The Tropical Fruit Forum

Hello,
I just bought this property in Palm Beach and it came with a giant Lychee tree.  It has no fruit on it at the moment.  Anyways, I would love to know what variety this Lychee tree is.  Does anyone here think they can identify the tree from just seeing photos of the leaves?

Oscar, thank you so much for your advice.  Is there a place you recommend for purchasing dolomite on the big island?  It sounds like I will have to buy a lot of Dolomite.

Hi Peter! I actually recently planted a grafted Mangifera casturi so that I can have budwood ready for when I start growing them in Hawaii. So far it has shown to be fairly vigorous in my south Florida conditions.  I have heard that it is fairly compatible with indica as rootstock.  I wonder if grafting indica onto casturi would help with production since part of the problem in rainy locations is that the soils are much too soggy. As far as the other Mangifera species…I’m still waiting on a nursery to graft wani and kuini for me. 

Hi Spencerw!  Nice to see that I’m not the only one starting from scratch!  To answer your question, the property is currently just pasture with probably an acre of invasive guavas of various varieties.  The property currently has cattle on it from the neighbor in order to keep the grass from growing 4ft high.  I have not built a house on the land yet because I’m waiting for the permit to be approved.  I was planning on having a shade house built soon in order to grow out seedlings and graft my own trees to save money on nursery stock.  The records of the property seem to indicate that the property used to be used for growing sugar cane.  I hope that as the years pass, the big island will have more and more high quality durians available for the public.  It would be more convenient to get the durians in Hawaii than having to go to south east Asia which I have done more times that I like to admit because I’m a total durian addict 😂. Of course, harvesting durians from my own trees will be a dream come true!  I currently live in Florida and grow over 30 amazing mango varieties but they just don’t compare to a good durian.  I use azomite here in Florida for my vegetables and it seems to help with the quality for sure.  Gypsum also helps a lot in Florida with mangos and I notice that the mangos have better skin and sweetness on years that I apply gypsum vs years I do not apply it.  I would love to see your farm progress on YouTube, please share your channel name once you start posting!  There are definitely not enough people making videos on growing fruit on the hamakua coast. 

Gone Troppo, thank you that really gives me hope!  That seems easier than treating the entire farm. 

Hello,
I have a farm on the hamakua coast in the Ninole area.  I’m planning on setting up an orchard in a few months and I was wondering if anyone from the hamakua coast area could give me some advice on amending the native soil.  I have not done a soil test yet, however, I have read online that the soil for my area is called kaiwiki soil and it has a pH of 5.5 on average.  I have read that crops like durian prefer a pH of 6.  Have any of you had to amend the soil with lime in order to successfully grow durian and other tropicals?  Or have you had success planting the trees in native soil with no amendments?  My elevation is 900 ft above sea level.
Bonus question:  Do any of you know of a good person or company that installs high quality hog fencing?

New_Jungle, I just read your message about a seed source.  Sorry, I'm still new to using this forum.

I also grew Custard Apples when I lived in South Florida.  I had no luck getting them to fruit well either. Here in Hawaii it’s even worse. 

Wow! 20 years!  That’s worse than Durian and Jaboticaba.  Anyways, I would love to plant one anyways here in Hawaii.  elouicious, if you ever have any seeds or seedlings for sale, I would gladly buy them from you.

Hi,
I was wondering if anyone here has any Junglesop (Anonidium mannii) seeds for sale. I really want to grow this particular species mostly as a curiosity since I understand that fruit quality is very variable. Or perhaps someone knows where I can buy the seeds from?

Thank you all for the advice.  And to further clarify, these ants are arboreal and do not make nests on the ground.  This means that, there are no ant mounds.  I do agree that the ants are ferocious defenders of my trees and keep a lot of leaf eating insects off the trees, however, when one of these ants stings you it is like having your skin set on fire...and these ants are so small that it is very easy to get dozens of bites on your armpits and even your chest.  As I said, they like to get under your clothes and they even make dogs and cats blind.  I do pick my fruit with lots of care and put the fruits into a bucket with soapy water...this seems to be the easiest and most affordable way to make harvesting on this farm happen since all attempts to control these ants has failed thus far.

skhan, I will have to look into Kolomban Mangos.