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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Brix testing - help!
« on: September 28, 2025, 06:45:02 PM »A garlic press is great for getting juice only for brix testing.
just bought one thank you..
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just bought one thank you..
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Brix testing - help!
« on: September 28, 2025, 06:33:55 PM »you can use cheese cloth too.
there is a formula if you need to add water to make a slurry:
Original Brix = Measured Brix × (Total weight of diluted sample / Weight of original fruit sample)
Example: If 100g fruit + 100g water = 200g total, and measured Brix is 6°, then original Brix ≈ 6 × (200 / 100) = 12°. This accounts for the added water diluting the solids.
omg thank you so much! do you by any chance have the link to the article you got this from?
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Brix testing - help!
« on: September 27, 2025, 12:56:46 PM »
To test the brix, should I juice the fruit with a juicer? I have an omega juicer. Or should I just mash up the fruit with the fiber and test the mash?
How do I test fruits with no juice like ross sapote, mamey, etc? (at least it would be very hard to extract the juice with a juicer)
My daughter is doing brix testing for her science project. Appreciate any help!
How do I test fruits with no juice like ross sapote, mamey, etc? (at least it would be very hard to extract the juice with a juicer)
My daughter is doing brix testing for her science project. Appreciate any help!
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado Mix Box Review (Lara Farms)
« on: September 26, 2025, 11:13:50 PM »Scottopus, thanks for taking the time to share your impressions. The comparisons between varieties is really helpful for people deciding what to grow at different points in the season.
I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Brogdon, I hope more people get to taste that one. Almost all of my top choice avocados have Type B flowers: Brogdon, Ronnie, Nishikawa, Kampong. I struggle to find Type A companions that I love to eat. Simmonds fits the bill well enough as a Type A flower. I grow Choquette which is also Type A but it's not the best tasting fruit and I may not keep the tree.
Taylor is type A. You really don't need both though. The PIN avocado variety viewer has some detail on this, but it only increases production by a minimal amount. It makes sense in a commercial grove but for a home grower you can't eat that much avocado anyway.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado Mix Box Review (Lara Farms)
« on: September 26, 2025, 11:10:33 PM »
Reasons to plant avocado trees:
- very healthy trees
- productive
- tree ripened fruit can be as good as Hass avocados from the store
Reasons not to plant:
- can't store the fruit and it's hard to eat more than 1 (or even half of one, they're big!) per day, and that's having avocado with every meal
- hard to find something better than Hass avocados from the store (which also ripen perfectly)
I feel like I'm crazy for planting my 7th avocado tree, but mangoes are not doing well for me. I just don't have the time or knowledge to care for them the way they need. And even if the tree is healthy, the weather during the winter can make it not hold any fruit. Other people are solving the puzzle way better than me :'(
Right now tonnage & maria black are ripening for me.
- very healthy trees
- productive
- tree ripened fruit can be as good as Hass avocados from the store
Reasons not to plant:
- can't store the fruit and it's hard to eat more than 1 (or even half of one, they're big!) per day, and that's having avocado with every meal
- hard to find something better than Hass avocados from the store (which also ripen perfectly)
I feel like I'm crazy for planting my 7th avocado tree, but mangoes are not doing well for me. I just don't have the time or knowledge to care for them the way they need. And even if the tree is healthy, the weather during the winter can make it not hold any fruit. Other people are solving the puzzle way better than me :'(
Right now tonnage & maria black are ripening for me.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2025 Florida Avocado Season
« on: September 24, 2025, 10:35:49 AM »
My Maria Black avocado tree started dropping fruit 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately I lost 4 fruit of about 10. Critters seem to enjoy them. Will try to post a review if I have time..
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2025 Florida Avocado Season
« on: September 15, 2025, 02:10:46 PM »
Choquette is not a gigantic avocado, it's the size of other west indian avocados. The season is later, maybe late October at the earliest to January. Your picture looks like a choquette (picked too soon). I think it will still get larger in October.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Flowers but no fruit from Papaya 2 years in a row
« on: September 05, 2025, 12:38:54 PM »
Ok but since he is growing it in Missouri in a greenhouse there could be other reasons that it isn't producing fruit other than it being male...
To me it doesn't look male at all but I don't claim to be an expert in papayas lol
To me it doesn't look male at all but I don't claim to be an expert in papayas lol
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Flowers but no fruit from Papaya 2 years in a row
« on: September 05, 2025, 11:08:16 AM »
Those don't look like male flowers to me. Male flowers are long stems with tons of tiny flowers. Those look like female flowers to me.
I just googled male papaya flowers so you can see what I mean:
https://dokmaidogma.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/papaya/
I get my red lady papaya trees from Pine Island Nursery. The seedlings are not as predictable, the PIN ones are very worm resistant b/c they have like only 1-2 seeds.
I just googled male papaya flowers so you can see what I mean:
https://dokmaidogma.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/papaya/
I get my red lady papaya trees from Pine Island Nursery. The seedlings are not as predictable, the PIN ones are very worm resistant b/c they have like only 1-2 seeds.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone have experience with Lara farms mamey tree pre orders?
« on: September 01, 2025, 07:35:02 PM »Julie, is that the Black Pakistan tree that died. If it is, then you can just buy the scion cuttings and root Black Pakistan mulberry.
Send me a PM and I can send you some cuttings for the cost to ship. If it was the White Pakistan, then you will need to graft it.
Thank you kaz i will reach out to you soon once i have some free time to work with the cutting
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone have experience with Lara farms mamey tree pre orders?
« on: September 01, 2025, 05:45:28 PM »
I have many trees from lara farms that are big healthy trees now, but after reading stuff here i bought a more common variety from Pine Island Nursery. pIN doesn’t have the variety of rare trees that lara farms does, but their trees are big, healthy and have a fused graft and also the price is much lower . I’m not good at keeping trees alive in pots(that’s what the nursery’s job is anyway) so i just try to get them planted right away and now for the first time a lara farms tree (Pakistani mulberry) has not survived 
i do think planting the tree in the ground at the rainy season will work well even if it’s small
i do think planting the tree in the ground at the rainy season will work well even if it’s small
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dwarf Avocados – Myth or Maybe?
« on: August 29, 2025, 11:42:44 PM »
I have Maria Black and it’s similar to how you described toro canyon. It’s a healthy and productive tree. Ut grows much slower than other avocados
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 29, 2025, 01:00:07 AM »
I’m happy for you. So far i have not had any of my front yard fruit stolen either but my trees aren’t loaded.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 28, 2025, 11:57:05 PM »I just saw this. You'd better hope they steal some! I lived in a condo senior community for one year, and there was a starfruit tree in a common area. It always had tons of fruit, and no one seemed to be interested.
True! Starfruit is one of the less desirable fruits for thieves. They want mango, lychee, coconut, avocado and mamey for sure. It will be an experiment.. (not one I'm excited to do). But I've run out of space. I will have to update this thread in 5 years to see what happens.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 28, 2025, 02:58:48 PM »Enjoy the citrus just rinse out your mouth as soon as youʻre done consuming. Eating all fruits in their whole form and not juicing them is the safest/best. That said Iʻll always be squeezing (juicing) a lime over fresh fish or into a coconut for an ultimate thirst quencher.
I agree with you. I used to use a citrus juicer and put like 5+ fresh limes in my salad dressing but now I've reduced it to one and cut it with water, but I'm not going to completely eliminate citrus, and I agree eating the fruit in its whole form is best!
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 28, 2025, 09:42:32 AM »When I was at the dentist earlier this year he was telling me about someone who came in saying that he got sensitive teeth over winter, and I was told the reason was because he had an orange orchard and didn't want to waste the fruit!
I didn't even know this until recently. I have sensitive teeth but it may not be due to eating citrus, I'm just a very sensitive person overall. Now I'm much more cautious with citrus. I'm not completely eliminating it because they can be part of a healthy diet, just using less in my salad dressings, etc.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 28, 2025, 09:40:12 AM »
Thank you Rob, I'm pretty sure I will plant the tree there. If it turns out to be a huge mistake I can take it out. I can buy Kary starfruit locally that are very good, so it's not the end of the world I guess..
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado Mix Box Review (Lara Farms)
« on: August 27, 2025, 09:17:42 AM »
Probably picked too early. I was hoping it would be good b/c of the bumpy skin it makes me feel it would be similar to a Hass avocado.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 27, 2025, 09:14:34 AM »
Citric acid also is bad for your teeth though. Once I found out about this I started being more careful to use lime/lemon juice in moderation. Like I used to put 3-4 limes in my salad dressing but now I use 1/2 - 1 and use water for the rest of the liquid. Eating juiced anything can cause issues for sure, it's much better to eat the fruit/veggie in its natural state so that it has the fiber and makes it less concentrated.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 26, 2025, 03:00:00 PM »
sorry you are dealing with this
do you think kidney stones are actually caused by oxalates? like if you eat more oxalate containing foods it increases kidney stones? I've never had a kidney stone and eat tons of foods that have oxalate in them (anecdotal of course). I guess all plants especially leafy greens have oxalates (the healthiest foods)
do you think kidney stones are actually caused by oxalates? like if you eat more oxalate containing foods it increases kidney stones? I've never had a kidney stone and eat tons of foods that have oxalate in them (anecdotal of course). I guess all plants especially leafy greens have oxalates (the healthiest foods)
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 26, 2025, 10:00:10 AM »
I'll try planting it there. I can always buy Kary starfruit locally if I need to. If it turns out to be a nightmare I can get rid of it. It may not be a forever tree. Space is limited at this point
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 26, 2025, 08:19:37 AM »
Ok great! Isn't the season longer than 2 months though? Anyway, it seems I'm good to eat 1-2 a day. I have not gotten any test but I don't have a reason to think my kidneys are messed up. Being able to eat fruit is my motivation to take care of myself better so I don't get diabetes.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 25, 2025, 10:33:19 PM »Starfruit is a good one for the front yard in my opinion. They fruit so abundantly that by the time it is mature you will start thanking the people who stop to steal the fruit. 😆
I’m glad you replied i know you read the studies (I’m literally eating my 5
Homegrown custard apples without fear 😂). If you know the answer to my above question let me know!
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 25, 2025, 10:31:56 PM »
On the other hand, you don’t want to eat an unlimited amount of starfruit because it’s bad for your kidneys. And I wouldn’t freeze it either. Does anyone know if eating one to two starfruit a day has a cumulative effect or is it just eating a lot in one sitting?
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado Mix Box Review (Lara Farms)
« on: August 25, 2025, 09:17:35 PM »
Brogdon can be picked now. It has the same season as simmons. I just had some amazing huge brogdon from the farm i buy from. Went out and picked up a tree right quick today 😂