The Tropical Fruit Forum

When my coffee fruit is ripe, I can send you a few seeds to plant.  I love the taste.  I share them with friends, but make them chew carefully and spot the seed back out so I can plant it!

We are zone 6 here in Idaho.  I have two sections to my greenhouse - one is from a kit, and it has 8 mm twin wall polycarbonate.  Fairly expensive.  The addition was built with corrugated polycarbonate on a 2x4 frame.  It didn't keep things warm enough, so we just nailed a second layer of corrugated polycarbonate to the inside of the 2x4 frame. 

Now I wish I had done the entire greenhouse that way!  It holds heat and lets in light WAY better than the twin-wall.  I got the corrugated polycarb at Home Depot, and it was about $23 per 2x8 ft sheet.  So with the double layer (with a 2 inch air cushion in between) it was still pretty reasonable.  I built the "temperate" addition over time, gradually replacing the bubble wrap I had over the 2x4 frame.  It may be a little hard to bolt the corrugated stuff to a carport frame (we actually considered that before we did a stick-built...), but you CAN bend it.  Maybe buy one sheet and check it out?  Or bolt some 2x4s tot he curve of the carport so you can made a hard angle, then cut the polycarb to fit.

Also, no joke, I did have really good luck with bubble wrap and duct tape!  It let's in more light than you would think and lasted 2 hard Idaho winters before we were able to replace it with something more permanent.

FarmTek has very good prices, but the shipping costs can eat you alive...

Hi E Street!
Welcome to the forum!
I am fairly new here myself.  However, I have had a 15x30 ft tropical greenhouse in my back yard for several years now.  I have a lot of tropical fruit trees and plants.
Where in Croatia are you?  If you are along the coast, then you will have an easier time than if you are inland.
I would definitely look into building an "underground" greenhouse if you are inland, and get harsher winters.  Even if you only dig down a couple of feet it will help with heating and cooling.  Optimally, four feet is really good.  If you situate it carefully, you should still be able to get enough light.
You are a little farther north than me, so you will need supplemental light in the winter.  There is some good info here on the forum about LED light sing.  Right now I use fluorescent and incandescent lights because I can't afford the initial cost outlay of LED lights.
Heat can be a big expense.  I use a natural gas furnace in my greenhouse.
If you situate the greenhouse to make the most of sun in the winter, it may get too hot in the summer, so shade canopies over the roof may be needed.  I found that it stays a LOT cooler, with less shade needed, if the shade cover is not laying directly on the greenhouse, but is on a frame about 1-2 feet above the greenhouse.
Anyway, those are just a couple of ideas.  PM me if you have any questions, and I will see if I can help.  Once again, there is a lot of info on this forum that may help you!
Have fun, and good luck!

We can all make lists of what we have (to give), what we want, and if any match that will be our secret santa. If they don't match, we can give the person something that they don't have.

Ok - I'm in!  And before then, can someone teach me how to do scion cuttings?

Quote from: fruitlovers on November 07, 2013, 04:54:10 PM

Quote from: Doglips on November 05, 2013, 06:20:17 AM

We could time share it, I can chip in a couple of grand, bet I could talk Daintree into joining on.

Looks beautiful.

Time shares are for vacations, not for working farms.

Sure they are, others could do the work the rest of the year I could show up for the mangosteen harvest.
I sure it would be a tremendous amount of work, nothing to tackle without a whole team.
The point is moot unless my dear, dear, lost uncle Oscar leaves me a small fortune.

Well, I am working on the "lottery option" and have spent $2 in hopes that the Powerball will help fund the endeavor.
Several people at work have also offered to come and stay at the B&B in exchange for farm work. It would be fun to have a "workation" sort of thing.
Always fun to dream!!!!

We could time share it, I can chip in a couple of grand, bet I could talk Daintree into joining on.

Looks beautiful.

Yeah, what a GREAT idea!  That is one of the sweetest places on earth..
Of course, there ARE the cyclones, the giant lizards, crocodiles, plant invaders that you have to chop down with a machete, and the fact that everything that crawls or slithers is probably poisonous.
Oh, and the rain.  And the leeches.
But it is still paradise!

Oooh, that could be it!  The most likely suspect is Spondias dulcis.  I just e-mailed some pictures to the my son and daughter-in-law, to see if it is a possibility.

Thanks!

That looks like a really healthy population of mealy bugs. 
I get them too, sometimes, in my greenhouse.  You can wipe them off with a cotton swab dipped in straight rubbing alcohol, if there aren't too many.  I also use Neem oil and pyrethrin, but you have to keep on top of it.  They have a fast life cycle, so if I get hit with them, I spray every week.  The tiny baby ones (sometimes called crawlers) are not white, but sort of tan, and the size of a pinpoint.

Carolyn

Thanks!

Not sure what that is, maybe there were two seeds in the pot to begin with?

Quote from: Michiganian on November 02, 2013, 10:24:11 AM

So in September I received 32 seeds, which were described as latexless fresh Thai orange jackfruit with a description of sweet, crunchy and thick fruits.

If the seeds you got are the same as those you've described above, then you may have hit the gold mother load. Many jackfruit growers, including myself, would love to purchase from you a grafted jackfruit tree that was latex-less, sweet and of the crunchy kind.

BTW, there may be very few people in the USA with those seeds/seedlings, or you may be the only one with them. I sure hope that you propagate them all to the maturity point of fruit production and then, that each seedling fruit will be sampled and its quality compared to the others. And finally, that you will end up propagating and selling the grafted jackfruit of the most promising seedling(s).

Although this may sound like a lot of work, it may really be worth your while (or even someone else), since some very good profits could be made from this endeavor, best wishes and good luck to you.

These sound just like some seeds I recently purchased on EBay from a nice fellow in California.  He described them as latex-free, orange, crunchy Thai jackfruit.  Made my mouth water, just looking at the picture!  I think he still has some.
- Carolyn

Where can a person find these seeds?
I would love to buy some of them to grow.  I have eaten the toasted seeds before, and they were very good, with a weird, slightly fishy taste.

Thanks!
Starting tomorrow, they get MORE LIGHT!

I bought them 3 years avon, and the stems were very thick (2-3 inches).  THey were about 2 feet tall, and seemed really vigorous.  They have grown like crazy, but the stems are always very thin.
Aarrrggh!  I am tired of buying my dragon fruit at the oriental market in Portland!
What am I doing wrong?