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Messages - roblack

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2376
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Any Shelf Life to Atemoya pollen
« on: April 17, 2019, 09:11:18 AM »
Store pollen in fridge in an airtight container with desiccant pack. Pollen only, get rid of all other plant material.

I have stored without desiccant pack for about 2 days, with pollinating success. Har says you can store for a week or more with the desiccant.

2377
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How do I tell when my jabos are ripe????
« on: April 16, 2019, 10:13:54 PM »
Congrats on the first jabos!

Once they start to change from green to red/purple/black (depending on variety), they usually can be eaten. Find the darkest one and give it a try. The flesh on the inside is best, and the skin is a little sour with a funny taste. I eat them whole until tired of the skin, then switch to the insides.

They keep well in the fridge.

2378
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: To Mulch or Not to Mulch (Fruit Trees)
« on: April 15, 2019, 08:57:32 PM »
Quote from: behlgarden on April 15, 2019, 03:42:24 PM
Quote from: roblack on April 13, 2019, 12:15:32 PM
My neighbor just told me that landscapers had heavily mulched her avocado tree (week or 2 ago?), and it quickly died. It was a large tree. The stump is at least 2 feet in diameter. Will try to get more info.

very fresh raw mulch can kill the tree when combined with water. The mulch gets hot, very hot if its fresh wood clippings as its trying to decompose, similar to how compost gets hot. that heat can literally kill plants and trees.

That makes sense. A few years ago, our yard went through a major transformation. We chopped down a bunch of trees (mostly hong kong orchid, 1 large avocado, etc.). The large piles of mulch/clippings smoked noticeably for a couple of days. Steady clouds emanating from the piles. A strange sight.

The landscapers eventually took all of the trimmings, and brought back aged mulch. They have a mini-mountain of mulch from all their jobs. The owner said old mulch was better, but don't recall him saying why. He also owns a private nursery (ornamentals and some fruit trees including rollinia) and seems to know plants well. Must know something is up with fresh mulch.   

2379
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: To Mulch or Not to Mulch (Fruit Trees)
« on: April 14, 2019, 09:15:09 AM »
Update on neighbor's avocado. She said the tree was trimmed, and trimmings from the tree were used to mulch. Tree was dead within a week. Sounds like combo of stress from trimming combined with over-mulching/choking the tree out.

2380
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: To Mulch or Not to Mulch (Fruit Trees)
« on: April 13, 2019, 12:15:32 PM »
My neighbor just told me that landscapers had heavily mulched her avocado tree (week or 2 ago?), and it quickly died. It was a large tree. The stump is at least 2 feet in diameter. Will try to get more info.

2381
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rollinia/Biriba (a. mucosa) Hand Pollination
« on: April 10, 2019, 09:41:37 PM »
Quote from: PurpleAlligator on March 22, 2019, 02:29:50 PM
Early flowers allowed me to gather pollen and hand pollinate ate the same time. My 3 year old tree now has around 30 fruit set and growing. I did another round of hand pollination but did need to gather the pollen and store it for a day or two. I’ll know soon if it was successful.

I gathered the pollen in a plastic lid for a mason jar then put it in a ziplock bag and stored it in my wine fridge as my regular fridge is below 40 degrees and I don’t know if that’s too cold for the pollen.

Here’s the fruit from the initial set.








Your pics shared hope and got me motivated!

Much appreciation for the desiccant tip Har. Going to try that for sure. If pollen can last a week, hand pollination gets a lot easier.

Was looking at the tree today and had trouble counting all the tiny fruit. Wondering, how much fruit can my tree hold? Probably 10 feet tall; would be taller but chopped the top a couple of times. Trunk has to be 7 inch diameter or more, too relaxed to go check.

2382
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rollinia/Biriba (a. mucosa) Hand Pollination
« on: April 10, 2019, 11:47:25 AM »
Thanks Jeff! That helps.

2383
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rollinia/Biriba (a. mucosa) Hand Pollination
« on: April 09, 2019, 09:57:31 PM »
Quote from: Alejandro45 on April 09, 2019, 01:55:07 PM
I do agree with having mulch and allowing leaves to for a habitat underneath for the lesser known pollinators that do their work at night. I have seen small beetles, flies, and roaches that look very much like a beetle out at night in mango flowers and in tilo flowers hands down the smallest and tightest flower I have ever seen. Roblack do the flowers close at night? 

Got the beetles and some kind of little moth that might be working on the flowers.

No. Flowers do not close at night/ever, once open. Early evening (or later) is actually a good time to gather pollen and/or hand pollinate.

I agree with you Jeff regarding annonas needing fert. Rollinia wasn't even flowering well until fed, and now flowers heavily with periodic feedings. It has held fruit before with no help, just never more than 4 or 5 at a time.

How often do you fertilize your annonas? Eyeballing my Geffner with one measly flower. 

2384
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pics from the garden
« on: April 08, 2019, 01:26:17 PM »
Thanks FM! It's been a lot of fun putting the collection together. Even more fun consuming the harvest.

2385
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: When does Soursop Flower in S. Fla
« on: April 07, 2019, 02:08:31 PM »
Getting flowers 2 - 3 times a year. Got some medium sized fruit going now. Seems it flowered around the beginning of winter. It will usually flower in the summer, but pretty much whenever.

Definitely one to hand pollinate, as fruit set has been light otherwise. 

2386
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pics from the garden
« on: April 07, 2019, 02:00:08 PM »
Getting better on the caimito ripening thing. Leaving the last ones on the tree longer, as they are sweeter when allowed to wrinkle some.


Dream scion grafted on Gefner


...another


guanabana. 5 good fruits going.


groupshot


jabos. got about 3.5 lbs of fruit total. tree is fruiting again.


ndm4


Thai Dwarf


Thai Dwarf vs FL Everbearing


Pineapple, sugar loaf or FL special?


passi nitida


Sweethearts, yum


macadamia flowers. tree needs some tlc


2387
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rollinia/Biriba (a. mucosa) Hand Pollination
« on: April 07, 2019, 01:48:43 PM »
Success!





Yeah Ache, I've noticed the beetles as well. Bees cannot pollinate rollinia. The problem is the timing of the male and female flowers. Seems I'm getting more crossover lately, with a couple of male flowers accompanying a bunch of females. Hand pollinating fresh or refrigerated pollen about 3 times a week.

I've heard the beetles like leaves and mulch beneath the tree. 

No idea on fruit spacing. Looking forward to having an overload problem.

2388
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 50 mango tree orchard- 1 year update
« on: April 06, 2019, 03:19:11 PM »
Diggin it! Poly culture is the way to go, really impressed with the intermingling of beneficial plants. I salute you.

2389
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Does Star Apple Taste Any Good?
« on: April 06, 2019, 11:47:09 AM »
Just tasted the first fruit off my tree (Corrongo) and it was a bit insipid. A little sweetness, with a hint of something similar to grape. It was subtly pleasant. 

Being that this is the first time the tree has flowered and fruited, will withhold judgment for the time being. Want to see how it fares over a few seasons.

Think I will clean and freeze the fruit for smoothies.

2390
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Help me pick my next mango variety
« on: April 05, 2019, 03:53:47 PM »
I've heard that ST does not produce consistently. 

2391
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Durian Island Tour Invite
« on: April 04, 2019, 09:43:54 AM »
This sounds awesome!

...and the guy feeding the elephant durian, what a pick! I want to go on a feeding elephants durian tour.

2392
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal mango flowering update
« on: April 03, 2019, 06:53:48 PM »
simply lovely

2393
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Abiu - what am I doing wrong ?
« on: April 02, 2019, 08:48:35 AM »
Quote from: Das Bhut on April 02, 2019, 04:55:58 AM
Abiu is about as picky as Jaboticaba when it comes to water/ph. Needs a lot of water and a low ph

This does not fit with my experience. A large jabo in-ground is doing great here. Abiu is much more sensitive to hi ph soil ime.

2394
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Abiu - what am I doing wrong ?
« on: April 01, 2019, 09:23:32 PM »
Lost mine a while back, probably due to high alkaline soil. Lots of limestone. Never seemed happy in-ground.

2395
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pics from the garden
« on: March 29, 2019, 10:01:37 PM »
Went ahead and picked 2 caimitos. About 6 more on the tree. Not too bad for first time fruiting. Hope they taste good.





2396
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Can anyone id this “Cuban Annona” for sale on eBay?
« on: March 29, 2019, 04:41:25 PM »
Not sure what that is, but Cubans often refer to custard apple as "chirimoya" and "annon"

2397
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pics from the garden
« on: March 28, 2019, 08:41:22 AM »
Thanks JY!

Just checked the caimito, and the ripest fruit is about 70% purple. Going to watch and wait.

The borojoa plants were from 7 heads off eBay. I had 3, lost one, and one of the 2 left is not looking so good. Haven't really given them the attention they need.

2398
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pics from the garden
« on: March 27, 2019, 11:23:59 PM »



Purple Caimito ripening. Does anyone know if this is ready to pick? Fruit has softened up some, lots of purple on other side.

2399
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rollinia/Biriba (a. mucosa) Hand Pollination
« on: March 22, 2019, 12:16:38 PM »
We have a lot of flowering plants for butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, and whatever else. Not sure what plants would bring in rollinia pollinators though. Any ideas?

2400
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rollinia/Biriba (a. mucosa) Hand Pollination
« on: March 22, 2019, 10:35:21 AM »
Found a small beetle in one of the male flowers whilst gathering pollen. Seems like the same problem would exist unless the beetles have little fridges to keep the pollen fresh.

Have harvested a few fruits without hand pollination, but not nearly enough for the tree size. On a mission to get some production out of this tree!

Hopefully will update soon with some nice fruit set. 

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