The Tropical Fruit Forum

I used to worry that my soursop hardly fruited, until my daughter-in-law said she REALLY wants the leaves, for tea! Mine grows like a weed, so every time I prune it I dry the leaves for her. Win-win!

Carolyn

It looks awesome! My first thought is that you must do a serious ballet to move around in there!  I still have all my greenhouse trees in pots. I can't dig down two inches becuase of our maple tree roots.

I tried bubble wrap with very poor results - the bubbles got all full of condensation and then got moldy, then it all fell down.

You will probably find the water jugs inadequate.  The second the sun quits hitting them they start releasing their heat, and even boiling water is the temperature of the ambient air in two hours.  Then the greenhouse is trying to heat the air AND the water.

I tried several ways to help keep my greenhouse warm, and really, insulation and just an outside heat source (like the propane heater) were the only things that worked. 

Of course, I have over a hundred REALLY tropical plants, like cacao, so I just bit the bullet and pay for the natural gas bill.  You are warmer down there, though, so it may be a bit easier.  A good insulating blanket would probably work well. They make a type of heavy duty bubble wrap just for greenhouses.

Cheers,
Carolyn

I have two in my greenhouse. Pardon the poor photos, I was too lazy to shut the foggers off and wait for it to dissipate...

One is growing on a double H shaped trellis made out of 2x4s. I can add more rungs to it as needed.


The other is growing up a concrete "tree" that contains the nest boxes for my little parrots.


The plants don't seem to care, as long as they can adhere their roots to it. I have huge masses of roots going down both and into the ground. If you zoom in on the tree pic you can see the aerial roots climbing down down the tree, and it is just painted concrete.

I think the important thing is that you can walk all the way around the trellis, and reach the top for hand pollination. I have missed blooms because they are sort of yellowish-green and blend in with the foliage and I didn't see them.

Cheers, Carolyn

Definitely amorphophallus of some sort!!!

Carolyn

My first guesses would be fertilizer burn or watering issues (too much or too little water). Doesn't quite look right for anthracnose but I guess that's alwats a possibility.

Carolyn

Now, let's go easy on him. Maybe he is just a kid.  I was on another forum and a brand new member who turned out to be only 12 years old was heartbroken by the poor reception. 

To another point, I never find it worthwhile to grow just one seed. So much can happen - low germination, damping off, etc. Always best to buy a dozen. So save up and try again when you have a few more dollars.  Or like folks suggested, buy fruit!

Cheers,
Carolyn

Melons are so tricky! I am staring at my honeydews daily now, dithering about whether to pick them or let them go another day...

Carolyn

Not rare, but I like cocoplum (Chrysobalauns icaco). Have to grow it in my greenhouse, but when we were in Florida I regularly freaked my hubby out by eating the shubbery fruit while waiting at bus stops, etc.

Carolyn

On the lighter side -

What about this one?  She doesn't use any electricity, plus provides fertilizer for your field and a ride home after work! Her name is Maria...


Pretty tasty juice!

Snout beetle! Eeewww!

Be careful that you don't wind up building a giant sail that blows away in the wind...

Carolyn

Ha! That would be my own grasskeets that live in my greenhouse!
For the most part they leave my plants alone, but every so often they go on a binge, and walk the tops of the banana leaves, eating the tasty, crunchy part where the leaves attach to the ribs. I come into the greenhouse in the morning and banana leaves are all over the floor, with just the ribs still attached to the plant like a giant yucca or something.

Carolyn

Give them to all the neighbor kids along with lemon slices. They get a big kick out of them!

Carolyn