The Tropical Fruit Forum

I have some Kampong Mauve sugar apple seeds, potted Sugar apple seedlings (4"-6" tall) as well as some in ground (you'll need a pots and soil to did them up) lemon drop mangosteen seedlings and Noble muscadine grape seeds also, and maybe a couple of Fairchild #2 seedlings.

Oh, scions of my several annona (Geffner, Kampong mauve, sugar apple, purple custard apple, San Pablo) are here for the taking too.

Again, free, in person, local pickup only in North Broward So. Flo. No shipping, don't ask :-)



 

A friend who has been in Puerto Rico had some of my Sweetheart Lychees and she said quenepa is very similar. I've only seen pix and do not know anyone growing them.

I've been wanting bees to visit my yard for years, and since yesterday a hive started in an overturned pot on the ground next to my lychee. The pix of "good" bees don't appear to match, but the africanized pix I saw do.

I have inadvertently been within two feet of them while picking lychee and they seem to ignore me.

So, Q's.

1. Are these africanized bees?
2. If so can I use bee / wasp killer to remove them?
3. If not africanized should I just leave them alone? My dog runs around the yard and I'd be concerned that she might get interested in them and get attacked.

Almost every year my Julie seedling gives me an odd fruit. First there was the nose, now it's a big behind!  I have to spend more time looking at the fruits on this tree :-) Anyone else have funny fruit pix?

I have a 7' tall (4" caliper) Mamey in ground 10 years bought as a 7 gallon. It's one of the few trees I've had that languishes on but I still have had patience with it waiting for it to get on with it. The upper branches have always experienced a growth flush, and stem die back soon afterward, so it remains small.

Currently the upper branches are not sending out new growth and existing leaves are yellowing and withering.

OTOH, today I saw that it's pushing all sorts of new growth on the trunk at four to five feet from the soil while upper branches are all losing leaves and the upper stems are dying. Is it time to pull it, or pug it? Is "pugging" even possible to do without killing it? If I chop it off, should I first wait for the new growth to push out fully before decapitating it?

I have a Lula seedling that I'd like to graft some Lula budwood onto. PM me if you have anything in So. Flo.

Thanks,
 
    Gary

I have a Lancitilla that has not thrived in over 6 years in ground. It grows like a weed but has produced only 1 fruit that rotted on the tree.  I "pugged" it and am looking for scions of a Beverly or another green (preferably late season) when ripe mango.

I got interested in smaller papaya plants because the L-A-R-G-E samples I've had were a pain to pick fruit from as they grew very tall. When it came time to take them down they were a seriously big mess. The one redeeming aspect is the fruits were very good without any hint of the typical rancid smell, or vomit overtones in the flavor.

So, I noted a few small stature samples from a batch of seedlings I planted, and picking the smallest tree from every generation yielded truly dwarf (by humongous size comparison to the original parent) trees. These fruited three to four feet from the ground, and stayed petite (no more than 7-8 feet) while keeping a base caliper less than six inches in diameter. I'm on my third and possibly last generation of attempts to get reasonably edible fruit.

Each successive generation yielded fewer, smaller fruits with fewer seeds, and on this third generation, the fruit are insipid AND none of the very few seeds that were in the fruit have germinated so far.  Surprisingly the squirrels seem to like them more than other fruits I'd prefer they not eat :-)

This is so disappointing as I had high hopes for these samples. Has anyone else done anything like this? 

 

My Sweetheart has exploded in bloom after a few years of shy blooming. The Mauritius bought in a 3 gallon pot and put in ground ten years ago is in its first bloom and is trying desperately to catch up to the sweetheart. The purple custard apple having been a stingy bloomer In ground 5 years (from a 7+ gal pot)  has over 30 fruits in size from ping pong balls to softballs. The fairchild #2 gave up a huge crop and has slowed to a drizzle and while some of the mango bloomed and dropped everything, at least the Carrie has set a bunch, I hope they hold on.

On the down side... The two Caimito have bloomed a few years in a row and nothing else and the Excalibur Mamey (bought in a 7 or 10 gallon pot) is still devoid of blooms after 10 years in ground. It's getting pulled if it does not bloom by the fall.  The soursop is in ground 7 years and had ONE fruit pollinate last fall, the tree rats got it.

So, anyone else have good (or bad) news?

One of my papaya is giving up the sweetest fruit I've ever had in a papaya. The fruit is golden yellow, and juicy the tree is as yet manageable in size but I suspect it will ultimately be a big fellow. 

Seeds in any quantity for South Florida residents to pick up only, sorry no traveling or Mail. PM me for info, those who know me call or text.

I had a 50+ gallon rain barrel that was scheduled to go to recycling then I thought I'd punch a bunch of holes in it and compost my GF's and neighbors kitchen debris.

With it nearly full (not completely composted yet) I'm thinking that with the "recipe" I found online (1/3 garbage, 1/3 leaves and such, and 1/3 soil) I'm beginning to rethink the whole deal.

I did not have any soil lying about so I went and bought nearly a dozen cheap bags of "top soil" for the 1/3 soil part, and have used my leaf litter (depriving some of my trees of mulch) for the other 1/3 to mix with the garbage. Yes, I'll eventually wind up with nearly 50 gallons of compost but realistically I could just as well have bought a few 50 pound bags of Black Cow composted manure and not have wasted the effort.

Yeah, I saved the dump from getting our 15 gallons or so of garbage but once this experiment is done, I'm thinking of going the black cow route.

Has anyone else started composting and made it a LONG term endeavor? Your reasons for continuing to do it, aside from save the planet issue.

Over two week I was stung in my palm by an insect I have never seen before. It was long, black, 3/4 of an inch long and 1/4 inch wide and wingless with a stinger at the rear 

The sting was like notning I ever experienced from a bee or wasp. It was like an electric shock followed by extreme itching for over a week  Any Ideas what it may have been?

I have a number of papaya growing, when small (under 9' or so) they're nice property borders. I don't mind handling fruit fly, or the mess they create with leaves, but at the end of life at a large size I don't like removing them. So, I kill them before they get unmanageable.

I read of TR Hovey but I bought some seeds a few years ago, and what I received and grew was anything but small. Does anyone have a source of true dwarf papaya seeds?