Durian season 2022 Australia!

[cassowary]

Had the first good sitting today. Our own two tree didn't set fruit as they flowered one month off each other, strange.
And other people I know aren't having a great season either.

But here's the fruit! They where great! From seedling trees.
Note the green ant's making webbing on the fruit, this protects the fruits from fruit spotting bug and even Coockatoos! But discolors them due to the aphids. Still tastes great





How's it going for everyone else?

[fruit nerd]

One bought, the others were from a friendly neighbor.

[Finca La Isla]

Looks nice, felicidades!
We are getting some unusual flowering with sporadic blooming earlier than normal.  It has been unseasonably dry since late December.  Ideally the flowering will continue on and go to the other trees as well.  The best case scenario is a significant extension of the season. 
We have 3 production trees that are all self fertile.  We’re optimistic that more trees will flower for the first time this year.  At least we are getting the good dry season.
Usually durian and mangosteen flower about the same time but nothing so far for the mangosteens.  Let’s see if we get real lucky and have durians from June through August!
Peter.

[Gone tropo]

Nice work fellas, im yet to track down a durian so far this season although i havent made a big effort.  Will go sus out the markets in the next few weeks.

[jimreevescairns]

Cassawory - mine didn’t flower this year and none around so far - I’m hanging out for some if you know anyone selling them
Cheers Him

[Finca La Isla]

Is this the normal season?
Mike T sometimes posts photos from a store there that seems to specialize in exotic fruits.  Do those guys sell durian?
Peter

[micah]

Greetings “down under”, I’m writing this from “up above?” 😛
The season just ended on the northeast side of the Bigisland of Hawai’i. Twas a great season.
Here’s our seedling tree. Low pollination...means huge wads of durian to be stuffed in mouth.
We had a dry spell this winter...so The trees seem to be pushing flower buds again..hopefully it’ll be a durio summer feast
Aloha
Micah

[cassowary]

fruit nerd,
those small ones looks great! And the others, one with pointy end and one with sunken, great diversity there!

Finca,
There's so little mangosteen in my area this year, atleast the native one put on a show haha!
Good that some are self fertile, I have heard Kradum thong is self fertile but have to wait a while to confirm .
In my experience, Dec to june is "normal", but that is including different areas from Cooktown to East Feluga and Julatten in the highlands.
Maybe you are thinking about Rustys market or Mossman market?

Jim,
not even fruit forest farm?
River and cape trib farmstay or cape kimberly are not having abundance this year, lucky to get a second atm. Others in Cowbay have some but not many advertising as it's not worth to go to market with so few dropping. It seams however that some new sources have come up, like people with 10 tree's or less, but those are booked or devoured on the spot! haha but I don't know those people so can't share, just heard.

tropo,
this year requires effort if we want to fullfil the durian o meter!

Mich,
that's a goden pillow!! look at that paper seed. Wow double season, is that common?

[Gone tropo]

So can anyone here work out why there are so little fruits this year? Wet winter?  I had a look at some very mature trees a month or two ago and they were absolutely loaded with flowers i wonder if they all fell off and produced no fruits? I haven't been back.  I would be very interested to hear if Peter Salleras has any on this year not that we can access his durian but would be good to know if he got fruit im thinking if he didnt get much then no one else would have as he has more durian then just about anyone here.

Finca you are talking about Rustys markets in cairns, in my experience there you have to be lucky to find decent stuff there, i have never seen durian from any know cultivars there always just local grown stuff which can be ok.  All the top stuff is sent to the markets down in our capital cities as they pay big money for them.  Locals here are left with whatever we can find at small markets etc. friends of friends.

Mike T is very well connected here what you see from him in terms of access to all the best stuff certainly is not what the majority of us here have access too. You have to know someone who knows someones cousins brother uncle kinda thing.  Its bit sad really as we live in a exotic fruit mecca where everything grows really well but you still gotta know the right people to access decent stuff and this is coming from a 5th generation local here.

Micah those durian from hawaii look incredible well done and god bless.

[cassowary]

tropo,
Maybe cause were more then 15 degrees of the equator and good bearing tends to be somewhat biennial or triennial, last year was good up here.
I have heard even more complaints of coockatoos this year, maybe the 100 moneky syndrome! And cookatoos are staying around here even though there's not much here, maybe low on bush food this year.

[Gone tropo]

tropo,
Maybe cause were more then 15 degrees of the equator and good bearing tends to be somewhat biennial or triennial, last year was good up here.
I have heard even more complaints of coockatoos this year, maybe the 100 moneky syndrome! And cookatoos are staying around here even though there's not much here, maybe low on bush food this year.

Cassowary im not sure about the latitude as they seem to have fairly reliable fruiting in hawaii and they are from 19 degrees to over 20degree from the equator i believe ??  I had a wet winter at my place near double annual rainfall over june, july, august but i dont have any fruiting sized trees but i know surrounding areas also had a wet mild winter.

Peter salleras utilizes tarps to somewhat control rainfall etc would be interesting to know how they went.

[cassowary]

From my knowlege Hawaii is even more sporadic then here?! Watched a youtube video about someone with a small orchard and said it's not every year.
Two people in Julatten said it's common that durian skip a year, probobly cause of the cooler climate. And I interpoalte that would apply to Hawaii since it's cooler then our lowland.
But I have never been to Hawaii, maybe Micha can give some info if it's usually very regular seasons?

Yeah june, july, august not as dry.

[Finca La Isla]

This is all very interesting. 
Hawaii gets away with real tropical because it’s surrounded by warm water.  A large landmass can channel cold air but Hawaii avoids that.
In CR we are 9 degrees North.  But there are different weather patterns in different parts.  Where I am has the potential for two seasons since we have two dry seasons and two wet seasons.  But sometimes it just stays wet and it doesn’t work for durian like last year.  It’s very dry now and trees are starting to flower.  Another part of CR has 6 months dry and 6 months wet. They get one season and the thing is that the fruits drop when it is raining which can affect the quality.
I read an article from Thailand where they were measuring moisture percentage at different depths in the soil.  Mangosteen and durian need a dry period to flower.  If the soil doesn’t dry out enough then it’s a great year for tree development but nada de fruta.
Peter

[Gone tropo]

This is all very interesting. 
Hawaii gets away with real tropical because it’s surrounded by warm water.  A large landmass can channel cold air but Hawaii avoids that.
In CR we are 9 degrees North.  But there are different weather patterns in different parts.  Where I am has the potential for two seasons since we have two dry seasons and two wet seasons.  But sometimes it just stays wet and it doesn’t work for durian like last year.  It’s very dry now and trees are starting to flower.  Another part of CR has 6 months dry and 6 months wet. They get one season and the thing is that the fruits drop when it is raining which can affect the quality.
I read an article from Thailand where they were measuring moisture percentage at different depths in the soil.  Mangosteen and durian need a dry period to flower.  If the soil doesn’t dry out enough then it’s a great year for tree development but nada de fruta.
Peter

Peter interesting information, here in Australia as you may know one of if not the leading guy in tropical fruits Peter Salleras has many durian trees trellised, 7 or 8 years ago he was already doing trials on covered cropping like they do with cherries etc in colder climates utilising plastic covers over the entire trees to ensure a dry period to control flowering.  This makes sense especially where he is which averages over 4000mm of rain a year with no real dry periods.  He was saying that in vietnam they do this with rambutan except they put tarps around the ground to ensure dry and it works really well and enables them to stimulate flowering at different times etc.

This is certainly something i will be trialling at my own place once my trees come to fruiting age, although my climate averages around 3000mm a year we usually get a distinct dry season however last year was a wet winter which may explain lack of durian this year locally.

[cassowary]

Ohh the water regulates the temperature. Great info Peter!
Two seasons with good refrigeration you could almost have it all year around given perfect weather conditions

[posci35]

Hello, who can help me found Durio macratha in Australia

[cassowary]

posci,
Ill try and get you some if I ever get some. Hard for me to come by even if I know multiple people who have tree's.

[Gone tropo]

Had a look at rustys sunday morning not a durian in sight, actually it was very disappointing in general nothing rare, rambutans priced at $15/kg, mangosteens $25/kg, lychees $19/kg, the only things that were decently priced were more common stuff like mangoes and dragonfruit at $5/kg was fairly reasonable.  I have only been a few times but certainly wont be racing back there. No durian, no pulasan most stuff overpriced.   

[Finca La Isla]

Those prices seem crazy!
Are there any road side stands it farms that sell retail. How about farmers markets?
Peter

[ben mango]

Similar prices on Oahu and Maui where most of those fruits are shipped from big island

[Finca La Isla]

Who buys fruit that is so expensive?  Is there a lot of demand or is there just low production.
I’ve seen expensive tropical fruit that simply doesn’t sell.  What’s the point of that?
Here we’re motivated to sell.
Peter

[Gone tropo]

Who buys fruit that is so expensive?  Is there a lot of demand or is there just low production.
I’ve seen expensive tropical fruit that simply doesn’t sell.  What’s the point of that?
Here we’re motivated to sell.
Peter

Peter very few roadside stands, there are a few smaller local markets around but prices are generally not much better.  I have no idea who buys stuff at this price I certainly dont, although i have in the past without knowing better but am now much wiser to pricing.  The sad thing is this stuff is all able to be grown locally its not like it is being imported.  The people down in the capital cities of Australia pay way way more than this durian can be $60-80 kg.  Australia is extremely overpriced with everything.

I think the only way to have good stuff is to grow it yourself which is exactly what im doing however the time delay with good stuff to first fruiting (durian, mangosteen etc) is the killer.

[cassowary]

Rustys have inflated prices due to the frequenty tourist visitors.
It's a low yeild year this year and that is reflected in the price and also the premium is going to big cities, even at those prices it wont be premium!
Some years there's good rambutans at 10, mangosteen 15 and lychee 12 and durian 15. per kg.
Mossman market is more like a farmers market, rustys is mostly second quality fruit from big operations and sellers with generic fruit and vegetables, it's like 20 stalls with the same veggies and fruit with the similar price. Only some authentic growers with great fruit and veg.

And people like me buy bulk exotic fruit from peoples places so there's not huge amounts at the farmers markets.

Yeah you got it right Peter, at Rustys I feel the ethos is rather throw it out or discount when it's to old unfortunetely.

Peace

[fruit nerd]

Regarding locally grown fruit, we generally buy rollina, mamey sapote, yellow sapote, jackfruit and dragon fruit, depending on price. Rollina, mamey sapote and yellow sapote can usually be bought for $6/kg which I don't think is too bad. I agree though, I would like to see a wider range of tropical fruit. Definitely think it pays to grow your own. We have probably picked 10kg of rambutan this week, would never eat so much if I had to pay those prices. Oh, and I did buy some durian today, probably not the best fruit, a bit on the small side. Paid ~ $16/kg.

[Gone tropo]

Looks like Peter Salleras has a bumper crop he just put a video up durians are about to drop.