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Messages - RS

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My Cambuca (Plinia edulis) tree!
« on: February 16, 2025, 08:55:31 AM »
Wanted to see if anyone has any cambuca updates? Are they still taking about 8-12+ years to fruit?

About to put mine in the ground, can't wait to try the fruit.

2
Denzler isn't doing anything yet which makes sense since it's supposed to fruit later in the fall. Anyone else feel free to add your notes so we can all learn!

Interesting. My Denzler flowered a while back and has already set fruit here in the very southern tip of 10A.

Who knew, wasn't Denzler supposed to be fall fruiting?! Maybe it gets a second crop or something.

I should probably leave out Denzler this year since it hasn't yet been here a year to fully acclimate. The others have been here over a year.

3
Galatians, it's interesting that yours are blooming so much earlier. Hope you get a nice fruit set this year!

4
Hoping to learn more about when different white sapote varieties flower and fruit here in Central FL.

In general, I've heard we're about 1-2 months behind South FL. Growables (https://growables.org/information/TropicalFruit/SapoteWhite.htm) says the fruit ripens 6-9 months after flowering.

For me this year:
- Campbell just finished flowering (early Feb)

- Younghans is also flowering (early Feb)


Denzler isn't doing anything yet which makes sense since it's supposed to fruit later in the fall. Anyone else feel free to add your notes so we can all learn!



5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sapodilla Variety Box Tasting Notes
« on: February 14, 2025, 05:24:07 PM »
Beautiful trees johnb51!

Nice to see you liked Hasya, Erickson Farms sells Hasya fruit very reasonably for shipping or pickup in case anyone else might be interested in trying it: https://ericksonfarm.3dcartstores.com/Sapodilla_c_6.html

Gah, there's a California ban on Florida sapodillas.  I'll get to try them some day.  Maybe when my Butterscotch bears fruit.  Though it sounds like I should pick up another variety as well.

Sorry about that! Yeah looks like they can't ship to CA, AZ or HI.

Coconut Cream, I contacted them last week to ask about the varieties too and finally heard back the other day confirming Hasya. They must be getting busy!

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Monstera deliciosa first fruit? Help!
« on: February 14, 2025, 05:21:22 PM »
Ha! I'm with your girlfriend. Although the tropical fruit flavor was great, the black stuff near the core was really bitter and hard to avoid. It's an interesting novelty fruit.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Fruit Tree suggestion requested
« on: February 14, 2025, 05:19:51 PM »
Black sapote might be another option? I've read it can handle some flooding and fruit in part shade.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Monstera deliciosa first fruit? Help!
« on: February 12, 2025, 07:43:04 PM »
What do you think of the fruit? It's an interesting experience for sure!

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sapodilla Variety Box Tasting Notes
« on: February 12, 2025, 07:37:52 PM »
Nice to see you liked Hasya, Erickson Farms sells Hasya fruit very reasonably for shipping or pickup in case anyone else might be interested in trying it: https://ericksonfarm.3dcartstores.com/Sapodilla_c_6.html

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Star Fruit Variety Box Tasting Notes
« on: February 05, 2025, 08:55:17 AM »
Great reviews! Do you know if they mostly fruit at the same time or if it varies by variety?  Fwang Tung is reported to be from Thailand, Sri Kembangan from Malaysia, etc.

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Snakes and Food Forests
« on: February 03, 2025, 12:32:05 PM »
Here, most venomous snakes are either near freshwater (moccasins, cotton mouths), or in the woods (rattlers). Only see rat snakes, racers, and ring necks here in suburbia. They are very welcome.

This is what we have too, with the occasional cottonmouth being near a lake. A rat snake recently fell out of a tree and landed 3 feet away from me while consuming a baby squirrel which was a surprise.

Actually have more problems with wasps/hornets, they often make nests on the underside of banana leaves or random vegetation that's hard to see. I use a long 7' garden stake to rustle the leaves ahead of me, which works for both snakes and stingers. Also fire ant/spiders, so I usually wear long pants tucked into socks to prevent them climbing up legs.

12
Viejo would be your best bet to grow there since the fruit are so small unless you protect it during cold snaps.

Viejo is supposed to have a shorter duration from flower to fruit for mamey of about 12 months.

Josh Jamison at Cody Cove Farm near Lake Wales has viejo growing in the ground. It had small fruits starting to form when we visited last December, as a relatively small tree.

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Fall fruiting grapes in Central FL
« on: February 02, 2025, 01:59:24 PM »
Thanks for the details! I hadn't heard of several of those varieties. That'd be great if FL Fry puts out a second crop for you again this year.

I've tried pruning at different times of year to try to make the fruit set later in the fall, I'm giving Southern Home 1 more year.

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What Fruits do you regret not planting?
« on: January 30, 2025, 08:21:50 AM »
looks like a lot of people like white sapote I never heared of it I’ll probably get a tree or seeds soon!

If you can get wooly sapote (C. tetrameria) seeds/rootstock and graft different varieties of white sapote (C. edulis), it may fruit successfully for you in a pot and stay dwarf. Jack, Nipomo in CA has reported this, https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=48921.msg472057#msg472057, and seems key for small yards or container growing.

I don't think there's anything wrong with growing in containers longer term (check out Virginia Fruit Grower for one example) or making a living in another field and growing fruit for fun. If you'll be up north for awhile, some of the botanic gardens have greenhouses that grow tropical fruit and you might try volunteering at one of those.

Re: mamey, everyone's tastes are different, experimenting is part of the fun :)

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What Fruits do you regret not planting?
« on: January 29, 2025, 05:03:35 PM »
I bought a 3 gallon Younghans last year from Pine Island Nursery that's now about 5 ft tall and looks like it'll hold fruit this year, it's blooming now. Multiple varieties will help with cross pollination and you shouldn't have to wait 5 years :)
 
Our whole family loved white sapote and includes picky eaters. Every fruit tasted a bit different, some had hints of lemon, caramel, butterscotch, pear, vanilla, peach, etc. A few Suebelles had an unpleasant bitterness, but apparently fertilizing with Epsom salt can help with this. Really interesting fruit!

The best part for me was a dramatic improvement in sleep quality, which may have been because I chewed on the seeds slightly to get all the flesh off and the seeds contain calming/sedative compounds that can make you sleepy (or kill you if you eat them so be careful).

100% wish I planted this fruit sooner and would love to eat it everyday! I second Coconut Cream's suggestion to try the fruit from the California Etsy sellers if it's still in season, or your plan to go to Fruit & Spice Park this summer sounds good.

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Fall fruiting grapes in Central FL
« on: January 29, 2025, 12:04:34 PM »
When do your different varieties ripen?

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What Fruits do you regret not planting?
« on: January 29, 2025, 11:54:07 AM »
White sapote is delicious! I regret not planting more white sapote, loquats and yangmei that can handle the cold, instead of cold sensitive trees like jackfruit and rollinia.

Also regret not planting more fall/winter fruits like persimmons or everbearing mulberries that are easy to harvest, instead of things like olives that fruit during the summer and are too involved to harvest/process when it's so darn hot outside.

I regret not planting more common fruits too. Weird novelty fruits like pink wampee will probably get the ax. I'm done with all the different jabo varieties (15 is plenty!), though I'd still like the willow leaf one. Such pretty plants.

18
Also interested in direct shipping to FL if that's an option!

19
thanks everyone for the feedback.  white sapote is interesting because of its very limited shelf life, which is why we never see it in supermarkets.

White sapote apparently is grown commercially on a small scale in NZ and Australia. Israel succeeded with growing/shipping white sapote on a commercial scale but failed with marketing (https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/12/1995).

Varieties like Lemon Gold can be picked early and will properly ripen without bitterness. I've had delicious white sapotes shipped from CA, so they work fine shipped direct to consumer, but probably not sitting for weeks in a supermarket.

U-pick, local markets and/or direct to consumer online sales might be better markets anyway for a smaller grove than commercial supermarkets. How are the oranges currently sold?

20
Yangmei and white sapote! Would love to see these grown here. Congrats on your recent purchase

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical Apple/Pear Relatives
« on: January 18, 2025, 01:32:43 PM »
Great info about disease resistant varieties for the tropics, Galatians. I had no idea apples were growing in Uganda.

Along with the varieties you mentioned, I'm also surprised Granny Smith isn't on the ☺ list, Jan Doolin reports it's one of the best varieties she grows.


22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Food Forest Help Needed
« on: January 18, 2025, 01:27:59 PM »
Make sure that you have paths/rows so you can move wheelbarrows and the like. I just saw the edulis design food forest, and there were lots of paths and the whole forest was very open to the sun. I have always imagined walking through a food forest like a rain forest; trees overhead as you walk through. I guess I need to rethink that, but how open should a food forest be?

Yeah it looks open to the sun because the overstory trees (mango, avocado, etc) haven't grown in yet, which can take 10+ years. I'd guess the spacing is about 15'-20' for those larger trees, but if you won't be pruning you may want more like 20-25'+ spacing.

Paths/rows are great for sun/airflow/maintenance access. In humid areas, airflow is really important to prevent mold/disease. Plus it's really difficult to wade through a sea of vegetation when trying to pick fruit.

I've also heard garcinias, starfruit, some annonas, black sapote and silas wood sapodilla can handle some shade. Bananas and papayas can go anywhere until the overstory grows out, but bananas like moisture and papayas don't like much moisture in my experience.

A general rule of thumb is to place taller trees to the north (or south down under) to limit shading and maximize available sunlight, but this is more critical for smaller sites with less space. And of course don't forget to plant pollinators and nitrogen fixers.

23
Any idea on cold tolerance of these?

You should be fine in FL 10a. Leu Gardens in Orlando has this growing outside. It's a beautiful ornamental in its own right and the winter fruit is a nice side bonus.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical Apple/Pear Relatives
« on: January 17, 2025, 01:05:33 PM »
JR mentioned using G.890 for the custom grafted apple trees he sells, which I believe is on the larger end of apple rootstocks but still semi-dwarf.

Thanks for sharing the blog post, that does seem to make sense about standard rootstock performing better in the south given the general low vigor of apples here. It looks like Malus doumeri var. formosana grows to about 15-20'.

New Zealand Monty's Surprise (supposed to be "low chill" but unknown how low) on standard rootstock with Granny Smith for pollination is on my wish list to try out!

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Food Forest Help Needed
« on: January 17, 2025, 01:02:44 PM »
Great advice so far. Depending on the size of your site, creating rows/edges can increase the amount of growing space especially on a smaller site.

One example of a small 1/10 acre food forest is here in case helpful: https://www.edulisdesigns.com/portfolio/naples-food-forest



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