum Black Goji has a metallic, medicinal taste. There’s a purple-fruited hybrid of Yellow × Black called Stardust that apparently has good grape-like flavor, but it died on me after spontaneously entering dormancy. I didn’t get to taste it.

All of the "foodie" citrus I think are overrated.  Meyer lemon, key lime, rangpur lime, sudachi, italian lemons.  I grew them all and prefer grocery store type lemons and limes

Key Lime is considered King here in Puerto Rico. Tahiti limes are common enough in the markets, and frequently used, but ask any local which one is considered the best, and they’ll almost universally declare the Key Lime.

Pitangatuba for me.  I have only gotten a few fruit so far but they are very stringy.

This is a fruit that is apparently rather variable in flavor. Mine is standard sour, but I haven’t had any stringy ones.

I didn't like Muntingia calabura too either.  It tasted good the first couple of times but never grew on me.

I like the pulp well enough as a trail nibble, but the skin has an aftertaste that I find objectionable, and while tender enough to be readily chewed, it’s thickness makes it almost tough in comparison to the pulp.

[brian]

My complaint with key lime is not that it is bad, but that it tastes identical to persian lime (to me), so I prefer the larger seedless persian.

I hadn't considered eating red jabo whole, I will try next time that is a good idea

[drymifolia]

My complaint with key lime is not that it is bad, but that it tastes identical to persian lime (to me), so I prefer the larger seedless persian.

I hadn't considered eating red jabo whole, I will try next time that is a good idea

Have you tried key limes in the tree-ripened yellow stage? That's when their flavor really is outstanding and pretty different from Persian limes IMO.

[brian]

Have you tried key limes in the tree-ripened yellow stage? That's when their flavor really is outstanding and pretty different from Persian limes IMO.

Yup!  I picked a bunch of persian, key, giant-key limes at stages from green to yellow.  There was a large taste difference between green and yellow stages of each, but yellow persian tasted like yellow key, green to green, and so on.  Again... I'm willing to accept its just me that can't tell the difference and others may be able to

[CGameProgrammer]

Someone mentioned Kei Apple, but those fruits are really delicious and the shrubs, while thorny, are very compact. The San Diego Zoo has a bunch spread around and I pick some of the fruits when they're ripe and they're great. They're also very easy to eat, unlike the vast majority of specialty fruits, because you just eat it whole. No pit.

[CeeJey]

In Florida I wouldn't try to grow:
Pomegranate (small fruit, fungus)
Fig (slowly declines and finally dies)
Cherry of the Rio Grande (not a favorite)
Canistel (not a favorite)
Rollinia (slowly declines and then dies)
Noni (tastes awful, like rotten socks)
any citrus (disease prone)
Atemoya (chronic underperformer, disease prone)
At some point I tried to grow any of those, some multiple times before I gave up.

Lol, minus the noni this is basically a list of what TO grow in Arizona low desert, depending on soil and microclimate  (with protection in winter for the annonas and canistel).

Different gojis have different tastes. L. chinense supposedly tastes bad, like a weird pepper. I found L. barbarum Crimson Star to be decent (not spectacular, but worth growing), but it failed to thrive for me. I’ve read that Yellow Gojis are the best for juicing, and L. ruthenicum Black Goji has a metallic, medicinal taste. There’s a purple-fruited hybrid of Yellow × Black called Stardust that apparently has good grape-like flavor, but it died on me after spontaneously entering dormancy. I didn’t get to taste it.

I've got some L. Babarum that definitely also tastes like a weird pepper. It depends very heavily not just on cultivar but on ripeness and time of year, and also I've found soil ph matters (goji like higher soil ph than most of the stuff on here and tolerate clay which is just GREAT for my yard). A couple of strains of black goji don't taste like anything at all, weirdly.

I try to think of them as very small spicy tomatoes rather than fruit or berries. EDIT: They do better when treated like perennial tomatoes, at least out here in the desert. Tomato fertilizer and schedule.

Also I have a stardust and it's definitely finicky compared to the barbarums and the black goji; it caught powdery mildew in the winter but is taking the heat and crap soil out here so we'll see if it fruits. I know they say it's a yellowxblack cross but the leaves look more like L. chinense to me. I need to plant more yellows and trial those. But yeah try letting them have higher ph soil patches.

There are also some sonora-native varieties that have a slightly different taste and habit like Lycium exsertum that you see growing as a shrub out under the little-leaf palo verde in the wild here. Some very bitter or spicy varieties. Also some native barbarum that escaped from Chinese railway workers' gardens; those were the ones Phoenix Tears variety were isolated from iirc.

[Tortuga]

As far as citrus I have to agree on the finger lime. I have red and green varieties and I get plenty of fruit but it’s a novelty for sure and they end up going bad in my fridge. I would say the Persian lime is subpar to the key lime and if space is needed the key lime has much higher yields on a smaller tree.

Another citrus not worth growing would be Kaffir lime. The leaves are as good as other citrus leaves so it’s useless in my grove.

Meyer lemons are overrated in my eyes. I either want lemon or orange. Not a mellow mix of both.

[Bush2Beach]

I figured they could be kept compact by pruning. Most of the bushes I seen planted out were 20 foot wide , 4-5 feet tall and impossible to pick fruit without bleeding. tasty fruit!

Someone mentioned Kei Apple, but those fruits are really delicious and the shrubs, while thorny, are very compact. The San Diego Zoo has a bunch spread around and I pick some of the fruits when they're ripe and they're great. They're also very easy to eat, unlike the vast majority of specialty fruits, because you just eat it whole. No pit.

[Caesar]

Someone mentioned Kei Apple, but those fruits are really delicious and the shrubs, while thorny, are very compact. The San Diego Zoo has a bunch spread around and I pick some of the fruits when they're ripe and they're great. They're also very easy to eat, unlike the vast majority of specialty fruits, because you just eat it whole. No pit.

Can you detail the flavor profile? Kei Apple was always off my radar because I had thought it was a sour fruit. I don’t mind some tartness in my fruits, but I’m definitely biased towards sweetness, and I end up using most of the sour stuff in juices. For some perspective, I like eating oranges and pineapple out of hand, but lemons and passion fruit end up juiced with a big dose of sugar. Meanwhile, I eat my pitangatuba out of hand (if only due to size; I feel like juiced would be better). I had a Ketembilla years ago that I would enjoy out of hand despite the tartness, but I ultimately cut it down ‘cause it was too inconvenient to peel the fruit, and the skin had a minor bitter element that I did not care for (even the jelly we tried to make had that bitterness).

I’m not fond of thorns, but I have no trouble overlooking them for the sake of a good fruit. So how’s the Kei Apple?

[CGameProgrammer]

The ones I tried were very sweet, with some pleasant sourness IIRC, and had a somewhat apricot-like flavor. Though for reference I find passionfruit delicious out of hand and would never sweeten it.

[Anywarema]

And what tree you would actually recommend growing?

[Rockerth]

Choosing a fruit tree depends on your location and preferences! Citrus trees like oranges or lemons are great for sunny areas. Apples and pears thrive in cooler climates. If you're up for something unique, check out the camphor tree at https://www.mklibrary.com/camphor-tree/—it's a versatile one! It offers fragrant leaves and small fruits, plus it's low-maintenance.

[spaugh]

Yeah finger lime is kind of useless.  It has no juice so you can only get the lime taste by biting it.  I keep one as yet another novelty tree but it will be a forever bonsai like the others

All of the "foodie" citrus I think are overrated.  Meyer lemon, key lime, rangpur lime, sudachi, italian lemons.  I grew them all and prefer grocery store type lemons and limes

Myer lemons are useless.

[Epicatt2]

Myer lemons are useless.

Could you please elaborate further on your comment on Meyer Lemons?

What are it's cons?

Does it have any pros?

True it is less tart than a true lemon, but I have a tree and they seem to make a nice glass of lemonade.

Cheers!

Paul M.
==

[shmojojojo]

Myer lemons are useless.

Could you please elaborate further on your comment on Meyer Lemons?

What are it's cons?

Does it have any pros?

True it is less tart than a true lemon, but I have a tree and they seem to make a nice glass of lemonade.

Cheers!

Paul M.
==

Meyer lemon is the most useful fruit in my yard. I don't have to buy juices anymore. I make a frozen lemonade concentrate with different
flavors. Loquat, jabo, pomegranate, peach, plum, tangerine and whatever else I can find in my yard. The frozen concentrates last all year,
but the pomegranate and Sabara jabo lemonades disappear the fastest. I also freeze unsweetened juice for marinades and dressings.
One complaint? I guess they're a bit over-productive, which can be a problem for some

[spaugh]

I'm just not a fan of the flavor.  I have probably consumed more of them than most people here as a young adult.  But now that I am all grown up and my taste has matured, I know better than to consume such inferior citrus.  It's basically the red headed step child of the citrus world.  It does not taste like a proper lemon or a proper orange.  It has a bad after tatse and serves no real purpose in any actual worthwhile culinary undertaking.  It should be immediately stopped of all future propogation and left to die off like the neanderthal, dodo bird, or any other useless mishap of nature.

  

[spaugh]

I'll agree with those who said canistel. While they aren't all dry, they do all taste "off" and the dry ones are like eating an old dried out hard boiled egg yolk. A friend of mine in Miami tried to convince me there are good ones and let me try one of his favorites when I was visiting a few years ago (I don't remember the cultivar), and it still was gross tasting to me. I have had good smoothies that mix it with other things.

Black sapote, on the other hand, is one of my favorite fruits, so I'm surprised to see so much hate here. I like to just eat it with a spoon when properly ripened, but it's also good in a smoothie even when not perfectly ripe. I'm eventually hoping to try to hybridize it with D. texana, which at least has the same chromosome count so might be able to cross (I couldn't find any research papers where it was attempted, though). I have a bunch of texana seedlings I'm planning to trial outside here, and plan to add a grafted black sapote to my greenhouse in a year or so.

Also canistel should be extincted with the myer lemon.