Author Topic: Help me plant out my orchard  (Read 1676 times)

Gone tropo

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Help me plant out my orchard
« on: February 09, 2021, 01:06:48 AM »
Thought this might be fun to see what people would choose to plant out on a new block.  Have approx 2.5 acres to work with in tropical nth qld where anything can be grown.  Approx 3000mm of rainfall a year.  This is a list of what i currently have in ground, what would you add to it?

2x lemon myer i think
1x dwarf mandarin
1 x navel orange
1x strawberry guava
3x rambuatan
1x achacha
1x abiu
2x pulasan
2xmangosteen
1x red jaboticaba hybrid

(have 2x avacado seedling trees to go in the ground soon as well along with papaya.

What kind of rare fruits should i add?  On my certain list is russels garcinia, lucs garcinia, long kong, NDM mango

What about fruits such as chempadek, maprang etc i have never tried these fruits are they worth planting?  Anything else i must have, i know im missing lychee im holding off on them for now they are a serious attractant for birds and bats around here but they are the best tasting fruit so i will probably plant one or two anyway.

Please add to my list of must haves

Ivy

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2021, 01:45:25 AM »
How about dragon fruit

Gone tropo

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2021, 03:00:05 AM »
How about dragon fruit

Yep forgot about dragon fruit I love dragon fruit will certainly be adding them.

ryanscion

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2021, 10:32:05 AM »
that's a fun list - i would also recommend custard apple since you're in australia!

Vernmented

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2021, 12:42:47 PM »
Durian, chempedak, marang/tarap, dabai, soursop, custard apple/atemoya. Strawberry guava is junk. Graft the avocados when you can.

Might be too warm for lychee. Do they flower near you? Pulasan is better than rambutan but less productive.

Get more abiu and plant next to each other for cross pollination.

Fruit Forest Farm should have a ton of top tier fruits. How far are you from them?
-Josh

bovine421

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2021, 01:29:17 PM »
How about replacing one of those Meyer lemons with a Persian lime My wife highly value ours for preparing meat and other cooking uses.
I agree with replacing your guava with a better variety.
I would also add a Barbados cherry or it's Australian equivalent :)
Tete Nene Julie Juliet Carrie Ice Cream Coconut Cream Little Gem  Dot  Mallika PPK  OS  Pina Colada Cotton Candy Buxton Spice Karen Michelle M-4 Beverly Marc Anthony White Pirie Lychee Cherilata Plantain Barbados Cherry

Tropical Bay Area

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2021, 02:38:35 PM »
Dunno but GOTTA HAVE MANGOES
Cheers!

Elopez2027@aol.com

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2021, 04:03:39 PM »
You got to have Annona’s. So many and delicious. Perfect for the Tropics. How Exciting. I plant everything. I’m doing 10 acres part time.

Gone tropo

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2021, 05:54:19 PM »
Durian, chempedak, marang/tarap, dabai, soursop, custard apple/atemoya. Strawberry guava is junk. Graft the avocados when you can.

Might be too warm for lychee. Do they flower near you? Pulasan is better than rambutan but less productive.

Get more abiu and plant next to each other for cross pollination.

Fruit Forest Farm should have a ton of top tier fruits. How far are you from them?

Yep im headed to fruit forest farms in april will see what i can find.  lychee do fruit here but only a couple of variety as far as i know.

Good to know about the strawberry guava if its fruit is not good i will tear it out.

Mangoes im planning to put in a NDM tree and maybe a bowen.

Custard apples i dont know much about i havent eaten one for years, will have to do some research on the varities etc any reccomendations?


Durian i want to try a few more types before planting a tree.

Annonas I dont know much about them any reccomendations? Do they grow well in the wet tropics?

forumfool

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2021, 06:31:13 PM »
If you have 2.5 acres you can leave the strawberry guava for now, especially if you’ve never tried. The yellow “lemon” guava is better imo.

How about caimito?

Elopez2027@aol.com

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #10 on: February 09, 2021, 08:12:40 PM »
I forgot to mention ALL those Fingerlime varieties Australia has. They’re out of Australia but super limited. You got so many varieties.
On Annona’s, I live in the Puerto Rican rainforest, they love the climate. Annona’s are native to South America and the West Indies.
Look into; soursop, custard apple, atemoya, graviola, pond apple, diversifoilia, guanabana, cherimoya, etc....
There are rare ones out here and some not discovered.
Powerhouse Nutritious
Plant near each other for Cross Pollination! You might get something.
Australia...good you networking. Make a call out for some Aussies, cause getting in can be difficult.

Tropical Bay Area

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #11 on: February 09, 2021, 09:56:25 PM »
Some sapotaceae
Cheers!

echinopora

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2021, 02:45:31 PM »
If I could do it all again, this is what I would do:
Spend a year collecting and eating as much local fruit as possible. Keep track of what you like the best.
Find out who is growing in your area and talk to them about the care requirements of the trees and what grows well for them. Then focus your core planting on things that you like that grow well locally for your staples. I planted a ton of things that it turns out are either not something I enjoy eating or are difficult in my area.  I also overplanted for my needs. Are you a collector or are you looking to have enough fruit for yourself and friends/family?

I now have fruiting trees of grimal, sabara, scarlet, red, trunciflora rajada, trunciflora sp, phitrantra but..... I probably only eat enough jab fruit that I could get by with a red and sabara. There are a bunch of other jabs yet to fruit. For some this would be great, but turns out for me it was wasted space/extra work.

It’s like asking someone else who you should marry, since it is a long term commitment you are best off doing a few test drives first.

Take fruit fly and bats into consideration. If you are going to have excess, is there a market for it locally or will friends want to eat it? How much time are you planning on spending in the orchard a week? In our climate a quarter acre planted well will give you a dozen pieces of fruit a day.



Gone tropo

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #13 on: February 10, 2021, 03:43:08 PM »
If I could do it all again, this is what I would do:
Spend a year collecting and eating as much local fruit as possible. Keep track of what you like the best.
Find out who is growing in your area and talk to them about the care requirements of the trees and what grows well for them. Then focus your core planting on things that you like that grow well locally for your staples. I planted a ton of things that it turns out are either not something I enjoy eating or are difficult in my area.  I also overplanted for my needs. Are you a collector or are you looking to have enough fruit for yourself and friends/family?

I now have fruiting trees of grimal, sabara, scarlet, red, trunciflora rajada, trunciflora sp, phitrantra but..... I probably only eat enough jab fruit that I could get by with a red and sabara. There are a bunch of other jabs yet to fruit. For some this would be great, but turns out for me it was wasted space/extra work.

It’s like asking someone else who you should marry, since it is a long term commitment you are best off doing a few test drives first.

Take fruit fly and bats into consideration. If you are going to have excess, is there a market for it locally or will friends want to eat it? How much time are you planning on spending in the orchard a week? In our climate a quarter acre planted well will give you a dozen pieces of fruit a day.

This is some very sound advice thank you. For the most part I have been doing what you say mostly planting things that I have tasted and like to eat. I will only be growing for family and friends. This thread is more to give me ideas on some fruits I don’t know about to try and find and try before planting.
Bats and birds are a major problem here and I will be looking to invest in nets for this.

Plantinyum

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #14 on: February 11, 2021, 05:11:49 AM »
I will just suggest tropical fruits I have ate and I have liked , thought store bought....passiflora -edulis and ligularris ,thought the latter may not grow well where youre at, it likes cooler temps. Carambola, I really like them, very refreshing and have heard there are some sweeter varieties out there....mangosteen , I would definitely plant dragon fruit. Cherimoya it it can grow and fruit in your climate, salak I think will do ok too...

spencerw

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #15 on: February 11, 2021, 07:35:58 PM »
marang. champadek. pedalai. jackfruit. durian. salak. chupachupa. jaboticaba. cacao. brazilian cherry. coconut. cupuassu. cutnut. kuini. kwai muk. langsat. lime. Mammea americana. peach palm. breadfruit. macnut.

whats your fruit fly situation? here they are terrible. so id be careful about who goes where and time-frames of fruiting. you dont want a continuous fruit fly cycle going from tree to tree all year. or just stick to thick skinned fruits
« Last Edit: February 11, 2021, 07:38:48 PM by spencerw »

Gone tropo

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #16 on: February 11, 2021, 07:56:42 PM »
marang. champadek. pedalai. jackfruit. durian. salak. chupachupa. jaboticaba. cacao. brazilian cherry. coconut. cupuassu. cutnut. kuini. kwai muk. langsat. lime. Mammea americana. peach palm. breadfruit. macnut.

whats your fruit fly situation? here they are terrible. so id be careful about who goes where and time-frames of fruiting. you dont want a continuous fruit fly cycle going from tree to tree all year. or just stick to thick skinned fruits

Thats a good list i will look into some of those and try taste them first.  Im not 100% sure but fruit fly is pretty bad here well at least it used to be, im pretty sure we have a fruit fly that is native to QLD that does a lot of damage.  I know for certain bannanas get stung 100% of the time unless covered properly so im not bothering with bannana.

FMfruitforest

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #17 on: February 12, 2021, 11:59:32 AM »
Add in some good eating Eugenias to spread season

spencerw

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #18 on: February 12, 2021, 01:05:02 PM »
marang. champadek. pedalai. jackfruit. durian. salak. chupachupa. jaboticaba. cacao. brazilian cherry. coconut. cupuassu. cutnut. kuini. kwai muk. langsat. lime. Mammea americana. peach palm. breadfruit. macnut.

whats your fruit fly situation? here they are terrible. so id be careful about who goes where and time-frames of fruiting. you dont want a continuous fruit fly cycle going from tree to tree all year. or just stick to thick skinned fruits

Thats a good list i will look into some of those and try taste them first.  Im not 100% sure but fruit fly is pretty bad here well at least it used to be, im pretty sure we have a fruit fly that is native to QLD that does a lot of damage.  I know for certain bannanas get stung 100% of the time unless covered properly so im not bothering with bannana.

yep taste test first before you dedicate space to them. some of the listed ones can be quite variable. so either select quality seeds from a very tasty fruit, not just a random fruit, or get a graft of a cultivar you like and have eaten.

elouicious

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Re: Help me plant out my orchard
« Reply #19 on: February 12, 2021, 05:08:18 PM »
Check out this tool for planning long-term planting

https://www.agroforestryx.com/