The Tropical Fruit Forum

It puts up water sprouts really easily, sort of like a willow tree. I have to prune it because it is in the greenhouse, so I use those. I take the outer bark off with a potato peeler,

It may be too late for this batch, but how I have always done mine, and I get literally 100% germination, is first I suck as much pulp off the seeds as I can.
Then I put them all in a container of water (I use rain water, not tap water but I don't know if it make a difference). Then every day I rinse them off gently to continue removing the pulp. If you leave too much pulp they can ferment, which kills the seed, but you don't have to get it ALL off.
They just sprout a root (starts out as a thick white bump) right in the water in less than a week, then once they have done that, plant them.  You lay the seed right on the surface, and maybe push them in just a tiny bit, with the root pointing down. 
I use regular potting mix with 50% perlite, give them bottom heat and don't let them dry out but don't let the soil get mushy or they will rot.
Here are some. Planted very shallow...

OMG!

Looks like it is in a greenhouse. Mine are too, and if they are in a shady area it can take up to two years. Yours look full size, so they should start changing color and the scales start separating a bit when they are closer. Patience…

Carolyn

Yes, I do not have to run my misters in the winter. Love those cheap, Home Depot blue flame heaters! And they are plumbed for natural gas, which is way cheaper than propane here.

Sounds awesome, what do you like to use for your container medium and do you have any particular fertilizer you like? Do you have any pics of your greenhouse it sounds incredible!

Sure! Here are a bunch that I just ran out and snapped. It is still dark out and the lights are on, so no reflection from the sun makes it look really pretty in there. I took the outdoor shot the other day. We named it Daintree after our favorite rainforest vacation spot in Australia.

As far as potting mix, I know everyone has their favorites, but I use raised bed and potting mix from Home Depot, cut down with about 1/3 to 1/2 perlite. We have a perlite mine in Idaho so I can get 2 CF bags pretty cheap.  I also like to add Turface MVP, which is hardened clay granules, but it is more expensive.  My big thing is drainage, drainage, drainage. Everything, from Bat Flowers to cactus gets the same mix, I water everyone at the same time, and each pot gets more or less, or skipped that week, based on their needs.

For fertilizer, I use a complete synthetic liquid fertilizer, since no matter what I have added to potting mix, it is still very inert and does not build enough microorganisms to digest the organic stuff (I did a Master Gardener project where I spent a ton of time and money growing plants in different mediums and amendments, then sent it out to a lab). The plants can't tell the difference, it is easy to apply and I see really fast results if I am trying to correct a problem. And really, they do fine without symbiotic soil microbes, until they are stressed. And my leafy kids live a life of stress-free luxury...

My favorite fertilizer right now is Dyna-GRO Foliage Pro. It just got bought out by SuperThrive, so I have to be careful to grab the right product when I buy it.  It is totally complete, suitable for hydroponics.  the other thing I have used is Miracle-Gro.  It is complete except for Cal-Mag, so I just add that.

My greenhouse is 700 SF. Would have been bigger but I ran out of yard  . I have gardening clubs, Master Gardeners, college horticulture groups etc. through it all the time. I get so out of control with my plantings that I always warn people that if they see a jaguar in the underbrush to just play dead...

The wonderful deck and pergola that my hubby built


The double entry to keep the birds from escaping


The seating area, The Laughing Impala Pub




One of my Bourke's grasskeets, Hei-Hei


Plants...


My very messy potting table and storage area


The "nursery", with bird netting


Darned monsteras taking over, again...


Cacao trees on the left. Don't get many pods because I have to hand pollinate. Takes tweezers and a jewelers loupe.


Looking towards the back wall


Miracle berry bushes. The tallest one is 5 ft. Trying to air layer them.


Miracle berries. I eat them as I work out there.


My jabos just finished fruiting


Bat flowers on the right, the watering pond that I heat in the winter, and more darned man-eating monsteras


Vanilla planifolia.  I just composted about 50 feet of it. Another thing that gets out of control. Ok, actually everything gets out of control...


Noni. Brought the seeds back from Hawaii after eating the fruit hunched over a trashcan in a park in Honolulu. A passing lady looked at me and said "those are SO disgusting! How can you eat them???"


Coffee.  I used to process it but it is too much of a pain. Now I just plant the seeds and sell small, fruiting bushes. Get a lot of repeat customers because they always manage to kill them.


Marula trees, and Coco, another Bourke's grasskeet


Jewel, my male Splendid grasskeet

Sorry, no idea, but I don’t remember half the things I have planted, so don’t dismiss the cas guava because of that…

Did you do anything different as far as fertilizing, etc? Did you notice more bees late in the summer?
Could they be photoperiodic?
My bush is quite mature and flowers profusely but very little fruit. It is in the greenhouse.
If it needs insect pollinators, I am in trouble…

Carolyn

I have these in my greenhouse, both the plain and variegated type. And I concur that your fruit looks under-ripe. I wait until the scales fall off naturally, and then you have to make sure you get all the black specks out. Putting them in a paper bag helps speed things up.  I harvest a fruit once I see that the scales have started to separate, which starts at the stem end and progresses over a few days to the pointy end. Then bag them and eat the kernels only after the outer scales have fallen from that area.  So I may have a few going at once, half eaten.
They are fun!

I am working on gaining some self-control with my tropical tree seed purchases, and trying to be more ruthless in culling. Just because they all come up doesn’t mean I need to keep them all.
Not going really well, to be honest. Just ordered some more seeds…

I have had several types of solanums in my greenhouse, and have grown tamarillo, dwarf tamarillo, naranjilla (lulo), cocona, litchi tomato and a couple of the smaller nightshades like wonderberry and garden huckleberry.

To answer your questions -
My greenhouse is zone 12. They stayed in it year round.
Mine did great with part shade. VERY intolerant of drying out.
I would say they flowered and fruited at about 1 year old.
Sorry, I did not keep track of how fast the fruit ripened. I would guess a few months.
Like most of my tropicals, they don't have just one big crop. You get a few at a time all year long. They appear to be day-neutral.

The problem that I had with all of them is that they get huge, and many of them smell like creosote when I brush up against them.
Because they are in the greenhouse full-time, I felt like I constantly chopping down a smelly forest. They grew so fast that by the time they fruited they would be smooshed up against the greenhouse ceiling.

I am still really fascinated by solanums and grow them occasionally. One weird thing that I noticed is that I SWEAR that my dwarf tamarillo was some sort of carnivore. Fungus gnats were very attracted to the sticky, hairy leaves and stems. they would get stuck all over the branches and leaves until the plant looked like it had been sprinkled with pepper.  Then the bodies would disappear over a few days. Was the plant absorbing their nutrients?

Couldn't find a picture of my tamarillo, but here is the dwarf tamarillo from several years ago, just to the right of/behind the banana.  The plant isn't smaller, just the leaves...

Cheers,
Carolyn

they sell these peat coco plugs called rapid rooters or something, had amazing success just cutting them and slapping them on with some hormone, the trick was only using upright and semi hard wood branches in a vigorous state of growth, i think in spring or summer months.  Roots in about 45 days, i used two stacked longways for each marcot

https://www.amazon.com/General-Hydroponics-Rapid-Rooter-Replacement/dp/B0002IU8K2

Wow, thanks! That sounds promising! I just ordered a bag. Can't hurt!!
Carolyn

Thanks! Here is what it looks like now. Both of them are like this. The mother plant seems to be doing great, setting fruit both above and below the graft.
Would it help to use something other than a plastic bag? I tried plastic wrap but it was too hard to get into it to chase off the earwigs...