The Tropical Fruit Forum

If these are outdoor then all you usually have to do is stop the ants from farming them with a barrier like tanglefoot at the base of tree (not ideal to put the tanglefoot right on the tree due to asthetics). Provided that you have a healthy ecosystem then wasps, ladybugs, lacewings and parasitic wasps will take care of them. Try to encourage local predatory bugs by planting native flowers and avoiding systemic insecticides.

All my scales and meat bugs get stripped of my infested plants if I take them out in the spring.

Carolyn, I usually just have a cold water line for watering. The water can get really cold in January (40F), but by then I am not having to water much and then would be just using the water from my dehumidifiers. The Venturi would be for the summer, I’ve realized over time that my containerized plants are both unwatered and underfed during the summer months. I think for optimum growth they need daily fertigation.

This fall I’ve been fertigating weekly with a cheap hose end sprayer whose maximum concentration is still more dilute than I like (tap water 110ppm, with the fertigation 200ppm max). But the growth has been remarkable even with it this dilute.

In the past I only used solid organics as a top dressing twice a year. A alfalfa/verimcompost in January (the alfalfa I supposed to break down over a year), and then a mix of composed fruit peels and vermicompost (potassium rich) in may. I was treating them like in growing plants cause there isn’t much info on containerized culture. All the composting people say the liquid byproducts of compost/vermicompost/bolashi should be thrown away.

The big issue with the solid organics was the fruit flies and fungus gnats, it was crazy. There are basically no flies anymore with the dilute fertigation cause all the chemical energy has been sucked out from the decomposition. The secondary benefit is that the plants are even more happy with the regular dilute feed. I think I should have been thinking about things as a hydroponic setup.

I get about 20 gallons a week of deionized water from a dessicant and compressor dehumidifier. The water is warm and usually plentiful enough when the tap water is just above freezing. Electricity is relatively cheap here (vast hydroelectric reserves).

I will let everyone know how it works out.

Andrew, I grew loquat seedlings for 6 years in a 20 gallon pot before it finally flowered. I bought 2 1 gallon cultivars and grew them in a 2 gallon pot for 1 year before they flowered (forced flowering in spring) and them potted them up to a 10 gallon. This is the plant now 18 months after purchase.

Mike, very interesting. What happens with the seeds in the female only plants? Also (best guess) how frequently will they be self fruitful?

Not sure if it’s just me (all plants in containers) but after a couple of years my sugar apple has started to look terrible. If you are going to be able to protect them in the winter why not a soursop, they grow like crazy.

Another neat idea is to use phase change materials (pcm’s). Water barrels work like this, if the water were to freeze they release a huge amount of energy (100x what you can get from a concrete floor) they also use special salt solutions and waxes. You can really nerd out on this stuff, but you start to sound kinda weird… and eventually people don’t want to talk to you anymore, so then you just talk to your plants. I’ll shut up now.

Has anyone gotten soursop to yield fruit in a container? If so what size of plant/pot was required.

It sounds like it seems pointless to try and fruit jackfruit in a container. It’s too bad, it’s such a nice looking tree. I guess it’s next on the chopping block next time I need space.

I am no expert in either, but I was able to get three starfruit off a plant that was completely ignored in a7 gallon container this summer. I am now taking better care of it. It is currently reflowing and setting more fruit. I’ll let you know how many set.

 As for jackfruit, I was asking the same question a couple of days ago. I searched through all the threads and seems it needs a large container (25gallon) with considerable trunk girth (4”) before it is we’ll established enough to fruit in a pot.

So I’ve got my first bunch of loquats which are in the process of ripening. I’ve never seen or eaten a loquat fruit before. These fruits are starting to get soft, but they don’t seem orange enough and there is still a touch of green. Do I leave them on for longer? Thanks I’m advance for your knowledge.

Plantinyum,
Thanks for posting your pics. I’m always curious about the different setups people come up with. Do u have strategic “microclimates” for specific plants? Specifically, I was wondering about what is next to the heater do u need spider mite resistant plants due to the heat and low humidity (not sure low much the rads dry out the air).

John, there have been studies that rocks in the bottom don’t help increase drainage, they just waste root space. For my pots that sit on the ground I actually drill large holes 1” on the side at the bottom so the holes don’t get plugged from The weight of the pot. The drainage is good but some soil will spill out and make a mess. To stop that I put a small handful of shredded cedar mulch in front of the holes ( 2 holes for <10gallon, 4 for >10 gallon) to act like a course filter to stop the soil falling out. If ceramic pot with large bottom hole they sit on “feet” or sit on another pot full of soil.

Plantinyum,
Any issues witch phytotoxicity with that regiment? I’m always worried that sprays will damage new growth or flower buds. I heard star fruit doesn’t handle oil sprays well. Also how much is neem oil, vs an ultra fine hort oil. The canola oil product with pyrethrine was 30usd per litre, which is ridiculous. I need to get over my “eco” obsession and use an ultra fine mineral oil compound which is half the price.