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Messages - Daintree

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: starting coffee from washed green seeds
« on: November 07, 2024, 11:35:41 AM »
My coffee seeds sprout in about 10 days.  I just pop them out of the cherries and stick them in little pots. I also get plants from when people eat the cherries in my greenhouse and spit the seeds onto the floor.

I save and dry the cherries after removing the seeds. It makes great tea.

Strom, did you want some fresh seeds? I can mail you some when my tree/bush fruits next. It just finished, and I don't think there are any fruit left on the tree, but I can go look.

I gave up processing the coffee. Way too much work.

Cheers, Carolyn

2
I tend to do most of my seed sprouting in the winter, because that is when we travel and I collect my seeds. I start them in the greenhouse on heat mats, and under a lamp on a timer.  For the most part I start in regular pots and may move them to tree pots once they don't need the heat mat.
Pot size depends on seed size and habit.
I usually start jackfruit trees in tree pots.
Annonas and other fairly large seeds go into 5" pots.
Tiny seeds go into tiny pots.
I use the same soilless mix for all of them (peat, compost, perlite) but sift it for the tiny seeds.
I cover the seeds (thickness depends on seed size) with straight dampened vermiculite. Seems to hold moisture longer than regular soil.

3
Hey Zwanif,
I am all in favor of experimenting when you have a lot of one type of seed! That is how great discoveries are made.

I did find a paper about paclobutrazol that had this conclusion - "Under the appropriate concentration of paclobutrazol (40 mg·L−1~80 mg·L−1), the seedling quality, stress resistance, and aroma of fragrant rice can be improved".

However, it did not say anything about speed of sprouting.

It is widely used here in the horticultural industry here in the US to regulate plant growth in ornamentals. So greenhouses can sell nice bushy plants instead of long spindly ones.  I think it reduces the internode length. However, it can cause a problem if the water is re-used, in that plants may get too much, or the wrong plants get some.

So go ahead and run your experiment! I, for one, would be interested to see the results!

Daintree

4
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Plant in ground now 8b?
« on: October 27, 2024, 06:56:54 PM »
poncirsguy, how long have those been in the ground?

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Breakfast of champs
« on: October 27, 2024, 06:52:44 PM »
21 days? I could clean up all those rambutans in an hour!


6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Synsepalum Dulcificum (Miracle Berry)
« on: October 27, 2024, 05:36:08 PM »
Actually, I have personal experience with this.
Both chemo, and when taking Paxlovid.
They DO get rid of the horrible metallic taste in your mouth!
They actually make your saliva taste sweeter, according to my mom, husband and sister, and they were not saying it to trick me.  My sister was even getting up in the middle of the night to take them when her mouth tasted so bad.
They work both fresh and frozen, but if you eat them frozen, don't let them thaw first, and they do not last as long frozen. I had a huge number set on at once and froze them as an experiment. I vacuum sealed them.
But once again, they DO WORK to get rid of the metallic taste from chemo and Paxlovid.

Carolyn

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Carissa carandas
« on: October 27, 2024, 09:48:47 AM »
I have these in my greenhouse. You can stew them with a little sugar and they make a great substitute for cranberry sauce.
I have a recipe for cranberry nut bread that I am going to try with them. They are less tart than cranberries.

And, CarolinaZone, I got my seeds from Trade Winds Fruit in California.

Carolyn

8

Great idea Carolyn. Will something like this suffice?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07Y36FWTT?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Yeah, that looks great.  Mine has three sensors, so I can do outdoors, the tropical house and the orangerie. But if you just have one room that is perfect. And you can view it from your phone.

9
I love Robert is Here.
They have a huge variety of fruit and sometimes plants. I bought my Miracle Fruit plants there, at a fraction of what nurseries were selling them for.
Several of my trees came from fruit I bought there.

Carolyn

10
As far as alarms, I just use a weather station, with the base unit in the house and the sensors in the greenhouse.  I can set a min. temp. alarm.  It has woken me up in the middle of the night.
Since they are battery powered, if the fans stop (power outage), the gas wall heaters keep working but all the heat goes up, and my sensors rest in some of the big pots.  If a heater goes out (occasional with the vent-free heaters as they get older), it gets cold enough to set off the alarm.
Then I just go out and either restart the furnace, or plug in the generator in the case of a power outage.
I just use the inexpensive Ambient weather station. Works like a charm!  Only thing it doesn't do is connect to WiFi, but when I am out of town I always have a house sitter anyway so I don't need it.

11
You'll be fine. My 700 sq ft greenhouse is all run off of three 15 amp extension cords, and I use over 40 amps total. I run lights, fans, heat mats, pond spitter etc.
I would make sure you have some gentle air circulation, to move the heat from the source to all the plants. Small fans up at the ceiling pointing down, since of course heat rises...
 Carolyn

12
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Babaco cuttings for sale!
« on: October 24, 2024, 03:50:27 PM »
I love the fruits, but do not expect them to taste like regular papaya.  They are handy because you can eat them green like a veggie (I toss them into the mix when I make curry goat), or wait until they are super ripe and juicy.  You can eat the skin.  They taste a little acidic, and sort of "foamy" on the tongue. Maybe a little like pineapple? But not really.  Like a pineapple and a papaya had a baby... Definitely unique but tasty!

My big problem is that they grow like crazy, and keep hitting the top of my greenhouse every 6 months, so I always have to sacrifice the top dozen or so unripe fruits when I whack them off.  They are very sturdy, and I have nightmares about them actually punching through the roof, although in reality I'm sure that couldn't happen...  ???

13
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Babaco cuttings for sale! SOLD!!!
« on: October 23, 2024, 05:38:58 PM »
These are all sold now. Thanks for playing!

I have 8 fresh babaco papaya cuttings for sale!
US only. Will ONLY send Priority.

$5 each plus postage of $20 per box.
They are sent in a Medium Flat Rate Priority mail box. I can get 1-8 in the box.

These are large (1"-1.5" x 12.5"-13") cuttings and should root quickly and bear fruit fast.
See photo of actual plant the cuttings will come from (fruit not included).

Carefully packaged with bubble wrap, and heat pack if needed (it is getting cold here in Idaho!), all cuttings are marked as to which direction is "up"

PM me if interested

Thanks!
Carolyn




14
Oh, I should get some of those!
I have fallen off the ladder in my greenhouse, poked my neck with a plant stake, broken at least two toes (ok, I WAS barefoot...), gotten dozens of bruises, scratched my cornea, cut my forehead when I looked up just as a metal plant hanger fell, and got my long hair caught in a drill, slamming the drill into my face and breaking my cheekbone.  My husband says I am a walking accident factory!  :o

15
Build a big greenhouse!
And heat it.  :)

Carolyn

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mamey sapote in containers??
« on: October 13, 2024, 09:15:32 AM »
Mine isn't old enough to fruit yet, but is doing great in a container. Just moved it from a regular pot to a Rootmaker.

17
Gotta love the USDA Pest Alerts! It looks like it was green scale.  If you want to know the species, try this Bulletin -
https://ccmedia.fdacs.gov/content/download/93731/file/PEST-ALERT-Snout-Scale.pdf

All around a handy resource!

Cheers,
Carolyn

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What is this on my jaboticaba
« on: October 06, 2024, 09:24:07 AM »
Definitely wipe them off.  But they sure look like eggs to me. Cutworm eggs maybe. Has this plant been outside, or has the greenhouse been open so that outside insects can come in? They are a small brown moth when mature.

Carolyn

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Going to rip out my Lulo (sniff sniff)
« on: October 05, 2024, 08:45:20 PM »
Ooooh! Now that the lulo, tamarillo and dwarf tamarillo are gone (RIP), I have room for mutingia!!! :)

20
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Going to rip out my Lulo (sniff sniff)
« on: October 03, 2024, 10:23:36 AM »
So, being a greenhouse gardener, AND having poor impulse control when it comes to planting seeds, is a dangerous combination.
My setup is so crowded right now, there could be a jaguar hiding in the underbrush and I would never know it.
So I have sadly decided it is time to part with my solanums - lulo, tamarillo and dwarf tamarillo. They just take up so much room, and they don't fruit.  I am guessing it is because my greenhouse is in a slightly shady location.
So today, before the weekly trash pickup, I am sending them to the big composter in the sky. Well, actually the city compost...
May they rest in pieces.

Carolyn



21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Couple new fruit I tried
« on: September 29, 2024, 08:49:35 AM »
Very cool! Thanks!

22
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Grasshoppers
« on: September 20, 2024, 10:02:44 AM »
Well, that is a Mormon cricket, so luckily they do not fly. They can really creep you out when they run at you and attack your shoes, though! My grandkids are both fascinated and terrified by them...

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Kandrian Bananas...how long to ripen?
« on: September 20, 2024, 09:15:38 AM »
I have found that when mine blooms in the spring, the bananas ripen faster, because of the strong sun and heat in the summer. I can go from bud to edible bananas in three months. Once they are full sized, they should ripen in a month or less, I would think. But this time of year they can be much slower because it is cooler and the sun is lower.
Also, the more you stare at them and say "hurry up and ripen!" the slower they grow.  ;D

24
does anyone here enjoy eating noni? i have never had it but I have heard its... special.

I like noni.  I think the trick is that you need to enjoy "stinky" cheese.  To me, it is a cross between Maroilles cheese (If you aren't familiar with it, then think Limburger...) and banana. 

To get the seeds from which I grew my current noni bush, I was eating one over a trash can in a park in Honolulu, and a lady walked by, sniffed, and said "That is DISGUSTING! You are as bad as my sister!" I took it as a compliment...

I offered one to my four year old granddaughter, who sniffed it and handed it back, saying "No thanks gramma. You know I don't like cheese!"

So there IS a definite "stinky cheese" quality to it.

Cheers,
Carolyn

25
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Grasshoppers
« on: September 18, 2024, 06:14:37 PM »
I don't know about grasshoppers, but it doesn't touch Mormon crickets (they are actually a shield back katydid). 
The best thing for them is carbaryl, since it kills the crickets that eat it, then kills the crickets that eat the dead crickets. Disgusting little cannibals...

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