The Tropical Fruit Forum

Diving more into the wonderful world of loquats which is one of the rare "easy" tropical fruit trees we can grow out here, and I'm curious what your opinion is on the best variety that is sweet with good acidity to it.

Recently, and by total surprise, I found a mature loquat tree at a very old Las Vegas steakhouse. The staff there didn't even know what kind of tree it was, never ate the fruit, and were mostly annoyed at the dropped fruit litter. Blew my mind. They happily let me harvest as many as I wanted.

They were absolutely delicious with an amazing balance between sweet and tart. They were lighter in color, so I believe they were a white variety. The downside is the flesh to seed ratio was quite poor. Up to four seeds and some of them only had flesh about 2mm thick.

So, wondering if there's something similar to this out there that's less seedy and has thicker flesh that is also productive.

Looking to purchase a rooted plant or cuttings of Ruby Crisp Muscadine.

It's sold out everywhere until winter, but I'm hoping there might still be a window to get one here.

For those not aware, it's a new variety that's supposed to be a top tier muscadine with a much more edible skin than your average one.

Looking to get DMOR9 cuttings or a small pre-grafted tree.

Want to try to graft them on my World's Best before it gets too hot, or just get one that's already grafted and save me the trouble.

One of my experimental Vegas grows is a Maqui Berry, aka Chilean Wineberry. Since acai palms are completely impossible, I figured this would be a good alternative.

Four of them died, but this one is doing fantastic. Gets morning and a little afternoon sun, and handled last summer and winter like a champ (much to my surprise). It's a full year old in the ground and has pushed out a lot of growth since it's days as a tiny stick. Also got some flowers a few weeks back.

I have a question though. What are the conditions it needs to set fruit in terms of maturity, temps, and humidity? It's (supposedly) a self-fertile variety that produces both male and female flowers. No fruit set with the flowers it produced, so I'm assuming, and hoping, that the plant just needs another year under it's belt to start producing.

Looking to graft some satsuma scions onto some other citrus trees I have. Don't have room for another full tree.

Ideally varieties that are both cold and heat tolerant.

Thanks!

I was recently introduced to this awesome fruit from a local fruit vendor and I'm keen to grow it here. I've read that it's supposed to be pretty easy to grow from rooted cuttings.

Anyone have any available? The amarillio variety is the one I've tried, but if the others are similar (or better) then I'm keen to get those a whirl too.

Need some help, or just a swift kick in the butt telling me to not even bother.

One of my holy grails is to grow a healthy, fruiting mango tree in Las Vegas. I'm probably crazy for trying, but I know that it can be done as there's another person here growing them that has gotten fruit after a few years. That and I figure if I can keep avocado trees alive here for five years, I should be able to keep a mango alive as well.

Unfortunately, with me, they always follow a pattern no matter how big or small they are. Does great their first year. Winter comes, no damage taken with protection (temps get between 30-50F) and very minimal watering. Early spring comes, nearly all the leaves get dry and crunchy. Tree is unable to recover, and dies a few weeks later.

When that happens, I've tried watering a little, watering a lot, watering at the center of the root ball, watering at the area surrounding the root ball...no luck. Also tried not fertilizing, moderate fertilizing, supplementing with soil sulfur mildly and watering with reverse osmosis water to keep pH low, no luck there either.

Trees are planted in RootTrapper II 30gal pots with very free draining soil consisting of palm/citrus mix, sand, and lava rock. No risk of anthracnose or other similar pathogens that I'm aware of being that Vegas has very dry air.

Is there something I'm missing, or am I just a glutton for punishment?

Looking to get a Maqui Berry (Aristotelia chilensis) plant, ideally one that's grown from a cutting of a mature, fruiting plant.

Seeds are a crap shoot since they're gendered and I'd prefer to get a sure thing. I have one that's been growing very well here in the Vegas hellscape, but unfortunately it appears to be a male.

Thanks!

Looking to get some red or purple Sugar Apple seeds or starter plants.

Thanks!

To help prevent sunburn during the Vegas summer, I'm giving a go at using Surround kaolin clay on my avocados and green portions of my mangoes.

Is it bad for the plants to have Surround on the foliage? On one my mangoes some of it got on a new cluster of leaves and they died after a week. Mature leaves seem to be okay...for now.

Thoughts?

Preferably shipped from within the US. Grafted only.

AKA Bunchosia Armeniaca/Argentinia/glandulifera for the Peanut Butter tree.