cold snappin pitangatubas!

[Don]

Have a couple of pitangatubas around 2.5 yrs old and a foot and half tall. Over the last couple of months they have been poking out flowers here and there 1 or two at a time but have had a bit of a drop in night time temps and you can really feel the winter chill comin in the air and it has really done something to the pitangatubas as they are starting to flower like crazy. I counted over 50 flowers one one tree! Have a pitomba ( e. luschnathiana) even fruiting? Other pitomba finished its fruiting in January and is shutting down for winter but this other tree I have is just starting to kick on.
Anybody else find chill triggers their pitangatubas into flowers or just coincidence? Love to hear from anyone else growing them in Australia.
Cheers, Don.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

in my experience, the tree is essentially deciduous, or semi-deciduous, and flowering commences in spring, after leaf drop and rainfall.

[Don]

Alrighty then these things are goin silly then!  I even have candolleana sending out its sixth or seventh lot of flowers. Its starting to get the purplish colouration to its leaves due to the cold. Crazy trees.

[palologrower]

lucky you don. mine are flowering but nothing the flowers shrivel up and fall off the tree. my Surinam cherries on the other hand are on flowering round #3 this year so far.  win some you lose some I guess.   

[Don]

Which flowers are dropping off? Pitangatuba? My solo and double flowers were all dropping off too, I had one start turning into a fruit then my bozo dog with his big wagging tail knocked it off. He likes walking past the plants and he deliberately smacks his tail into the trees, must feel good! Hope all these flowers turn into fruit this time as there is going to be plenty enough pollen blowin round for good cross pollination.

[palologrower]

Which flowers are dropping off? Pitangatuba? 

yup.  pitangatuba.  idk why.  have two nice 2 ft tall ones side by side.  hoping it would cross pollinate.  but the flowering is out of sync.  when one has flowers, the other one is 3-4 days behind or something.  driving me crazy.  I have 9 more smaller ones next to it too, but can't rely on them for flowers for a while. 

ugh.

[Cassio]

I´m living in São Paulo, Brasil, where the winter is more rigorous than in Rio de janeiro, place from where the pitangatuba is native. I have three pitangatubas, being one of the elongated fruit and two of the rounded fruit. The elongated var has flowers all year, but in less quantity in autumn and winter. The rouded vars are more erratic, and usually don´t have flowers in winter.

As a side note, you don´t need two trees. Just one will set fruits, but in less quantity.

[Don]

Yeah mine were erratic to start with too but one is just budding up crazy. Others are still dribs and drabs flowering but I expect they wont be too far off. I have about 7 or so together of the same age so fingers crossed. Will keep yas posted.

[palologrower]

I'm wondering if placing these pitangatubas next to other eugenias that are blooming and getting pollinated help you think? it's frustrating to watch the flowers bloom and just shrivel off.

[Don]

I think its propably just getting them selves set up for proper blooming! Most of my eugenias havnt produced on first flowering sessions so time will help I think. Look forward to it though, they look awesome.

[Solko]

in my experience, the tree is essentially deciduous, or semi-deciduous, and flowering commences in spring, after leaf drop and rainfall.

Adam, do your Pitangatuba's lose their leaves in spring, just before they pump out a new set, or do they lose them when it starts getting colder in the fall? Or do you also have plants that don't leose their leaves at all?

My Pitanga's lose their leaves in the fall, but my Pitangatuba's hold on to their leaves in winter and then do the drop and regrow routine within a month in spring. This used to freak me out, but now I figure it is part of their cycle. I just wondered wether it would be better to pamper the plants and try to let them keep their leaves. And wether in a warm climate they would never lose their leaves in spring.