The Tropical Fruit Forum

Nice thread!

I have a couple of Pitanga's here in Europe that have fruited last year and are all flowering right now. I'll have varieties of five different seed sources to taste test in a month or so. I am in Northern Europe, so I grow these in an unheated greenhouse, where a selection of plants has no trouble handling the -5 Celsius in winter nights.

My best variety is from seeds I bought it from Vitor, a seed collector from Brazil that posted on this forum in 2015 and 2016
The first and second Pitanga I fruited were from these seeds and it was a new fruit to me. After having read everywhere about that strange Diesel or Turpentine flavor I was curious to try, but I couldn't figure out what everyone meant. The first year only one fruited and the cherries were small but delicious. They tasted a bit like Bell peppers to me, but then wiht a more fruity and sweet flavor. The second year the other fruited and it also had that same delicious flavor. Everyone I gave them too loved them, so I was a bit mystified about that aftertaste story.

The last year the first plant from a batch of seed of a supposed orange Pitanga started fruiting, so I tasted one and bingo! -a ll of a sudden I realized what everone meant by Diesel taste.

The plants that are flowering now and I still have to try this year:
 a seedling from Miguel's Regina variety, that he selected in Portugal
 a seedling from a 'mini' Pitanga, also from Vitor from Brazil
 a seedling from Cassio's Black Pitanga, also from Brazil
 a seedling from Casio's Big Red Pitanga, also from Brazil
(I have many pictures but it seems i'm unable to post them here.)

I'll take Brix measurements and measure the fruits as well. My best variety has very small fruits, but they have absolutely not even a hint of turpentine taste - they are rather the size of blueberries then cherries, and any bowl you put on the table finishes quickly. It is super productive, though.

That big leaf variety looks impressive!

E Candolleana?

Only a few of them are partially self fertile. All benefit from having a second plant as pollinator to get a bigger fruit set - or any fruit set at all. Hukvaldy and Unique are partly self fertile.

PM sent 

Yes, it looks like Uvaia. They can have a very varied appearance and leaf size, even on the same plant, depending on growing conditions and age.

I am just on my way back from a ‘tour de France’ and here I have some leads that I had noted down. I myself haven’t been able to visit any of them due to lack of time on this family holiday.

I did find Avocado trees on the Mediterranean coast, Feijoa and loquat all through France, and large collections of citrus and apples in all the different chateaus....

Here are my notes:

An older website with partially accurate information (some nurseries don’t exist anymore)
http://www.fruitiers-rares.info/articles-A123a128/article124-pepinieres-fruitiers-rares-France.html

And this nursery looks pretty interesting, but they are on holiday til September.
https://www.sebtan.fr/

The INRA has a large apple collection near Angers and near Bordeaux, but I can’t seem to find the info on how to visit them.
https://www.pommiers.com/verger-conservatoire/conservatoire-

Hope that helps!

Bon voyage!

Beautiful, Luis! It looks like you are going to have plenty of fruits this year. Any special ones that you are excited about and that you haven’t tasted before?
It looks like your garden is going to be a place of plenty in the coming years! Beautiful!

That is pretty impressive. I’ll send you a pm with some seeds I can exchange with you. I’d love to try growing out some seeds of these new varieties in our climate.

These new selections look very interesting, Nick. How large is the ripening window between early and late varieties in your experience? The earliest variety we have here in Europe is Nikita and since I am quite far north in Europe and we have a short summer season, I am always on the lookout for new really early varieties that might be able to ripen well in our climate. Is it also difficult to receive and send seeds abroad? Otherwise I would be interested in trading seeds.
Thanks for posting and good growing!

Same for me regarding E Candolleana. I had around eight seedlings, all but one died over the years in autumn and in very mild frosts, before I moved the rest of my Eugenia’s into a more protected place for the winter. In my experience they are not frost hardy. The last plant I have I now take inside for the winter long before it even gets close to frost.

I don’t think it is anything you should worry about. I was always taught that it is much better, (or just good) to plant a tree the way you did, a little above the original soil level. This will form a good root flare and trees are naturally well able to cope with soil that settles or compacts under their roots - they just grow deeper roots and the crown lignifies and covers itself with bark.
While the other way around is much more damaging, if you plant a tree too deep the bark above the crown doesn’t have the ability to fight off molds and fungi when covered in wet soil all the time.

Zpusher: Yes they are carefree once in the ground for me in zone 8b, I should have seeds in September, if my plant flowers this year. If you remind me then I can send you some.

Heinrich: Yes, it is doing pretty good. Arven is willing to ship internationally they told me, but you have to email them first, because their website cannot calculate international shipping costs.