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Messages - Daintree

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51
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Melon varieties for Florida
« on: January 26, 2024, 09:31:14 AM »
Even though I am not in Florida, because my greenhouse mimics your climate I use the UF/IFAS website a LOT. Heaps of great information.  Maybe reach out to them...

Carolyn

52
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cashews
« on: January 24, 2024, 10:05:07 AM »
Hi,
Cashews do not grow true to seed, although you can certainly plant the seed.
They should bear in 3-4 years. Grafted seedlings may produce in a year or two.
Most of the flowers are male, so it may look like you are going to get a lot of fruit, then you don't. There is also the normal amount of immature fruit drop.
There are cultivars available that have a higher percentage of bisexual flowers, which would increase yield. I think a lot of the cultivars come out of India.  Probably any dwarf commercially available cultivar will be more productive  than from seed. My son, who grows cashews in Belize, says the cultivars he sees are not named but are described by how prolific they are.  That probably doesn't help much in Algeria...

Carolyn

53
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Let's close this issue once and for all
« on: January 22, 2024, 06:33:37 PM »
Oh man, there are thousands!

I started making a list, then just thought, go here -
http://www.fruitlovers.com/seedlistUSA.html

Or here -
https://www.tradewindsfruit.com/tropical-fruit/

Or here -
https://www.rarexoticseeds.com/en/tree-seeds/fruit-tree-seeds

I have ordered from Oscar at Fruit Lovers, and from Tradewinds. Never ordered from rare Exotic Seeds, but they have a good list.

Viola!

Carolyn

54
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Potting Soil Mix
« on: January 19, 2024, 07:07:16 PM »
I would see if there are any sources of truckload delivery of "raised bed mix". 
Then get the Perlite on Amazon. You can get 4 CF bags cheaper than smaller bags.

Carolyn

55
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Interest in Jackfruit on TFF
« on: January 19, 2024, 06:58:25 PM »
I keep trying, in my greenhouse, but they always up and croak at about the 2 ft seedling stage.  :'(

Carolyn

56
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Basket shipping
« on: January 19, 2024, 08:56:58 AM »
That is pretty awesome! However, I can picture it arriving at my house crushed, mangled, and ripped apart. Lucky you are in Thailand where they actually care about getting something to you in good condition!

57
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Annona germination
« on: January 18, 2024, 04:04:58 PM »
Mine all came up in about 3-4 weeks.  I soaked them in hydrogen peroxide first.  Don't know if it helps or not, but it makes me feel like it does...

Carolyn

58
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Choose de
« on: January 17, 2024, 08:32:11 PM »
My jabos do well, ginberry and coffee never stop fruiting, and I love my bananas, even though they all ripen on the same day.
The majority of what I grow is for fun and ambience. I don't care how much they produce.
Because I grow almost everything from seed, I mostly do it because I enjoy the challlenge.

Carolyn

59
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Best/favorite plants to grow in containers?
« on: January 16, 2024, 08:35:49 PM »
Quote from: Cdg4dq on January 16, 2024, 11:47:21 AM
Thanks for sharing, Carolyn. It sounds like a pretty amazing greenhouse. I'm building a small (6x8ft) greenhouse right now. Any tips on what plants to start with? What has been the most "bang for your buck" growing in containers? Especially since space is limited for me, I'd like to focus on plants that can reliably produce in containers AND overwintering in a cold greenhouse. With 48 sq ft to work with, I don't want to use space on something large that I'll just be battling to produce a few fruits each year.

Also, do you have pictures of the greenhouse posted? It sounds amazing!

Thanks again,

C

Quote from: Daintree on January 16, 2024, 09:50:47 AM
I am in zone 6b/7a. The USDA just rezoned us.
I have everything in the greenhouse, from ginberry to banana to weird solanums like lulo. I have a bunch of trees, cacao, some annonas, cinnamon, bael, wampee, a couple varieties of papaya, dragonfruit etc.
You can pretty much grow anything in pots.
Carolyn

How cold would your greenhouse get in the winter? Citrus do well in containers and they can get cold in the winter. My bananas are super reliable, you already have ginberry, and those can stay small and make heaps of fruit. Yes, I have some pics of my greenhouse on the forum in various places, just sort through my posts. It is not geared towards heavy production, it is my backyard paradise and "happy place".


60
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Best/favorite plants to grow in containers?
« on: January 16, 2024, 09:50:47 AM »
Hi there,
I am in zone 6b/7a. The USDA just rezoned us.
I have everything in the greenhouse, from ginberry to banana to weird solanums like lulo. I have a bunch of trees, cacao, some annonas, cinnamon, bael, wampee, a couple varieties of papaya, dragonfruit etc.
You can pretty much grow anything in pots.
The problem you will have is moving the plants once they get big. It quickly became not worth the effort for me. The plants got shocky twice a year took time to recover, I transferred pests into the greenhouse, and darned near ruined my back.
Now everyone lives in the greenhouse fulltime.
If you do a greenhouse, get the kind with the roll-up roof or sides so you dont have to move 30 gallon, 200 lb trees.

Carolyn

61
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Leaf cuttings citrus propagation
« on: January 14, 2024, 09:11:35 AM »
I think those are called "blind cuttings".
Lots of leaves will make roots, but you have to have a meristem bud (which I believe usually form on the stem, NOT the petiole) in order to make a shoot that may turn into a plant. African violets and some other plants have dormant meristem cells in the actual petiole, but citrus leaves that grow roots will just be leaves with roots.  :(

62
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Help
« on: January 14, 2024, 12:24:07 AM »
Eight more inches have fallen since then!

63
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Help
« on: January 13, 2024, 06:48:08 PM »
Here are a couple shots of my trees. The custard apple especially drops a lot of leaves in the winter. Even with lights on. I like to use a REALLY well-draining mix to avoid common root rot problems.

Pots

Trees



Outside now...


64
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Help
« on: January 13, 2024, 09:41:46 AM »
Hi Zwanif,
I will post pictures later today after the sun hits the door to my greenhouse, it is frozen shut right now due to the freezing weather!
I have Annona muricata, A. reticulata, A. squamosa and Rollinia delicious all in pots in my tropical greenhouse.
The pots are 25 gallons.
I do not use organic fertilizer in pots because there is not enough microbes in potting soil to break down organic fertilizer and turn it into the ions that plants can use.  I give them Osmocote time release fertilizer three times a year and Miracle Gro every time I water.
Yields - very low unless I hand pollinate! Just a couple of fruits. I grow the A.muricata for the leaves for tea so I don't bother to pollinate it.  It will make a couple of fruits now and then.  I do not know the variety on any of them.  They are seeds I brought back from Chile a few years ago.  The fruit tasted really good though!

Good luck!
Carolyn
 

65
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Choose your best annona and why
« on: January 10, 2024, 09:35:45 AM »
Right now it is Annona muricata, simply because I am doing a pretty good business selling the dried leaves for tea. Don't have to wait for a fruit crop!

Carolyn

66
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is it true that organic fertilizers don't work well for container gardening?
« on: January 10, 2024, 09:27:21 AM »
Yes, that is true. I have tried boosting the organic matter, but the bacteria and fungi need "soil", which I don't use, due to weight, drainage and availability.
I set up an experiment one year and had three sets of pots.  One where I used potting soil and fed organic food that has mychorrhiza and bacteria added to it, one with organic potting soil heavily augmented about like Tropicaltoba's (from my 100% organic sister who swears her potting soil is perfect), and one with just my favorite potting soil.
I planted tomatoes in all of them, and fed the first two only organically and the last with Miracle Gro.
I kept everything going for a year, then spent a lot of $ sending samples of the soil and the roots into the lab to test for microorganisms.
Results? NONE of them had the amount and types of bacteria and fungi to break down organic fertilizer.
At the end, I even called Miracle Gro to see if they were interested in my little experiment. They said, "Thanks so much, but we already knew that!"

So I just throw varying amounts of synthetic fertilizer in my water (depending on the plants' needs) and all my plants are happy!

Carolyn

67
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing tips for the tamarind tree
« on: January 10, 2024, 09:12:18 AM »
Like Brian, mine is from seed. Flowered for the first time at about 4 ft in height, maybe a few years old. I have lost track. It flowers profusely every year but I don't get much fruit in the greenhouse. I tried capturing a few honeybees to pollinate it but they got sucked out the exhaust fan when they tried to go home with their pollen :(

68
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How does Down to Earth's Acid Mix compared Espoma's Holly-Tone fertilizer?
« on: January 08, 2024, 10:58:21 AM »
Depends on if your plants are in the ground or in pots.

All my plants are in pots, in a basically soilless medium. I steer clear of anything labeled "organic" because there is just not enough microbial and fungal activity in potting soil to break down the nutrients into the ionic form that the plants can utilize.
So I go with just Miracle-gro and an added cal/mag.
For my acid-loving plants I love the Espoma Soil Acidifier.

Funny story, for years, I would have sworn the label said Epsom, not Espoma. I once sent my hubby to the store for some and he was the one that noticed I was calling it the wrong thing. My brain is weird...

Carolyn

69
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Happy New Year!
« on: December 31, 2023, 07:46:10 PM »
Happy New Year to all my "fruity friends"!!!

Carolyn

70
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: ID Request
« on: December 31, 2023, 09:54:36 AM »
Reminds me of rainforest plum (E. candolleana), but they usually fruit in clumps.

Carolyn

71
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Merry Christmas
« on: December 26, 2023, 09:36:52 AM »
Quote from: MadFarm on December 25, 2023, 04:37:01 PM
Merry Christmas!
Quote from: Daintree on December 25, 2023, 12:54:43 PM
Merry Quailmas!
Santa brought us some surprise baby quail today, when I was SURE I was getting all the eggs picked up.

We just had a surprise batch in September too, and I think they are already laying...
They are like Tribbles! Ack!

No more free-range, group-sex quail at MY greenhouse - Gonna spend Boxing Day building a quail run, and separate the boys from the girls.




Happy Holidays!!!
Carolyn


Are those Coturnix?

No, they are Chinese Painted Quail (or King Quail), Synoicus chinensis.  Sometimes people call them button quail, but they are unrelated to true button quail.  Takes 4 eggs to equal 1 chicken egg. Too small, and WAY too cute, to eat the birds.  I love them! They come in many colors, the males "laugh" when they call, which freaks out some greenhouse visitors. They have eaten all the centipedes and earwigs in the greenhouse.  But they are extremely shy, and very sneaky about egg-laying. 

72
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Merry Christmas
« on: December 25, 2023, 12:54:43 PM »
Merry Quailmas!
Santa brought us some surprise baby quail today, when I was SURE I was getting all the eggs picked up.

We just had a surprise batch in September too, and I think they are already laying...
They are like Tribbles! Ack!

No more free-range, group-sex quail at MY greenhouse - Gonna spend Boxing Day building a quail run, and separate the boys from the girls.




Happy Holidays!!!
Carolyn

73
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Do you guys propagate during the winter? If so, how?
« on: December 17, 2023, 09:30:06 PM »
Ha!  ;D

74
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is it bad to water Marula (Sclerocarya birrea) during the winter?
« on: December 17, 2023, 08:34:33 AM »
I water mine all year long, but they never get a lot of water.
They are in a greenhouse, so I don't know if that makes a difference.

Carolyn

75
Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Re: Anyone growing Grains of Paradise (Aframomum melegueta)?
« on: December 15, 2023, 09:12:57 AM »
I have what I was TOLD is Grains of Paradise, but since it has never bloomed I can't confirm, unless someone can share some info about it that I can use to identify it.  It does look like pictures I have seen. Grows like a weed in my greenhouse.

Carolyn

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