Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Topics - HMHausman

Pages: 1 2 [3]

Tropical Fruit Discussion / A symphony of Dragonfruit Blooms

« on: July 09, 2012, 02:22:29 PM »

Two successive nights of dragonfruit (Physical Graffiti) blooming. Got out there and had some great dragonfruit sex. The people that sell these dragonfruit plants claim that they are self fruitful. In my experience, that may be true, rarely to sometimes. If you want any consistancy with fruit production on these fuschia fleshed varieties, you have to hand pollinate....at my house anyway. I do get self pollination with the Yellow Dragonfruits and the Vietnames White Jaina. On those, virtually every bloom sets a fruit without any assistance from me.

Morning after first night:

Morning after second night:

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Emerald Mango

« on: July 05, 2012, 06:51:54 PM »

A couple of years ago (2010, I believe) , the folks at Fairchild were listing the Emerald Mango as one of the curator's choice mangoes. I bought a tree at that time. It did not flower during the spring of its first year in the ground, This past winter/spring brought about its first bloom. The tree is still small but it set 2 fruits. I had been watching them like a hawk for weeks as they seemed to reach a soze and then stop growing. Then, yesterday, my rounds found them on the ground having dropped from the trees apparently unassisted. They were over ripe and not in good condition. The mango looked like this:

Very small mango. About the size of Bombay. Flavor seems to be similar to Bombay as best as I could tell from this over ripe sampling. I am wondering if anyone has had this mango over on the Florida west coast. It supposedly a selection from the Pine Island area that has been around for some time. I would think it has been sampled by other forum members over the years. I am most interested to know if the size that mine grew is representative of this mango.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Ivory Mango/ Tog Bi Con Mango....alter egos?

« on: July 05, 2012, 05:59:30 PM »

Last summer a mango enthiusiast brought some mangoes to my office for a regular summertime mango tasting that we have. One of those fruits was called Ivory. It looked like this:

I thought it was a decent mango. It was a typically sweet, but non-complex flavored SE Asian mango. However, some members of the forum had tried this mango at one of the festivals and thought it was the best mango they tasted during their entire visit to South Florida. Jeff Hagen and I discussed the fruit and he was able to get me a grafted tree. Seems he was impressed by its bearing habit in an earlier year when there was otherwise a poor crop. This particular tree stood out with its production causing Jeff to get some budwood and graft up some trees.

In the meanwhile, at one of the Broward RFVC sales, Murray Coreman was telling me about a mango that they had that he had never seen before. He noted that it was one of the sweetest and latest mangoes that they had at the Borward RFVC nursery. They called it the "banana mango" because of its color and shape. The real name was Tog Bi Con. Needless to say, I bought the tree. Last year it was one of the few trees that did not bloom. It grew nicely during the year and set three fruits this year. Here's what Tog Bi Con looked like:

Conclusion.......Tog Bi Con is Ivory. In my yard it obviously not late late this year. This vairiety is probably good for eating green. My opinion of it remnains the same otherwise.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Excalibur Mango

« on: June 20, 2012, 06:03:54 PM »

I just had my first Excalibur mango of the year. First let me say that overall, this has been a rather depressing fruit season for my yard. First no lychees. Then, we have had a solid month of rain during the development of the somewhat meager mango crop. Almost every mango I have tasted from my yard has had a varying degree of flavor reduction, with sigificant wash out from too much rain. Last year, murahilin brought over an Excalibur mango and the group assembled and I thought not very much of it. The one I just tasted was pretty darned good....especially for this miserable season. The tree did not produce heavily but for the size of the tree it was a decent crop. I think this mango should be given a second taste by those that have previously had it.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Rollinia update 6/16/12

« on: June 16, 2012, 03:09:06 PM »

The first real fruiting seems to be progressing with some considerable set backs. I thought I was going to be loaded with fruit. But apparently, the natural habit of this tree, at least, during its intial fruiting years has seen many, many fruitlets turn brown. Seems they have to get larger than a grape to really move into the eventual maturity stage. Here's how they look today. The browning effect:

A larger fruit, having made it past the browning size stage:

These fruits look much more to me like atemoya than they do like rollinia. They are definitely rollinia though....they have the characteristic propeller flowers. I wonder what effect, if any, the atemoyas in the yard near this tree have on the fruit appearance assuming some cross pollination.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / New Seedling Fruit: A Super Carrie

« on: June 07, 2012, 01:27:06 PM »

Here's a fruit from a seedling tree I have. The seed was from Carrie and the tree is about 10 years old as far as I remember. The tree has fruited for the last several years, but the crop has been larger than usual. Odd, since, other than Phillipine/Carabao mangoes and a relative few others, the crop has been pretty disappointing. Anyway, this fruit runs almost 2-2.5 times the size of a Carrie. It has flavors similar to Carrie ( a very good thing for some and not so good for others) It has no fiber, but does seem to be firmer fleshed than Carrie is. It does not have quite the amount of resinous twang that Carrie has, so for you that don't like Carrie, it might be less objectionable. Here are some shots:

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Yard Update 5/18/12......some good, some not so good

« on: May 18, 2012, 03:44:43 PM »

Some of the yard happenings today include a major disaster with regard to my Duncan mango. One of the very few trees this year that had a decent crop on it. The main upward branch snapped sending 70+, probably just slightly immature mangoes to the ground.

Here's some more pleasant shots....the first is the Young/Tebow in the foreground with Nam Doc Mai and Nam Doc Mai See Tong behind it. These trees have smaller than usual crops...but at least there is some crop.

What is that big brown cluster of dead leaves up in that Cogshall mango tree? A frickin' squirrels nest.

Here is an update on my seedling rollinia:

One last shot of a decent crop on another of my mango trees. This is a seedling I grew from a Carabao fruit I bought at the Fairchild Mango Festival a bunch of years ago. I also have a Phillipine grafted mango from Zills that is producing as heavily. As far as I can tell, thease are related, but different mangoes.

All for now.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mai 1 Seedling Jakfruit....first fruit

« on: May 05, 2012, 03:49:24 PM »

I noticed what I thought was an off season bloom on a seedling jakfruit that I have been growing for about 15 years. I originally bought it at Excalibur. When it was newly planted it accidently got sprayed by Round Up by my lawn guy. He washed it off quickly but the tree was stunted. I debated pulling it out of the ground, but decided to leave it. Fifteen years later, it set fruit for the first time. I don't remember ever having jakfruit this early in the year. I'm sure our warm, wet winter had a lot to do with that. Anyway, I had been checking it everyday and it finally showed some ripening signs (smell, color change and skin give) on Tuesday. I cut it off the tree and it had absolutely no latex (sap) dripping frpom either the fruit or the stem end still on the tree. This is a first for me to have not seen at least some sap dripping from the tree or the stem of the fruit. I did the "upside down in the bucket" trick as was suggested by Oscar. However, there was no additional sap (latex) produced after being upside down for 4 hours, I ended the bucket treatment. I had Murahilin and Sleepdoc over to try the fruit. It was a 13 pound fruit and was absolutely nothing like its parent, Mai1. Mai 1 as I recall has lighter yellow flesh and the perinanths are quite thick and firm. This fruit had darker yellow flesh and rather small seeds. Pollination was good and there was good fruit to seed ratio. The rag was not edible. The flavor was quite strong and fruity and very much "juicy fruit....maybe almost bubble gum flavored. The flesh was very firm and completely dry. There was absolutely no moisture or juice. The core was virtually latex free. Although there was some latex encountered in the cleaning process, the amount was far less than most jakfruits I have cleaned and even less than its Mai 1 parent (which is a low latex cultivar in its own right). Overall, I enjoyed eating it........and I usually get tired of eating jakfruit given what you have to do to clean it. I am very pleased with what it turned out to be. Here are some pictures of the tree and fruit. Murahilin has a movie of us opening it. Hopefully he'll post it.

Tropical Vegetables and Other Edibles / Brussels Sprouts

« on: April 04, 2012, 03:34:11 PM »

OK...so I love Brussels Sprouts. I eat them roasted in olive oil and various seasonings many times per week in my meals. So I planted some out in my garden for the second season in a row. Last year, they grew beautifully but I planted too late and they matured when it was too warm and wet and they got a nasty fungus and were eaten up by some unknown bug. So, I planted earlier this year. Large, gorgeous plants grew. The little sprouts were just coming up to size. I went out this past weekend to harvest them. To my disgust, there was a complete covering of each every sprout with a thick herd of fat aphids. I mean by the thousands and no sprout was left unattended by these little suckers. I was so upset I just gave up and went back inside muttering under my breath. I did not do any spraying and prefer not to do any. Has anyone any consoling words of advice or encouragement? I hate to have another competely wasted cop....but I am not interested in creating a toxic waste dump in my garden.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / More 3/10/2012 Yard Update

« on: March 12, 2012, 11:14:25 AM »

Yet another, still in a pot, now grown into the ground, former shade house resident........either See Chompoo or E Daw longan happily blooming away

Surinam Cherry "Zill Black"......in its annual million fruit annual fruit set.

Black Gold x Tabouey jakfruit putting on its crop. I think there might be about 30 fruits or more that I can readily see already of the size seen here in this shot.

Alano Sapodilla

Green Sapote, finally emerging with new growth after a long (although mild) winter dormancy.

One of two seedling abius....this one set fruit last year. I also had an attack of Cuban May Beetles last year, that, thankfully, has not occurred this year. I am hoping for a bumper crop.

Still some more to come.....I'll further update as I get the chance to post.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / A Tale of Two Neglected Mango Seedlings

« on: March 11, 2012, 09:34:09 PM »

Along the former walkway, leading up to my once existant shade house (no longer in existance thanks to Hurricane Wilma), were two mango seedlings that I plucked up from the yard from who knows what tree/trees. There they sat, in their pots for many years, neglected, ignored, rarely if ever watered or otherwise cared for. They rooted into the ground and I eventually decided to just leave them there...eventually removing the pot on one of the trees. Then about two years ago, one of them flowered for the first time and set small fruits of interesting shape and color and nicely flavored. My ID of this mango seedling, based upon its size, shape, and interior color was that it was a cross between Thai Evebearing and Cushman. I made this assesment based upon the fact that no other mano in my yard was as small as this mango other than Thai Everbearing. The shape, however, is more cylindical than is Thai Everbearing. The color of the flesh is yellow with distinctive orange colored ring just inside the skin. This is a characteristic of Cushman...at least it is in my yard. So, until Murahilin agrees to pay for genetic testing, I am going to assume it to be Thai Everbearing x Cushman. Anyway, the second tree has never bloomed until this year. Now both trees have bloomed and both have set fruit. The fruit set on both is light, however.

Really not much to see as the fruit is still small. I wanted to make a record of the start of this first fruiting and will update as the season progresses.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mango Update....3//10/2012

« on: March 11, 2012, 06:17:01 PM »

Continuing on my yard walk of yesterday....mangoes are now past peak bloom. This year the peak was about two weeks ago. The air was thick with mango perfume....or stink, depending on your perspective. The thickness of the mango bloom scent is over powering, especially at night. Fruit set ranges from light to heavy depending on the tree. Overall, it looks to be a slightly lighter crop overall than in previous years. Could be becuase I really haven't done any spraying to speak of. Just too many things going on to be able to do the spraying that i would have liked to do. The benefit of not sraying is that you get to see just how disease resistant each variety is. The bad news, the fruit doesn't look as pretty, and in many cases, you have severe reductionon in fruit set and ultimate production.

Some of the goings on include Angie, humming right along in its second year of fruiting

Juile, flowering profusely as usual, but with typically limted fruit set

Thai Everbearing, the portion of the tree that had greaat fruit set. This was earlier in the season as is evidenced by the size of the fruits at this time of year. The only other fruits that are this size at this time include Kau Dwarf, Extrema, and Edward.

Here's Kau Dwarf, which I got from Hawaii a few years back.

Maha Chanok.....this one, I call Maha #2 (based on when it was planted out) is in the ground for about 16 years. Fruit set on it is lighter than normal. That is a 5 foot chain link fence behind it for perspective.

Jean Ellen, also in its second year of fruiting. This was the subject of my "To Prune or not to prune posting at Garden Web.
See: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg1221370531594.html
This tree still hasn't been pruned. I just wondered what would happen to a grafted mango tree if you let it go and didn't prune.

I had some other pictures but dummy me had the wrong camera setting on and the pictures were all blurred. I will try to post more mango news shortly.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Lychee Update......3/10/2011

« on: March 10, 2012, 08:58:00 PM »

Got a chance to take a few shots of the yard today. Unfortunately, about half were taken with the wrong camera setting, so I'll have to re-take those tomorrow. First, the lychee update:

Almost all of my trees have now flushed out new vegetative growth. Pictured here is Early Large Red, Mauritius and Bengal.

There is bloom only on three trees, so far. They are Brewster:

And both of my Hak Ip trees.

Only Peerless, which has remained dormant, seems to still have any possibility of a significant bloom this season.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mini yard review-----1/28/2012

« on: February 09, 2012, 08:44:31 PM »

One of two seedling abius, beginning a bloom cycle.

Mammea americana fruiting for fist time since big freeze two years ago

June plum, having dropped most of leaves from the cold, continues to hold its fruit

Thai Everbearing mango

Seedling of Mai 1 jakfruit, fruiting for the first time.

to be contiunued......Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / First Lychee Blooms of 2012

« on: January 28, 2012, 01:07:12 PM »

Despite pronouncements of our own Lycheeluva, here last week, which were conclusively indicitive of his opinion and belief that there were no blooms on any of my lychee trees, this picture of what I observed this morning seem to depict what looks suspiciously like bloom. This is a Hak Ip tree. You may have also seen it spelled Haa Kip, Har Kip, Hak Yip and maybe some other ways. In fact, about 15 or more years ago, there was a grower out in western Broward County that was convinced that what we were growing here in Florida was not Hak Ip at all. He felt the leaves did not have that dark appearance that supposedly characterized the Hak Ip (which supposedly means "Black Leaf") If we have any folks that speak, I asssume it would be Cantonese, a verification of this would be appreciated. In anycase, this grower decided to call his trees and the fruit therefrom by his own, made up, name. He chose Kim Wah. Not sure why or if it had any meaning. Every once in while, I come across someone who asks for Kim Wah. He developed somewhat of a following......he used to sell his fruit for $10 a pound. He sold lots of fruit at that price and the people were thrilled to get them back then when lychees were not so available.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Kai Maprang (Gandaria)....Flowering!!

« on: January 28, 2012, 12:10:46 PM »

After buds have been swelling for months, they finally burst open with this trees first blooms ever. Now lets see what's involved with getting some fruit set.

Harry

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Aftermath of Hurricane Wilma 10/24/05

« on: January 25, 2012, 06:31:29 PM »

In a thread posted by Gary a/k/a mangofang, mangodog, mangocanine, etc., etc,......he was wondering about having to deal with annual hurricanes here in Florida. I said I would post some Wima aftermath shots. Here's a video, sorry for the poor quality. For those who have been in my yard, there is quite a stark contrast between now and then.

Harry
http://youtu.be/9XBOvyJVTzs

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Well endowed member

« on: January 20, 2012, 05:11:26 PM »

Look at this crazy a$$ dude.......he's sure got big ones.

Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Harry's Fruit Stand

« on: January 16, 2012, 08:43:42 PM »

Now appearing on my fruit stand: (varieties available)

Carambolas.............(Sri Kembangan, Kari, Thai Night, Hart, Bell, Possum Trot and Arkin)

Avocados................(Monroe)

Black Sapote

Canistel..................(Bruce)

Coming soon......Hasya Sapodillas