The Tropical Fruit Forum

If you have a grafted Sweet Tart on good Cali root stock please let me know.
Thanks for you time.

So me and my family have been in Kauai for the last week and we have been going to a new farmers market ever other day. We have been eating all the tropical fruit I can't get fresh at home but the Avocados have been a stand out! Today I had my first Sharwil and I was in complete heaven I have to believe this is the most ideal texture to any avocado. I also have green gold, yamagata and several other unnamed varieties that I have picked from trees off the road or are seedlings grow from someone's backyard and sold at farmers markets.
With all these excellent varieties on the island why do we California avocado guys not see them grown or sold? I know this trip has been a game changer for me and I will be trying to move mountains to get a scion or two on my backyard avocados.
Also another interesting observation while being here driving around I must have seen over 50 wild avocado trees growing next to the road in drainage ditches, heck the hotel I'm staying at right now has a row of maybe twenty trees on the side of the property and 95% of the trees I see are the healthiest looking avocado trees I have ever seen with nothing but jungle compost and five rain storms a day. This has really made me think about how much I water my trees. I will try and post some pictures of all the beautiful trees tomorrow.

So I have felt very inspired by reading recent posts about the "Rain Forest Plum" Euginenia Candolleana and Achacha, Garcinia Humilis. I am looking for any of the other Socal guys to speak up and give any use full info they have gathered from growing and fruiting these trees? Microclimate, fertilization, soil type, sun, how long it took to fruit? I was thinking of starting these from seed and keeping them in pots for maybe two years before planting them in a protected spot in the yard with the best humidity. Do you guys think that seeds that are from plants grown in California would have a better chance than seeds ordered from Hawaii?
If anyone has any other recommendations on the other different rare Eugenia's that I should be trying please let me know.
If anyone has plants or seeds for sale that is local I would really appreciate a private message, thanks.

So I have been on a mission to find some different types of passion fruit that can be grown in Southern California. It seems to me that everyone has the Fredricks variety and I would love to establish a vine that has some different acid to sugar balance.
I stopped by Exotica in Vista this last Monday to buy a Grumichama and several different mango seedlings for rootstock. While we were down in the area, me and the family went to another favorite nursery, Atkins Nursery. We bought several boxes of white sapote, reed avacodos and passion fruit.
While I was picking out the bigger Fredricks passion fruit from the box, I noticed another box of passion fruit sitting next to it. The thing that caught my eye was all the different colors and sizes. I asked the young guy that was working there and he told me that a local man grows a lot of different types and gives them to him to sell at the farmers market.
If anyone has any idea what types these are or if they might be in contact with the person in Fallbrook that is growing these, I would be interested in hearing more.
There look to be three different cultivars from my observations: two yellow types (one of short, fat & circular, the other is long & oval) and a very light red colored one. This one has five distinct ridges that don't show up very well on the photos.
I will post a taste update in a few days when I have the time.

Well let's start off with the Bad. About three weeks ago, we had some of the coldest temperatures in my backyard that I have ever seen. For the better part of a week and a half we were in the 30s every night with the lowest night in the mid 20s  . I lost a lot of new trees in my backyard including Coconut Cream, Placid, Ugly Betty and Orange Essence Mango's and four or five of my Manila Mango seedlings. All of my Banana's burned back to the ground after growing none stop through the winter and all of my young papayas dropped all of their leaves. At least whatever survived a huge cold spell like that will be stronger for it in the long run.

The Good: last weekend was my B-Day and I'm blessed with an incredible wife that I have been with for 13 years now. She will listen to me talk about whatever new Gary Zill Mango is coming out, grafting, rootstocks, different cultivars of whatever, and countless soil nuances. One of my favorite things to do with my wife and two kids is take them to different nurseries and arboretums from LA to San Diego. My wife knows how bummed I was with all of my mango losses and told me that my gift this year was going to be the large Manila mango that I found at Atkins Nursery in Fallbrook several months ago. If you have not read Simon's thread on Southern California mango growing, he talks about the importance of the Manila mango rootstock to have a longterm healthy tree in our area. The Manila mango rootstock is easy to find in our area at Home Depot or Lowe's, but most are barely a small twig with a few leaves on it. To find Manila rootstock in such a large size for sale is a rarity. Once my family got to Atkins Nursery, we were told they had two boxed Manila mango seedlings about 7-10 years old. I started looking at the two trees to decide which one would be the preferred one to buy. I quickly noticed one had a superior shape to the canopy, but had very severe trunk rot issues. The other Manila had a healthy trunk, but much less desirable canopy. After trying to decide between the two, my incredible wife said, "Why don't we get both?" She negotiated a price and we got a smoking deal on both trees. We came home with two 24" boxed Manilas and a few papayas.

The Ugly: As I mentioned, one of the Manilas has a trunk rot issue. I'll post photos to better show what it looks like. It seems like there was too much mulch against the trunk, which caused the rotting. Other than this issue, the tree looks very healthy. Has anyone dealt with this issue before and successfully healed the tree? Also, should I wait to graft onto this tree until it is healed? Any tips or suggestions are much appreciated.

(I had trouble uploading photos, so you can view them here: https://imgur.com/a/8oy9i)

So this last summer I had my first taste of White Sapote and I was blown away. I will be planting a Mcdill in a large area in my backyard this spring and I want to try and control the height on the tree and keep it 15 to 20 feet max. Does anyone have a mature tree that they have successfully kept this size. If you have a stand out favorite I would love to hear the name of that cultivar.

Thanks,
Erik

So about 6 months ago I went to my favorite disorganized nursery in Vista San Diego, Exotica, and walked away with a beautiful "White Hawaiian Guava." In early Fall of this last year I was able to harvest one fruit from the tree. When I cut the Guava open I saw the most bright pink color I had ever seen from a "White Guava." I knew something was wrong with this picture but I'm not one to get all worked up about not getting the correct tree, especially because the taste of this guava was easily the best guava I had every had. This last week I went back to Exotica and asked Leo about the White Guava that he had sold me. He said, it must have been a "Pink Hawaiian Guava" and that I'm actually very lucky because he does not carry that rare cultivar any longer and is frequently asked if he does. Does anyone on the Forum know anything about these Pink or White Hawaiian Guava cultivars?
And I was been able to try the White cultivar this last week and it was a fist sized very good fruit, my 2 year old daughter took one bight and then asked Leo for the rest of it. 

Thanks
Erik 

So I am very happily married into a Filipino family that tells me tales of great fruit that they used to eat all the time in the Philippines. I want to test the waters of what can be grown in my zone and try and grow some of the tropical varieties that my wife's family grow up with. Has anyone in Southern California had any success growing the above varieties? I am willing to go to almost any length to get these trees established in the first couple years. Has anyone been successful? 

So I have never planted Blue Berries before and I have heard they like a very acidic soil? If you have a good blue berry soil/fertilization program I would love to hear it! I will have five plants in ground and five in pots.

Thanks,
Erik