Poll

If you had to remove a plant based entirely off of taste, what would it be?

Pink Guava
White sapote
sapodilla
rollinia
Loquat

Author Topic: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)  (Read 832 times)

Jaboticaba45

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It's been a while since someone did a poll, So I figured we could do another one for trolls lol.
I'm asking this to see what trees I should leave in ground in my greenhouse. Space is limited, and I think I have about 14 trees in ground
red jabo, lemon drop, sabara, sapucaia, ndm, orange essence, fruit punch, mallika, loquat, pink guava, white sapote, lychee, starfruit, sap, and rollinia
Now,
I am wondering if it is worth keeping some of them in ground. For example, the guava tree is very a vigorous grower, but the fruit is only a guava lol. Same with the white sapote. I'd rather plant another lychee there in the spot of it.
But, what is the general public's idea of this? Keep or remove?
Sacrifice taste for more variety? Or have less selection but better fruits?
Is rollinia any good? One of the few ones I haven't tried yet. But the tree is growing so nicely, I feel bad removing it.

Same with white sapote. I've tried a few, but didn't really like them (decent), but now I got the mary lane, that just flowered, no fruit set, but now I feel like I should grow it out to fruit. But I don't know what to do.

So, I need your opinions on this matter if possible.
Potential candidates to replace in ground trees were my maruitius lychee and hak ip too. (lychee is my favorite fruit for most part)

What are some good tasting fruits you'd recommend based entirely off of taste?
One thing I can't do is jaks though, way too much of a commitment of space.

I don't know, but just wanting to get some feedback on my decisions as they will have a lasting impact.

FloridaManDan

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2023, 08:20:50 AM »
My opinion, chop down the pink guava (ew), white sapote, and rollinia. None of them are that special, could use the space for just objectively better fruiting plants. Lychee, longan, red custard apple, Yangmei, another mango, would all be great options. Don't forget I still have some plants waiting for you here  ;D

tru

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2023, 10:20:16 AM »
Interested in hearing more people's opinions on rollinia, I've heard so many great things (namely that they taste like fruity pebbles... haven't stopped thinking about that since I heard it lmao)
instagram @trumansacco

roblack

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2023, 12:21:39 PM »
The flavor of rollinia is quite good. The problems are texture, short shelf-life, and processing is a pain.

brian

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2023, 12:48:46 PM »
My pink guava is one of my favorite fruits.   This is far too subjective a question. 

I think you should wait until you can try them all yourself.  What I have been doing is growing anything that will fruit in a container... in a container.   And if it is awesome I plant it in the ground.

For things that aren't likely to ever fruit in a container I just plant them in the ground and wait for them to fruit and then cut them down if they aren't as good as the competition.  I had a dozen citrus trees in-ground and dug up most of them.  Now I have a bunch of artocarpus and annonas in ground, with the assumption that most will be ripped out and only the best ones kept. 

ben mango

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #5 on: June 07, 2023, 01:02:01 PM »
White sapote can be very, very good. It’s possible you just had mediocre ones. I think quality varies a lot from varieties. I’ve had seedling fruit that were practically tasteless. Rollinia tastes nothing like fruity pebbles, closer resembles lemon meringue pie.

Jaboticaba45

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2023, 03:53:36 PM »
My opinion, chop down the pink guava (ew), white sapote, and rollinia. None of them are that special, could use the space for just objectively better fruiting plants. Lychee, longan, red custard apple, Yangmei, another mango, would all be great options. Don't forget I still have some plants waiting for you here  ;D
Thanks for the response Dan!
Yep, I keep forgetting about the ones you are holding for me lol. I've prebought so many plants that I have to pick up this next trip that I'm worried I can't buy much more ::)
I know you're not a fan of rollinia, care to elaborate more? I remember you sold those plants.

And how would you rate custard apple? Got a cherilata growing nicely I'm wondering if I should try it out instead of rollinia.

Jaboticaba45

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2023, 03:55:05 PM »
White sapote can be very, very good. It’s possible you just had mediocre ones. I think quality varies a lot from varieties. I’ve had seedling fruit that were practically tasteless. Rollinia tastes nothing like fruity pebbles, closer resembles lemon meringue pie.
Good point. I've tried some redlands, and some seedling tree ones which the collector said were pretty good.
But I didn't like it. Now, I have no way to compare notes unless I can find someone to ship me some top quality fruits. Same with rollinia.
If anyone wants to try to send a few up here, it would be appreciated. Or point me on where to find the fruits in FL.

FloridaManDan

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2023, 05:20:24 PM »
I know you're not a fan of rollinia, care to elaborate more? I remember you sold those plants.

And how would you rate custard apple? Got a cherilata growing nicely I'm wondering if I should try it out instead of rollinia.

As far as I can recall, I have not tasted a rollinia fruit myself; however, based on reviews I've read far and wide, its just a generally subpar fruit. If you really want to go crazy and breed for ideal traits, I say go for it. Otherwise, just replace it! I traded mine with someone on the forum who really wanted to grow it.

Red Custard Apple is my favorite annona, cherilata close to it. Idk why, but regular cherimoya and soursop just dont cut it for me. Could be a quality thing on that end though. Good luck making your decision!

K-Rimes

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2023, 05:45:18 PM »
How big / tall is your greenhouse? White sapote can get really, really big. I don't think it's a good candidate for being in ground in a small greenhouse. This said, I used to not be a fan but having now had some selected varieties, white sapote is slept on and a very good fruit. If you can get wooly sapote (yellow), you can dwarf the tree.

Loquat also gets really big, and though I do love it, I wouldn't devote greenhouse space to it.

Personally I would take out the guava, it's kind of a bigger tree and the fruit is just ok in my opinion.

You could have 5-6 eugenias that take up the space of any of those 3 and that would be way higher up the list for me.

 

Jaboticaba45

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2023, 06:14:43 PM »
How big / tall is your greenhouse? White sapote can get really, really big. I don't think it's a good candidate for being in ground in a small greenhouse. This said, I used to not be a fan but having now had some selected varieties, white sapote is slept on and a very good fruit. If you can get wooly sapote (yellow), you can dwarf the tree.

Loquat also gets really big, and though I do love it, I wouldn't devote greenhouse space to it.

Personally I would take out the guava, it's kind of a bigger tree and the fruit is just ok in my opinion.

You could have 5-6 eugenias that take up the space of any of those 3 and that would be way higher up the list for me.
Greenhouse peak is 12 ft. with pruning, I'm able to grow a good bit. Although nowhere near the size of regular trees. It still allows for a decent fruit production.

Kaz got me hooked on loquats. They grow outside here without protection, but don't produce fruit. very annoying.

What eugenias are you recommending?
I tend to keep them in pots as they do ok anyways. Got a lot of the rare ones and many common ones like grumichama (not good enough for me), pitangatuba (good as I like sour fruits, but does better in pots anyways), pitanga (not that good), and a corg...although not dedicated enough for space on those. Rather have them in pots.

Jaboticaba45

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #11 on: June 07, 2023, 06:16:41 PM »
I know you're not a fan of rollinia, care to elaborate more? I remember you sold those plants.

And how would you rate custard apple? Got a cherilata growing nicely I'm wondering if I should try it out instead of rollinia.

As far as I can recall, I have not tasted a rollinia fruit myself; however, based on reviews I've read far and wide, its just a generally subpar fruit. If you really want to go crazy and breed for ideal traits, I say go for it. Otherwise, just replace it! I traded mine with someone on the forum who really wanted to grow it.

Red Custard Apple is my favorite annona, cherilata close to it. Idk why, but regular cherimoya and soursop just dont cut it for me. Could be a quality thing on that end though. Good luck making your decision!
Thanks,
Soursop is ok too, but it's a bit too cold to grow them here. I know of people who did it easy, but they kept the greenhouse minimum at 55f. Mine goes down to 40s. Cherimoya didn't really impress me either. Sugar apple is ok. What a hard decision.

Orkine

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #12 on: June 07, 2023, 06:36:02 PM »
Same thought as Brian.  Unless you are in a big hurry, taste the fruit of what you are growing and chop off the 2 or 3 you wish to get rid of.

Also if space is premium and you have something that will grow well outside but fruit marginally, it may be worth moving outside.  Especially if it is a large tree which will be aggressively managed to stay in a 12 ft tall space.

Jaboticaba45

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #13 on: June 07, 2023, 07:21:24 PM »
Same thought as Brian.  Unless you are in a big hurry, taste the fruit of what you are growing and chop off the 2 or 3 you wish to get rid of.

Also if space is premium and you have something that will grow well outside but fruit marginally, it may be worth moving outside.  Especially if it is a large tree which will be aggressively managed to stay in a 12 ft tall space.
Thanks, thing is time is limited too. It takes at least 2-3 years for me to get a good evaluation on fruit also. As first fruits isn’t the best most of the time.
So I think I need to go fast.

I guess I get sad when cutting down trees when they are doing so well.

Jaboticaba45

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #14 on: June 07, 2023, 08:48:11 PM »
Ok, after thinking it all through, I'm probably just going to keep everything how it is. Even though some taste worse than others, they do have redeeming qualities about them.
I might replace the sapucaia for another lychee though as I already have many many many jaboticabas.
Thanks for all the responses everyone, I needed help thinking lol
Plus, the trees have great size to them also, so only a couple more years of waiting to fruit on most of them if they haven't started to yet.
Hopefully can make another greenhouse or get some land in the future so I can have some more space.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2023, 08:51:48 PM by Jaboticaba45 »

fruit nerd

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #15 on: June 07, 2023, 09:31:38 PM »
That's what I think I'd do, I'd keep all of them. Only had one white sapote but there is a youtuber in Melbourne, Australia, growing white sapote and his fruit prolifically and don't seem to mind the cold.

brian

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #16 on: June 07, 2023, 09:44:29 PM »
To get over the same guilt of culling healthy trees, I now graft the fruiting scion onto new seedlings when possible so at least the scion isn't lost.  I try to keep the new tree as a bonsai as small as possible. 

Also, when pruning keep in mind the fruiting habits of various types.  Trees that fruit on new wood like guavas should be fine to prune, and things like jackfruit that fruit on internal wood should handle pruning fine.  Trees that fruit on year-old wood won't get much of a crop if they have to be aggressively pruned.  I got had some in-ground citrus trees that made huge crops of fruit initially, but once I had to prune them to keep them from overgrowing they basically made no fruit and were clearly a waste.  With citrus you can regraft onto extreme dwarfing rootstock, which is what I have done for their replacements, but I don't think this is an option for most other tree types.

Are your lychees growing well?  I have a few air-layered ones and they are always dying back as fast as they grow.

And has your mallika mango fruited?  Mine is super healthy and produces tons of fruitlets every year but none hold to maturity.  It is a tease

Jaboticaba45

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #17 on: June 07, 2023, 11:47:29 PM »
To get over the same guilt of culling healthy trees, I now graft the fruiting scion onto new seedlings when possible so at least the scion isn't lost.  I try to keep the new tree as a bonsai as small as possible. 

Also, when pruning keep in mind the fruiting habits of various types.  Trees that fruit on new wood like guavas should be fine to prune, and things like jackfruit that fruit on internal wood should handle pruning fine.  Trees that fruit on year-old wood won't get much of a crop if they have to be aggressively pruned.  I got had some in-ground citrus trees that made huge crops of fruit initially, but once I had to prune them to keep them from overgrowing they basically made no fruit and were clearly a waste.  With citrus you can regraft onto extreme dwarfing rootstock, which is what I have done for their replacements, but I don't think this is an option for most other tree types.

Are your lychees growing well?  I have a few air-layered ones and they are always dying back as fast as they grow.

And has your mallika mango fruited?  Mine is super healthy and produces tons of fruitlets every year but none hold to maturity.  It is a tease
My guava is super vigorous so I need to prune it every year. I also heard it fruits on new growth, but I always feel like I'm throwing out a lot of potential with each prune.

Lychees do great here. Perfect temps get them to bloom each year. Didn't get a crop though this year as I pruned it back last fall...lesson learned. I like them so much, I'll put one more in ground lol.

Mallika has fruited. All my mangos will flower and fruit too. How big is yours? Maybe a nutrient thing.
Watch when it flowers next time, something could be causing the fruits to drop.

brian

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Re: Help me decide for in ground trees in my greenhouse! (taste)
« Reply #18 on: June 08, 2023, 12:11:14 AM »
That is encouraging.

My mallika is 8ft tall in ground and makes thousands of fruitlets but I am not sure why they all drop.  Ive tried lots of water and very little water, same result.  Maybe it needs boron