The Tropical Fruit Forum

Rofl. That's so on the money, Mark. I'd take this as my man cave over a room with a tv and a la-z boy any day of the week. 

I love this. Good job. Good thing I'm not the jealous type. I am wondering though, how will you heat it in the Winter ... or are you not growing ultra tropicals? One more thing, I would want mine a couple feet taller if I could.

Ang galing naman, pare. Tanggalin mo na ang mga negatibong opinyon ng ibang tao. Huwag kang mawawalan ng pag-asa, lalong lalo if you really want your own Rambutan. Kaya mo 'ito. Remember, humidity, humidity, humidity.

Well, you're certainly not alone. I've been getting this feeling lately too. It's much harder for me to grow tropical fruit here in zone7, but the challenge and uniqueness make it fun too.

I have a Miracle Fruit that was 2 years old when I got it, and that was back in 2008. It's now quite bushy and very healthy, but has only flowered. I played around with a little brush on the flowers, and nothing. It's not even flowering this season so it's becoming increasingly frustrating. I love the foliage though.

I have two 2.5-3ft Surinam Cherries, and they have never even flowered. The only fruit tree that has flowered and fruited (where I could eat it) for me are my asian Guava trees. I grew them from seed, and it took from 2002 when I planted them to 2015 to eat a Guava. I have a little Key Lime growing that is a month or so off. That will be my first citrus if it makes it. Patience is a requirement in this hobby, sadly, that gives little solace to anyone who wants to try an increasingly long list of fruit.

My strategy is to buy grafted trees as close to fruiting as possible. I fertilize with 5-2-6 organic fertilizer, and I have led lights to give them light in the cold months ahead. Even then, I've had major setbacks too. I had a 3ft Achachairu growing from 2011, and it was super healthy. It died back (I think from scale) to the first 6 inches and it's offshoots have grown to about 1.5 ft. That makes things go that much slower and more frustrating.

The pictures and stories of successful growers here give me the most inspiration, without those little plant boosts I would probably have a much smaller collection, or maybe given up.

How can I get my hands on a grafted plant? I want to buy one bad.

I had good germination with the seeds from Maryoto. It took about 2 weeks to arrive and I have a healthy little seedling(one died) growing since March or so.

Oddly enough, I got labels to put on the outside of pots a couple months ago, wrote the names with a sharpie, and next thing I knew, the labels had all got wet and the names basically bled into nothing ...

Maybe just a little graphite from a pencil on a plastic stake in the soil will be fine. I mean, how bad could some graphite be?

Yeah, I realize it's overkill, but at the same time, when you go to such effort to make sure your soil has no synthetic fertilizers or harmful chemical, (which usually means buying expensive premade mixes or making it yourself), you might want to ask yourself if you're introducing them anyway via other means. In this case, the way you dress up your plants. Labels, pots, and the like. For example, I don't use any plastic pot without a number 2 or 5 on the bottom. They sell pots with no numbers and with numbers 1 on the bottom, which may be compromised of their food safety when exposed to prolonged heat(if I understand the breakdown correctly), so why would they be safe for roots? Do roots even absorb chemicals in that way? I wish I could understand the science of it more thoroughly.

I couldn't find anything on it either from the Organic program. Not sure that means carte blanche though.

Hey Roy,
Can you get more Uttar Pradesh type of Rambutan?

I'm interested in trying to Mabolo for nostalgia sake.

I feel for you, Ed. It's like that itch you get during and after a long Winter and you just want to plant anything. Lol. Well, here is hoping you get to plant soon.

I had a beautiful citrus amblycarpa that I grew from seed. It died last Winter and I didn't root cuttings. I am so sad about it. Anyone know where to get seeds or seedlings? I can't get them from Frankie's either ... it would cost more than my house.