Imbe

[TropicalFruitHunters]

My first fruit to come to term is nearly ripe.  Do you normally eat the skin or would this mess up the overall taste?  Thanks

[HMHausman]

I haven't eaten the skin, but it may be edible and maybe even enjoyable.  Give it a taste and let us know.  I have bitten through the skin and haven't had any real negative flavor.

[luc]

My first fruit to come to term is nearly ripe.  Do you normally eat the skin or would this mess up the overall taste?  Thanks

Congrats Jay , you must have a male and female ? You are doing better than me I only have a full grown female . The fruits I tasted were pretty sour but the tree and leaves are so different from all the other Garcinias .. I have about 5 - 6 three year old seedlings now , hoping there will be a male between them . The female tree sends out a zillion of little fruits , they all abort , so , so far no hermaphrodite....

[FloridaGreenMan]

Jay, that's cool that you got an Imbu to fruit! You got lucky in having one that produces. I have seen lots of ornamental Imbes being grown here. Heck of a job for Ohio!
   

[FlyingFoxFruits]

My first fruit to come to term is nearly ripe.  Do you normally eat the skin or would this mess up the overall taste?  Thanks

skin and juices around skin are bitter.

Best to cut around the circumference of the fruit and try to squeeze the pulp/seed out of skin.

congrats. enjoy.

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Thanks all.  Luc...started off with 5 plants.  2 were obviously male only so got rid of one thinking I would keep one male for pollination.  2 others turned out to be male with one undecided.  It ended up putting out one fruit that aborted so this plant was my keeper.  Got rid of another male too.  Adam sent me a bunch of female and hermie scions and I grafted them onto the remaining plants with good take.  One of the males puts out blooms like crazy.  The female only put out a few this round but hope it gets better.  It could be hermie because the male blooms weren't quite ready.

All the above trouble may turn out to be a waste if I'm not happy with the fruit.  I don't have the space for an ornamental.  I sort of remember the male putting out flowers more than once.  Does the female do this too??  If the first fruit is not up to par, I will wait for the second fruiting to determine the plant's fate.

[luc]

Those are female flowers right ?

[fruitlovers]

Yes Luc, those are females. Too bad i can't send you some pollen. I have 2 male trees and one female. Maybe express mail? I wonder how long the pollen would last?

[Cookie Monster]

I cot mine down and put a -- surprise -- mango tree in its place. Too sour 4 me.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Luc

have u tried pollinating it by hand?  even with it's own pollen?

[fruitlovers]

Luc

have u tried pollinating it by hand?  even with it's own pollen?

I think that is a good suggestion because i'm not certain those are really female flowers? They may really be hermaphrodite? Perhaps they just don't have sufficient pollen to pollinate properly on their own (male parts not fully functional)? Anyway it's worth a try!  BTW my producing tree the flowers look the same, but with 2 males around there just is a lot more pollen about. I'll try to post photos later.

[luc]

Luc

have u tried pollinating it by hand?  even with it's own pollen?

I'll give that a try Adam . Do you remember how long they take from seed , I have 5 seedlings from another place , one gotta be a male ....

[FlyingFoxFruits]

i think they take about 5-8yrs.

Here in central FL they take a bit longer.

They fruit several times a year.  I bet you'll get some fruit soon...do you ever see bees on your imbes?

Luc

have u tried pollinating it by hand?  even with it's own pollen?

I'll give that a try Adam . Do you remember how long they take from seed , I have 5 seedlings from another place , one gotta be a male ....

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Holy cow!  That's how many flowers I get on my big male...hope to hell my female starts putting them out like that!!

Adam...when is the optimum time to pick?  I'm afraid to wait until it falls...don't want it busting open on the gravel.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Jay,

make sure its fully colored!  Don't pick it too early.  It won't get hurt falling to the floor of your greenhouse.

[luc]

Adam those fruits are almost RED !! The seedlings I have now were collected from yellow to orange fruits , they were very ripe and not too sour/acid .

[fruitlovers]

Here is a photo of the imbe male flowers:

Female flowers (at least functionally female only):

One perfectly ripe fruit in a cluster of green imbe fruits:

[Mike T]

There is a park a few km away from me with some whopping imbes (Cooktown Mangosteen as the locals call them).They get mase of fruit that no one collects and the carpets of seedling are poisoned each year by council workers.

[TropicalFruitHunters]

Nice pics Mike and Oscar as always.  That cluster of fruit was what I was hoping for.  I won't let one lone fruit be the deciding factor on the fate of the tree.  Figures these are like many garcinias where the seeds take up 90% of the fruit!

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Nice pics Mike and Oscar as always.  That cluster of fruit was what I was hoping for.  I won't let one lone fruit be the deciding factor on the fate of the tree.  Figures these are like many garcinias where the seeds take up 90% of the fruit!

Yes,

Mikes imbe pics have great composition.

[HMHausman]

Nice pics Mike and Oscar as always.  That cluster of fruit was what I was hoping for.  I won't let one lone fruit be the deciding factor on the fate of the tree.  Figures these are like many garcinias where the seeds take up 90% of the fruit!

Yes,

Mikes imbe pics have great composition.

The emperor's new imbes?