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Messages - K-Rimes

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: CORG / Calycina Brix
« on: July 18, 2025, 08:45:55 PM »
All of mine are in full sun. I think in ground has a slight edge. I would water the trees when pots were light, and they root quickly and easily, so I couldn’t give a standard watering amount. For in ground trees at ranch they get water once a week.

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: CORG / Calycina Brix
« on: July 17, 2025, 05:22:18 PM »



Kevin Jones Garnet testing well

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How to get loquat low branching?
« on: July 17, 2025, 03:19:57 PM »
I top it where I want it to branch out. It will throw 3-4 branches at least below where you top it.

The loquat I multi grafted I topped when it was the same size as yours and it became 4-6 trunks. I selected 3 for grafting.

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Hunt for the best Surinam Cherry
« on: July 16, 2025, 05:11:58 PM »
people more seasoned than me-

How does Chamba stack up compared to some others? I have an opportunity to get a seedling and cuttings

My Chambas have had a notably herbaceous flavor that admittedly is not my favorite.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Hunt for the best Surinam Cherry
« on: July 16, 2025, 02:58:13 PM »
E. pitanga must love the heat- one fruited in Houston this year and the owner said it was superior to all uniflora he has tasted

I think everyone agrees with that. Mine do just ok. They are challenging for me because they love drought and I have them in an area I have to hose down to water from a distance. I'll move them somewhere else soon I think. They're in shade and I don't think they like that.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Hunt for the best Surinam Cherry
« on: July 16, 2025, 02:48:23 PM »
Are any other eugenias known to be graft-compatible to uniflora?  Might be fun to try crossing it.   Kevin Jones?  :)

I have tried a bunch of cross species with zero success. https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=50759.0

 Repanda on uniflora held for awhile with some leaves but died shortly thereafter, probably just stored energy. I do wonder if Eugenia Pitanga is compatible, but I don't have enough material of that to put it onto uniflora. That would be a great one since eugenia pitanga has been a slow grower for me.

Another potential I'd like to try is multicostata on uniflora. The wood seems similar.

7
I try to prune my cherimoyas back to 3/8" plus wood every year and they grow back and flower like crazy, also try to tip growth during growth period helps to produce more flowers.

I've been tipping all the branches at around 12-18" so that they'll branch out nicely. It seems to be working, and I see flowers following up too. Won't let the new grafts hold for a few years I think, we'll see.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How to get loquat low branching?
« on: July 16, 2025, 01:22:26 PM »
I will stump new trees below my knee without even blinking, in Spring. They will be back with a vengeance.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Yangmei (Morella/Myrica rubra) thread
« on: July 16, 2025, 01:19:42 PM »
Patients Grasshopper ;) From one who has killed every Yangmei that came through my hands :-[

Oh I know. I want to say this is a win already but I know I need to be patient and let them actually grow a branch or two before saying it's for real! I am a consummate yangmei assassin myself.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My Yard 2022
« on: July 16, 2025, 11:16:33 AM »

Chumming the wild boar. Trying to eliminate one, it will be really tasty I am sure! Everyone says they are the best tasting wild pig ever. I had chorizo from a hunter recently and wow, awesome stuff.


Not sure on what fig this is, but looks like no BFF here. I haven't had time to bag.


Persian mulberry coming in. I am always caught red handed with these.


Saved 8 trees worth of Hass, maybe another 1000lb left in the orchard and still green stem so I think we have some runway on the season.


A pitiful lychee crop, but any are appreciated. I am going to prune the tree hard so it's better protected from wind.

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Yangmei (Morella/Myrica rubra) thread
« on: July 15, 2025, 06:16:28 PM »



I’m trying to temper my expectations but……. This sure looks promising!! Wandao on cerifera.
That look great! How long does it take to push?

Grafted on June 20, so about 3 weeks. Simon warns that it's not a true take till it has flushed and hardened, so let's wait and see.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Yangmei (Morella/Myrica rubra) thread
« on: July 15, 2025, 04:58:10 PM »



I’m trying to temper my expectations but……. This sure looks promising!! Wandao on cerifera.

13
Similar to ScottR, the ranch I am at was laden with cherimoyas and no one pollinated. I have completed a massive grafting project, easily 40-50 successful takes, all trees multi grafted, so I am sure it'll be even better in a few years.

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My Yard 2022
« on: July 14, 2025, 01:15:14 PM »

We have these amazing grey foxes that are SO docile... But they are the worst fruit pest of all time. They will eat every single fruit as it ripens. I suspect this is who is eating my jabos... Speaking of which, see below.


I believe this is a Pine Island Grimal that made it to CA. I grafted on a branch from FLNative, top left. Holding lots of fruit! This is its first strong fruiting session.


This is a Grimal which I bought from FFF in 2019 holding its first crop. It is decidedly bigger and better quality than the one above.


Nabal, Reed, and Nabal grafts taking flight.


Eugenia Zuccarini first fruits


Cerifera cuttings rooting for future Yangmei grafting.


Fruiting Restinga wood grafts from Docky taking on some Sabara plugs I got from FFF.


The fruit load on the avos looks absolutely mental for next year. We did 10,000lb this year, and I am sure it'll be 20,000 next year. I suspect my beehives have been a crucial ingredient to getting fruit set, and can't wait to see the Sharwil grafts I did play part as well.


Thanks to GOZP for these annona scions of various types. I got lots and lots of takes. This is a top worked Tropic Sun on cherimoya.


This fruit box of Hass and Moro Blood orange is off to Roblack today.

15
Specialty Produce has a nice collection of rare / exotic fruit for purchase. Not cheap, but worth a visit.

16
Space. Rarity. One died.

I prefer to just graft a different genetic material on, even if I have two plants, for redundancy.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Yangmei (Morella/Myrica rubra) thread
« on: July 10, 2025, 10:50:27 PM »



Hardwood cerifera cuttings in peat moss seems to be the ticket.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Greenhouse Growing
« on: July 10, 2025, 02:02:38 PM »
I think if you're willing to run intake fans on the lower portion of the north side of your GH, or east side, depending on orientation down low you may not need to do roll up sides. Alternatively could notch the tracks for the lower panels, cut panels in half, and slide one out during summer?

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: CORG / Calycina Brix
« on: July 10, 2025, 01:59:55 PM »
Great stuff there Kaz.

Hard to say what variety is shown in your earlier post. It's usually a seedling of something, and they are not totally true to seed, so I'd just call it something new.

I do have some more fruit ripening here at the ranch and will collect and test some today. Unfortunately, there are larvae in a lot of the fruit right now, probably fruit fly. Real bummer, didn't have this at my old place.

20
Great job Kevin, once again you beat me out getting Wax jambu to take on Rose apple, I've tried two years in a row and this years not growing yet :-\I don't know if my trees are to big and need to cut back more before putting on graft or what! Concrats ;) 8)

They seem to sucker a ton and I have to keep knocking off a lot of growth below the union it seems once every couple weeks. They also throw root suckers periodically too, which I prune back to the ground. I didn't do anything special, just fat clefts. I did do a few whip and tongue on them, on the most recent batch, but cut myself pretty bad and then went back to cleft  ;D

I will say that I think the scion material is crucial. Mark Lee got me some really nice stuff with great buds showing. This said, I only got 50% takes on my first round. We will see about this most recent stuff, I do see some growth. 1/4 first batch grew a good 3-4 leaves and then died off. I don't think it is a perfect match... We'll see about long term.

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Greenhouse Growing
« on: July 09, 2025, 06:31:02 PM »
Quote
So, I think your best bet is going to be shade cloth combined with maximizing ventilation, to keep the temperature closer to the outside ambient temperature in the summer.

I ran 50% shadecloth in WHITE which was so very helpful for keeping my ambient temps down on the hottest days. It would go from 115f with fans screamin' and doors wide open down to nearly ambient - doors wide open and fan screamin'. Fans would be off a few hours later, and off a few hours earlier with the shade cloth too.

The shade cloth goes on the outside, I have seen a few growers deploy the black stuff inside and not understand why temps went up!  8)

Installing some hooks along the lower 1/4 of the sides is nice for securing shade cloth, or for securing the structure in the case of inclement weather. I also would consider putting plans in for central posts to keep the top up in the case of a snowstorm. Weather is only getting crazier, see: 1000 year floods in multiple regions of the USA in the last few days.

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Greenhouse Growing
« on: July 09, 2025, 02:54:41 PM »
A well built double wall polycarbonate in 6mm should be more than sufficient for 9b New Orleans. You can just add more btu's of heating for those real cold snaps to get where you need to do and it will probably be a lot cheaper than upping everything for marginal gains in 8mm.

If you're able to harvest parts from your existing 6mm as you break them, or need to repair them, that has some nice value too.

I think glass is nice, but doesn't sound necessary for your situation. It's more aesthetic and robust, but more fragile by a lot.

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Greenhouse Growing
« on: July 09, 2025, 01:19:11 PM »

Orientation & spacing: The greenhouse runs north-south, and one long side will be about 4 feet from a corrugated tin fence. Starting to think I should push it out more for airflow and access. Has anyone regretted placing a wall too close to a fence or barrier?



Yes, this is an issue. You may need to perform maintenance on that side of the greenhouse, mowing, weeding, wall repair, etc. Mine was butted up against a rock wall and had only a foot or two between that rock / dirt wall and the greenhouse and it was frankly awful trying to clear it of leaves, rock debris, water, etc. 4' is a lot better than what I was up against, literally, but keep that in mind.

Drainage is going to be really crucial there as I understand it rains often, and can get some hurricane style deluge. I like Brian's sump pump solution. I am guessing no elevation on the property to speak of, so no french drain potential. Standing water was the bane of my existence for the last few years I ran my greenhouse. Now in 10a, I don't really want to revisit one, but I am pondering it here and there for ilama or mangoes or something, but I will not do anything till I can build one that is straight up bulletproof. It is crazy windy at the ranch, 60mph all the time, from both sea and mountains, so if I do this, I want it to be more or less a house made of glass, not a hoop or panel structure.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Greenhouse Growing
« on: July 08, 2025, 07:18:31 PM »
A few things I learned from mine.

1. Build it way bigger than you think you need it to be.

2. Airflow is critical. You need to be able to drain the space of hot air rapidly in the case of a heat wave. Gable fans up top, and roll up sides is great. Intake fans on the shady side, and end fans on the outsides.

3. Prepare several different heating methods as fail safes, the same is true for fans. You need a back up in case the power goes out on a hot or cold day.

4. If you want people to enjoy the space, don't stuff it like crazy. Be responsible with it and really plan it out. As a tropical oasis for customers, that is very different than zone pushers who STUFF the thing like crazy during winter just to make it to Spring. My greenhouse was always a total mess, and a major tripping hazard.

5. Stale humid air on a cold day is crazy disease vector, and you'll want to plan for some kind of reasonable airflow AND heating at the same time.

6. Don't over water in the winter, they basically need no water when it's cold out. Plants only need water when actively growing.

7. Build up racks WELL before you get your plants in there and really expend some energy on how to make it efficient and space saving. I had some nice stadium style seating on the walls for plants, and that really helped me fit more stuff in there while not taking up too much space.

8. Overbuild the structure itself. You should have it built to take a 10 year's storm worth of rain, snow, or wind at least. I had to wake up every few hours during a snow storm to bang the sides to get the snow off so it didn't collapse.

9. Drainage, drainage, drainage!!! Make sure that your greenhouse is slightly above grade so that it does not flood. I lost a huge number of plants when, in the second year of my greenhouse, I moved it to a small depression in the driveway unbeknownst to me and it would be 2" deep of water for a week at a time. An in ground greenhouse is a little different, but keep it in mind.

10. Interior air circulation is really important too, make sure that you have fans in there to get the hot air from the top and vice versa.

I think you'll get even better advice from daintree and brian who have true COLD weather greenhouses with good success, but I was not far off from you in my last place which was 9b.

25
Working good over here. Wax on Rose



4 grafts from March, 2 growing very well, a Kecil and Long Green. I added more from Mark recently, maybe a couple weeks ago, and popping buds already.

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