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Messages - K-Rimes

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1
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Cold Hardy Longan tree varieties
« on: March 21, 2023, 12:51:53 PM »
I have a kohala and it's a champ for me. It has not even blinked here in 9b. I don't think it would like <20f, this said. It didn't defoliate, but you can see some frost and snow damage on the leaves.

My suggestion would be kohala as everyone says that's the most vigorous grower.

Post a photo of these NY Longans!

2
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Various scions available (surinam cherry, De Seda Lucuma, white Sapote, feijoa
« on: March 21, 2023, 12:50:15 PM »
Quote from: Abirkett2 on March 21, 2023, 02:34:05 AM
New to all of this, so forgive me if completely ignorant, but can the ‘Coolidge’ Feijoa just be grafted on any Feijoa rootstock?

Growing some in Central Florida and read they won’t fruit here, but not sure if that’s just because it is not a self-fertile variety. Would love to graft onto them.

Thanks so much!

In 9b you're fine and are getting enough chill hours. It's the 10A+ folk who might have issues chill hour wise.

I did not get fruit on mine till I had several types flowering in close proximity. Definitely a plant I recommend grafting for pollination purposes. Cleft grafts work fine.

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: grafting question
« on: March 20, 2023, 04:16:44 PM »
My method is this:

1. Wrap scion in well stretched Buddy Tape
2. Clip bottom using pruning shears
3. Match with rootstock and clip it flat
4. Cut rootstock
5. Shape scion
6. Buddy Tape union
7. Tie union up with green gardening tape
8. Hold the rootstock and jam the scion in to really complete the union. This is really important for big scions that open up a gap.

That's it. I cut off the nursery tape when the union begins to swell, usually that takes 6-8 weeks. Sometimes I forget about it and it's ok, other times it makes the union REAL ugly if it's an aggressive grower so don't forget to release it.

Edit re: bags: I have used them for avocado when the heat turns up. Don't really know if it helps that much. Haven't used them on anything else. I sometimes ponder that they steam the scions if it gets really hot. It just seems to me that well wrapped BuddyTape is sufficient to keep moisture in but then I don't have nearly the avo grafting experience someone like Spaugh has. I follow his lead on that for sure! He has some good grafting videos on his YouTube / TFF post history.

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cocktail/Multigrafted trees - Garcinia, Plinia, Eugenia
« on: March 20, 2023, 03:59:54 PM »




Another cocktail project, pineapple guava.

Quote
Those are some good looking trees! I assume CORG is Cherry of the Rio Grande? I didn't realize there were so many different phenotypes?

Yep, eugenia involcrata. There aren't really that many "selected" CORGs other than scarlet and Ben's Beaut. I just name each cultivar after the collector I get it from. At this point, every seedling is a potential new cultivar so I'll keep sampling them when possible.

I think grafting eugenias is a very wise endeavour to ensure adequate cross-pollination and superior fruit set. The same is true for any fruiting plant really, so you may as well get to it!

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Achacha in California?
« on: March 20, 2023, 02:20:01 PM »
Quote from: aaronn on March 20, 2023, 02:02:04 PM
I’ve left small Garcinia seedlings outside this winter in Napa, 9b. I have managed to kill most of them this way. So far Lemon Drop seems to be the most hardy. Maybe a Luc’s will pull through. But Achacha, Superior Lemin Drop, and Seashore mangosteen look like they aren’t going to make it. I NEED to grow Achacha so I’m starting more seeds and will take better protection measures for a few years but if they can’t ultimately survive outside then I’ll give it up.

I tried all number of garcinia even in my greenhouse, and no go. I gave up. If I were in 10A I would plant by a house and forget about it for a decade... But 9b outdoors, fuhgettaboutit.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2023 Mango Season
« on: March 19, 2023, 07:53:58 PM »
Anyone have a forecast from what they're seeing now as to the peak of the season this year? I am considering a trip out to FL again, was a blast last year but was at the tail end. Don't want to miss it this year if it's truly as epic as y'all are saying. 

7
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Feijoa Scion for Trade
« on: March 19, 2023, 04:50:53 PM »
Quote from: D-Grower on March 06, 2023, 03:06:54 PM
What varieties have the largest sweetest fruit if you know that is?

I believe Mammoth is the biggest. I tacked that onto my tree yesterday.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Root stock for Ross Sapote graft
« on: March 19, 2023, 04:49:07 PM »
Most pouteria should be fine. Mamey is most common, green sapote, lucuma, canistel.

Most times you buy a Ross in a nursery, it is on mamey.

White sapote is casimiroa edulis, a part of the rutaceae family, and not compatible.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: PGA (Psidium Growers Association) - thread all about psidiums!
« on: March 17, 2023, 03:59:52 PM »
Quote from: SDPirate on March 17, 2023, 03:54:20 PM
Quote from: K-Rimes on March 17, 2023, 02:30:36 PM
Bellamy has a ton of psidium species in stock right now and I made a cart of them. Haven't pulled trigger yet but am tempted.

My favorite thing with Psidiums is their resilience in our conditions, plus they are rewarding in that they grow quite rapidly in the warm seasons.  Bonus that they are generally low maintenance.

That's what keeps me interested as well. I really love these crazy new species but I have to be honest with where I live and it is not 10a+ - a guava limps along through winter and outgrows the frost burn. That's what also keeps me looped in with the campomanesias.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: PGA (Psidium Growers Association) - thread all about psidiums!
« on: March 17, 2023, 02:30:36 PM »
Quote from: SDPirate on March 17, 2023, 02:25:31 PM

My real interest is in seeing if there are any Psidiums that can pose a bigger challenge for me here (maybe one of those species coming from Cerrado region).

Bellamy has a ton of psidium species in stock right now and I made a cart of them. Haven't pulled trigger yet but am tempted.

I've found that indeed, 9b has its limitations even for psidium and I've experienced some loss this year. Cas Guava is NOT frost tolerant is this year's lesson. Perhaps it will sprout from the roots again but I kind of doubt it. Know to cover it next year.


11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: PGA (Psidium Growers Association) - thread all about psidiums!
« on: March 16, 2023, 05:12:00 PM »
Quote from: K-Rimes on March 16, 2023, 05:08:23 PM

Pretty sure this is myrtoides, it got severely burnt by snow. The bottom is still fine but don't know how the top will fair.


Orange flesh guajava again, burnt back hard by the snow and frost. I suspect I will lose about 1' on each branch.


Psidium sp, that FancyPlantsLA calls Skittles and Marcos calls Araza Banana? It legitimately tastes like skittles. I have two. This one has not produced but it grows way faster than my other that makes lots of fruit


I like guava in general and want to collect more. I also have a strawberry, lemon, long leaf, guienense, wrinkle leaf (named after a collector I can't recall Jose Jimenez?) and several others I can't recall.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: PGA (Psidium Growers Association) - thread all about psidiums!
« on: March 16, 2023, 05:08:23 PM »







13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cocktail/Multigrafted trees - Garcinia, Plinia, Eugenia
« on: March 16, 2023, 01:40:47 PM »

CORG with: Ben's Beaut, Robert Scott, Garnet, and my own type. I have an el dorado seedling I grew from Marcos beside it usually, so I could toss that on if I wanted. I will be tacking on Scarlet from FFF soon.


Calycina with Nate's and Achetadomestica and my own (FFF sourced seedling)


Healed Garnet CORG graft


Healed Robert Scott and Ben's Beaut on CORG

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cocktail/Multigrafted trees - Garcinia, Plinia, Eugenia
« on: March 16, 2023, 01:35:11 PM »
I've been pretty obsessed with cocktailing trees the last few years. Below are some of them I've been working on. I'll add a few more photos here as I find them. Eugenia don't play nice with each other for cocktailing, as I've experienced. Even something that is supposedly the same species - involcrata x calycina failed. I don't think I'm bad at grafting, so, I think it's a compatibility issue. Discovering this, I just make cocktails of the same species together but of different "cultivars" or seedlings from different collectors as it is. I need to find a photo of my 4 type CORG and 3 type calycina. They've all healed nicely and are quite big. I do this mostly for cross pollination, but also so I can sample other varieties (they fruit in the 2nd year after grafting) to see how the varieties stack up.

See below:

Santa Barbara peach rootstock with: apriums, cherries, pluots, plums, necatplums, peaches and nectarines



Jaboticaba with 15 types or something, I should probably count


A plum rootstock with the same list above (different location)


Apple tree with 11 types



8 type citrus on inedible pomelo rootstock, I need to fill in the middle still as it water sprouts

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Anyone post plants on instagram?
« on: March 15, 2023, 05:49:05 PM »
@aerakrimes is my main
@kgogarden is my half-assed plant only account that I should update more than once a month probably

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Why and when did you start collecting rare fruit.
« on: March 15, 2023, 01:31:39 PM »
Growing up in Vancouver, Canada I was surrounded by other cultures and exposed to lots of different foods. As I became old enough to have some pocket money, I set out to try every single fruit that would come through the local grocery stores, and then found out about a big Asian market (T&T) that had all kinds of even more obscure fruit. I always tried it earnestly, and even if I hated it, I'd try it again later or more or less ripe to try to figure out if it was just me, or if the fruit was really just not that good.

Years later, I started traveling around as a professional skateboard racer and ended up spending months at a time in Brazil where I was blown away by pitanga and jaboticaba... Those stuck with me and I always found myself craving them.

I ended up moving to Santa Barbara, CA and figured I should add some fruit trees to my property and went down to the local nursery. Plums, pluots, figs. That was what was available I felt that it was enough, but then I started thinking back on those pitangas... Could I grow them here? Then I was looking up what a hardiness zone was and quickly became obsessed with collecting. It spiralled somewhat out of control as it does with most collectors, and now I'm honing in on what will really work and really deep into it. What I think really keeps me stoked on this is that I've literally never met a bad egg in the fruit collector community. Everyone is so excited, kind, helpful, and overall positive. It's a community I want to be a part of, and like others have mentioned, once you're so deep into collecting and growing things you become attached to them and it's what gets you out of bed in the morning.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Yangmei (Morella/Myrica rubra) thread
« on: March 14, 2023, 01:28:50 PM »



I should probably separate these soon. They’re starting to really take off!

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Patience is a Virtue - 1st Sabara flowers
« on: March 14, 2023, 12:23:18 PM »
Quote from: johnb51 on March 14, 2023, 11:56:07 AM
I'm wondering if Sabara always takes that many years to start producing fruit.  I've got a one-year-old plant.

I've heard some reports of sabara in 7-8 years in FL, but it's rare. Most of them are a 10-12 year sentence, especially out here in CA.

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My Yard 2022
« on: March 14, 2023, 11:37:58 AM »
Quote from: Jeramyl on March 14, 2023, 12:44:02 AM
Amazing yard indeed. Beekeeping is a fantastic hobby.  The more you learn about them, the more amazing they are. A great side effect is more pollination as well.

Try a swarm trap.  You can see some plans on horizontalhive.com I caught three swarms in two weeks in 2020.  It’s super fun and incredible to watch.  Also, the bees will be adapted to your area.  You can trade bees for trees later!

I don’t recommend the horizontal hive for everyone but the author is pretty convincing that this is one of the least work to reward styles and reasonably natural for the bees. It worked well for us.

I have two swarm traps up because my hive is kind of boiling and seems like a swarm is imminent. Added a honey super to give them more room and that slowed down the activity a bunch. They've been going NUTS the last few days bringing in pollen. My last inspection I did find queen cups, but none with eggs in them. If I'd seen eggs, I'd have done a split. There is another beekeeper down the street from me with tons of big hives so I suspect I might be able to catch his swarms.

Top bar hives look WAY easier to manage. The inspection I did on mine was exhausting, didn't find queen till frame 17/20 and the hive itself is easily 100lb+. It's chock full of honey already but in the brood boxes.

Quote from: Barbarian on March 14, 2023, 07:10:06 AM
I was thinking about trying to get a couple hives myself. Are you a member of of one of the local beekeeping groups and/or did you try any of their classes? I've been planning on doing that... or maybe just hit you up for advice. :p

I'm no pro by any means, but I've done a lot of reading and university of YouTube and feel reasonably equipped with how to manage them and what to look for.  If you need a hand let me know. My neighbour *was* a beekeeper (she loses them to varroa every year) and was part of the beekeeping guild that does classes in Goleta and it sounded like a decent community. There's another beekeeping group whose site is super dead so I didn't want to join that (events listed are from 2019). The guild seems to actually be active.

20
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My Yard 2022
« on: March 13, 2023, 07:31:17 PM »
Quote from: johnb51 on March 13, 2023, 07:25:22 PM
Are you high enough that you don't have flooding concerns?  Not close to any creeks?

I am at the very peak of the mountains here at 2200'. There is a creek about 100' elevation below me, it is a steep valley, so no concerns here. I suspect tomorrow I will be stranded at home for a few days as the 154 highway to my place frequently has mudslides and rock debris.

The town is a bit at risk, but this storm coming in will be weaker than our big blow out we had a couple months ago. That was 18.3" of rain at my house in 24 hours. 

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My Yard 2022
« on: March 13, 2023, 07:24:47 PM »
Quote from: ScottR on March 13, 2023, 07:08:33 PM
nice Kevin, you're getting plants in the ground lookin good 8)

Been going crazy this year. Hopefully I can get some fruit collector people to visit for a pizza night, I have a monster pizza oven I just finished.



Quote from: JCorte on March 13, 2023, 07:11:07 PM
Your property looks great and so well maintained.  Really love all the oaks, they add a majestic quality to the property.

Are you trying new figs in your fig block?  Do you have the fig wasp in your area?  I went a little crazy and collected over 100 varieties to trial.

Your bee hive is awesome, are you maintaining it yourself?  I want bees but don't have the time right now to research and learn how to care for them. 

Wish you an abundant harvest this year!

Janet

Yes, I jumped headlong into bees. It is absolutely mind blowing and so incredibly in depth, it's like a whole other hobby. This is a VERY strong colony I acquired in San Francisco and they survived a tough winter with snow, and 61" of rain (another 10" tomorrow looks like). Getting bees through winter is very challenging due to varroa mites, so I had to learn all about treatment for that. I'll have another 2 hives in April, so, I'll have my hands beezy. They are incredible though, and I can already see their pollination efforts working!

I have a ton of new figs. About 10-15 types down in that newly mulched area. The mulch is seriously 12" deep in spots so it should absolutely transform the sandy soil. We don't have fig wasps, but we do now have BFF so I wanted all the figs localized to the same area for bagging purposes. I've found the organza bags save the fruits, but it will necessitate keeping all of them small, hence the very close to each other look. The list is of new ones:

JH Adriatic
Battalgia
VDB
Golden Celeste
Latterulla
Sals GS
Scotts black
Strawberry unk
Randino
Hollier
Isbat
Ronde de Bordeaux
Saint Rita
Sals gene 




22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Testing my new Chinese lawn mower -- 209cc - $197 at Walmart
« on: March 13, 2023, 06:51:40 PM »
I always kinda laugh at the American superiority complex. A lot of the products made here are worse than overseas by a LONG shot. That's what happens when you outsource all your manufacturing for maximizing profits and expect the same profits out of USA made as well. You're going to have cut corners somewhere, and it's not wages, so it'll be materials. As someone who wants to produce new product lines stateside, often it is impossible to find someone who can manufacture a satisfactory product. The most famous skateboard truck brand in existence Independent just offshored all their production to China because the Oakland, CA based casting company was absolutely blowing it on quality - tons of voids, bent axles, broken kingpins, and holes so far off you couldn't even mount them. The new manufacturing quality is pristine and looks machined or forged in comparison.

It's not to say that China doesn't specialize in cheap trashy products for the lowest price and highest profit margin, but that some of the factories over there far surpass American made stuff and this is especially true from Taiwanese products. Taiwan literally owns the entire bicycle and bicycle component market.

Some of these Chinese made engine products are pretty darn good. I was really happy with my Harbor Freight generator which was 1/4 the price of a Honda. As others have noted here, the quality and price of these products matches the needs of homeowners better than would a premium USA, Japanese, or European made product. If it's your bread and butter day job, get a Husqvarna or Stihl, but give me the $200 LingLong please!

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Yangmei (Morella/Myrica rubra) thread
« on: March 13, 2023, 02:51:18 PM »
Cold damage or fertilizer burn are my guesses.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: GARNETS CORGs are budding-up - Soon there will be blooms!
« on: March 13, 2023, 01:49:52 PM »
Quote from: Jeramyl on March 12, 2023, 09:03:38 PM
Nice post Kevin.  I just looked up the fruit, and it reminds me of the grumichama.

Have you had grumichama?  The fruit looks very similar and I wonder if the flavor is as well?

I don't find them to be that similar. CORG has more complexity from my experience, but I would say grumichama is notably sweeter and perhaps "spicier".

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My Yard 2022
« on: March 13, 2023, 11:11:28 AM »
Quote from: Jeramyl on March 12, 2023, 09:13:05 PM
K,

Your yard looks fantastic and likely the envy of many a grower on here. You’ve done a great job. Amazing the variety of trees you have. 

I’ve just restarted at the new house about two years ago and I’m far, far behind you, but look forward to having a nice plant list in the future. In the meantime, I’ll have to live vicariously through growers like you and a few others.

I may have to reach out fora visit if my kid is accepted to UCSB.  Find out in a week or so.  He looks good on paper but it’s amazing how competitive that school has become.  It’s a roll of the dice at this point.

Jeramyl, you're welcome any time just DM me and we will make a time for it. The yard is coming out of the "boring" winter phase now and stuff is flowering and leafing out but not much to eat. It really fires off from May onward with fruit starting to be around in June. Crossing my fingers and toes for your kid, it's a great school at UCSB and really nice town to be in.

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