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Messages - Finca La Isla

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51
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 05, 2025, 01:53:36 PM »
It’s a good question.  I’ve been asked,’how would people ever get started with something like vanilla when the fresh bean doesn’t have any fragrance and you have to go through a lengthy, somewhat complicated process to achieve a result?’
In a vanilla grove, vanilla beans that don’t get harvested will split open and fall to the ground where they frequently process themselves and when that occurs you are going to experience a wonderful vanilla smell.
The fermentation that takes place in the conventional process is not typical of other ferments.  Every day for about 3 weeks the beans are set out in the sun or gently dried in a dehydrator, then gathered up and placed in a box overnight.  Then the next day they go back in the sun.  The time spent, at night, in the box is when the fermentation takes place.
The combination of drying every day is very different from any other fermentation process I’m aware of.  Since it’s such a slight fermentation is why I think the beans can cure in the open on the plant.
Peter

52
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 05, 2025, 08:18:22 AM »
So that’s the first time I have ever seen anyone trying to commercialize pampona. Vanilla farm tours in Mexico often have it as a novelty to show visitors but don’t seem to grow it seriously.
The page say, on the one hand, that the vanilla is wild collected and then says it’s grown on small farms. Two very different claims. Also, it’s not rare in the wild, just in cultivation. I’ve collected it here in CR but we don’t work out. If you can sell a single pod for $22 it’s quite a business!
If there was a reliable buyer for a good price I’d probably grow it. But 100 plants might be the way I’d start. That would produce quite a bit of vanilla. Vanilla is easy to grow and pollinate, curing is tricky but doable.
Peter

53
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 04, 2025, 09:05:17 AM »
Glytcidia sepium is what I’m speaking of. It’s called madre cacao in southern Mexico. I see it all over the world as it’s so useful. Native to southern Mexico and Central America.
We have at least 5 different erythrina here.  They have nice flowers and one type is used widely for shading coffee in CR. A different one is used for posts.

You never said who buys the pampona and for what? And how much do they pay!
Peter

54
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 03, 2025, 06:00:48 PM »
Besides glyrcidium I also like appropriate erythrina. It’s another nitrogen fixer that can be established by sticking a stick in the ground.
Also, what I saw in Mexico is using citrus. Lime or orange have clean trunks, give some shade and, unlike cacao, the fruit is borne more terminally on the branches so the fruits don’t get in the way of each other. Limes is a good crop for small scale farming. Bars will buy hundreds of them.
Peter

55
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 03, 2025, 07:00:02 AM »
Who is buying pampona there and how much do they pay?  Supposedly it is only useful in the perfume trade and not for culinary vanilla.
We sell small amounts of plenifolia and plenifolia hybrids here in CR. Larger scale vendors get about $500 kg.
Planting on cacao sounds attractive but the reality is that the crops get in the way of each other. We’re growing on nitrogen fixers like glircydium.
Peter

56
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Crisp/hard chempadek?
« on: December 31, 2024, 07:01:25 AM »
I think it more likely would simply be a very high quality jackfruit.
Peter

57
A very good season is winding down.  Size of the fruits averages grapefruit size.  For weeks they’ve been at our farmers market.
Peter

58
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Canistel Flavor Test (Lara Farms)
« on: December 20, 2024, 05:04:42 PM »
Canistel is a little dry. I’m not sure why that’s a problem. A dry canistel can be like a piece of moist cake, perfect with black coffee!

I would say that there is not that much difference between Oro and Trompo. I think that if a fruit like canistel is picked at the right time then it should ripen within about 5 days. I have had them take two weeks and still be good but, to me, they were harvested early.
Peter

59
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Where is pollen on Cupuassu flowers?
« on: December 19, 2024, 07:05:54 AM »
Monilia is difficult to manage but progress can be made. It arrived in our area in the late 70’s and within a few years most of the cacao was abandoned. I bought an abandoned cacao farm, started eliminating cacao in favor of other fruit trees, spices and the stuff I grow.
So now to grow cacao I work on ridges where there is more light and air movement. The cacao is kept low, 3m, and shaded with nitrogen fixers that are easy to maintain like brownea and glyrcidium. Also there has been a program to develop resistant selections. We also make selections of more productive trees and top work poor producers. Cacao needs competent pruning and elimination of affected fruits in a timely manor.
Truth is that the price paid for cacao has been very poor and working as a construction laborer can pay better. But chocolate can be a good business so it pays for us to grow cacao.
Peter

60
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Canistel Flavor Test (Lara Farms)
« on: December 18, 2024, 06:45:27 PM »
Good detail on your tasting.
We grow both trompo and Oro.  We find that the latex is only an issue until the fruit is completely ripe.  I’m surprised that your canistel seemed to ripen unevenly.  I’ve never experienced what you describe as carrot texture near the skin.  The skin is extremely thin and, on our fruit, very soft right up to the skin.  Maybe try to let it ripen even more.
Myself and another grower are selling canistel at our farmers market and it has generated some very successful experimental recipes that are appearing on my Facebook feed. 
Incidentally, we discourage the name ‘egg fruit’ and encourage people to call it cheesecake fruit.
Peter

61
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Where is pollen on Cupuassu flowers?
« on: December 18, 2024, 07:29:42 AM »
Monilia is a problem on bicolor and grandiflora.

62
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Where is pollen on Cupuassu flowers?
« on: December 16, 2024, 07:31:18 PM »
Cupuasu seems vulnerable to all the disease problems that cacao has, and that’s a lot of very serious problems.  One big difference is that the fruits will fall when they ripen but cacao has to be picked.
Suerte, Peter

63
It could be that the American garcinias are less of a problem, hopefully so.  It just seems that the hombriana is so similar to mangosteen….
Gary Zill’s nursery here in CR grafts mangosteen and maybe for somebody that wants to have a novelty tree on their condo balcony that could produce 15 fruits it makes sense.  But I’ve never seen it work good in a yard or farm. Gary was grafting cherapu and we started doing it as well.  That has two problems; the rootstock takes 2-3 years before it’s the size to graft and then the tree grows like a vine!  He and I are just planting out seedlings of cherapu now and that is what I recommend for mangosteen, Brunei cherry, etc.  I don’t grow hombriana but I think it will most likely do the same as mangosteen.  If it was me I’d just be happy with the seedlings, especially at that price.
Peter

64
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Where is pollen on Cupuassu flowers?
« on: December 15, 2024, 07:39:44 AM »
Haven’t tried to pollinate them but you have to get cross pollination from another tree.
Peter

65
I’d be cautious about g. hombriana grafts. I used to graft mangosteen commercially and I stopped because I don’t like the way they grow. Many garcinias don’t want to grow upright when grafted. I have also grafted seedlings and top worked g. prainiana. Same thing. They need to be staked, pulled with ropes, it’s a mess. I took the very tip of a g. parvifolia and top worked it onto a male g. Lateriflora. It worked even though the sap color was different between these two species!  For top working males I guess I would still do it but otherwise I would just grow out the seedlings. You’re going to get a much nicer tree.
Peter

66
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Can you air layer cocoa?
« on: December 13, 2024, 07:34:04 AM »
Yes, cacao can be easily air layered. It makes sense to graft or air layer superior material. As Caroline says cross pollination can be important.
Peter

67
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee in hot equatorial climate
« on: December 06, 2024, 07:06:26 AM »
Yes, there’s a long list of fruit trees we grow that respond to a dry spell with a nice flush of flowering. Actually, if we get two dry spells then we often get two harvests during the same year.
Peter

68
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Chempadek seedling wilting and dying
« on: December 05, 2024, 01:12:40 PM »
It’s common that champedek has an issue when it has to transition from being supported by the seed to its own root system. I graft champedek onto jackfruit and that’s what I’ve seen in Malaysia as well. Still I have had some seedlings work out. You might try applying something that is very good at promoting rooting. But once the wilt starts I’m afraid you’re too late.
Peter

69
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee in hot equatorial climate
« on: December 05, 2024, 09:51:26 AM »
It’s very rare that they fruit and not really worth it. I mentioned the temperature because you seemed to think it had to do with rainfall. In our climate it never gets as hot as in Florida either since days in the summer are much shorter than further north. The temperature might range from 75-86 or so.
Peter

70
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee in hot equatorial climate
« on: December 03, 2024, 06:59:50 PM »
Florida gets a lot colder than the places we are talking about.  The lowest low here is about 73f. South Florida gets way colder.  Whitman was struggling with cold in North Beach to be able to grow equatorial zone fruits that grow well for all of us.  Why do you think you can’t grow durian in Florida?  It’s too cold.  Great for lychee and longan.
Peter

71
I’m planning on going for at least two weeks in early February.
Peter

72
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Durian breeding
« on: November 30, 2024, 12:37:01 PM »
Supposedly you can speed up production slightly by grafting your seedling onto a producing tree.  I think that Mike T wrote something about that a while back.  Realistically I think it’s a multi-generational project, multiple human generations.
Saludos

73
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee in hot equatorial climate
« on: November 29, 2024, 07:51:40 AM »
Pulusan is more delicate than rambutan, grows slower and yields less. But it’s worth growing. I am surprised you’re having so much problem with it. We air layer pulusan and it grows fine. There’s other stuff that, for me, are slower and more difficult. My weather is something like what you have in Bahia I think. We are a cacao growing area as well.
Peter

74
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee in hot equatorial climate
« on: November 28, 2024, 07:27:48 AM »
There are so many great equatorial fruits. Pulusan grows well for us as well as rambutan. Lychee is nice but I would concentrate on the many fruits that are easy to grow where you are. They are the envy of those who can’t grow them.
Peter

75
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: outsourcing fruit selling?
« on: November 27, 2024, 08:22:22 PM »
Another point I’d like to make is that there are lots of fruit buyers who really enjoy buying the fruit from the actual farmer.  That is a nice contact that can be highly valued.  It’s great for the consumer and the positive feedback for the grower is rewarding.
Peter

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