Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Rob From Sydney

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 19
1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Abiu Seedling Dying?
« on: November 11, 2025, 05:13:41 AM »
For potting mix I mix a good quality potting mix with some coconut coir and osmocote.
-For potting mix I always go with a mix that I find high quality that is well broken down when I use it. I like ones that aren't too fluffy and have a good amount of mulch.
-I mix in some coconut coir. For potting mix usually a 'rough' one with palm mulch in it. For seedlings I use a fine one that is straight coir.
-Osmocote is just a good all-round slow release fertiliser. I'm sure any other brand is just as good.

And with Pouterias, when they start sprouting keep I them in a high humidity area. When they start to leaf out I move them out, With some species like mamey and cinnamon apple, young sprouts can dry out and wait until reshooting. It's a pain. Bullata may get that issue too.

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Abiu Seedling Dying?
« on: November 11, 2025, 04:21:52 AM »
Quote from: Moomin on November 11, 2025, 03:32:01 AM
Quote from: Rob From Sydney on November 11, 2025, 01:39:00 AM
My Abiu seedlings went through a similar traumatic experience. I kept my ~20cm seedlings outside as the temperatures started to get cool last Autumn, the lowest they saw would have been 3C or 4C. They were looking unhappy and leaves were shrivelling and dying, so I moved them into a mini-greenhouse that I bought. I thought they would enjoy the warmer temps and high humidity but instead they got a lot worse. They looked like they were rotting alive, and there were brown spots.It seems they hate the humidity. They got really bad and after about a month I decided that they should go inside because they weren't getting better and were running out of leaves - only a few left on the plants. After moving them inside they slowly started to improve and even push growth after a while however the growth has been pretty flimsy. 3/5 plants made it.

The survivors have been pushing flimsy growth and 2 of them are producing semi-variegated leaves that lack a lot of chlorophyll. The strongest seedling pushed flimsy growth for a few moths and now is now finally pushing some good leaves.

So yeah that is the story of my abius that got through a similar situation and kind of made it. I hope it's helpful.
In the future I'm just going to keep my plants inside if and when they get cold stress. Lesson learned; they hate greenhouse humidity.

That's the opposite of what I thought, thanks for your input. I assumed mine had not had enough humidity. I ordered two seeds of Pouteria bullata, so I'll probably try keeping one in a less humid environment to see if that helps. I'm still really sad because the Abiu was growing so well during summer, and then just suddenly kicked the bucket...

You're welcome mate. I made the same assumption though with my abius, I thought that some humidity would help them heal. Totally wrong. I had some canistels seedlings that I was raising too that were the same age and I decided to test if they grew better in a greenhouse or indoors over winter. I kept 2 canistels in the greenhouse and 1 indoors as a control. They one indoors started flushing mid-winter while the ones in the greenhouse were looking sickly. Moved the greenhouse canistels indoors at the same time as the abius, and within a month both of those canistels were flushing too. Now, after the experiement, the one that was indoors all along is the biggest and happiest with the thickest stem. It was also the most accepting of a sunnier spot.

And with your Pouteria Bullata, my advice is to germinate them in a bag of moist coco coir. I've germinated 3 batches of canistel this way, a bunch of Abius and P. Glomerata. I get a big plastic bag, the kind that supermarkets have for fruit, then put a buch of fine coco coir in and they always germinate well.

I grow all of my seedlings out on the south side of my house in a position that only gets direct sun in the late afternoon. Everything does well there and when they start to get bigger I move them a couple metres away to a spot that gets morning sun and dappled sun through the day.

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rose Apple leaf discoloration Zone 6
« on: November 11, 2025, 02:51:47 AM »
Looks like my yellow grummichama after I bought it. It was in a small pot and the pot would dry out quick.When I put it in the sun there was lots of leaf discolouration. I potted it up and kept it watered and it has been good since.

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Viability of Black Sapote Seeds
« on: November 11, 2025, 01:43:31 AM »
As a rule of thumb, I would let them soak in a bowl of water and rehydrate. If they sink after a few days then they will sprout and are ready for potting up, if they float then good luck, you will need it...

And if you haven't germinated them before, they're and interesting one. The seeds are forced out of the soil and after they get 10cms tall the seed falls off and leaves emerge. I love them and my 2nd batch is coming up at the moment. Make sure that they soil above the seeds is nice and soft, though.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Abiu Seedling Dying?
« on: November 11, 2025, 01:39:00 AM »
My Abiu seedlings went through a similar traumatic experience. I kept my ~20cm seedlings outside as the temperatures started to get cool last Autumn, the lowest they saw would have been 3C or 4C. They were looking unhappy and leaves were shrivelling and dying, so I moved them into a mini-greenhouse that I bought. I thought they would enjoy the warmer temps and high humidity but instead they got a lot worse. They looked like they were rotting alive, and there were brown spots.It seems they hate the humidity. They got really bad and after about a month I decided that they should go inside because they weren't getting better and were running out of leaves - only a few left on the plants. After moving them inside they slowly started to improve and even push growth after a while however the growth has been pretty flimsy. 3/5 plants made it.

The survivors have been pushing flimsy growth and 2 of them are producing semi-variegated leaves that lack a lot of chlorophyll. The strongest seedling pushed flimsy growth for a few moths and now is now finally pushing some good leaves.

So yeah that is the story of my abius that got through a similar situation and kind of made it. I hope it's helpful.
In the future I'm just going to keep my plants inside if and when they get cold stress. Lesson learned; they hate greenhouse humidity.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Soncoya germination help
« on: October 23, 2025, 06:34:03 AM »
I managed to get some soncoya seeds from tradewinds into Australia but am struggling with germination!
Soaked one of my seeds overnight, then placed it in a plastic bag with humid vermiculite. A week on the everything is smelling like damp there was a bit of rot on the tip of the seed, so I trimmed it back to the actual white embryo, the picture is below.



My question is: what should I do next to keep this seed alive and get it to grow? Killed one of these seeds last year and really don't want to repeat history.
Thanks,
Rob.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Root Trimming Mango?
« on: October 21, 2025, 05:46:43 AM »
I was watching a youtube video about a man who owned a backyard nursery in Brisbane, Aus, who stab his shovel into the ground in a circle 2-3 feet off his trees in hopes of keeping the tree smaller. No idea if it works, though.

Perhaps summer pruning after the tree finishes fruiting might be a good idea? I don't have that much experience with mangoes yet, but surely you could prune one the tree finishes fruiting but before it flushes. Summer pruning is a great way to keep trees small because it suppresses growth, unlike winter pruning which invigorates the tree.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Inga Edulis
« on: October 17, 2025, 07:18:51 AM »
I would just plant the tree (if you can).
Ingas are one of the trees that just seem to take off when you plant them.

And if you can't get it in the ground, then have a go hitting it with a high phosphorus fertiliser to stimulate flowering.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Irwin mango
« on: October 14, 2025, 06:35:02 AM »
I got to taste an Irwin Mango last summer. The tree was growing in a poly tunnel with high humidity and the fruits were absolutely covered in anthracnose and were not very pretty. I remember that the taste was pretty good, though.  Sweet, classic mango flavour, no turpsiness. Can't remember much more.

But I am in Australia and mangoes seem to grow differently here and what tastes good here underperform in the US. Bowen mangoes are the favourite mango here in Aus but seedling planted in the USA produce crappy fruit. It's probably a similar thing with Irwin in America vs Japan too.

Just don't forget that Florida and California and Australia and Japan have different soils and climates and perhaps what grows well in one area could have a different taste and vigour in another.

If you want to have a go with Irwin then have a go, trees are pretty cheap anyway and you can see for yourself how Irwin grows in your area. And if the tree is a disappointment, you can always top work it.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Green Sapote Competition
« on: September 30, 2025, 05:52:06 AM »
Quote from: brian on September 29, 2025, 07:57:52 AM
Rob From Sydney, pouterias continue growing all winter long for me in my greenhouse.  I think this is key :)

Some other plants go dormant for me even though low temp is maintained at a tropical 55F.

I tried keeping a bunch of plants in a plastic mini-greenhouse over winter and most of the plants became un-hardy with weaker leaves and flimsier growth. As soon as I took plants out they took damage and hated the sun like dracula. I think the humidity in the greenhouse was too high. How high is the humidity in yours, Brian? Thanks.

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Green Sapote Competition
« on: September 29, 2025, 07:25:12 AM »
Quote from: brian on September 28, 2025, 12:55:04 PM
I got 10 seeds from Oscar / FruitLovers 18months ago and ended up with four healthy plants.  Pretty wide variance in growth, some were slower to get going.  These have been in mostly shade for two months because I had to move all my plants to a different area while having my deck rebuilt.  I agree they seem to prefer a lot of sun and not too much water, they looked better in June.  You can see the leaf patterns that look like overwatering

Because I don't have time to lift every pot to gauge dryness when watering, I try to adjust the container size for every plant based on its water consumption.  If a tree seems overly wet I down-pot.  Overly dry I up-pot.  I've been getting lazy with my soil mix lately, just re-using old material and now it has too much fine organic dust, I need to mix in some turface and mulch. 

The smallest one I lost the label, it is either green sapote or canistel but I'm almost 100% certain it is green sapote now, my canistels look a little different.



How do you keep your trees so happy? In my short experience, my pouterias grow really well until I cut the taproot off where it starts to curl up when I up-pot for the first time. Then they don't do much for a few months, then start to grow slowly again. I'm a total noob, so how do you get your trees that tall and happy in a year and a half?
Thanks, Rob.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Annona Nitida
« on: September 21, 2025, 06:18:04 AM »
Quote from: mikesid on July 14, 2024, 07:35:21 AM


 nitida leaves are more similar to montana and muricata. Youre leaves look similar to Annona neosalicifolia.

 here is a couple pictures of A nitida 'Pera'

 




I don't reckon that Annona Nitida Pera is actually annona nitida. Looks more like mountainsop or a new unique specie.
Both of these species are very exciting, I hope I can get them into Australia one day...

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Waiting 14 years for Jaboticaba de Cabinho flowers: My Jaboticaba Collection
« on: September 16, 2025, 07:20:15 AM »
It looks like a really ornamental lilly pilly specie. Wow. Hopefully the jabos taste as good as the plants look  ;D
Variegated Fruit?

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Achacha (garcinia humilis) growing experiences around the world
« on: September 11, 2025, 06:08:50 AM »
Quote from: paddle on September 11, 2025, 05:24:06 AM
I've seen a video from someone who had them planted outside and they got -2.3C and the plant has not died. So who knows maybe I can put them in ground and hope for the best.

As with all trees, the older they are, the more cold they can take. I would not let frost hit any of my Garcinias under 1 metre tall. I have seen a Lemon Drop that had taken -4C but the tree was over a decade old and mature, bearing heavy crops.
Someone in my area has a decade old achacha that still hasn't borne and has seen frosts to ~-1C, and he has also had a small Lemon Drop (child of the tree that took -4) die from the same frosts.

My point: A plant may be able to handle a reasonable frost when older, but small seedlings may die from minor frosts. Protect your Achachas in the early years.

Edit: I hope I didn't go on too much of a rant but I wish you good luck zone pushing Achacha  ;D

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pouteria sp ‘Abacate’
« on: September 11, 2025, 02:32:34 AM »
Quote from: mikesid on September 05, 2025, 05:35:46 AM
Quote from: nullzero on September 04, 2025, 08:41:28 PM
Looks like a smaller tree, how big is the tree? Have you tried grafting to canistel?

Yeah its more of a spreading lower growing plant. Its about 3-4' tall but spreads about 6'. I havent tried grafting it yet. It just seems so different from outher Pouterias Im wondering what will work. I do have some canistel seedlings so I'll have to try an approach graft and see how it goes.

Mike, I reckon go with cinnamon apple (P. Glomerata) a rootstock. The plants look somewhat similar but when it comes to fruit the Abacate has the same flattened seeds and inner/outer layers of flesh as the cinnamon apple.

And I hope that the other fruit tastes better than this one. Hopefully the tree just pumps out some crappy early fruits and then gets going. It would be a shame if this was just a mediocre fruit.

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Imbe or Lemon Drop Mangosteen?
« on: September 03, 2025, 07:54:31 AM »
I reckon lemon drop. They are pretty tasty and kind of similar to achacha. Never tried imbe; some people say they are trash, and others love them. If you settle with imbe make sure that you are growing a good strain that comes from a tree that produces superior fruit.

I would also recommend that you consider achacha. Tastier than lemon drops imo but far less precocious, albeit they have a lot more flesh.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Apple Jaboticaba
« on: September 03, 2025, 07:47:59 AM »
Wow! Lucky you!

I also saw something similar happen to someone with a mango btw: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JjWgc5yBkzc
Rare and pretty interesting.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Need help ID'ing, Flacourtia ???
« on: September 03, 2025, 07:41:16 AM »
I got to try lovi lovi last year. The tree was stunning - bright red fruits in clusters of 4 everywhere (kind of gave me holly vibes) and I remember the tree being semi-weeping. Beautiful, but the fruits were the most astringent things I have ever put in my mouth.

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Illama Taste
« on: September 02, 2025, 07:28:54 AM »
I know very little about Ilama, but if I were you I would give the tree a couple more seasons and plant the seedlings. If the flavour does not improve, top work the tree onto a better variety/varieties known to taste good, and do the same with the seedlings; grow them out and if they disappoint then top work different varieties on.

20
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: AJs video of my yard
« on: September 01, 2025, 07:21:59 AM »
Nice Property!

I've only watched a couple of minutes but your place is just so lush. Found it interesting how you had that avo seedling that you grafted to reed and it had grown so much in only a year and a half.

Seeing all those healthy avos, you must have great soil. What soil do you have, Brad?

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing Garcinia in Florida
« on: September 01, 2025, 07:00:30 AM »
Purple Mangosteen has been fruited in Florida. Here is somebody else's post that I got from and old thread that came to my mind that sums it up pretty well:
Quote from: Fruitguy on March 24, 2023, 07:01:09 PM
TFH is correct. The late William "Bill" Whitman of Bal Harbour (think North Miami Beach) had several fruiting trees outdoor, in the ground. His location between the Atlantic ocean and Biscayne Bay had a moderation effect on temperatures when compared to the mainland. It took 17 years to get the first fruit. Three trees grafted from Mr. Whitman's trees , further supported with nurse grafts, produced fruit somewhat quicker (guessing maybe 10 years?) in the Whitman Rare Fruit Pavillion at Fairchild Gardens, which had a 17 foot soil base of acidic sand. Ultimately 2 of the original trees, and numerous other rare fruit trees, were destroyed to make room for...and aroid garden. The current woman who has a fruiting tree has it growing in a large pot with potting soil. Her tree is growing outside, protected from the north winds, also took 17 years before it first fruited.

Bottom line....it can be fruited in South Florida if one is patient, and can provide a slightly acidic soil. As TFH also said, a greenhouse would be very helpful to lessen the time to first fruiting.

In contrast, I planted a 6-foot tall mangosteen in the ground, including amendments to lower the natural 8.2 pH soil of western Dade County, and it was dead within 6 months! 🙁

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Air-layering Sabara jaboticaba - possible ???
« on: September 01, 2025, 06:56:37 AM »
I thought that I should mention how I read some interesting articles about how cyclones damaged orchards in FNQ, and pretty much all of them spoke about how marcotted trees were destroyed in bad cylcones. Lychee/Longan orchards were just smashed.
Another common theme was that dense foliaged trees were damaged too, eg star apple, custard apple and macadamias.

My point is an airlayered, densely foliated jaboticaba in an exposed position vs hurricane = wipeout.

Just something to consider. I probably went a bit off topic but though I should say my thoughts.

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pilia edulis after 5 years
« on: September 01, 2025, 06:46:41 AM »
Looking nice. I would check the ph though, and maybe adjust it if it is too high. Jabos like their soil slightly acidic, after all.

And if it's survived outside over past winters in a pot, then it would do well in ground. Don't hesitate, plant it and it will be very happy and just take off. And make sure to deal with any girdling roots when you plant it, and I wouldn't recommend putting too much fertiliser in the planting hole. Let the plant search for nutrients and send out lots of healthy feeder roots.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 28, 2025, 04:19:24 AM »
Quote from: Julie on August 25, 2025, 10:33:19 PM
Quote from: Galatians522 on August 25, 2025, 10:29:03 PM
Starfruit is a good one for the front yard in my opinion. They fruit so abundantly that by the time it is mature you will start thanking the people who stop to steal the fruit. 😆

I’m glad you replied i know you read the studies (I’m literally eating my 5
Homegrown custard apples without fear 😂). If you know the answer to my above question let me know!

I remember reading an older thread about annonacin and how Atemoya, Cherimoya, and Sugar Apple are very, very mild but soursops and pawpaw had quite a bit, and the seeds were full of annonacin.


On what to plant I reckon Coconut Cream is onto it, but I reckon Grummichama is good too as it is a bushy bush and there will be fruit for you on one side, and fruit for passers by on the other, if they even know it is edible. Also + Panama berry, it produces so much fruit and there are always more ripening so people taking some would not cause a problem.

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 28, 2025, 04:11:58 AM »
When I was at the dentist earlier this year he was telling me about someone who came in saying that he got sensitive teeth over winter, and I was told the reason was because he had an orange orchard and didn't want to waste the fruit!

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 19