The Tropical Fruit Forum

Hi All,
I am growing a few plants in my greenhouse that are not generally known in cultivation.  Trying to sort out their nutrient needs has been a challenge.  In particular, a couple of my dacryodes edulis were looking funky, and none of the online pictures pointed me in the right direction.

There is a local lab that does plant tissue analysis for crops and trees, so I took some samples in to them.  I had one tree that was doing well, and one that was looking horrible.  Turned out the bad one had several issues, including an iron overload (comparing the "happy" plant to the "unhappy" plant), although I do not use much iron at all.  Some of these jungle trees seem to prefer poor soil, I guess! I have found that soil analysis doesn't help much, since the soil may be fine, but it doesn't have what THAT plant needs, or has too much of it. For example, in healthy, nitrogen-rich soil, my cinnamon isn't happy.  Less nitrogen, happy cinnamon! Plus, because I use a high-quality potting mix and my plants are in containers, there is far less of an issue with soil problems compared to plants in the ground.

Anyway, I am now in the process of taking other "healthy" samples in to have them tested, and try to establish a baseline for what they need.  It is still sort of a crapshoot, since a plant can be in the process of suffering, but not showing symptoms yet, but over time, I am hoping to establish what "normal" is for some of these plants.

So, my question is - Is there someplace where I can find baseline tissue analysis (not soil) reports for some of these plants, so I don't pay to reinvent the wheel?  Namely, cherimoya, soursop, custard apple, ice cream bean and theobroma cacao. 

The lab I use tests for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, copper, manganese, iron and boron.  I realize that different labs may use different testing methods, but they usually state what methods they use, so the results may still be helpful.

Thanks!

Carolyn

So, I have two kukui (Aleurites moluccanus) trees in my greenhouse.  But I am full to the gunwales and am trying to do some thinning. Do I need two kukui to get nuts, or are they self-fertile?

Thanks!

Carolyn

So, I see that there is a DNA plant sexing test for cannabis. 

http://www.medicinalgenomics.com/dna-based-plant-sexting-test/

I have contacted a couple of the "partner labs" on the Medical Genomics website, explaining that I want to test some trees (dacryodes edulis and Sclerocarya birrea), but I have not heard back.

Anybody know if the labs can test other plants as well? 

Thanks!

Carolyn

Oh man, I hate it when it gets like this.  It hasn't been above freezing in days, and now we have an air inversion.  No sun, so it doesn't get warm in the greenhouse during the day.  By the 4th of Jan, it is supposed to hit -5.

Guess as a New Years present to myself, I will somehow squeeze all my citrus into the tropical house, so I can close the window between the two houses to keep the tropical house temp in the 50's.
Brrr...
Good news is that I switched from a 20,000 BTU gas furnace in the tropical house to a 30,000 BTU furnace, so I think it can do the trick!

Hope Florida and California are looking better than Idaho!!!

Carolyn

I have some potted citrus that apparently have varying degrees of magnesium deficiency (according to the pattern of the chlorosis and age of leaves affected).
Can I foliar spray with epsom salt?  Or is there another foliar spray that would work better/faster? I want to green them up fast.
Or should I just treat the soil with epsom salt, or something else??  I have a dozen different types of citrus trees, all in pots.

Thanks!

Carolyn

I've heard about owners looking like their pets, but not quite sure what it means when pets start looking like fruit...

So, I have some dragon fruit plants that I have grown from seed. 
I bought the fruits in different areas of the world at farmer's markets.  Both dark red flesh and very tasty, so I brought some seeds home.
All the plants from one fruit are 4-sided, and all the plants from the other are 3-sided.
Any idea why?  I am guessing different varieties?  All my other dragon fruit have always been 3-sided.

Would shredded cedar bark in my pots help keep insects away? Do any harm to the trees? Mostly annonas, papaya, kukui, cacao, coffee, Marula, ice cream bean and various citrus. 
My main pests are mealy bugs and earwigs.

Thanks!
Carolyn

So, I have this stuff growing in most of my pots.  Don't know what it is, as it hitch-hiked in with something a while ago.  It does not vine or spread by runners, so I don't think it is a syngonium, even though that is what the leaves look like. It never gets any taller than about 6-8 inches, and grows from a bulb that looks just like a rat turd.  Now it is blooming, with a nice-smelling, velvety purple/black spathe-like thing.
Any ideas?

My sister and I built this in my greenhouse, "Daintree", over a couple of weekends as a place for my Bourkes to nest. 
We used a cool local product called KirtBag that turns mortar into a putty-like substance that allowed us to shape this hollow "dead snag".  Not perfect, but the birds seem to love it, and have stopped ripping the guts out of my vanilla "moss pole" (you can sort of see it in the background of the first picture - I had to build a cage around it…).  We numbered the nest boxes "2B', "not 2B", and "9 3/4".
Most of the weight is in the bottom third, to keep it steady, but Lord help us if we ever have to move it - it weighs 350 pounds!

Carolyn

Hi folks!
My friend went to Indonesia last winter and I sent him with a copy of my USDA permit so he could mail me some seeds.  He managed to misidentify most of them (which is weird, since they mostly came from fruits he was eating or nuts he gathered with a friend…).
Anyway, this one was supposed to be ginkgo, but it sure doesn't match any pictures I have seen of ginkgo!
At this point, he has no idea what it could have been, since it has been almost a year.
The leaves are stiff, and snap cleanly if accidentally broken.  The stems are sturdy, and the veins on the backs of the leaves are red.
Any help would be great!!

Thanks!

Just wanted to put in a good word for Forest House Cameroon.
I just received my second batch of seeds from them.  Both packages arrived in good shape and in a timely manner. The entire process is very fast and easy.
I pay via Paypal and e-mail them a copy of my USDA permit, a seed list (the one the USDA wants, where you list the genus and species, who collected it and where…) AND a scanned copy of the shipping label.  They do charge $1 to print the label in color, but it is well worth the price.  They slap the label on the front of the package, fill out the seed list and drop it in the mail.
The seeds are usually gathered from the wild, so I love the challenge of trying to grow things that are not really known in cultivation.  The first batch of seeds are seedlings now, and the second batch is sprouting. 
Once "the nursery" is cleared out, I will be ordering more!

Carolyn

I have 9 different types of citrus trees in my greenhouse.
They all bloom and put on fruit like crazy, except my oro blanco grapefruit.
I have had it for a year, and it just sits there, acting all green and leafy.
They are all in the same location and get fed and watered the same.
Does the oro blanco need something different?

Thanks,
Carolyn