The Tropical Fruit Forum

Can you compare American Concord grapes with Pione, Kyoto, and Black King? I love Asian grapes but here in America, the most similar to Asian grapes I can get is Concord.

I don’t remember how the American concords taste, and last time I bought them they didn’t have any sourness.

The Japanese grapes all have a similar flavor but Pione has a slight wine taste and is typically smaller I think. Kyoho is larger and imo tastes a little better. Black King is by far the largest and best tasting, I think it might also be a little more sour than kyoho, but I haven’t had them side by side.
Side by side, Pione is a littler sweeter and has more wine flavor than Black King.

I wish they would sell black king in the US. Also the Kyoho grapes in the US taste nothing like the Japanese Kyoho grapes, idk what they’re doing wrong

I loved Kyoto and Pione grapes from Japan. I’m in Hong Kong now and they’re selling these Japanese grapes, I had just bought 2 bunches of pione grapes when I saw this gigantic grape called “Black King”
I bought it for $18 USD.

It is sweet but balanced with some acidity. Seedless, and about 30 grams per grape. It has a grape flavor but is more natural than artificial. Also the skin is very thin and peels off in one piece.

I found this link I think it’s their website:

https://www.porta-y.jp/en/leisure_culture/119556

If you have a friend or neighbor with a large, healthy lychee tree, you can request to dig some soil to inoculate your soil with any beneficial microbes it may have. Also, Lychees love a thick layer of mulch beneath their canopy and out past the drip line. The thick layer of mulch and the deterioration of plant matter and whole microbial ecosystem it supports significantly increases the rate of growth of Lychee trees. The mulch also holds in more moisture and can increase the ambient humidity which may benefit leaf growth.

If the edges of your Lychee leaves look burnt, your water quality is probably poor. Rain, pond or RO water is very good for Lychees. Most hose end water filters are useless. Better water quality and a wind break for younger trees is extremely beneficial.

Once a lychee tree gets some size, city water is fine and a wind break is not necessary.

Lychees love Iron and I drench my trees with chelated Iron throughout the growing season.

Simon

I’m the only one I know of who grows anything cool or even edible lol. Tropical fruit isn’t really trending near me in Tarzana

It's probably because the root system is not strong enough. I had many of my purchased air-layer lychees do the same thing (4-5 plants died) even after 6-9 months of keeping them in pots in the shade. Lychee seems to be a weak plant until it has some good root system which might take a year or so. Since your plant is in ground you might have issues with the soil mixture. I have two small plants like yours in ground now and one died after 9 months, the other is still alive. Of course in my case it could be due to the fact that I don't regularly water my plants, if I remember I will water it once a week so it probably doesn't like the inconsistent watering it gets.

Once it starts showing new growth it should be good. Other forum members will probably give you better advice on the soil and watering since they seem to have no problem with them. The only lychee tree I have that is no maintenance is my 25yr old Brewster which is a large tree (18'x20') and doesn't need any special care except to trim back the tall branches each year.

I'm sure Simon and others with more experience growing lychees will provide feedback here.

That makes sense. I  amended my soil with peat and pumice. I planted it about a year ago

Awesome! Where did you get your tree? I couldn’t find one anywhere

https://www.champanursery.com/tropical-n-w
https://www.mimosala.com/available-at-store

Can you ship to California?
I’d like all 4 of the white sapotes

Also in SFV and my banana plant looks in  quite similar condition to yours. I am a beginner myself so I'm interested in following this thread. I have noticed that my bananas would have leaves looking lush and after about a month begin to look like the leaves in your picture and then shrivel up. I only give my banana plant a bunch of steer manure and compost (the bagged one from home depot) and a lot of water.

Yes this is the same exact thing that happened to me. They were fine when it got to 108 a couple months ago but for some reason aren’t doing well now.

What were you expecting?

Is it Passiflora foetida?

Are there any place that for sure has lychee varieties like sweetheart, mauritius, emperor, or no Mai Tzse?

99 ranch has yangmei flavored chips right now. I've never tried the fruit so now I have some idea what it tastes like.

These tasted bad to me lol

Can anyone recommend a good foliar fertiliser for micro nutrients and trace elements preferably in Australia?  Im already using powerfeed and seasol for foliar but i dont believe either of these are for micros.

What micronutrient are you missing? I use fish and kelp foliar which has most macro and micronutrients