The Tropical Fruit Forum

I do not know of any difference in cold tolerance, because they really all have no cold tolerance.
I would say what you are trying won't work, but everybody told me I couldn't fruit cacao in Idaho either, and I do.  But you will find that it will be way more than just bringing it indoors and misting it daily.  Dealing with twice yearly environmental shock is pretty hard to overcome. I can kill a mature cacao by moving it ten feet to a different spot in the greenhouse.
And for heavens sake don't tell the poor seedlings you are willing to kill them! They may revolt and take you out...

Carolyn

That is a really interesting pattern, and it sure has me stumped.

I am surprised none of the experts have been able to ID the problem yet!

Thanks for the tips!
Looks like my choices are pretty much a combination of friends, hired help and automation.
At least finally getting drip set up (after 14 years...) helps!
Now I just need to get another hose and timer.
Can't figure out how to monitor the furnaces. They are just the wall-mounted open flame gas heaters...

Carolyn

So, you would think with all my connections with local nurseries, being a Master Gardener, and belonging to two garden clubs, I could find a greenhouse sitter for when we are on vacation!

But, aaarrrggghhhh!

Lights are on automatic, ventilation is automatic, foggers/misters and watering, other than 10 minutes a day to hit small pots etc, is automatic. You DO have to hook up the drip once a week and manually turn the water on. Heat is mostly automatic but needs to be monitored twice daily in the winter.

But really, no matter what I do, the place is like a toddler, and needs constant aupervision. The drip system has helped, but isn't a total solution.

People I have had so far either are not reliable/can't follow instructions, or cost too much (the pet sitting service did a great job but they charge $50 per day!!!).

My ONLY sitter right now is my sister. She adores the birds, is free and super reliable, but has the worlds brownest thumb and can't tell when things are in trouble. Plus, we can't go anywhere together!

If we have to be gone for more than a week, it is a crapshoot as to what will die while I am gone.

Where do y'all get your greenhouse sitters and what do you pay (takes 30 minutes twice a day)?

Carolyn

JohnG, the important thing to note here is that your WIFE bought you this awesome tree.

With our type of plant addiction, it is good to marry an enabler! 

Carolyn

I agree, Tropicaltoba. One of the best things about my greenhouse is being able yo enjoy it! I don't move plants outside. The high desert sun bakes them. Have enough fans in the summer that it is pleasant year-round.
Plus, there is always the pub...


In case the print is too small or blurry to read, it says "The Laughing Impala Pub, est 2018"

I have read that to produce fruit, olive trees need chill hours. Mine are seedlings, and 4-18 inches tall. Do they need chill hours, or can I leave them in my greenhouse all winter? Minimum temp in here is 50 f.

Thanks!
Carolyn

Any chance it is being Zoomed?

Carolyn (in Idaho...)

I have slogged down that same rough road.  My trees are really big, and many times I can't see pests (almost exclusively mealybugs) until the population is high. The beneficials I introduce can't reproduce as fast so the mealy bugs gain the upper hand.  If the mealybbug population is too low, the beneficials starve.

I also need to be really careful with sprays because of my birds.  I have had horrible luck with oils sprays. My plants with fuzzy leaves just curl up and die. And mealy bugs are very hard to kill. My granddaughter did a science experiment last year and we treated mealy bugs with several things including hort oil and rubbing alcoho. Slowed them down, but they recovered in days. We watched new hatchlings crawl around with the aid of my USB microscope. Speaking of birds though, the one pest I can control are earwigs. The quail love them!

For everything else I use systemics.  I can treat two or three times and it drops the nuisance bug population down to nil, then I monitor and only use it again when I see problems.  So I sort of get into a cycle of three treatments, go two years in peace, three more treatments, etc.

I do have to spray the spider mites, so I drag what I can onto the greenhouse porch, and for the rest I shift the birds into the tropical house to treat the orangerie, hose down the bark floor to wash any dripped stuff away,  let it dry thoroughly, then reverse.

Guess that's the price for operating in a closed system...

Carolyn

I have grown these both from seed.
My first thought is that are you SURE you have Lulo, and not Cocona (S. sessiliflorum)?
Lulo does come up pretty quickly, I think about 10-14 days.  However, Cocona can take several months. It is weird that way, compared to other nightshades. I agree with you that nightshades are usually pretty speedy germinators.
And I can't say I have ever had a "bad" batch of Lulo seeds.  They last a long time in storage, like most nightshades, and I have planted seeds that are several years old and had good luck.
Where did you get them? If it was EBay or Etsy, they may be mislabeled, so I would give the seeds more time (if you want Cocona...).

Carolyn

Thanks, that was fun to watch!
As far as the taste descriptions being "off", I know my husband and I can eat the same fruit and give totally different taste descriptions. Weird how that happens.

Carolyn

So I just bought a 4 ft x 16 ft hog panel and cut it into 2 ft pieces.  Made a triangle, and set it on the pot.
The plants are not doing it justice right now because I just whacked it down after blooming.  It was draping over the top. What I need to do is put pipe insulation along the top to help them from breaking from the weight.