The Tropical Fruit Forum

Though shells exist for thousands of years before decaying. To give you an idea that the amount of minerals leaching out is a trace amount. But in Florida since the whole ground is full of shells we have a lot of calcium and lime in our river and well water.

I live in south Florida. We used to have a supposed low chill hour plum. It never did well. Too hot here. It got one plum once. California summer is not as hot so might do better. But yes they over sell them. Plums and apples just don't do well in hot climates.

Probably autumn crisp. It's fall there.

I want seeds of the newer hybrids that have Dunstan and poncirus in the background and are actually edible

Once peat is wet it stays wet. I just soak it several times when new. Never knew dry spots were a problem.

I buy potting soil with wetting agents added and plants do poorly in them and they don't seem to work as far as holding water so I avoid them. Peat holds water really well but will also dry out quickly on hot days. Peat doesn't have much drainage once waterlogged it needs sand or perlite to keep from being too water logged. Which normal soil is peat and perlite.

I just add clay in the form of cheap cat litter. It works really well and is cheap. The main problem I have is less soil and more container size. Small containers get waterlogged easily and dry out easily. Watering them is a science. When I put them in giant containers with my soil mix I don't have to worry.

I add a tiny amount of sand but everything dries out quickly in this heat. Being waterlogged only seems an issue in small pots. I add a small amount of clay and mulch it makes a huge difference in keeping it from drying out.

I would love a Honda motorcycle clone but they are illegal in the US. Honda gives permission for them to be sold in China and other places. When something breaks you can replace it with a part from a real Honda in a junk yard or order real Honda parts. So if you work on stuff it's real convenient.

Nothing seems to help anthracnose on grapes. I just have to use resistant plants. If I use enough spray to get rid of anthracnose then the spray damages the plant. Copper works well on most other stuff.

One example I bought a Chinese electric bike. In some ways it was really nice. High quality Shimano gear shifter. But the bolts didn't tighten. They kept coming loose. The entire handlebar came off one time almost killing me. This broke thegizmo to start the thing. $100 for a new one. Then the whole thing started glitching then stopped working all together due to a wiring short or something.

It's pretty hard to design a bolt that won't tighten properly. I mean it takes effort. It would be easier to make bolts that work and they only cost like 10 cents. Same with wires it's just a piece of copper. How do you design wires that work for six months then stop working? It's all by design.

They can build stuff that will last 100 years but they won't make money that way. Occasionally you'll get something good but it's rare.

Like knives. This is medieval technology. How does every single knife have a locking mechanism that brakes so the knife flops around and you can't use it. And by definition stainless steel doesn't rust but they get away with selling really low grade stainless that resists rust a bit but still rusts. Stainless costs a few extra cents and pocket knives sell for $20. I paid almost the same price for my buck knife as all these junk knives. It was like $32 instead of $15-$25 range. It's light years better. They just choose to make good knives while other companies choose to make junk. The price difference to produce the two isn't that big

Here's the real difference. Buck only sells one knife and it lasts a lifetime. So they have to make a profit on it and mark up the price. Junk knives they will sell you a new one over and over so they can have really low profit margins and operate on large volume of sales.

(z86 x d370) x (v shuttleworthii x v aestavalis)

If I didn't know better they look like aestavalis or similar lubrusca type leaves. The mother which is mostly vinifers European grape looks like aestavalis though it has a decent amount of aestavalis in it. Father looks half way between aestavalis and shuttleworthii.

I have been neglecting them they were bone dry with no water for several weeks. I transplanted them to bigger pots so they'll grow better. They have really good roots would be good for root stock. Surprised a lot are suceptibile to black rot though aestavalis here is pretty suceptibile. South Florida has the highest disease pressure for grapes as anywhere in the country so they'll grow better anywhere else including north Florida.

This one has a lot of black rot holes in the leaves. I killed one because it had a lot of black rot. Sadly 2/3 of these will be males with no grapes 1/3 female.



This one is beautiful. No black rot. A tiny amount of rust fungus. More disease resistant than wild aestavalis. Shuttleworthii level disease resistance so far. These are 1.5% muscadine.





This one is tough but the tiny pot was a problem. I'll probably get rid of it because I don't have space. Awesome roots.







Last one. This one shows muscadine level disease resistance. Actually better than most muscadines because even they get black rot here. Ideal mix of tough genes from muscadine, aestavalis and shuttleworthii. Definitely keeping this one. Grapes should be better than muscadine too but hard to say. I would rate aestavalis a bit lower than muscadine, shuttleworthii a bit higher, the female parent had awesome grapes better than the store though a bit small.

Blackberries are a laxative when eaten in large quantities

We have oak trees all over Florida. It doesn't seem to help.

Well that's why you grow fruit yourself or buy from a  local grower. It's like grapes. I love wild grapes and home grown. Store grapes I seldom eat them. Even a variety I like such as red globe usually was picked and shipped across the world and not great. Though generally the home varieties taste better too. Same with bananas. They are amazing home grown. Store bananas I seldom eat. Maybe once in a while. Though I haven't had much home grown stuff in years other than a few grapes. I need to start growing more again.

If course I like the plants themselves as well so it's an all around win in many cases.