The Tropical Fruit Forum

Anyone have an Amber jackfruit near Brisbane? I gave probably a dozen away a while back as I had a grafted galaxy in ground. I had to move the galaxy recently and it didn't go well, so now I'm on the hunt for seedlings of Amber or Berry or other good types. Please let me know if you have any!

I have access to Achachairu (Garcinia sp. often called Garcinia humilis) and superior strains of Wampi (Clausenia lansium). I have both the spicy and large and very sweet varieities of Wampi available. Any interest?

A few of the Red Bud Satinash or Johnson River Apple (Syzygium erythrocalyx) were bearing at the local BG today. There were two forms on offer, the purple and the red. The red is a beautiful fruit on a short shrubby plant, while the purples were from a much taller, sparser plant, but  oth in quite heavy shade. The taste is fairly tart. Like a sharp malay apple without the perish flavour. Gorgeous tree and the fruit is okay.

On Gardening Australia this week they profiled John Picones grove near Byron Bay and it showed one of his rollinia trees with fruit held on stems at least 4ft long. Has anyone ever seen this before? Is it safe to assume its a different variety to common deliciosa or mucosa?

One method of fruit fly control that is taking off here is to use Fipronil. Generally a male FF pheremone is used and mixed with Fipronil.
Fipronil is the stuff used to treat fleas and ticks in dogs and to treat termite problems. It doesnt kill the target immediately, but lasts in the target's body for a day or so and it spreads to every other fruit fly (termite, flea, tick) that is comes into contact with, killing many of the target species with one exposure.

Generally the source of the chemical is taken from Frontline dog tablets and ground into something like Wild May pheremone and a wick is soaked in the solution and hung in trees where it does its business. The dog tablets cost about $10/pipette ($60 for a 6 pack). I've also found liquid sources (used for termite control) that have the same concentration that I'd assume would mix better and are more cost effective in the long run, but cost more up front as you buy them by the litre (about $150+ per L). You only use a tiny about of the Fipronil per litre of pheremone, so a litre of Fipronil would probably last years.

Before I jump on the bandwagon, I wanted to ask if anyone here has any experience with Fipronil and if it might cause wider damage? I'm unsure if fruit fly is the food species of anything in particular, but Im still a bit worried it could cause wider damage, although the wick is hypothetically isolated in the tree and shouldnt attract many other species outside of the target.

Had a few Orange berries today walking through the park. These taste quite nice, like a mix of honey and candied orange peel with a tiny hint of resin, nowhere near as bad as the best Brazilian Cherry I've had though. Flesh is better described as juice as it's pretty much just water held in by skin.

If anyone wants seed I have just a few.

These are generally a small shrub easily kept to about 1m and like the shade from my experience.

I've been asked about Rollinia hand pollination a few times the last few weeks, so I thought i'd put up a few pictures to illustrate it a bit. I was hoping to do a quick video, but haven't had the time and a second person to shoot. Anyhow, I'll try to guide you through the pics

first step is being able to identify your flowers. here is a pic of a male and female next to each other. This happens very rarely on my tree, but later in the season i get male and female crossing over a little. Earlier in the season i get females one day and males the next, or even the day after as its a 2-3 day cycle. Female is on the left and is slightly greener and has a very small opening to the flower. the male on the right is a stronger yellow and is open a bit wider. if you are used to other annona (Atemoya, cherimoya and sugar apple) then the difference between small and large opening on rollinia will seem fairly subtle, but if you observe them for a while you'll easily work it out.





If you want to check you have worked out your males from females, then just remove one of the 'Mickey Mouse ears' petals to check on the internal organs. Female first then male:





So, once you can identify your males from females you can go about transferring pollen from the males to the females. Often you will need to collect pollen one night, then store it in the fridge for 24-36 hours, then come back to pollinate the females as they flower on different days. there will be some crossover during the later season, but the majority of flowers are in different stages on different days.

I collect the pollen from the males by removing the entire outer flower structure and letting it fall into a small chinese style container made of stainless steel. I then store in the fridge overnight and come out the next evening with my trusty small tipped natural fibre paint brush and find my female flowers. The opening is too small to get the paint brush tip in, so you should remove one of the 'Mickey mouse ears' which gives access to the inner flower. Then get a bit of pollen on your brush (usually mixed with the stamen)  and get it onto the sticky part inside the flower (ovary? these guys don't have stigma, do they?). Then move to the next one. Removing one of the petals allows you to mark the ones you've pollinated to check how effective you've been.

I dont pollinate the next day, so I don't remove the petals of the ones I've pollinated, so i can check how its gone. Hopefully in a few days you'll get this

Today I headed out to the farm after hearing the bears had started dropping from the trees. Our 60ft wee-un bunya nut tree has dropped 12 fruit so far and still has heaps up in the crown. They cluster in the crown of the tree like big ugly grapes and the corellas have a field day gnawing through the cones to try to get at the nuts. The size isn't exceptional this season due to some real dry patches, but the quantity should more than make up for it. We'll be eating tonnes of pesto and bonyi mash. Here's the early season haul.

I bumped into this article the other day while researching info on 'honey drop'' and D11. Looks like there are lots more jabs to look for.
http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.scielo.br/pdf/abb/v26n4/02.pdf&prev=/search%3Fq%3Djaboticaba%2Bcoronata%2Bd11%26client%3Dsafari%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D768%26bih%3D928

Anyone interested in Syzygium fibrosum (Fibrous Satinash)? They are a strong flavored larger Lilly pilly. Trees are loaded at the moment. There's a little bit about in in here http://www.yuruga.com.au/yuruga-info-sheets/bush-tucker-for-north-qld/

Very ornamental too.

Thought I'd take a quick zoom around my garden after a storm passed by early this afternoon. We had a dry late winter and early spring and now we have had a week of heavy storms which has made everything explode with flowers and fruit. Even winter fruits like loquat are all flowering again. I'll spare you the stone fruit, figs, berries and more common stuff.

Paxton's prolific atemoya









Sugar apple




pitomba finally setting lots of flowers


Panama berries ripening after suffering through the dry


Two transplanted jakfruit - Brinsmead special and picone's crisp


pink star apple and underside of leaves




Black sapote pretending to be a tomato




guava going bonkers


Jaboticaba - duo planted, grimal on left (fruiting)? and sahara on right.








Finger limes - various cultivars - some in fruit, some in flower, some both










Rollinia






Guanabana






ARKP - unfortunately the mangoes haven't fared well in the storms




King Thai (Maha)




Kasturi in pot




grape that I forgot to prune over winter


Peanut butter fruit flowering well




thats it for now.

My Maha tree is grafted onto dwarf stock but is still a vigorous upright grower, but bears rather lightly. Well, all but one branch, which has always given as much as the rest of the tree. I went out to water the plants today as I can smell brushfire on the breeze, and I found my favorite branch, covered in mid sized mangoes, on the ground. We've been having high wind for a few days, but my money is on the bats. They've already ruined the stone fruit crops, taken over the best papaya and now are taking down the mangoes. The mangoes were all bagged and it seems a bat landed on the branch to have a shot at the mesh bags and broke the branch. What a pain in the bum and I may install some black wires above the tree to protect the few that remain...

I should also mention that I bag all fruit in my yard, but even then the bats can suck the flesh off a nectarine through an organza bag!

Today I bumped into a glorious bumpy satinash tree loaded with fruit all up the trunk down to the ground. Their cauliflory makes jaboticaba blush. I decided to bring a few home as it's been a slow dry season and cut one up for the board. The fruit look great and there is plenty of flesh. The tree in flower and fruit is a real sight to behold - you won't find many better rainforest species. The taste? Well, it's basically almost identical to a mushroom. Almost no crispness you'd normally find in lilli pilli species. A bit flowery. You could probably do something quite good with them and they seem a likely fruit for cooking, but out of hand it's a bit like a floury mushroom.