The Tropical Fruit Forum

Sounds like fun traveling through the jungle for seeds

I didn't find any rainfall total for port Charlotte or north Port. Orlando was 18 inches so it was more in port Charlotte.

https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202209/30/WS63366a16a310fd2b29e7aa51.html

I thought grape seedlings wouldn't be nearly as good as the parent because not true to seed or whatever and hybrid variation.

Yes there is enough variation to do selective breeding, but they are pretty similar to the parents about what you would expect but not clones of the parent. I guess it's the same with other cultivars. People make a big fuss that they aren't clones but they are similar enough.

South Florida is a wetland/swamp which they drained in order to build on it. It dries out quickly though.

The older development pre 1980s does not have the retention ponds and drainage pipes needed. If Tampa, punta Gorda any of the older stuff gets hit with hurricane level rain the buildings will be flooded.

Ian we got several feet of rain in 24 hours. The streets were flooded but it drained in a couple days. The buildings are on hills other than roof damage that let in rain most were ok. If an older area gets hit with that the buildings will be completely flooded and it won't drain as fast.

You could check out local grapes and bananas maybe find something interesting. Vitis tillifolia of middle and south America usually has tiny nasty grapes but you might find a decent wild one. The disease resistance is the highest tied with shuttleworthii.

Wild bananas would be worth sampling too. Watch out for seeds.

Grapes grow like weeds everywhere so one can usually sample wild ones when traveling just make sure it's actually a grape plant as some similar looking berries can make you sick. Just look up what the leaves etc look like. Grapes have different leaves but you can look up v. Tillifolia and get a good idea.

Pretty much everything they sell in nurseries in Florida is most commonly on sour orange root stock, then to a lesser extent swingle or trifoliate. But they often have some kind of dwarfing root stock. Like a version of sour orange or trifoliate that keeps the tree at about 10 to 12 feet sometimes even less. Other times it's semi dwarf or not dwarf.

Citrus from seed are huge trees like an oak or maple. You can't reach the fruit unless it falls down. Some varieties are a little shorter. It's a big shade tree. They keep them short and bushy with the root stock because it's easier to pick. The huge ones from seed are much healthier long term.

Peanuts

Can you just sell seeds next time because it's illegal to ship citrus trees in or out of Florida. Though no one is going to check a package it's just easier.

I'd love to get crosses with meyer lemon. Preferably crossed with something resistant to greening (which meyer is resistant). Sugar bell would be great to cross with. Or a swingle crossed with something more edible would be cool. Swingle x tangelo or even x meyer.

If you root a cutting they grow into relatively small bushes without deep roots and not really sufficient roots. Unless it's a container plants most people end up ripping them out of the ground in five to fifteen years. Or they just do poorly unless babied. Even though you can get some fruit from them and they fruit quickly. Grafted onto root stock I have seen a lot of them start to decline in 15 years when the root stock is not a great match. They keep sending up new branches from the bottom that suck all the energy out and kill old branches. Just high maintenance. Other grafts are 50 years old and doing fine. They do seem to grow bigger and last longer from seed. Then it's usually a big shade tree growing to 100 years old. But it takes seven years to get fruit and many are not true to type.

You would need a proven root stock scion combination for long life. The stuff that's usually sold aren't made to last long. They put them on dwarf root stock for easy harvest and replace them after 30 years.

Then cold snaps often kill the tops when grown outside and the sour orange or trifoliate starts growing into a big beautiful tree.

But of course if you put the energy into water fertilizing, trimming any of them could last 100 years but it's often not a natural tree and doesn't do well on its own long term.

Beautiful tree. How many years

Quote from: BahamaDan on February 15, 2016, 02:50:42 PM

Quote from: Saltcayman on February 15, 2016, 01:16:27 PM

Quote from: Cookie Monster on February 14, 2016, 03:02:19 PM

You might want to try sulfur. Given your location, Sheehan, you should be able to easily acidify your soil to the point where good old granular fertilizer supplies sufficient iron. The soil I had imported from delray beach responds very favorably to sulfur application. All of my ph sensitive trees that are in that soil are doing phenomenally.

Yes, Sulfur and copious amounts of organic mulch can really help eliminate the need for chelated iron drenches...

Even when growing upon limestone/in sandy alkaline soil? My interest is certainly piqued.

Yes, I am on limestone, but with more of a red laterite dust mixed with sand. 8.2 ph. After laying down casaurina straw mulch and wood chips and spreading sulfur and dry humates over the past four years, I no longer see iron deficiency issues.

We have limestone and sand in Florida. Usually if a plant has yellow leaves it's a nitrogen deficiency though iron is a factor. The sand just doesn't hold nutrients. Simple solution dig a hole fill it with compost and maybe perlite or add a little clay even. Or just fertilize all the time but then most of it goes into the water supply causing algae blooms.

They spend a lot of money breeding these so for every plant sold they get a couple dollars. After a period of time it is less of a concern then after more time the copyright expires. All you have to do is not sell clones.

I think the state of Florida owns the patent. I don't know of any lawsuits against a backyard grower. This is mainly for businesses.

I would like a sugar bell crossed with dunstans grapefruit or crossed with a poncirus hybrid might get something edible that has good greening tolerance. Hermaphrodite plants are too difficult for me to cross though.

Sugar bell doesn't have a lot of greening tolerance. Like just enough. I think it would need to be crossed with another tolerant variety but who knows. We have a sugar bell in my dad's yard.

Florida some stuff they release as public domain other stuff they patent. Similar with other states.

But the whole thing is wet or the whole thing dry. But I soak stuff when watering.