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Messages - Finca La Isla

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Borneo fruit hunting - with pics
« on: February 15, 2025, 07:43:46 PM »
So to respond to a couple of things.
The buffet was cold but it had been screened off.  I mainly wanted vegetables.  The well cooked veges would be safer than salad. 
Jay and Eddie ate some weird hamburgers that I wasn’t going to eat!!

Mosquitoes were flying around but I think they were males, not biting.  I never even applied repellent.

About fungus on seeds.  The forest floor seemed to be a good place for germination and nobody was applying fungicide there.  I am in the camp of using lactic acid microorganisms and/or trachederma with coir as a medium.
Peter

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Borneo fruit hunting - with pics
« on: February 15, 2025, 03:36:25 AM »
While we were in the woods it was surprising how few bites we got. Not an issue at all in the field.  Jay had some issues at the hotel over an unscreened vent in his room.  But the collecting went smoothly.
Peter

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Borneo trip
« on: February 09, 2025, 06:29:36 AM »
Add artocarpus anisophyllus
There’s also elasticus and tamarin but we didn’t really find any good ones.
Peter

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cocoa cuttings possible?
« on: February 09, 2025, 04:14:56 AM »
You can air layer cacao for sure. You can probably, with very good practice, root cuttings.
Peter

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Borneo trip
« on: February 09, 2025, 04:12:11 AM »
Durios
Dulcis
Kutejensis
Zibethines
Oxlyanus

Artocarpus
Keledang
Champedek
Limpato
Kemando
Brevipedunctatus
Tesmannii
Metabalis

This what comes to mind, there could be others and we might get some more. The season is getting late and we visit trees that don’t have fruit.
Peter

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: February 05, 2025, 06:22:08 PM »
Hi, I don’t really know anything about Tahaitensis.  I’ve never heard of anyone growing it here.  It has a good reputation internationally. But I’m wondering if it’s best for you as it is grown in the lowlands.  Still, I don’t see anything wrong with trying it. Everything is a bit of an experiment and you see what works.
Suerte!

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Tropical fruit resort
« on: February 03, 2025, 09:53:47 PM »
Why Belize?  I think that for climate and soils locations in Costa Rica and Panama would be way better.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: February 02, 2025, 01:36:19 AM »
I do have a lot of expat clients but they aren’t all US people there’s lots of Europeans and other Latins. The other half are Costa Ricans. Costa Rica has a culture of farmers markets held in most towns large or small. There is some government support for these markets.
Vanilla is a high end product that probably wouldn’t sell well if there weren’t expats or rich ticos but there is still lots to sell the people that aren’t likely to buy vanilla. Ticos are serious buyers of fresh fruit, chocolate, dried fruit, plants, lots of stuff.
Peter

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Going to costa rica
« on: February 01, 2025, 07:39:32 AM »
Is Puerto Rico cheap?
For inexpensive you might go to Nicaragua or Guatemala…

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Going to costa rica
« on: January 31, 2025, 08:03:25 AM »
For looking for the plinia costarricense you might look on Facebook for a guy named Roy Carballo. Roy has been to the tree you want to see and lives in San Ramon.
Suerte!

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Going to costa rica
« on: January 30, 2025, 10:57:16 PM »
It’s probably a good idea to go to Puerto Rico but if you are looking mostly for native fruits Costa Rica has more than any country in the Americas of its size.  The way it is situated gives it a plethora of fruits that go from southern Mexico to the south like sapodilla, mamey sapote, guanabana, caimito, and many, many more.  Fruits native to the Choco of Colombia can also be found in Panama and Costa Rica.  There’s no way that Puerto Rico has more kinds of native or introduced fruits than Costa Rica.
Peter

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Going to costa rica
« on: January 30, 2025, 06:40:42 PM »
I can’t provide information on the p. costaricensis but Puerto Viejo is a good idea, that’s where I am at Finca la Isla which you can find on Googlemaps. Anther area that could be good is the southern Pacific side. There a good Thursday farmers market at San Isidro, general. The Puerto Viejo farmers market is Saturday morning. Puerto Viejo has fruit sold on the street, even durian in season. Your budget is limited as CR is kind of expensive. Hostels could be the way to go although you might find a farm stay.
Peter

13
It’s a good question. I have several fruits that there is very limited information online. I recently got seeds from Jim West who has an incredible collection of rare fruits. There’s stuff there that only has a botanical description.
I’m often warning people about the oxalic acid in sour carombola. Here in CR it’s common to make a juice drink with sour carombola that will inhibit your body’s ability to absorb calcium. That’s a well known thing that many are unaware of. 
Peter

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 23, 2025, 06:58:43 PM »
Interesting conversation.
So my buyers, whether at the farmers market or not are basically the same kind of client.  Individuals and small restaurant owners who are looking for something of good quality. My model avoids the wholesale buyer. I’d much rather have 50 clients than one or two.
What I can’t sell at the farmers market I sell here at the farm or take it out to sell here and there. Maybe on the street across from a supermarket, stopping anywhere that I can sell $20 of fruit. What I’m talking about is mostly fruit sales. I can harvest 1500kg of mangosteen per harvest and that’s when I need to hustle. Durian is a big deal for us. The selling needs to be well organized but it’s all done here locally.
We have people who come from other countries as well as our capitol to buy durian mainly.
I also sell black pepper, vanilla and chocolate bars. Normally I don’t go out with that stuff except to the farmers market. I sell about $200 of chocolate bars at the market and smaller quantities of pepper, dried fruit, vanilla and stuff.
Buyers of vanilla are a juice bar and a guy that makes a vanilla kombucha and people making cakes and stuff for sale or just for the family.
Peter

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 20, 2025, 09:30:06 AM »
I have a strong doubt that, offered plenifolia and pompona, the customer will select pompona.  But I am considering doing about 10 plants of pompona just to see if there really is a niche market for this vanilla.
Looking online what I find is plenifolia from lots of different places and Tahiatian. Pompona from Peru. But since pompona occurs from Mexico to South America it’s surprising that nobody else seems to grow it.
Peter

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 19, 2025, 08:09:05 PM »
When you say ‘big time buyers’ I’m wondering who they are and how many tons of vanilla they’re buying. I have Pompona and I would plant it if I thought that it has a market. Is it actually that good?  You think I should start producing it commercially?  I don’t need a big buyer. If I have something really good I would have plenty of buyers at our farmers market.
Peter

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Food Forest Help Needed
« on: January 18, 2025, 07:36:29 AM »
At my place what we call a food forest is really a mixed orchard mostly. There are only a few species that are really happy as understory trees. In my case that starts with cacao and salak. I think that many garcinia are shade tolerant. If the large trees were planted at 30 meter spacing then I think it would be easier.
In my experience acerola needs full sun. It will grow fine with partial shade but produces way better in lots of sun.
Peter

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 17, 2025, 07:04:50 AM »
It would certainly be interesting if you could develop a new vanilla and monetize it. But I would definitely grow something commercially known. With a good plenifolia, for instance, you’d have something highly commercial and it could provide a pathway for something new at the same time.

I think I’m about 9.4N. So anything within ten degrees would be equatorial. Areas where vanilla is traditionally grown in Mexico are well to the north and perhaps could correspond to a higher altitude in an equatorial location.
Peter

19
My understanding is that while it’s hard to get a phyto for durian trees in Malaysia and Thailand that it is not so difficult in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Peter

20
What I hear is that phitosanitary certificates are hard to come by in Malaysia and Thailand, especially for durian.
For me, a very impressive nursery in Malaysia is Famies in Kuala Kangsar, Perak.
Peter

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Canistel Flavor Test (Lara Farms)
« on: January 10, 2025, 08:34:55 PM »
Very nice reviews.  I’ve never had the Fairchild but will jump at the opportunity.
I really appreciate your work and ability to describe the flavors so effectively!
Peter

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 09, 2025, 06:59:20 AM »
BTW, what is the avg. annual rainfall at your farm? Elevation? Does planifolia yield well under those conditions? Just learned from an orchid grower today that pompona is more shade-tolerant than planifolia.

Average rainfall is variable from very low of 85” to a high of more than 200”. It probably averages at about 120”. We are just above sea level.
It took us about 8 years to become a profitable farm. I have a construction background and I did some contracting, electric, pump installations, stuff like that.
You really need to have a good idea of the market to be successful. Not everything will work. Between the challenges of production and the issues of selling a lot can go wrong. What has worked the best for me really are the fruit trees like mangosteen and durian. Many things have come together but I’ve been at this since 1987. The last twelve years or so we’ve been making chocolate bars and this has worked out for us.
But vanilla has potential for us since we have a farmers market. Juice and kombucha producers buy vanilla as well in small quantities. I’m able to get $4 a bean. I’m over diversified but that’s more fun. I’m 74 and this is all my passion. I’ll never retire!  Also, huge plus, my son is really into all this stuff so the project is multigenerational.

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Vanilla pompona from seed?
« on: January 07, 2025, 07:10:49 AM »
What you have in the fotos doesn’t look that much like pompona.
I’m wondering if the vanilla that occurs there, pompona or not, has been cultivated traditionally or is it an activity that is more recent.
Peter

24
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

25
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

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