The Tropical Fruit Forum

Quote from: Tropical Sunshine on June 27, 2025, 10:50:51 PM

FWIW, Yangmei trees appear to be very prone to root rot. I have yet to own a grafted tree, but from what I can observe with yangmei seedlings it is quite intriguing to watch them respond to the moisture condition in the soil. Even in a large plant pot, I had seen a group of yangmei survive and thrive in one part of the pot while another group succumbed eventually to root rot at another site of the same plant pot. It was later realized that some areas of the plant pot tend to stay wetter for longer than other areas…

Funny thing is seedlings are actually ok with it
I had mine growing in a garden bed thats plastic…but I never opened the drainage hole for a month…
We got over 12 inches of rain in May the soil was consistently sopping wet

I don’t know, maybe the water evaporated from the many TN Appalacchian springs, being so naturally clean, is super saturated with oxygen, therefore when it pours rain and flood the bed there are so many oxygen molecules in the water that the yangmei seedlings are doing great because they are taking in oxygen rich water (pardon the scientific hypothesis pun 😁).  But on a rather serious note, this has happened to several yangmei batches so it’s not an isolated incident. The symptoms of root rot on yangmei are similar to that of babaco, another plant that loathes wet feet. It’s like how it is with peat moss. I know many gardeners swear that peat moss helps their potted plants thrive. But that’s not necessarily the case from my experience…I tried to avoid using peat moss in my planting mix and now my plants are doing better and can grow and flourish from season to season with a lot less apprehension from them getting root rot…

Too bad I don’t live close by…Good luck to anyone who can get access to those pineapples!

I don't know about lychee or longan, I have never been able root those. But you can also root loquat cuttings as well. I prefer to graft most of these but it is nice to do when you have a large tree and want to give someone a plant that they don't have.

I’ve not been able to root all those fruit trees you mentioned: Mango, avocado, lychee, and longan. Only stuff I’m good at rootings are goji, pomegranate, and hybrid willow…😁 I’m still a novice at grafting most trees, so if I have a choice between grafting and rooting, I would likely take the latter…

I used the clear/opaque plastic storage box from Home Depot and my mango cutting seemed to have rooted. I will see when it has more leaves growing.

That’s great news! Mango cuttings are among the harder to root cuttings. Funny how some of those folks in Youtube videos have made it seem so easy. I tried rooting mango cuttings many times before with no luck yet. That sounds like a promising set up. I may try to root my lychee branches since my lychee tree is flushing out new growth in this warm weather…

Check out this link: https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=42402.0

I think it’s an ingenous idea; No need to cover pots with cumbersome, awkward bags and keep them up with small stakes. Large clear boxes are readily available in some supermarkets. Just make sure to poke a few holes on the side and top of containers with a decent drill bit to allow fresh air to circulate in the box but still keep in a decent amount of humidity.

The topic was about germinating soncoya (a very difficult to germinate species in my current experience). I may go this route when I decide to germinate the difficult to germinate tropicals. Also using 40% GA3 at 300 ppm may help (Experimentation is needed, don’t go too high in the concentration, since more is not necessarily better).

Oh yeah, in case anyone is wondering, my Sylvia seeds just germinated with no special treatment. Once the temperature and humidity go up in South Texas, the guava seeds started to perk up from the soil. And I figure the fresh seeds didn’t hurt either in the germination process!

The Sylvia/Carmine guava seeds had germinated…And are doing great so far!

Not sure if any of the seedlings will be up to par with the original Sylvia guava but I’m just glad that I got the chance to grow the seedlings of what I would considered to be one of the top 5 guava varieties out there!

I got a dream recently from Vincent. Package came a little roughed up from handling but inside my baby was protected well! Graft is very strong and thick. Buy with confidence !

Yeah that graft looks well maintained. Vincent is a good seller!

Got a question…

I’ve heard that a good time to graft persimmon is in the late Winter, when the buds are about to open.

Has anyone tried and successfully grafted persimmon scionwood after the leaves have already appeared?

Is there a place in this world that can grow and fruit both Samoan dwarf coconut and seaberry?!? If there is, count me in, I may decide to buy a small homestead there!😉☺️

Quote from: Tropical Sunshine on May 16, 2025, 10:15:47 PM

Have you thought about growing cold weather fruit trees or bushes such as seaberry, aronia, serviceberry, winterberry, or haskap?

I love to try out some of those exotic cold weather plants but I think you may have a better chance at succeeding at growing and fruiting them up in TN as opposed to where I am in Texas where relentless heat and humidity are pretty much the norm throughout the Summer month…

Even in zone 10a, I am quite interested in growing temperate fruit. High volume of fruit for very little investment of effort, time, or $. You spend more time reducing the fruit  load (thinning) than you do increasing it!

If I were in an inclement weather zone, yes, I would have my eugenia and jabo, but I'd be spending less than 10% of my effort on them.

Now, if I had the $ and owned a nice plot of land where I could erect a massive, glass, double wall, heated greenhouse... Perhaps my effort % would change. Half assing zone pushing is where I'm out. Been there done that, killed a lot of plants and didn't get any fruit off em.

The cool weather deciduous fruit trees would likely do better in coastal California than in hot and humid Texas. I know SoCal does get its own heat wave, but in general night time lows in the 60s and 50s (F) can make life more bearable for those Northern fruit trees. Our lows can hover around the 80s (F) for weeks throughout the warmer months so not the kind of weather they prefer or are used to. If I have a plot if land in SoCal, I would definitely be more confident in giving the cool weather fruit trees a try…😎🙂

Have you thought about growing cold weather fruit trees or bushes such as seaberry, aronia, serviceberry, winterberry, or haskap?

I love to try out some of those exotic cold weather plants but I think you may have a better chance at succeeding at growing and fruiting them up in TN as opposed to where I am in Texas where relentless heat and humidity are pretty much the norm throughout the Summer month…

That’s true as well…I think there should be a happy medium where ingenuity combined with simplicity may allow the average backyard growers a chance to harvest a particular fruit in what would otherwise be an inhospitable environment for that species…