The Tropical Fruit Forum

I had read for years that Ross sapote is better than all canistels but I'm not sure what the actual source of the claims is.  I am waiting to try the fruit from mine but I suspect I will end up keeping my established Bruce canistel instead.

My Geffner reliably sets fruit with no pollination for me, so I am hopeful that other atemoyas will do the same.  One day I'll have to try a new variety, I'll keep a lookout for this one.

I got a fuyu type persimmon tree this year and planted it outdoors.  It is just barely cold hardy in my zone, not sure how it will do.  I let it hold a single fruit this first year and it was better than any store bought fuyu persimmons I've had, I'm really happy about it.  Hope it survives and thrives, but I've noticed the deer eating it.   

I don't like the astringent types... they are far too squishy when they become edible.

These are the giant lemons, right?  I used to have one of these.  It has been a while but I recall that they reach normal lemon coloration when ripe and I thought they did have quite a bit of juice.

I'm not sure how HLB might affect the color, we don't have HLB where I am at

I have a few (mostly large) container trees that didn't make the cut and I couldn't make room for in my greenhouse this winter.  We have had multiple frosts, with one night below freezing for four hours, with a low of 30F/-1C.

- jamun/duhat/eugenia syzygium cumini.  8ft tall seeding  25gal container.  Zero damage, even with unhardened new growth.  It looks great still even with lows in the mid 30s almost every night
- black sapote.  6ft tall fruiting seedling, 25gal container.  Zero damage, looks great.
- guava.  5ft tall seedling, 20gal.  Looks fine.  Has a couple fruits that have grown larger in the past weeks
- kwai muk.  3gal seedling, was 4ft tall but I stumped it midsummer and it has 6in new growth.  Some hardened some small.  Damaged, all leaves look discolored

This might all be common knowledge, but I was expecting the jamin to croak first and the kwai muk to be the most resilient.  Guava and black sapote aren't really suprising to me.

Anyone else learning anything from abandoned plants?

Today I visited the nearby Jenkins Arboretum, which I heard has a paw-paw tree, to see if it has any fruit.  Indeed there is a tree, and it is fairly large with the largest trunk about 6in diameter and many weedy watersprout trunks.  The leaves are already yellow, and I couldn't find any trace of fruit on the tree or anywhere on the ground near it.  Maybe I am too late in the season for it?  The photos on the arboretum website show fruit, I assume they are from this tree and not a stock photo.  I only saw this one one tree, though, maybe it isn't really fruiting and it needs a partner for pollination.  Also, I would say this tree is in at least half shade as the arboretum is basically a woods.

Meanwhile, all of the small pawpaw seedlings I purchased when I started this thread have died.  This spring I found a couple of larger pawpaw seedling at a nursery that already had 1/2in diameter trunks and planted them in nearly full sun in my yard.  One seemed to stuggle a bit, the other looks very healthy as the growing season ends.

I have Geffner Atemoya and I really like it, however the cherimoya fruits I got from a CA forum member are definitely superior. 

I absolutely love soursop, though my tree has only made one fruit and it didn't ripen well.  It is flowering now, but of course... the pollination issue.

My e. beaurepaireana is flowering for the first time now

I also got mine from 9waters and it is now 12ft tall and I have to prune it

I'm really looking forward to seeing this succeed!

It must be frustrating to move to what seems like the ideal climate for this hobby only to find an even more exotic environment is required!  I am surprised both by what thrives in my greenhouse and what refuses to grow at all.


- Your marang leaves look like mine.  I think it is correct (assuming mine is).  Sadly I think I will have to rip mine out next year.  There's just no way it is going to reach fruiting size as a tip bearer unless I give it half the greenhouse.  I guess I could try pruning it way back but I don't know how it will go.


- I'm also growing a butterscotch sapodilla even though I don't really like sapodilla, hah.  The hype was really strong.

- I cannot get illama to grow for me, they always die while other annonas grow well.

- Soursop has been easy for me, though it has only produced one fruit so far.  It is blooming right now I will have to try hand-pollinating.


-  I had a rollinia in-ground in the greenhouse too and it seemed to have the same shallow root system you describe of your soursop.  It fell over from its own weight once - without any wind at all.

- I had some durian seedlings about 2ft tall for a while some years back, but my subsequent attempts they all died almost immediately.  I think my greenhouse was more humid back then.  My mangosteen was much healthier then also. 

- I have a mammea american seedling growing in a pot that has always been super healthy.  I figure I will have to ditch it before it reaches fruiting size, though.  I think it needs to get big to fruit?
(this photo is from 9 months ago):


- I haven't been able to get pulasan to grow at all, I think a couple leaves at most before they die. 

- I had a really healthy pedalai, but I got rid of it after it was a few feet tall because I realized how big they need to be to fruit.

These take a long time to fruit compared to red hybrid, right?

Cool!  Interesting looking flower, seems different than the other eugenias to me