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Topics - Finca La Isla

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26
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Landolphia
« on: May 04, 2017, 03:56:17 PM »
Does anyone have any experience with cultivating and landolphia species?

27
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Ficus opposita
« on: March 30, 2017, 08:32:43 AM »
Anyone with experience with this small fig from tropical Australia?

28
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Best chainsaw chain oil
« on: February 12, 2017, 10:39:52 AM »
I got the idea to use cooking oil for lubricating the chain on my chainsaw while reading a Paul Stametz book on propagating fungi.  He simply inoculates the wood chips while sawing by putting spores in the chain oil.  Obviously you wouldn't be very successful doing this with a petroleum based product.
I spoke with one chainsaw mechanic here and he said it shouldn't be a problem to substitute cooking oil.  Probably, for an organic orchard you shouldn't be able to contaminate it with conventual chain oil either.  As it turns out I can get cheap soy oil or local palm oil for cheaper than what's sold as chain oil anyway.
Does anyone else use cooking oil for chain lubrication, any thoughts?
Peter

29
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mamey sapote trunk rot
« on: August 31, 2016, 11:30:46 AM »
We have a serious problem that we were unaware of until the foliage started turning yellow. Inspecting the trunk revealed advanced rot to the point that the tree is trying to send out roots from above the effected area. Even well above.  In cleaning the damage we don't see anything obvious in the way of insect infestation or pathogenic mycelium. My response is to cut back a good amount of foliage, treat the damaged, rooting area with EM and I think I am going to build up some soil where the roots want to work.
Has anyone had a similar experience, have some other suggestions?
Thanks,
Peter


30
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Salacca affinis production
« on: August 25, 2016, 12:57:49 PM »
We have been getting production on the red salak for a couple of years and now I am trying to ramp up as the presentation and quality is pretty good. The pulp is juicier than the Javan s. Salacca and there are no spines on the fruits themselves to be knocked off.
Salak produces better with some pollinating help and we have an effective routine for the s. salacca but the affinis presents some other challenges. Interesting is that affinis starts to make fruits regardless of pollination and those fruits develop partially while staying empty inside. You can see in the photo the difference. Some entire racimes do that and it is hard to know early on whether to cut them off or not.
The plants are all seedlings, the fruit quality is very nice from the fruits pictured. This material originally came from Jim West.
Peter





31
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Help ID garcinia
« on: February 05, 2016, 08:03:59 PM »
I was shown this garcenia today at a govt. collection and it had been mis-identified.  apparently it is diocious as it continues to flower with no set, poor thing.



32
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Cherapu selections?
« on: December 28, 2015, 11:22:50 AM »
I am just getting going with some g. Prainiana production and while the fruit quality is good the production, so far, is minimal. Are there selections, are these things pretty much the same? 
I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that the males flower first and more profusely. I'm patient but what I am wondering is if it makes sense to start grafting onto some seedlings that I have using scion material from the known female tree even though it has yet to demonstrate real good production?
Peter

33
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Siraitia grosvenorii
« on: November 08, 2015, 11:09:36 AM »
Anybody familiar with or growing Siraitia grosvenorii ?
Thanks, Peter

34
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Pataxte harvest and process
« on: October 14, 2015, 09:12:25 PM »
The pataxte fruits have been dropping and we have been having some fun with them.  The fruit pulp is nice, quite a bit thicker and creamier than cacao though not as sweet.  In any case the first thing to do is get the pulp off the seed and we eat most of it.  We are not fermenting the seeds like we would with cacao but simply drying them.  this takes longer than you might think, at least a week here in our humid environment.  An indigenous woman, dona Anna, is helping in the photos with the roasting, according to her traditions.  The roasted seeds need to have their skins removed which we did by hand although for a larger quantity I would break them up and winnow the result.  The roasted seeds/nuts are pretty good having a rather neutral, pine nut, maybe macadamia flavor and texture.  They have promise and we are encouraged to process them this way to include in packets of dried fruit that we sell.  To take it a step further we milled the roasted seeds into a fine flour that we then made a hot drink with.  This is traditional and could be mixed with cacao, cinnamon, etc.  I wanted to try it plain and it has a buttery, nutty taste.  I can see how it might smooth a hot chocolate drink that didn't have milk.  The quantity you see in the photos is what you would get from 3-4 fruits.  Our tree produced about 15-20 fruits this season.
I'm having some trouble loading the photos for some reason, I will try with another device.
Peter

35
Tropical Fruit Discussion / The morning's harvest
« on: September 11, 2015, 03:40:46 PM »
This is usually our best time of year here in our corner of Costa Rica.
Actually there is much more rain here than is normal at this time, an El Niņo affect.
Fortunately it hasn't troubled the harvest so much.
Peter


36
Tropical Fruit Discussion / our farmers market sales season starting
« on: August 15, 2015, 07:38:37 PM »
We're getting started on our commercial season. First up has been achacharu, followed by chupa chupa, and now marang, Mamey sapote, and durian!  This durian is a seedling that has performed well and is popular here. I am planning on making it our signature durian.
The order of production is working nicely at this point. Just as the achacharu is finishing up it will be replaced by mangosteen and champedak is in the wings with an impressive harvest.
We also have a lot of pineapples and some jackfruit but we tend to dehydrate these instead of selling them fresh.
Peter




37
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Achacharu in Costa Rica
« on: July 24, 2015, 01:16:35 PM »
This is the second week of harvest of this garcinia for us this season. We pick about 25kg at a time for the farmers market. The fruit quality is pretty good, especially if you have the patience to let them develop a dark yellow color. The material originally came from Bill Whitman.
Peter




38
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Fruit tree id and info
« on: July 17, 2015, 02:18:26 PM »
This is a photo of a tree that is flowering for the first time for us. I got the seed from Jim West and the name, it seems, is toromita or something like that. Does anyone know about this?
Thanks, Peter


39
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Dwarf mulchi
« on: April 15, 2015, 08:17:06 PM »
This Eugenia species that I got from Jim West in Ecuador is pretty interesting.  The plant is not very big and the fruit is not too bad, quite a novelty the way the cauliferous fruits cling to the trunk.
In the photo the small whit flowers can be seen.  There is a yellow patch of some fungi or something.  The tree is about 1M.
Peter






40
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Garcinia Parviflora?
« on: April 15, 2015, 06:09:11 PM »
I have garcinia parvafolia coming along and it is easy enough to get information about it.  However, I have, among my garcinia collection, 5 trees we have labeled as g. Parvaflora.  I received seeds from another grower in Venezuela about 3-4 years ago and these plants are growing well.  The height ranges from 8' to 12'.  I am posting a photo of one of the trees and also what is supposed to be a photo of the fruit.  The fruit photos look a little like g. Forbessi but the tree obviously is not.
If anyone has any information on this tree please share it.
Thanks, Peter




41
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Baccaruea dulcis
« on: April 14, 2014, 06:09:19 PM »
This is a new fruit for us and it is always exciting when you plant something you've never had and finally get to sample it!  It doesn't get old.
The presentation reminds us of duku but the fruit has a taste a little like achacharu in that it is a little tart but with an attractive sweetness as well.  Perhaps as the fruits ripen more the balance will tilt to more sweet.  The seeds are small and flat so what you see of the pulp is all edible.  We got this material from Jim West and while the male trees had flowered last year this is the first time for the female.  It's been about 7 years from planting the seeds.
Peter




42
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Lansium ID
« on: March 08, 2014, 09:56:38 PM »
What type of lansium is this?
Peter


43
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Catch of the day
« on: March 07, 2014, 08:43:28 PM »
We've been at it for most of the day and this is our haul for the farmers' market tomorrow. 
Our area is the envy of much of Costa Rica at this time of year since we can have two fruit seasons during the year.  Much of this small country has a long enough dry season that favors mangoes but limits the kind of fruits you see in the back of my pick-up to a single production per year.
Peter


44
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mangifera casturi, Kalimantan Mango
« on: January 25, 2014, 08:09:11 PM »
Anybody growing this, and/or eaten it?
Peter

45
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Fruit harvest picking up
« on: July 14, 2013, 01:06:49 PM »
Our mangosteen season is on here.  I have 30 trees loaded with fruit and am starting to pick two times a week right now.  The season was poor last year and perhaps that is why these fruits are so nice and big. 
This fruit season is shaping up nicely.  It started with durian and now we are working mangosteen.  Next should be chupa chupa and marang, then champedak.  Langsat  is coming late after achacharu.  All this time we are having salak as well which should peak toward the end of the year.  Our single variety salaks, that are a Java type, can produce throughout the year to some degree but the production is concentrated from July to January.

46
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Salak production maintenance
« on: March 31, 2013, 08:44:21 PM »
I have a small, commercial planting of salak and I have made a lot of progress in general maintenance, propagation by division, and increased fruit set through supporting pollination.  I have read about culling some fruits off the bunch to increase the size/quality of the remaining fruits and am wondering if anyone has experience with this.  At what point is this best done and exactly what would be the precise technique employed?

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