The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: Filozophr on August 25, 2022, 12:06:21 AM
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Broadening my search for “fruit trees” that grow well in pots, I’m looking for uncommon/ rare fruiting shrubs, so far the only fruiting shrub (or tree that can be grown as a shrub) I have is Psidium myrtoides(supposedly sweet)
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Grewia asiatica - berries have a unique taste being sweat and sour
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For me, barely in zone 9a, it's been Acerola (Barbados cherry) because of it's near continuous fruiting and flowering, quick fruit maturation time, and so far it's been pest free. Fruits flush from completely green to completely red in just a few days, which gives me at least a competitive chance to get the fruit before the critters do. It took just a couple of years for it to go from tiny tissue culture plant to big fruiting bush. It's not my favorite fruit in the garden, but it's good and the continuous production makes it a real joy.
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Try Natal Plum, too. It does really well in containers and grows well as a shrub plant. It has thorns and makes for a good deterrent/defense plant for windows and borders around homes. The only drawback is that the leaves, roots, stems and green parts of the plant are mildly toxic. Once the fruits ripen into little 2" plums, they aren't toxic and can be picked and eaten. They flower and fruit nearly constantly once they put on some size and are an attractive little shrub.
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Red Jaboticaba it will fruit most of the year. Slows down in colder months.
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I’m a big fan of strawberry guava if we are talking about large shrubs.
The flavor and such is nice but it is such a beautiful looking plant that it fits in many landscapes and gardens
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Not rare but Feijoa is hard to beat. Beautiful, evergreen, hardy, delicious flowers and fruit.
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Barbados cherry is delicious and grows really well with little care.
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My Chilean Guava (ugni molinae) is flowering for the first time this year. Its in 3 gallon pot and just over 2 ft tall. The flowers smell amazing and I hear you can make tea from the leaves. The leaves have a really pleasant smell when crushed.
(https://i.postimg.cc/wyYCmZk0/PXL-20220716-212221276.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/wyYCmZk0)
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Miracle fruit is good
Jaboticaba
Lots of psidiums potentially
Longipetiolatum
Myrtiodes
And many others
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Miracle fruit is good
Jaboticaba
Lots of psidiums potentially
Longipetiolatum
Myrtiodes
And many others
I have myrtoides, still trying to figure out how it taste, do you know?
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A new one for me is Eugenia reinwardtiana (Cedar bay cherry). This is my first year fruiting this one and I have been very surprised at the quality. For me, so many of the "tropical cherries", although good as tropical fruit, take a lot of imagination to think of them as well, cherries. Not this one, it actually taste very similar to store bought cherries. It even as a pit like a cherry. Flesh to pit ratio is good (unlike say a peanut butter fruit --apologies to all fans of this fruit). And the flavor is very 'cherry like'. To be sure, I gave one to my husband to try (he is a wonderful albeit brutally honest individual). His response, "its a cherry". So there you have it!!
Oh and it grows very happily potted and once it starts to fruit it seems to fruit continuously.
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Not rare, but I like cocoplum (Chrysobalauns icaco). Have to grow it in my greenhouse, but when we were in Florida I regularly freaked my hubby out by eating the shubbery fruit while waiting at bus stops, etc.
Carolyn
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A new one for me is Eugenia reinwardtiana (Cedar bay cherry). This is my first year fruiting this one and I have been very surprised at the quality. For me, so many of the "tropical cherries", although good as tropical fruit, take a lot of imagination to think of them as well, cherries. Not this one, it actually taste very similar to store bought cherries. It even as a pit like a cherry. Flesh to pit ratio is good (unlike say a peanut butter fruit --apologies to all fans of this fruit). And the flavor is very 'cherry like'. To be sure, I gave one to my husband to try (he is a wonderful albeit brutally honest individual). His response, "its a cherry". So there you have it!!
Oh and it grows very happily potted and once it starts to fruit it seems to fruit continuously.
Do you mind sharing where you got yours? Sounds like you have a superior variety.
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Sorry, I couldn't find the tag for that one. Some others I got from Logees and are just starting to bloom, so I will be able to compare and see if they are the same quality. I will let you know. I'm really hoping they are all that good.
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A new one for me is Eugenia reinwardtiana (Cedar bay cherry). This is my first year fruiting this one and I have been very surprised at the quality. For me, so many of the "tropical cherries", although good as tropical fruit, take a lot of imagination to think of them as well, cherries. Not this one, it actually taste very similar to store bought cherries. It even as a pit like a cherry. Flesh to pit ratio is good (unlike say a peanut butter fruit --apologies to all fans of this fruit). And the flavor is very 'cherry like'. To be sure, I gave one to my husband to try (he is a wonderful albeit brutally honest individual). His response, "its a cherry". So there you have it!!
Oh and it grows very happily potted and once it starts to fruit it seems to fruit continuously.
Do you mind sharing where you got yours? Sounds like you have a superior variety.
Not the OP, but I got mine from Logees and it does not remind me of cherries at all. It's still a great plant due to its continuous fruiting and flowering, but there is an odd non-fruit aftertaste to them that comes from the skin. A little vegetable-like with a hint of vanilla? It's a flavor that's hard to place.
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My Chilean Guava (ugni molinae) is flowering for the first time this year. Its in 3 gallon pot and just over 2 ft tall. The flowers smell amazing and I hear you can make tea from the leaves. The leaves have a really pleasant smell when crushed.
(https://i.postimg.cc/wyYCmZk0/PXL-20220716-212221276.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/wyYCmZk0)
As a warning to Florida growers, Chilean Guava has struggled for me and Chilean Myrtle (Luma) is all but dead. I'm wondering if our climate is too hot for these plants.
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For me, barely in zone 9a, it's been Acerola (Barbados cherry) because of it's near continuous fruiting and flowering, quick fruit maturation time, and so far it's been pest free. Fruits flush from completely green to completely red in just a few days, which gives me at least a competitive chance to get the fruit before the critters do. It took just a couple of years for it to go from tiny tissue culture plant to big fruiting bush. It's not my favorite fruit in the garden, but it's good and the continuous production makes it a real joy.
Does your Barbados cherry die back in the winter. I live close to you in High Springs zone 8b. I planted a Barbados cherry last year in the summer. It died to the ground in the winter, but grew back in the summer. It never set flowers.
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Re Cedar Bay Cherry, it looks like I bought my plant from a vendor on ebay who is not selling anymore(: I am saving seeds and hope they produce fruit as good as the mother plant. I have flowers from the ones from Logees but they still haven't fruited, so I don't know how different they will be.
Also, thanks for the heads up regarding no chill blueberries, I ordered a couple of "biloxi" and will see how they work out.
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For me, barely in zone 9a, it's been Acerola (Barbados cherry) because of it's near continuous fruiting and flowering, quick fruit maturation time, and so far it's been pest free. Fruits flush from completely green to completely red in just a few days, which gives me at least a competitive chance to get the fruit before the critters do. It took just a couple of years for it to go from tiny tissue culture plant to big fruiting bush. It's not my favorite fruit in the garden, but it's good and the continuous production makes it a real joy.
Does your Barbados cherry die back in the winter. I live close to you in High Springs zone 8b. I planted a Barbados cherry last year in the summer. It died to the ground in the winter, but grew back in the summer. It never set flowers.
I didn't protect it in 2021, but did protect it in 2022 when it was colder. I still had some tip dieback with protection.
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I didn't protect it in 2020, but did protect it in 2021 when it was colder. I still had some tip dieback with protection
What did you use for cold protection. Thanks
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I didn't protect it in 2020, but did protect it in 2021 when it was colder. I still had some tip dieback with protection
What did you use for cold protection. Thanks
Edit, I meant 2022 for protection. It was a large plastic greenhouse from Amazon. Our dormant plants had broken before our last frost so I ended up having to stuff just about everything in there :-\