The Tropical Fruit Forum

Or call the USDA.  I have found them to be VERY helpful.

Carolyn

So, I bought some trees in Florida two weeks ago, and put them in our car for the trip,back to Idaho. I have 8 trees, and have been very careful with watering and misting, and bringing them into the hotels if it would be too hot or cold in the car. Everyone looks great and is traveling well except the jabo, which has dropped ALL her leaves.  They never turned brown. Some got a little dry, but for the most part she just shed like a dog in spring.
We are arriving home today, and I plan on tucking her into the greenhouse with the others. Soil is still damp. Should I give extra light? Extra humidity? Any special fertilizer? How long do I give her before I decide she has expired?

Thanks! Carolyn

We grow water cress, and the heat doesn't seem to bother it, but it doesn't like to have dry roots.  Most of our cress gets eaten byare by our koi, who have developed a real tast for it!

Carolyn

Thanks!
Yes, we have been having lots of fun traveling with trees. I watered them last night (bottled spring water from Walmart) outside our hotel room, and the hotel owners immediately swooped in and tried to buy them off me! We also have a big piece of coquina that we picked up St Augustine, so the van is pretty packed. Thanks again for the rollinia, Mark, it is happy to have company now. Glad the dwarf pineapple is flourishing! Your hospitality was very generous, and the beverages you provided are still in the cooler, but it is all we can do not to open them - they may not make it all the way back to Idaho...

Carolyn

So, we are traveling back to Idaho from Florida with a van full of trees. One that I bought is Miracle Fruit.  I have had notoriously bad luck with these in the past, with it slowly defoliating and dying. But, third time's a charm! Can anyone recommend a good way to acidify potting soil? Most sulphur brands I look at don't have a dosing guideline for pots. Is sulphur the best way to go? How low should I go, and how long do I wait to test the soil to see how acidic it has become? The plant I bought is in a 3 gallon pot that is only half full of soil, so I'll have to do something fairly soon.
It will be in a pot for the winter, and hopefully everything in my greenhouse will be going into rootbuilder pots, but I am going to track the soil temps in the greenhouse this winter first, to make sure I don't everything when they start to go into the native soil.

Thanks!
Carolyn

Hi,
I am looking for bitter leaf seed, small plants or cuttings.

Thanks!

Carolyn

We are traveling to Florida beginning next week, and I wanted to shop at a tropical fruit nursery (allspice, june plum, grumichama, etc).  We won't be getting as far south as the Miami area, and am frantically trying to find a nursery selling tropical fruit trees as far north as possible.  I am trying to avoid having to pay the huge shipping fees to Idaho.

We will also be in south Texas, if there are any there.

Anybody have any suggestions???

Thanks!
Carolyn

Hopefully he is just temporarily relocated. Crossing my fingers!

Carolyn

Good question!  Two guesses -
Maybe with bananas, the patents are for tissue culture?
Also, maybe the countries that use tissue culture may not fall under US patent law?
Either way, I am certainly not chopping down my banana pups!

Carolyn

I think you have to get the license before you take cuttings or do air layering.  Here is what the Oregon State University Extension Service says -

"A patent legally prevents others from reproducing the protected plant variety by cuttings, tissue culture or any other method of asexual propagation without the written authorization or licensing of the patent holder. Possession of improperly propagated plants of patented varieties constitutes infringement, even if an illegal propagation was inadvertent.
Though asexual reproduction may be prohibited on a patented cultivar, there is no regulation against using the plant in sexual reproduction. In other words, the seed or pollen from a patented variety may be used without permission of the patent holder. The offspring are free of patent regulations.
To determine if a plant is patented, look for a patent number on the tag, or PPAF (plant patent applied for) or PVR (plant variety rights) after the name of the cultivar. Or sometimes there are other indicators that a patent has been applied for, such as “patent pending.”
If a plant is patented, a license is required from the patent holder in order to make cuttings of that plant, even if it is planted in your own back yard. Unlike with a copyright, there is no concept of “fair use rights” for patents in the United States."

There is no danger to eyes or cameras as long as the eclipse is in totality.  I had just over a minute to get the pics.
But anything OTHER than totality can cause eye damage after only a few seconds, with no pain.  And nope, that is NOT fake news...

Carolyn

Ok folks, sorry this is not fruit-related, but here is a pic of the total solar eclipse! I did eat a home-grown banana while waiting, if that counts...

Nobody knows for sure where he went for the eclipse, but Neil Degrasse Tyson had ice cream at a place two blocks from our house.  Only famous person ever to eat at Delsa's.

Carolyn

What is CCPP?

Carolyn