The Tropical Fruit Forum

My cherimoya trees did not flower as profusely as last year, i did a defoliation and a slight prune kinda late, at the end of july, one of them did not produce a single flower, 5h3 other one had around 20. They are big plants and did had a very strong flower flush last year, when one of them set 50 fruit, the other one had 3.
The only thing i can think of ,that was different pas winter, was that i did the heating system in the greenhouse, which ended up very eficient at keeping the lowest temp in there at around 10-15 C ,most of the time, whereas for the winter of 2021-22, i had a sloppy heating system that kept the lowest temps anywhere around 5-10C, sometimes colder. The summer after this first cold winter for the plants in the greenhouse, that is when they had the strong bloom, after a defoliation and pruning in june.

Now i do have alot of controw over the temperature in the greenhouse right now, curntly i havent yet  turned on the heating system, because of the cherymoyas, in hopes of letting them accumulate a bit of chill hours. I dont know how long should i maintain low temperatures in there, today i had 6.2C inside, i do have other more tender things in there ,thats why i wonder if the weak bloom was because i kept it too warm for them over winter, or maybe it was due to the late prune and defoliation that i did?
Anyone growing cherimoya in a tropical place, where you dont get temperatures  below 10C and are still able to fruit cherimoya?

I have 3 Vasconacaela Pubescens plants, planted in one hole. The biggest of them has theese flower clusters, to me they look like a hermaphrodite tipe flowers. Can someone with more experience tell what gender would those be? I dont know if this species is like the regular papaya, gender wise?

My plants have quite a few flowe buds right now, i wonder if i should remove a few, there are some branches with more than 2-3 on them, in close proximity.
One person suggested i should leave no more that 2 per branch. I really dont want to remove any as i dont know which one could be succesfull at hand pollination. The first 5 flowers all set fruit, the second 5, on both plants, sll aborted, despite the mix of pollen between the 2, my mother pollinated the failed ones. I wonder what went wrong with those....
Anyway, i would like to keep them becouse of having more potential for fruit .
The set fruit from the very first flowers are also visible.

I made a trellis/support for 2 of my dragon fruit plants, megalanthus seedlings, grafted onto undatus.  I used a pvc pipe, as a base i casted cement, which extends also up into the pipe itself, i also used some metal sticks for an additional strength.  So does fresh cement work well with pitaya roots? I mean, being so freshly casted, will it affect the plants if i happen to use it tomorrow?
I want to repot and change some of the soil of the plants, will add better draining one, also want to place them on the new trellis as i just saw that  they have their first flower buds, i need to make the plant a bit more compact so i can put it into the greenhouse, so that those buds have a chance. Its getting colder outside.
I would've left the cast to cure, but i am preshured right now, so want to use it now. The plants will be in a pot.

I started theese over winter, i bought seeds for carica pubescens, that was the label. The seeds had some differences with the standard papaya seeds, visually. They were a bit more elongated, kinda pointy at both ends, also the ridjing on them was not as pronounced as on regular papaya seeds. They were bigger seeds too.
The plants are fuzzy, only upper surface of leaves is not, the central stem is also quite fuzzy, when younger.
I am seeing some young flower clusters on the biggest one, they contain around 5 individual flowers, as far as i can see, for the moment. Leaves also have a bit of an protrusions on the upper part of the leaf, right where the leaf connects to the petiole.
I am not sure if they are the species i bought seeds for, since pictures on the web show a bit different leaves, not as serrated, slender and pointy.

It is an exciting night for me, my 2 dragon fruit plants both opened their first flowers. That was just a perfect sinchrony on their part, the flowers look identical, olthought when they were buds there were some differences regarding looks, i was hopefull for them to be different varieties, but now i quess there is a high chance for them to be the same thing.
The only magor difference between the plants is that one of them has alot of aerial roots, the other one barely has any.
I crossed the flowers ,while i was pollinating them, also used some of their own pollen on both of them.
The flowers are just spectacular! Giant! The biggest flowers i have ever seen in person, really unique.

So can someone give at least an guiding id based on the looks of the flowers? I know an accurate variety name is somethink i probably cant get, without fruit, but does they at least look like it will be white fleshed, darker fleshed?

I have 3 more flower buds that will open in a few days, then 5 more that will be flowering probably around 2 weeks from now. I will be hand pollinating them all and will cross them as much as i can. Lets hope i get at least one fruit per plant.

Hi, i am planning on changing my greenhouse 4 mm policarbonate sheets with thicker ones. My goal is to have more insulation ability over the winter. My curent setup is a 4 mm poli in summer, on top of which i add a 1 layer of thick bubble wrap and one layer of polyethylene on top, that i do so i have additional insulation in winter. The putting and taking off of the additional layers is not a pleasant experience, so i am looking into more permanent options. In addition to that, the sheets get dirty and can really be cleaned well, so they end up additionally blocking alot of the already weak sun rays in winter.
I am thinking about 8 or 10 mm thick poli, and mostly aiming at the 8 mm one for now. Should i really change the poli and make it thicker, duss sacrificing some of the light passing trough, or should i rather focus on the heating instead?
I have the central home heating system connected in the greenhouse, so i use radiators in there. Last winter i pulled just fine with one 2 m long and two 80 sm long ones, they all are 60 sm in heigh. I have and additional outlet for another 2 m long radiator, which i also have, just didnt used it last year.

So would i be better of to stay with the 4 mm poli, without the additional sheets for insulation over winter, possibly with adding the additional radiator in there, or would it be better to have the 8 mm poli, which would increase the insulation value and lead to a decreased heating cost?

I also want to make the greenhouse frame a bit taller as plants are getting bigger and given that i cant provide additional side space, i could at least provide a bit of a vertical one. Would like to make the changes at one shot.

So what would you do?

My purple edulis is phenomenal this year, a load of fruit . However, in the recent ongoing heat wave, it has started to do a strange thing. Some of the fruit, i would say around 50 percent show from very light to kinda major wrinkles, they are visible only in the day, while the sun is shining on the plant, and interestingly go away over the night, in the early morning only some of the worst cases/fruit  show it a little, the others start the day nice and plump. The plant has no shade protection over it. This has started to happen in the recent half a week, coincidentally with the sahara heat that we are getting for a second week, which is just getting stronger. Daytime temps are around 35, in shade.
The plant i recon has a damp soil at the base, so i doubt it is from lack of water, also the leaves never show any sighns of wilt, thats why i think it should not be from a lack of water. The plant does cary alot of fruit.
Anyone ever had this happen to your passion fruit? The forecast for the next week is nothing short of an oven, i am thinking of giving the plant some shade net tomorow, 5hat should probably help. By the way, the plant hasn't shed a single fruit, from those that get wrinkled, i also remember ive had this happen before, to a potted passion fruit, but it was from a lack of water when the soil went a little dry between waterings, this one it inground , the soil seems quite moist to me.

Hi, i have theese 3 ingredients that i make a potting soil for my other plants, will it be also good for citrus?
1 part peat based potting soil
1 part vermicompost, or slightly less than the peat
- alot of perlite, a generous ammount

The ressulting media is very light with a very good drainage, the other plants seem to love it as of now..
Thanks a bunch!

I am looking into bying some new tropical fruit plants, which of theese species have the pottential to bear fruit without a partner for cross pollination?

Macadamia
White sapote
Green sapote
Purple jaboticaba
Sapodilla
Wampee
Abiu
Grumichama
Star apple
Lemon drop mangosteen

 Excuse me for not writing the scientiffic names, i think ive wrote the most used common names of the plants.

I have a purple edulis, the plant has alot of fruit and small fruit set right now, i am hand pollinating everithing daily, yet ive started to witness that some of the pollinated flower drop off and do not form fruit, i know that its normal for it to drop a few, but the number is increasing. I usually pollinate around 4 pm, sometimes as late as 8 or 9 pm, at this late time usually the pollen parts have started to shrivel and look dehidrated, is it possible that the flowers that are dropping are the ones that got pollinated so late in the day? Or is it rather the plant refusing to set more fruit ,as it is out of capacity to sustain it?
All this vine is just one plant, it has alot of flower buds comming, i just wonder if i should bother and continue to hand pollinate them, i also fo not want to stress the plant and ultimately weaken it by forcing it to cary unnatural amounds of fruit.











The plant hasnt been watter stresed, havent seen it wilt in the sun, i ams saying this as to eliminate 1 reason for its behaviour...

Prunus genus really hits me hard lately, after some beatles attacked and made numerus holes along the trunk on my plumcot( tree died), now my almond has started acting funky, there are no beatle holes on its trunk ,thankfully. Whatever it is, its affecting both fruit and foliage,  as of now i estimate that around half the fruit set is infected ( if its a desease) and lost, foliage is more sparsely affected, a few solitary branches here and there. I am planning to spray tomorrow, with some king of a systemic fungicide. The dark spots on the fruit sometimes have lines, which seem like its progressing into the healthy tissue, kinda like some deseases that affect apples, the fruit of which has had very clear lining which indicates the desease progressing.
The almond illnes on the fruit is not only on the outher peel of the nut, it goes straight into the seed and rots it also.
Here are some pictures, does someone know whats happening? I need to act fast if i want to have a few almonds this fall, the tree's health has me consourned more that its harvest though.