The Tropical Fruit Forum

Good job on the fruits!

All my ligularis vines are in the middle of blooming, so I'm wondering if they're triggered by temps or daylight.  Hopefully they go on cue this coming spring.

The new laurifolia seeds sprouted >80% (31/38, they sent a lot of extras this time), which was way better than the 30% from my own ligularis fruit (7/24).  Also, I had almost given up on this spring's PSI seeds, but finally 1 miniata sprouted after 7 months.

Down to $12 locally.  Hawthorne is cleared out now, and Marina del Rey only has 3 left.

While picking up stuff, I ran into these for $5.50: https://www.homedepot.com/p/PRO-MIX-2-cu-ft-Premium-Moisture-Potting-Mix-Compressed-Soil-0306RG/316391711, but I got the last ones at Hawthorne.  It looked like they got a new pallet of these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/PRO-MIX-Premium-Organic-Garden-Mix-2-cu-ft-Compressed-Soil-0506RG/316391810, which weren't on clearance, but oddly enough these are on clearance at the Marina.  Not sure what's going on.

The one did seem very ripe, so perhaps I should pick them earlier before they get so orange? I got seeds of ligularis and laurifolia from Maui Seeds, via Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/shop/mauiseedcompany/
I just tried a 10 pack of each, and got 8 ligularis and 5 laurifolia vines out of it, so that was a pretty good rate for me. I had also acquired 2 ligularis seedlings from another forum member here, but those vines didn't seem to acclimate well, and they got overtaken quickly by the new kids. I'm going to try 1 more batch of laurifolia. They did so well in the pots, but I apparently didn't plant them well. Only 2 nubbins left barely hanging on.

We're 2 miles from the beach. It rarely breaks 80, but we hit mid 80s several times this year.  On 9/6 it hit 99.8. Unlike the thermometer, I haven't checked the humidistat accuracy, but it says mostly above 80, except for the occasional Santa Anas. The Mission Dolores gets some morning sun, since it is planted under the east dripline of a mandarin tree. I changed my mind on building a new arbor on that side, so I directed it west under the tree, on the north side, and then up the stake, so it's probably about 15' long, in mostly shade. I'm planning to run it along the string lights under the arbor, so it will remain shaded by the other vines on the top of the arbor.

The fruits fell off, but I also put a metal mesh bag on them, so there was some added weight. The mice and rats go after the passion fruit, so I didn't want to risk these. They're very light otherwise, so they may have hung longer on their own. Actually, do some passion fruit not drop, or get overripe if not picked? I've been waiting for the ligularis to drop, but perhaps I just need to pick them? This is one with its chain mail +2.


As for the taste, my wife's the real consumer. I'm just her dealer. I didn't find the first one very melon-y, but I just tried the second one, and it was very different. It was much sweeter, and melon-y, but it lost almost all of the floral aspect. I definitely want to compare future ones with the amount of maturity/aging, but I would so far prefer the fresher more floral version.

Interesting about the Mission Dolores pollen. This is the first year fruiting for me and I haven't seen any pollen yet. Only saw the first flowers in July, so maybe too hot, but we don't get that hot either. I was able to pollinate the flowers with purple edulis. Flowers are open 2 days, so they get a double dab. We just tried the first fruit the other day. I don't know if they are considered fully ripe, but they had fallen off on their own (~70 days after pollination), and the one we tried had an incredibly floral taste. The other one is still on the counter to see if there is any difference.

I do prefer them less acidic, but the problem was the seedling variation. I planted out several seedlings from a good fruit we had, and they all had their unique flavors, but unfortunately not in a good way. All were more acidic, but most also had some unenjoyable off-flavors. I also had tried a few seedlings from some purple varieties and they also taste different enough from each other. Waiting on this next batch of smaller flavicarpa seedlings to see if I get lucky this time around.

Cool story!

I planted out a hedge of small Sumo seedlings, but now second-guessing myself. Should I use "proper" rootstocks instead?  I haven't had any issues with my few other citrus bushes, on unknown big box rootstocks, so I don't know what kind of possible issues I'm supposed to be overcoming with a particular rootstock.

The big flavicarpa seedlings are super vigorous and can fruit within a year of sowing, but I haven't gotten any good tasting ones out of them.  I am trying to use them as rootstocks for everything else though.  The less vigorous varieties are at least 2 years for me so far.  Cuttings may flower instantly, but they won't hold anything without some size.  I have a 2 yr old ligularis that is holding 3 fruit, but it has not put out any more flowers past those 3 that came out in spring, despite all the extra vegetative growth.  I had to manually pollinate it with edulis, but at least it set something.  I have 2-4 other sibling vines that didn't bother to flower at all yet.

I had to "snail proof" my alpine and yellow strawberry plants here in southern California.

What are you using?  I haven't put much effort into trying to control them and they do a lot of damage.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/traveling-with-ag-products/hawaii
Agricultural items from Hawaii ALLOWED into the U.S. Mainland, Alaska, and Guam (after passing USDA inspection)
- Coconut
- Coffee
    - Travelers are permitted to bring unlimited quantities of roasted coffee or green (unroasted) coffee beans without restriction through any continental U.S. port of entry.
- Commercially canned or processed foods, including processed fruits and vegetables
    - Accepted processing methods include cooking, drying, or freezing. If freezing, all fruits must be frozen solid at the time of inspection. Frozen mango must be without seeds.
- Fresh pineapple
- Irish or white potatoes
- Treated fruit, such as papaya, abiu, atemoya, banana, curry leaf, dragon fruit, longan, lychee, mangosteen, rambutan, starfruit, and sweet potato
    - These fruits must be treated at a USDA-approved facility and packed in sealed boxes that are properly marked and stamped.

I've tried only a dozen seedlings of my own possum purple vine and of a brazilian yellow and the variance in fruit is noticeable. I haven't had any luck on finding even an equal tasting variety, but they grow so fast anyways, so it's a fun experiment to see what comes up.