The Tropical Fruit Forum

While biking around I noticed this fig tree that seemed remarkable in that it is bearing fruit at this time of year and that they seem to have survived a dip down to 29*F-

I will collect one of the figs when they droop and if they are good tasting will take some cuttings

Some pictures of the offender

Hey All,

Recently while biking around I found a very mature Cereus spp. that was holding some fruit on it on public land- Any help IDing would be nice





Fruit looks orange red- leading me to believe it could be validus? I also think peruvianus has larger fruits that are more red















Overall a pretty underwhelming fruit but heres the breakdown-

Flavor - surprisingly floral and just a bit sweet, I ended up eating quite a bit of it

Pros - Fruits and flowers in December, need little care/irrigation, Pretty imho
Cons- Mucilaginous, inferior to dragonfruit in terms of flavor which is already borderline in my book, can get quite large

Hey All-

Jest received a fabulous picture from the place in Houston-




This will be our first rack of Bananas coming in, quite worried about them making it through the winter- but have a few other pups around it that will hopefully bloom at a more favorable part of the year.

I have heard that this variety needs propping but I am not there, so I am not sure I will be able to

Hey All-

I think I ID'd this as Syzygium australe after taking a look at the trees on stanfords tree map- It clearly is surviving in Z9a, but in a courtyard against a wall so may be benefiting from radiative heating



Here is a (not great) photo of the flower



better flower



And of course the fruit!











The money shot-



Beautifully crisp and juicy with a bit of lemony tartness, good amount of flesh to seed ratio-

I'll collect some seeds and put em up for sale

Crossposting this at the request of pagnr

Finally Citrus reticulata x medica - Rangpur lime





I saw these at the farmers market and curiosity got the better of me, I was fully expecting them to be green inside, and so when I peeled the skin I was absolutely sure that I had been bamboozled and sold a tangerine.

When I put a segment in my mouth I was quickly corrected- It tastes like a lime- intense citrus that is maybe a bit lighter than a regular one. I made an amazing salad dressing with it

Hey All-

Chrysophylum have always been a tricky species for me to germinate-

I found this paper on Chrysophylum albidum germination that I will probably try in the future- the long and short of it is they recommend soaking the seeds in water for 8 days before planting, and then keeping moisture content around 20 for a week

https://www.interesjournals.org/articles/influence-of-seed-treatment-and-moisture-content-on-germination-and-early-growth-of-chrysophylum-albidum-g-don.pdf

Hey all-

My dragonfruit patch is in serious need of a cleanup- I have the following cuttings for sale, all cuttings are 12-17" and will be shipped bare root.

Baby Cerrado-

Baby Cerrado is a Selenicereus setaceus variety native to South America, and this is a subspecies of the Brazilian Cerrados. This variety grows naturally on rocky mountains, old tree trunks, and sand soils of high fields in Minas Gerais, Bahia, Goiás, Distrito Federal, Mato Grosso, and Tocantins states. Spicy Exotics collected this variety for a grower in South America.
Text and picture from spicyexotics.com


Unrooted- $15
Rooted - $25

Yellow (likely palora)-
Yellow Dragon is a Dragon Fruit or Pitahaya variety that comes from the genus Selenicereus and the species megalanthus. This variety is native to Northern South America, where it is also known as the Colombiana variety. If your looking for a challenge and some of the best-tasting fruit, look no further. Yellow Dragon is the one for you. Spicy Exotics collected this variety from a tropical grower in California.
Text and picture from spicyexotics.com


Unrooted - $10

S8-
Sugar Dragon is a hybrid variety that comes from Hylocereus guatemalensis and another unknown species. This Dragon Fruit hybrid produces small half-pound to three-quarter pound oval-shaped fruit. The external appearance of the fruit is red with tiny deep green, almost brown fins. The inner flesh is a bright red purplish color with a semi-firm texture that is very sweet. The first fruit tested in 2019 had an average brix score of 18, but research has stated a mature plant can produce fruit with a score in the twenties.

The flowers are of Sugar Dragon are plentiful, fragrant, and self-fertile. Pollen is also used widely to assist in pollinating self-sterile varieties. Spicy Exotics considers this variety an excellent universal pollinator. Sugar Dragon is a robust grower with meaty stems that are olive green in color. Thick small spines occur along the rib line of each stem. Stems resemble typical Hylocereus setaceus is size and shape.

The Sugar Dragon Dragon Fruit variety is a clone created by Paul Thomson called 8-S initially. It was a cross using the Houghton and Rixford variety. The 8-S seedlings were later renamed Voodoo Child by a nursery in Florida. Then a few years after that 8-S was renamed by a grower in California Sugar Dragon. Both Voodoo Child and Sugar Dragon resemble one another and are very similar to there parent, Houghton. Spicy Exotics collected this hybrid variety from a tropical grower in California.
Text and picture from spicyexotics.com


Rooted - $15

Black africanis-
Very little info on this one- people are selling for much more on etsy, supposedly a very good fruit.



Unrooted - $15
Rooted - $25

Send a PM if interested- Shipping will be added for each order, can be combined to save

I am getting the lay of the land here and doing my best to find some good foraging/scavenging spots. (while never taking from peoples yards!) As well as checking out a few of the local farmers markets.

In a trip to San Francisco Botanic Garden I was able to find Ugni molinae (Right) and Luma apiculata (Left)




I took a picture of the Luma tree but forgot to get one of the Ugni bush-



The Luma taste like blueberries on the interior and quite good- the skin has a licorice flavor that I am fond of but some people might not like.

Have you ever wondered where the "skittles" flavor comes from? It's this fruit- they are very tasty, only problem with both of these is that they are small.

I was wandering around a farmers market when I spotted a little stand that had just 3 baskets of "Cherry Guavas" left, I happily grabbed one for $5 and can check Psidium longipetiolatum off the list now



These are delicious and might represent the best alternative to cherries in subtropical climates. I didnt get much guava flavor from them at all.

It has been a wild couple of months all!

I managed to taste one of the best texas native fruits i have had and I have been looking for for a while!

Diospyros texanensis - Texas Persimmon!












I had a couple right when I picked them and they weren't much to write home about, they tasted like a black persimmon, a good one but they are not that good of a fruit.

So! I decided to leave one on the counter until it felt like a full water balloon like you do with other persimmons and the flavor completely blue me away- similar to a pawpaw and quite delicious I definitely am going to grow a few of this tree.

Next, as a gift to myself for getting this new job I went to the Keys top check out the family land there as well as go to fruit and spice park to meet with Satya and pick up some trees I purchased way too long ago to plant out as well as bring some of the less cold tolerant species from my yard to plant them out there.




 I had a rough time at the airport after landing in Miami (not due to the suitcase full of plants), and Unfortunately Satya was traveling when I could make it but his wonderful partner showed me around and gave me an absolutely delicious Barbie guava and some great Nam Wah Bananas as well as a great tour of their yard! The barbie guava is the best one I have ever had- huge and none of the perfume flavor that people sometimes don't like. She also gave me some fermented Noni juice that was quite tasty despite the way the normal fruits smell. I even took a plant with me after tasting it!

Satya might be the only person with a greenhouse crazier than mine!


After this is was a drive down to Homestead- and a morning stop at Robert is Here for some fruit breakfast

I was able to try a yellow passionfruit that was amazing with almost no acidity, Guama (an ice cream bean variety) and Mamoncillo here which were delicious. I am still trying to find a good tasting cold hardy Inga species that has a chance of producing fruit in 9b but nothing so far. Mamoncillo is amazing but I have already killed 5 trees- they hate any dip in temp



Next I was off to fruit and spice park- the people here couldn't be nicer and I wish I lived down the road so I could go every day. When walking ion they gave me a little fruit sampler which was worth the price of the ticket alone






The winner of the sampler were by far the Rollinia, so creamy and delicious and really does taste like lemon merengue. close second was the seashore mangosteen of which I was able to pick a lot of later.

People say August is not the best time to go but I have to say I found and amazing variety and quantity of fruit there- first some tree pics-

























The final fruit haul is here- unfortunately not pictured because it got kind of smashed was Eugenia neonitida which I have to say I found absolutely delicious. If you like seashore mangosteen the sourness on this one is less and it only has a vague hint of resin that is sometimes associated with the genus. The fruit is huge and the seed is small





Fruits from top left to bottom right
1. Aegle marmelos - Bael Fruit
    Haven't tasted this one yet, I heard it is supposed to not bounce when you drop it in order to be ripe and mine keep                      bouncing
2. Persea spp. - Avocado
    Pretty good florida style avos
3. Annona X - Lisa Atemoya
    One of the best annonas I have ever tasted, tree ripened and florida grown this was a true delight
4. Annona purpurea - Soncoya
    I dont think this ripened properly but I will go into more detail later
5. Pouteria hypogluaca - Cinnamon Apple
    A good ingredient fruit- would make an amazing graham cracker flavored milkshake, not that good out of hand
6. Mammea americana - Mamee Apple
    Delicious, complex, huge fruit the name tropical apricot is a good idea of where the flavor starts but it is really really good
7. Garcinia celebica - Seashore Mangosteen
    Less sour than I was expecting after readong some other flavor reports, I really like them and the fruit generally only have 1 mature seed so there is plenty for eating
8. Psidium spp. - Red Guava from Robert is Here (RIH)
    A good guava, but poor compared to the barbie from Satya's yard
9. Nephelium spp. - Rambutan (RIH)
    Just normal rambutan- not freestone which is always a bummer
10. Melicoccus bijugatus - Mamoncillo (RIH)
     Delicious citrusy kind of pixie stick flavor- cool looking, fun to eat and delicious. Only problem is they can be a bit fibrous.
11. Inga spp. - Guama (RIH)
     I have tried a few Inga spp. at this point and these were good- light cottony sweetness without too much fiber which seems to be in the larger/longer varieties
12. Musa spp. - Nam Wah from Satyas yard
      Delicious, a bit seedy but doesn't ruin the eating experience at all
13. Manilkara balata - Balata
     Different from the Manilkara bidentata I had in Tobago, these were gross. The Tobago ones are delicious, and given that they share a common name I wanted to try this one but it was really bad
14. Rheedia spp. - American Garcinia
     This pretty clearly looks to be a superior lemondrop mangosteen but it is labeled rheedia at the park and after growing the plant I can say it is definitely different from the Garcinia brasiliensis I have sourced in other places. The leaves are much larger and wider and it grow much faster. The fruit tastes very similar to brasiliensis but is maybe a bit sweeter.
15. Coccoloba uvifera - Seagrape
     These were not great, a bit salty and a bit sweet. I can see eating them if you need to and they can literally grow in sea water to they have utility as a pioneer and anti-erosion species.
16. Myrciaria vexator - Blue Grape
     This was a major disappointment. I am growing these plants and they are beautiful so I really was hoping the fruit was good but I found them to be so resinous I couldn't eat them. I tried putting them in the fridge for the next day and they were still gross and astringent. The one hope I have is they don't appear to drop from the tree so maybe they were just way over ripe.
17. -
     I cut this open and a jelly that smelled of turpentyne came out so I threw it away
18. Diospyros nigra - Black Sapote
    A normal black sapote- I don't think these are very good fruits out of hand- okay in a milkshake
19. Campomanesia spp. - Perfume guava
    They had several other Campomanesia varieties here but this was the only one bearing fruit and was, of course, unlabelled. I really like this fruit. It earns the name perfume guava- if you do not like the smell that can come in the mexican cream guavas stay away, but I found them delicious.
20. Coupea spp. - Baboon cap
    This was a wonderful find, when I first tasted one it was similar to a Pouteria, a bit starchy and probably best as an ingredient in some cream based dessert. I let the other three ripen significantly more and this was great for the flavor. A complex mix of dates and berries and pumpkin, I really really liked these. I gave the seeds for this to NissanVersa on here as unfortunately my garden space and time has diminished drastically with this new job.
21. Spondias purpurea - Hog Plum
    Pretty good- very sour, wouldn't eat a lot of them



Next was on to the property down in the Keys! Here is some large scale views- it is basically impenetrable scrub













But here is a little area I cleared for planting





I put all of the plants from the suitcase in the ground here as well as many many seeds so we will see what takes


ABOUT THE SONCOYA-

so neither the lisa or the soncoya were ripe while I was in FL so I flew them back with me to TX-

They we essentially collected in the same state- top about to split, still on the tree with the stem completely dried

The lisa ended up perfect- it was delicious



And despite the soncoya looking like it ripened perfectly when NissanVersa and I tried it it had no flavor, was starchy and inedible.





This was a major disappointment, I am not sure what went wrong


Believe it or not I squoze a small trip up to Michigan in for a family wedding and managed to catch the family Paw Paw tree in fruit- I think this might be the best North American Native fruit. Our tree is ~20 years old so it is not one of the new cultivars. the fruit is small and seedy but delicious like blue raspberry custard. I only was able to catch a couple drop and gave them to NissanVersa





FINALLY I was headed out to the bay area-

After 35 hours of driving in a 20+ foot vehicle me and some of the plants made it safely- I got lucky that the property owner and tenants seem to be into plants and fruit stuff so there was some cool things here when I arrived

First is a Giant Feijoa! this is the first one I have seen bearing fruit- havent had a chance to try any yet but I am told they are delicious from the neighbor







There is a nice volunteer grape vine- the fruit are small and seedy but deliciously sweet



And Arbutus unedo are growing all over the place. People seem to be entirely ignorant of the fact they are edible, and some trees are even quite good, so I am just biking around and collecting fruit!








Relatively settled now. the select plants I took with me received a beating but I am getting them babied and back into good care now.

Just pondering what to do with my Garcinia trees before the move-

On the one hand they probably will like the humidity of Houston much more than dry Bay area- On the other I wont be able to keep an eye on them in Houston

Another first flowering and fruiting of the year is

Myrcianthes fragrans - "Twinberry, Simpson's Stopper"
A short bushy tree usually growing no higher than 15-20 feet. It is easily trained into a short hedge as well. Evergreen, features attractive white blooms that may occur at almost any time of year in warm climates. The pretty blooms have a wonderful scent reminiscent of gardenia. Blooms are followed by small berry-fruits which ripen to an orange-red. The blooms are quite popular with butterflies and the fruits attract birds. In addition, Simpson's Stopper also has smooth, red-brown colored bark (similar to the guava), adding to its ornamental appearance. Hardy to 25F. Attractive bush or small tree native to Florida and the Caribbean. Bears a small, orange-red, edible berry-fruit having a mild, citrus-like flavor. Simpson's Stopper is commonly planted as a hedge in much of South Florida, usually seen in urban settings where controlled hedging is needed. Despite sometimes being found planted in mundane locations, the plant is a beautiful United States native that can make a wonderful ornamental in the garden.

Text sourced from tradewindsfruit.com


Flowers like crazy-


They have a really good smell and this is easy to care for- might put it in the ground this year after tasting the fruits

Another first in our garden this year is Lycium andersonii fruit!

The description from sacredsucculents.com
Lycium andersonii  “Desert Goji/Wolfberry”
Solanaceae. Densley branched thorned shrub to 3–6’+.  Semi-succulent leaves. Yellow/lavender tubular flowers followed by small round edible berries. Seed from Baja. Drought deciduous. Heat, drought and sun tolerant. A good choice for the arid edible landscape. The berries are rich in beneficial phytonutrients. Z9b/10a?



I was a bit nervous about this one because it is not reported to be cold tolerant enough for here and there are some reports of it being dioecious, it has flowered a lot but the chickens like to eat them so this is the first one that has had time to set. I doubt there is another plant nearby