The Tropical Fruit Forum

I would suggest you start by looking up growing orchids from seeds, since vanilla falls into that category. In order to maximize your vanilla seedling oroduction, you are going to need to things - sterile conditions and a lot of time. Vanilla would need very exacting conditions to grow from seed, which is likely why the plant has adapted to grow readily from cuttings. If you do attempt to grow from seeds, ease let us know how it goes. Good luck!

 I believe the previous commenters have accurately covered the nuts and bolts to growing both imbe and achachairu, so I will simply add a few tidbits of information.

Achachairu tastes fairly similar to Garcinia brasiliensis/intermedia. The seed to flesh ratio is similar however the achachairu is a larger fruit. The size difference between the large and smaller achachairu fruit is related to the number of fully developed seeds inside. The larger fruit typically have 2 fully sized seeds and a couple of aborted ones.

The one advantage that achachairu has over its smaller relatives is a thicker fruit skin which makes it impenetrable to the fruit fly that typically mar the appearance of brasiliensis/intermedia fruit during the warmer months of the year. An achachairu scion from a fruiting tree grafted into a fruiting brasiliensis still took 5 years before bearing fruit. That fruiting branch is located in the interior of the tree.

Two achachairu trees from different sources planted in the ground next to each other 5 years ago have failed to flower yet. Both are 7+ feet tall, and one gets more sun than the other.

If your imbe tree turns out to be male as mine did, they are very amenable to adding scions from different sources, preferably known females from "better" tasting trees, however if there is nothing good nearby, you can grow out seedlings and graft them on. Seedlings grafted into a flowering male tree have not produced flowers of their own after 2 years.

W.

That is pretty cool looking. 👍

Soursop trees grown from seed will produce fruit.

Excellent write-up. Thank you for sharing.

My 7-8 yo pedalai is definitely a grower. I have topped it a couple of times however it still wants to grow up and out. Still waiting on its first flower.
 


Marang is quite tasty imo and easy to peel.  One fruit makes a nice meal.

Can I grow them in Florida? A lot of people saying it won't grown in Florida

Yes, they can grow in Florida, but the real question is will they fruit! Growing them can be challenging enough, as they require regular watering and fertilizing, however it is definitely doable in a pot. I grew one to 8 ft tall before planting it out. Then it proceeded to get  2 ft shorter every year until it died.

The late Bill Whitman grew a few trees in the ground in Bal Harbour, FL however they always looked scraggly compared to happy, healthy trees I have seen in Puerto Rico and Thailand.   He only recalled ever getting a couple of fruit over many years.

I think with enough effort it is possible to grow and fruit rambutan in Florida, however it is probably more cost efficient to buy imported fruit.  I encourage anyone to give it a try.

As long as the stems stay green, it will push out new growth eventually. If they go start to shrivel (still green), you may be able to bring them back, but once they turn brown, you will have to cut it back and hope for new growth roots. Good luck!

You should know within 5-7 days whether the pollination was successful. If the soon-to-be fruit at the base of the flower remains green you will be enjoying fruit, if they turn yellow, you will not.

Good fruiting!

I tried them years ago here in Miami (near the Turnpike). I had two trees that got 10+ ft tall. One flower in 15 years! Petals were delicious! At the Fruit and Spice Park, which gets about 10F colder than my location, they do get flowers but I'm not sure about fruit.

Beautiful looking tree Peter! Frog is cute as well!

Is taste of the fruit purely sweet or does it have other flavor profiles as well? Put another way, does it taste similar to anything else you have tried?

Thank you.

This is my pedalai. It has been in the ground for about 8 years, after 1 -2 years in a pot. Every year I think that this will be the year that it flowers but nothing yet. I have cut it back a few times in an attempt to control its height. It is due again.