The Tropical Fruit Forum

 Re. Fairchild mango : This is from "Register of New Fruit & Nut Varieties. 2nd edition. " by Brooks and Olmo.

Orig. in Balboa Heights, Canal Zone, by the Canal Zone Exp.Gardens.  Introd. about 1929.  Selected sdlg. from seeds introd. into U.S. as P.I. 11654 by Dr. David Fairchild from Saigon, Cochin China.

I guess this is pedantry, but I'll just note here that  Kostermans in his book "The Mangoes",is quite emphatic that Mangifera odorata is a species, and not a hybrid of M.foetida and M. indica, as some posts on this website claim.  He gives detailed reasons for that , if anyone is interested.

 Gone Troppo,
                    Of those that Steph mentions,we have Fairchild, M. casturi, and M.odorata. All over 35 years.  The kuini is the most disease resistant for us, completely clean fruit,bears well every couple of years, very pretty tree in flower, flowers v.well,with large panicles of red, scented flowers.  The casturi should be suitable for you, but it's out of its zone here. (1,000 metres altitude ) Grafted on indica, very healthy tree, but I haven't seen a single flower.   Fairchild is a small, healthy,dense
tree,and bears very clean fruit as well.   Articles on the internet will tell you that it is from Panama, but David Fairchild collected the seed from fruit he ate in Saigon, and sent them to the U.S. research station in Panama.  So it's a Vietnamese cultivar. We have four other Vietnamese cultivars. Fairchild is the most disease resisitant of them. The seeds of  Fairchild that I've opened were mainly mono,a couple were poly. Probably safer to graft it.    Kuini is poly.  I can send
seed of Kuini when it fruits next,or you can collect some scions of them if you're up this way sometime.  Fairchild has small fruit,but fibreless and well-flavoured. I like the kuini as well, but probably too strong-flavoured for some. 

 Thanks, pagnr.  Yes, I did know that.    It's my fault for being too brief with my comment.     When I said " not sure " what I really meant was that it was
presumptuous of the earlier  people cultivating the  species here to rename it ,as it already had a name, and had been cultivated by the Peruvians for how many thousands of years. That could have called it Peruvian Arrowroot if they wanted to relay the similarity of the use of the tuber to Arrowroot.
Anyway, that's just my opinion, and thanks for the link.

We harvested our first plant of Arracacha (Arracacia xanthorhiza )  recently,12 months after planting. The replanting is simple, there are a lot of stem tubers at the surface.
Very good flavour,used like a potato.   It grows in South Florida as well,according to Eric Toensmeier  ,author of " Perennial Vegetables " .  It was very easy to grow here. 
     

Some potting mixes,particularly if there is a high percentage of peat, can be difficult to rewet if they dry out.  Application of a soil wetting agent,either in granular or liquid form, about once a year, should fix it. 

We have a Denzler tree about 100 metres from other cultivars,and it fruits heavily.  I don't eat the fruit.  Half a fruit makes me nauseous.  The worst cultivar by far flavour-wise, IMO.

 "Mempalam" is a an Indonesian word for "Mango".   I've just checked Kosterman's " The Mangoes",and there is no listing for a Mangifera mempalam.

Triphal is closest to the main reason that basaltic soils are far more fertile than granitic soils.   Igneous rocks (those derived from cooled magma) are from two categories of magma.  The basic or alkaline magma category is higher in Calcium,Magmesium,Iron,Phosphorus. That magma is the source of basalt and gabbro (basalt cooled more quickly,has finer crystaline structure than gabbro,but chemically the same).   The other acidic magma is higher in aluminium content,lower in the other elements mentioned,and is the source of rhyolite and granite. (rhyolite cooled more quickly,has finer crystaline structure)
Gabbro and Granite ,though  derived from chemically different magma,both cooled slowly,have larger crystaline structure,and are classified as Plutonic igneous  riocks.  ( Rhyolite and Basalt are classified as volcanic igneous) .  There would be thousands of cacao or other trees grown successfully in pots without the addition of basalt dust  As long as the required minerals are suuplied to the potting mix,they will be fine.

Thanks,Stevo and Nate. Hopefully if any more info becomes available it can be added here. Interesting that it's probably an undescribed species.

I'm sure that's right ,Mike T.   No doubt they meant 'similar to avocado in texture'. I can't see a pouteria having a similar oil : sugar ratio as avocado.

I was wanting a smallish sucker of Dwarf Ladyfinger, Rajapuri,and Dwarf Chinese Plantain,sent express post. Can anyone help with any of those ?