The Tropical Fruit Forum

I too was greatly disappointed in the Sumo citrus I bought at my last trip to Publix. They were bland, which I had never experienced with fruit from that variety. It's not like I'd never bought them before from Publix, but it was my first time this citrus season.

Quote from: Jaboticaba45 on March 16, 2023, 08:29:18 PM

Quote from: drymifolia on March 16, 2023, 07:03:48 PM

I've been growing P. longipetiolatum here in Seattle to test winter hardiness.

Last year, one out of two seedlings regrew from the roots in spring with lots of freezing weather and a winter low of 16°F (-8.5°C). I replanted a clone of the one that was killed, to give it one more chance (no backup clone this winter).

This winter has had many more freezing nights, but a winter low of "only" 17°F (-8.3°C). They both look pretty dead, but they did last year, too, and didn't regrow until late spring.

Mine literally got wrecked after 29f and a bit of snow. Not as hardy as I would have liked. I think you could get by in 8b.

That seems strange to me. Mine withstood multiple nights of freezing temperatures around 25°F with very little damage until the 17°F night, and these were small seedlings. Maybe there's variation among different specimens? If either of mine regrow again I'll maybe clone them to keep in the greenhouse for a few years before going in the ground again.

I think both weather variation and microclimates could have something to do with the different results seen in your plants. I would be interested to see where each of you planted your longipetiolatums, how long they were exposed to freezing temperatures per night, how much wind there was, and how much winter precipitation you had. All of these things can affect a plant just on the edge of making through a cold night. There are just so many variables.

I'm just glad I didn't plant out any of my longipetiolatums last summer. In December, my area experienced a severe cold snap, and the temperature did not rise above freezing for nearly 100 hours, with a low one night of 2°F. There is no microclimate in any yard that can prevent weather like that from affecting cold-sensitive plants.

To each his (or her) own, but I don't have an Instagram account. I see no reason to provide Mark Zuckerberg pictures of my plants or anything else he can meta with.

Besides, we have a perfectly fine Tropical Fruit Forum here to post plant pictures on.

All I know is that the Clavija seeds I bought from Trade Winds two or three years ago did nothing for me except rot after a while. I don't think I bought Clavija euerganea, though, since mine was described as an edible species.

That is not a Dasyblasta; it is a standard variety of Surinam cherry. Based on the dark coloration, it could be descended from a Zill Dark or other improved Surinam cherry, but it is certainly not a Dasyblasta Surinam cherry. Dasyblasta is a variety of Eugenia uniflora, so its foliage looks identical to any other variety. But, one only has to remember the other name for the Dasyblasta variety, smooth pitanga, to know that the fruit is very different. Dasyblasta fruit is small, round, bright red, and smooth, not ribbed like other Surinam cherries.

Flying Fox Fruits' site has a photo that should give you an idea what a Dasyblasta actually looks like: https://www.flyingfoxfruits.com/product/pack-of-10-seeds-eugenia-uniflora-var-dasyblasta-or-smooth-pitanga-rare-fruit-tree/82

Unfortunately, Trade Winds, though overall a good seller, is not 100% accurate, and those mislabeled seeds become a big problem when growers buy them, invest years of time and effort growing them into fruiting plants, and get something completely different for all their trouble.

My loan was just approved to build a greenhouse. I am going the climate battery/ geothermal approach. My plan is to dig 8ft and install this. Not sure how well this will cool of my greenhouse in the summer but its worth a shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGxy-abbKWk

That Atmos system looks like a variation on the "Greenhouse in the Snow" geoair method. Since Russ Finch's design was based more on keeping plants warm in the winter (though Nebraska gets plenty hot in the summer), I would be interested to know how such a system would function in the desert. I believe that it should, at least in principle. You may need more underground piping to further moderate the hot desert air you will be sucking in during the summer. I agree with fruitnut that you should do a good bit of research and probably crunch a lot of numbers about what your needs will be and whether this greenhouse system can economically meet those needs. I wish you luck on your project.

I am growing several varieties and species of Plinias, Myricarias, and Eugenias. For almost every species or variety, I have at least two plants, the heir and the spare as one might say. But as one can see in the news, spares can sometimes become troublesome. In my case, the trouble comes from the amount of space growing two of everything takes; my "ark" just isn't big enough right now.

So, my question is can I expect to get good fruit production if I only keep one plant of each of my Plinia, Myrciaria, and Eugenia species? I know that different varieties of the same species should have no difficulties with cross-pollination, but what about cross-pollination among different species? Will a Plinia nana and a Plinia rivularis be able to pollinate each other? How about a Eugenia repanda and a Eugenia involucrata? Or a Myrciaria floribunda and Myrciaria glazioviana? There are conflicting reports both online and on the Forum, particularly about Eugenias, so I would appreciate if anyone has a definitive answer.

Quote from: Pouteria_fan on January 28, 2023, 01:08:46 AM

Has anyone created a passive solar style greenhouse, requiring little to no extra energy input?
Something using a similar concept to this:
https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2023-01-25/this-maine-home-can-stay-70-degrees-without-a-furnace-even-when-its-freezing-outside

These passive solar designs always seem to ignore the common winter condition of "freezing, windy, cloudy, wet for days in a row" where there is no meaningful solar heating and any accumulated thermal mass is gone by the second night. 

These passive solar house designs also always seem to ignore aesthetics with most being ugly as hell, the best only being bland, but all being incongruous to neighborhoods and landscapes (like a black, badly-proportioned house being plopped in the Maine countryside). I am also not enamored with their potential for irreparable or hard-to-repair age-related failures; frankly, I do not believe these houses will age well. Like most things constructed today, they are made seemingly to fail and be replaced. Such a throwaway mindset negates the positive environmental impact of their low energy consumption by building in a requirement to replace items that have high embodied energy.

Here is an example I cited when I worked in historic preservation. Vinyl replacement windows are very popular, touted as a way to save both the environment and money. The Obama administration attached all sorts of tax credits to their installation for that reason. Yet, they are a scourge, particularly to historic buildings, damaging to a building's historic fabric, the environment, and the building owner's pocketbook. I will not bore everyone with all the details, but one Kentucky study showed that it took between 30 and 45 years to recoup the initial expenditure of industry standard replacement window installation, while the windows themselves maintained their optimal energy savings for only 10 years, after which time their energy usage, air leakage, and insulating quality were no different in performance than historic wood windows in average condition. The difference between those replacement windows and the historic ones they replace, is that historic windows in suboptimal condition can be reglazed and repaired, often onsite and with only a modicum of skill and energy expenditure. Their replacements themselves have to be either completely replaced or sent back to the factory for repair once they are no longer functioning properly.

So, as you may be able to tell, I am not going to be demolishing my house and replacing it with the latest and greatest and greenest and trendiest. I will be sticking with things more tried and true because, as Neil Young sang, "Old ways comin' through again."

All my jaboticabas are potted in Miracle Gro potting soil. I've had no nutrient deficiencies or root problems with any of them. Of course, I also regularly fertilize them with Espoma to prevent the former and up pot them incrementally to prevent the latter. I've occasionally had tip burn on a few jaboticabas, Plinia rivularis seemingly being the most sensitive, but that was when I was forced to use city water on them. Frankly, I've been surprised since I started growing jaboticabas over the past few years at just how easy they are to grow.

In my part of the US, we had a bitter, record-breaking cold spell around Christmas. Temperatures were as low as 2°F (I think that is about -15°C), and we did not get above freezing for 90 hours. We had not had a cold snap like that for thirty years. Since that time, temperatures have fluctuated between average and above average spells. All the native plants in my area are unaffected by such cycles, but there are some non-native ornamentals which have shown signs of stirring from dormancy. It would be a bigger problem for me if my fruiting plants were acting that way and the way yours are. Unfortunately, short of protecting plants if they come out of dormancy, there is nothing you can do to push them back into dormancy.

Citrus are one of the hardest types for me to grow. While I do not have to worry about HLB, I do have to make sure their potting mix is just right and constantly defend them from spider mites.

Sapindaceae are probably the most difficult for me. I've managed to keep one lychee alive long-term but with the exception of that lychee and the generally easy-to-grow Mamoncillo, I've killed many other plants in that genus. I've given up on growing rambutan or pulasan.

Glad that worked for you. There has been many other seeds with that hard seed coat I tried to take off but ended up smashing them in the process.
One of the coupeia edulis seeds I tried to crack but ended up killing it. At least you can eat the seed...call me crazy, but I tried it and it was pretty good.

I used a small, very finely toothed saw (normally used for model making and very fine woodworking) to carefully cut through the hard shell. I had a feeling that, like you, I would smash the seed if I tried to actually crack the seed coat.

Sold.