The Tropical Fruit Forum

Right temps isn't an ultimate factor. Other things to consider: Young durian needs good watering. Established trees needs 1500-2500 mm annual rainfall without prolonged drought periods. Mature trees needs 1-2 months dry weather to induce flowering.  Standing water will kill durian. Plant on slight slope. Basically that is it! Good luck!




I plant on a slope not only for the drainage but so that the fallen fruit can be collected out of the impact zone!  I am not too sure that the durian tree needs an1-2 month dry period to flower.  If so, about how long after the dry period would the flowers appear?  At the moment we have a large seedling durian with fruit developing and there has been no dry period as long as a month.
Peter

Mammea Americana is native here but is not so widely grown.  The fruits are in season right now.  While I have some planted I don't have any production trees at the moment.  This tree might be diocious.  Apparently there are "male" trees that do not produce.
Peter

We're on the cutting edge!

Hi Luc
Where did you get that garcinia?  The leaves look a little like the Brunei cherry.  G. parvifolia.  Could it be?
Peter

Hi
You can prune biriba trees.  They are fast growers here, almost like something that got over fertilized.  Whether the over all production could be lower is a good question.  I would get ready to plant another one.  They can burn out comparatively fast.  They are good for about 10-15 years here I think.
Peter

The akee tree brings lots of fruit eating birds.  When people ask me, at my nursery, for a tree that will bring toucans and other impressive fruit eating birds akee is a good choice. 
The risk is probably overblown.  There are sooo many of these trees here and I have never heard of an actual poisoning.  I don't doubt they have poison but , somehow, nobody, gets poisoned. 
The taste is not something you would expect from a fruit.  It is more of a buttery, fatty, cheesy taste/texture thing.  It's not a WOW taste like a great mango but it is something that many people learn to crave.
Peter

Akee is a commercial fruit in the region where I live.  It is commonly sold without the outer skin so you wouldn't be able to know for sure if the fruits were open or not.  Actually, people will pick them, full size, not open, and let them sit in the sun and then open them.  We don't do that but I think that you can tell by the color and development  of the arils whether or not it is ready.  Amazingly, or not?, You never hear of any poisonings here.  I'm sure it would be newsworthy.  Lightly cooked it can be kind of like scrambled eggs with cheese.  Raw, if well ripe, it is buttery.  According to a web page I read most poisoning in Jamaica resulted from people eating the seeds.  Normally the large, shiny seeds are very present but there can be undeveloped seeds that are hidden within the surrounding aril.  We definately remove the pink fibers between the arils as well.
Peter

I have a small, commercial planting of salak and I have made a lot of progress in general maintenance, propagation by division, and increased fruit set through supporting pollination.  I have read about culling some fruits off the bunch to increase the size/quality of the remaining fruits and am wondering if anyone has experience with this.  At what point is this best done and exactly what would be the precise technique employed?

I had a conversation with Richard Wilson last May about Jak fruit and he said that anyone looking for quality jakfruit in India was wasting their time.  Vietnam was the place for jak.  Could the Excalibur red be from there?
Peter

Hi Harry
The elevation of my farm is basically sea level to about 40m.  We often have some fruit here but the best time to come for fresh fruit is around September to November.  I am seeing flowers on mangosteen, rambutan, and durian right now, to name a few.  A visit could be easy from South Florida, I was up there in May and visited some very interesting nurseries.  I got some material from Excalibur and a few bromeliads from Bullis in Homestead.  It would be great to see you here.
Peter