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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cocktail Trees
« on: March 31, 2023, 12:57:12 AM »Look good!
No space here so most of my fruit trees are multi-grafted.
Post pics! I want to see others!
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Post pics! I want to see others!
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cocktail Trees
« on: March 31, 2023, 12:16:45 AM »
Forgot to add this citrus that has:
Kinnow mandarin, pixie mandarin, meiwa kumquat, oroblanco grapefruit, valentine pummelo, xie shan satsuma, and Hawaiian pink shaddock
Kinnow mandarin, pixie mandarin, meiwa kumquat, oroblanco grapefruit, valentine pummelo, xie shan satsuma, and Hawaiian pink shaddock
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Cocktail Trees
« on: March 30, 2023, 10:34:56 PM »
Is anyone into making cocktail trees? I’m always short on space and always needing cross pollination for better fruit set so over the last few years I’ve gone kind of Dr Frankenstein. Here are a few:
Santa Barbara peach with: Flavor King pluot, Sweet Treat Pluerry, Flavor Grenade pluot, Santa Rosa plum, Arctic Star Nectarine, Royal Lee, Minnie Royal, Royal Crimson, Spicy Z, Snow Queen Nectarine, Tropic Snow Peach, and Cotton Candy Aprium.
Feijoa with Coolidge, Improved Coolidge, Mammoth, Nazemetz, Nikita and 5 or so NZ varieties
Sabara jaboticaba with: white, red, otto anderson phitantra, escarlate, navel, paulista, ESALQ, fruiting sabara from my older tree, grimal, Coronata 1, 2, 3, and a few others I forget now
Pitangatuba with FFF selected "Lemonhead" and "Gigante" adding on more from another collector this Saturday
Apple tree with: Bill's Red Flesh, Goodland, Orange Pippin, Akero, Irish Peach, White Winter pearmain, Pink Pearl, Winter Banana, Dorsett, Anna
Another look at the cocktail, it's just unhappy right now due to winter but it is about to explode on every single branch
Unknown plum with all the same stuff that's on the SB peach
Santa Barbara peach with: Flavor King pluot, Sweet Treat Pluerry, Flavor Grenade pluot, Santa Rosa plum, Arctic Star Nectarine, Royal Lee, Minnie Royal, Royal Crimson, Spicy Z, Snow Queen Nectarine, Tropic Snow Peach, and Cotton Candy Aprium.
Feijoa with Coolidge, Improved Coolidge, Mammoth, Nazemetz, Nikita and 5 or so NZ varieties
Sabara jaboticaba with: white, red, otto anderson phitantra, escarlate, navel, paulista, ESALQ, fruiting sabara from my older tree, grimal, Coronata 1, 2, 3, and a few others I forget now
Pitangatuba with FFF selected "Lemonhead" and "Gigante" adding on more from another collector this Saturday
Apple tree with: Bill's Red Flesh, Goodland, Orange Pippin, Akero, Irish Peach, White Winter pearmain, Pink Pearl, Winter Banana, Dorsett, Anna
Another look at the cocktail, it's just unhappy right now due to winter but it is about to explode on every single branch
Unknown plum with all the same stuff that's on the SB peach
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: White Jaboticaba
« on: March 30, 2023, 01:11:24 PM »
I don’t know the exact cold hardiness of jabos but I think we deeply under estimate how tough they are.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Help with rooting mulberries - stage 2
« on: March 29, 2023, 12:55:28 AM »
Kings mix as a rooting medium, wrap cutting in buddy tape to where it hits the soil, plant in 1 gallon pot. You will not have as many issues going forward.
Some mulberries are not as easy to root. White is very challenging and impossible for most people without lots of experience, Himalayan is not easy either, Pakistani fairly easy. Don't know how many others are for rooting, but World's Best / Dwarf / Thai is by far the easiest. Can't go wrong with rooting lots of those and then grafting them when they're young. They heal very nicely from pencil size and you will have a hard time detecting the union.
You need to stop checking the cuttings for roots as well. If it doesn't pop off and start growing vigorously, be patient, leave it alone till it dries out and dies or pops.
Some mulberries are not as easy to root. White is very challenging and impossible for most people without lots of experience, Himalayan is not easy either, Pakistani fairly easy. Don't know how many others are for rooting, but World's Best / Dwarf / Thai is by far the easiest. Can't go wrong with rooting lots of those and then grafting them when they're young. They heal very nicely from pencil size and you will have a hard time detecting the union.
You need to stop checking the cuttings for roots as well. If it doesn't pop off and start growing vigorously, be patient, leave it alone till it dries out and dies or pops.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mega thread - preparing, shipping, and storing all scions
« on: March 28, 2023, 07:20:18 PM »
Everyone seems to have a different read on what is best. Had some shipped with a bunch of perlite in the bag recently, that was a new one. Had some delivered with coco coir as well. I can understand why someone would want to put paper towels in and I don't blame them, but there is really not any standard method. Even professional scion sources like Fruitwood nursery send in wet paper towel. I don't complain with however people send them because I am just stoked to get something new in general, but I'll ask them to not send wet paper towel on the second order if I remember to.
My experience has been that most scions can survive on the counter (dry) for almost a week if they're bagged, even 10 days sometimes, but I always squeeze out the air like Brad says. If they're buddytaped and bagged I'd guess even longer. If they're wrapped in wet paper towel, you could see mould start to form in less than 2-3 days depending on temperatures and if the scion has it on the surface. I don't have much experience with the fridge but I left some cherry scions in there recently for a month + and they still look totally viable. This seems especially true for wood that is dormant like figs or stonrefruit but I think jabo and eugenia you need the freshest possible.
I also like receiving untrimmed scions with leaves and the little green fresh branches and then I get to make decisions about their shape and size. I note that Y shaped branches often do really, really well for some reason. My thoughts are that the wood will pull moisture from the leaves, but then I guess there is more chance of sending invasive bugs or fungal stuff that way.
It can get even more deep: I try to cut them in the afternoon right when the sun is about to set, I figure maybe they're kind of "charged" from the sun but that's a kind of bro science thought process, had just read about it somewhere in my grafting research.
My experience has been that most scions can survive on the counter (dry) for almost a week if they're bagged, even 10 days sometimes, but I always squeeze out the air like Brad says. If they're buddytaped and bagged I'd guess even longer. If they're wrapped in wet paper towel, you could see mould start to form in less than 2-3 days depending on temperatures and if the scion has it on the surface. I don't have much experience with the fridge but I left some cherry scions in there recently for a month + and they still look totally viable. This seems especially true for wood that is dormant like figs or stonrefruit but I think jabo and eugenia you need the freshest possible.
I also like receiving untrimmed scions with leaves and the little green fresh branches and then I get to make decisions about their shape and size. I note that Y shaped branches often do really, really well for some reason. My thoughts are that the wood will pull moisture from the leaves, but then I guess there is more chance of sending invasive bugs or fungal stuff that way.
It can get even more deep: I try to cut them in the afternoon right when the sun is about to set, I figure maybe they're kind of "charged" from the sun but that's a kind of bro science thought process, had just read about it somewhere in my grafting research.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mega thread - preparing, shipping, and storing all scions
« on: March 28, 2023, 11:56:58 AM »
I cannot adequately express my frustration with the wet paper towel method. I would way rather just have them thrown in a ziploc and sent as is.
On the buddytape / parafilm front, I also would prefer to do that myself.
Just put the scions in the ziploc, and call it a day.
On the buddytape / parafilm front, I also would prefer to do that myself.
Just put the scions in the ziploc, and call it a day.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pineapple thread
« on: March 27, 2023, 05:16:15 PM »
Landed my first one but unfortunately had ants tunneling in it. Hope some of it is salvageable.
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Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Restinga, white and dwarf Sabara scions
« on: March 26, 2023, 05:32:35 PM »
$5 each restinga - some nice ones near pencil and a bunch of trim off those
$5 each white - smaller but nice size
$10 each dwarf - mostly small but workable, it’s a dwarf after all
All of it shipped for $50 in USA only
$5 each white - smaller but nice size
$10 each dwarf - mostly small but workable, it’s a dwarf after all
All of it shipped for $50 in USA only
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My Yard 2022
« on: March 26, 2023, 02:44:36 AM »UCSB said “yes” to this teenager of mine. I’ll be bugging you to visit that yard of yours soon K Rimes!
Congrats! That’s a highly competitive school so you have raised a talented kid! PM me anytime for a visit. It’s a little boring right now but it’s about really take off as soon as winter leaves… if ever?!
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anybody ever successfully chip budded any Jaboticaba or Plinia?
« on: March 26, 2023, 02:42:14 AM »
Due to the peeling nature of the bark I think it would be very challenging.
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Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Cold Hardy Longan tree varieties
« on: March 23, 2023, 07:51:14 PM »
Ok just to dispel the myth, I went to check on one of my longans that I left snow on. It lost some young growth, but probably had snow overnight on it. The other leaves on the canopy were burnt a bit as well.
I just simply do not see these surviving in NY, full stop.
I just simply do not see these surviving in NY, full stop.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Light exposure for Jabo
« on: March 23, 2023, 03:41:44 PM »Even morning full sun? Let's say from 8-12? Then shade afternoon? I have a southwest spot that is shaded by a very large podocarpus tree in the afternoon.
Morning sun is good stuff, but again, San Diego has many micro climates. I would wager a jabo full sun inland would suffer. If you're by the water let em eat.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Best tasting Plinia?
« on: March 23, 2023, 02:23:30 PM »
For me I think red hybrid or escarlate are hard to beat. They also produce by far the soonest. They're sweeter and the skin is more palatable. As a Floridian I think you should just get a couple of those as seedlings and let them rip. You won't be waiting long.
Sabara is the best balance of tannin, spice and sweetness, skin is edible but barely.
Grimal has a lot more flesh than red or sabara, and has a nice texture and flavor to the flesh. The skin, for me, is basically inedible and way too thick / hard.
The whites I've tried have just been sweet, with low flesh and thick skin. It's more about the aesthetic of the leaves for those for me.
I will get to try a few new varieties that I grafted last year this year, so I look forward to being more informed. There are some much more informed people on this forum about flavors so I look forward to their reviews.
Ok, not quite jabo but close enough - vexator kind of sucks. Sour, bitter skin.
Sabara is the best balance of tannin, spice and sweetness, skin is edible but barely.
Grimal has a lot more flesh than red or sabara, and has a nice texture and flavor to the flesh. The skin, for me, is basically inedible and way too thick / hard.
The whites I've tried have just been sweet, with low flesh and thick skin. It's more about the aesthetic of the leaves for those for me.
I will get to try a few new varieties that I grafted last year this year, so I look forward to being more informed. There are some much more informed people on this forum about flavors so I look forward to their reviews.
Ok, not quite jabo but close enough - vexator kind of sucks. Sour, bitter skin.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Light exposure for Jabo
« on: March 23, 2023, 12:32:46 PM »I am in the driest zone of CR near the pacific ocean, but still some tropical weather for 6 or + months the year. Now we are in dry season, strong winds and, consequently low humidity. This time of the year the sun gets a lot of plants burned, and the winds just make it worse...
Costant temperature of 33-37°C+ which is 91-98FI think it depends on your climate. If you have really low humidity, scorching sun and high temps, they like dappled shade or indirect light. If you are in a really humid mild climate near the ocean, I would wager full sun is do-able. Costa Rica has many micro climates, so tell us more. If a tree can get more hours of good sun, it will grow faster and fruit better, but the opposite is true if it's just getting roasted and hating its life... There is a balance.
My sabara is in dappled shade and maybe gets 2-3 hours of direct over head sun in the summer. My climate is very low humidity, dry hot summer weather. It does very well.
When I trialed my jabos in full sun last year, both young and old, they all suffered immensely. I will not make that same mistake again.
My personal opinion for jabos in this type of climate is to have dappled shade. I have tried various times with full sun, even on mature trees, and they fried to a crisp.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Light exposure for Jabo
« on: March 22, 2023, 10:19:36 PM »
I think it depends on your climate. If you have really low humidity, scorching sun and high temps, they like dappled shade or indirect light. If you are in a really humid mild climate near the ocean, I would wager full sun is do-able. Costa Rica has many micro climates, so tell us more. If a tree can get more hours of good sun, it will grow faster and fruit better, but the opposite is true if it's just getting roasted and hating its life... There is a balance.
My sabara is in dappled shade and maybe gets 2-3 hours of direct over head sun in the summer. My climate is very low humidity, dry hot summer weather. It does very well.
When I trialed my jabos in full sun last year, both young and old, they all suffered immensely. I will not make that same mistake again.
My sabara is in dappled shade and maybe gets 2-3 hours of direct over head sun in the summer. My climate is very low humidity, dry hot summer weather. It does very well.
When I trialed my jabos in full sun last year, both young and old, they all suffered immensely. I will not make that same mistake again.
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Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Cold Hardy Longan tree varieties
« on: March 21, 2023, 12:51:53 PM »
I have a kohala and it's a champ for me. It has not even blinked here in 9b. I don't think it would like <20f, this said. It didn't defoliate, but you can see some frost and snow damage on the leaves.
My suggestion would be kohala as everyone says that's the most vigorous grower.
Post a photo of these NY Longans!
My suggestion would be kohala as everyone says that's the most vigorous grower.
Post a photo of these NY Longans!
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Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Various scions available (surinam cherry, De Seda Lucuma, white Sapote, feijoa
« on: March 21, 2023, 12:50:15 PM »New to all of this, so forgive me if completely ignorant, but can the ‘Coolidge’ Feijoa just be grafted on any Feijoa rootstock?
Growing some in Central Florida and read they won’t fruit here, but not sure if that’s just because it is not a self-fertile variety. Would love to graft onto them.
Thanks so much!
In 9b you're fine and are getting enough chill hours. It's the 10A+ folk who might have issues chill hour wise.
I did not get fruit on mine till I had several types flowering in close proximity. Definitely a plant I recommend grafting for pollination purposes. Cleft grafts work fine.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: grafting question
« on: March 20, 2023, 04:16:44 PM »
My method is this:
1. Wrap scion in well stretched Buddy Tape
2. Clip bottom using pruning shears
3. Match with rootstock and clip it flat
4. Cut rootstock
5. Shape scion
6. Buddy Tape union
7. Tie union up with green gardening tape
8. Hold the rootstock and jam the scion in to really complete the union. This is really important for big scions that open up a gap.
That's it. I cut off the nursery tape when the union begins to swell, usually that takes 6-8 weeks. Sometimes I forget about it and it's ok, other times it makes the union REAL ugly if it's an aggressive grower so don't forget to release it.
Edit re: bags: I have used them for avocado when the heat turns up. Don't really know if it helps that much. Haven't used them on anything else. I sometimes ponder that they steam the scions if it gets really hot. It just seems to me that well wrapped BuddyTape is sufficient to keep moisture in but then I don't have nearly the avo grafting experience someone like Spaugh has. I follow his lead on that for sure! He has some good grafting videos on his YouTube / TFF post history.
1. Wrap scion in well stretched Buddy Tape
2. Clip bottom using pruning shears
3. Match with rootstock and clip it flat
4. Cut rootstock
5. Shape scion
6. Buddy Tape union
7. Tie union up with green gardening tape
8. Hold the rootstock and jam the scion in to really complete the union. This is really important for big scions that open up a gap.
That's it. I cut off the nursery tape when the union begins to swell, usually that takes 6-8 weeks. Sometimes I forget about it and it's ok, other times it makes the union REAL ugly if it's an aggressive grower so don't forget to release it.
Edit re: bags: I have used them for avocado when the heat turns up. Don't really know if it helps that much. Haven't used them on anything else. I sometimes ponder that they steam the scions if it gets really hot. It just seems to me that well wrapped BuddyTape is sufficient to keep moisture in but then I don't have nearly the avo grafting experience someone like Spaugh has. I follow his lead on that for sure! He has some good grafting videos on his YouTube / TFF post history.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cocktail/Multigrafted trees - Garcinia, Plinia, Eugenia
« on: March 20, 2023, 03:59:54 PM »
Another cocktail project, pineapple guava.
Quote
Those are some good looking trees! I assume CORG is Cherry of the Rio Grande? I didn't realize there were so many different phenotypes?
Yep, eugenia involcrata. There aren't really that many "selected" CORGs other than scarlet and Ben's Beaut. I just name each cultivar after the collector I get it from. At this point, every seedling is a potential new cultivar so I'll keep sampling them when possible.
I think grafting eugenias is a very wise endeavour to ensure adequate cross-pollination and superior fruit set. The same is true for any fruiting plant really, so you may as well get to it!
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Achacha in California?
« on: March 20, 2023, 02:20:01 PM »I’ve left small Garcinia seedlings outside this winter in Napa, 9b. I have managed to kill most of them this way. So far Lemon Drop seems to be the most hardy. Maybe a Luc’s will pull through. But Achacha, Superior Lemin Drop, and Seashore mangosteen look like they aren’t going to make it. I NEED to grow Achacha so I’m starting more seeds and will take better protection measures for a few years but if they can’t ultimately survive outside then I’ll give it up.
I tried all number of garcinia even in my greenhouse, and no go. I gave up. If I were in 10A I would plant by a house and forget about it for a decade... But 9b outdoors, fuhgettaboutit.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2023 Mango Season
« on: March 19, 2023, 07:53:58 PM »
Anyone have a forecast from what they're seeing now as to the peak of the season this year? I am considering a trip out to FL again, was a blast last year but was at the tail end. Don't want to miss it this year if it's truly as epic as y'all are saying.
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Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Feijoa Scion for Trade
« on: March 19, 2023, 04:50:53 PM »What varieties have the largest sweetest fruit if you know that is?
I believe Mammoth is the biggest. I tacked that onto my tree yesterday.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Root stock for Ross Sapote graft
« on: March 19, 2023, 04:49:07 PM »
Most pouteria should be fine. Mamey is most common, green sapote, lucuma, canistel.
Most times you buy a Ross in a nursery, it is on mamey.
White sapote is casimiroa edulis, a part of the rutaceae family, and not compatible.
Most times you buy a Ross in a nursery, it is on mamey.
White sapote is casimiroa edulis, a part of the rutaceae family, and not compatible.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: PGA (Psidium Growers Association) - thread all about psidiums!
« on: March 17, 2023, 03:59:52 PM »Bellamy has a ton of psidium species in stock right now and I made a cart of them. Haven't pulled trigger yet but am tempted.
My favorite thing with Psidiums is their resilience in our conditions, plus they are rewarding in that they grow quite rapidly in the warm seasons. Bonus that they are generally low maintenance.
That's what keeps me interested as well. I really love these crazy new species but I have to be honest with where I live and it is not 10a+ - a guava limps along through winter and outgrows the frost burn. That's what also keeps me looped in with the campomanesias.
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