The Tropical Fruit Forum

SSA or Sihanook. Both are sweet, chewy, sugar apple fragrant but not as strong.

I prefer atemoya over atemoya over sugar apple any day now. Sugar apple has way too many seeds, not as chewy and sandy near the skin.  I ate so much in VN and wonder if my taste has changed.

Can any atemoya experts help choose. I got scions of few different Atemoyas from crfg, what will be  best varieties to graft.. Top 3
already have a Geffner tree. looking for sweetness, low grainy, consistent yield, growth habits...
1. AP (not sure 1 or 2)
2. Brea
3. Dream
4. Lindstrom

AP. I got rid of Dream and keep very little of Lindstorm. The best for my taste is now Sihanook and Hawaiian Pink Mammoth.

Its a CA fruit tree nursery that posts some unique fruit trees occasionally on their site. Not sure what CH stands for, maybe the owners initials?

That's his initial. Once upon a time when there wasn't alot of nursery, he has alot of rare tropical variety like Red Rocket, Crystal guava etc and people desperate enough to buy from him bare rooted. Now, you can go to alot of Vietnamese nursery and get better looking tree that are healthier and cheaper than what he offered.

Thats good to hear theres something out there thats actually named! I have read Tao Dai Mat and Kim Dai Mat is good but not on the level of some of the later varieties. Curious how you rate the fruit between Kim Dai Mat and Tao Dai Mat and premium Chinese jujubes?

I have Sandia, Chico, Li, Sugarcane, etc. Chinese jujube is dry, crunchier, smaller and sweeter. Taiwanese/Thai variety are juicier, larger ripen after Chinese jujube already dormant. 

avoid. Both me and my friend got bad experience. Poor communication. My friend and I was sold an "airlayer crystal" guava tree. The tree is bare rooted (he did disclosed that), but the tree I got was a recent grafted tree. It doesn't look good. There are alot local nursery such as Kim Le, EKT, etc with cheaper trees and healthier tree.

He didn't let me pick up at his house near Champa.

Quote from: greenerpasteur on January 07, 2026, 11:57:28 AM

I used this. $300 tool but I bought it used for $50 and each label is $3/16 feet aluminum. It label, cut, and punch hole.

I got a used one similar to this for $56 on ebay.  Mine has metal disc label, not plastic on some models. TBW: the unit is metallic, but the alphabetic disc can be metallic or plastic.  You have to keep an eye on ebay for a while to get this kind of price.  I get the stainless steel wire on temu.

I bought a long wire on amazon for very cheap. Probably last a lifetime. Mine came with a spare plastic. It seems to be a non issue.

Quote from: greenerpasteur on January 07, 2026, 11:42:34 AM

Quote from: SoCalGardenNut on January 05, 2026, 11:04:48 AM

Thanks Kaz, i read they do die here so that’s why I wasn’t too keen initially.
If I get one, I’m going to leave it in pot, it saves me from digging around and then have to remove it later. Lots of hassle.

They die because VN nursery import mango variety from Florida grafted on turpertine roostock which doesn't like our clay soil, wet and cold winter. Turpertine rootstock is like using sugar apple as rootstock and graft atemoya on top when cherimoya does so much better here as rootstock and graft atemoya on top it. Nursery used to imported alot of sugar apple from Florida during covid time, but they all ended up dying. Alot of my friends lost 30+ mango trees, $$$, and lost time buying from the nursery. Even some master gardeners I know gave up growing mango in CA because it died.

If you have to start growing mango in CA, start by growing Manila, Ataulfo, Corriente, seedlings as rootstock. I recommend Sweet Tart, Maha Chanok, M4, CAC, Guava, Peach Cobbler, Orange Sherber to graft because they are productive, great tasting, and disease resistant. Good luck.

Thank you for your explanation. It wasn’t clear watching Non Dan Cali videos on mangoes, I might give mangoes a try.

Be careful about his videos and few other nursery. They like to say it does fine in CA during Winter, but what they don't show is after a few months after winter that it started to deteriorating. Most of his trees are small. i knew someone with 8-10 yo turpertine that was doing really well died one Winter due to heavy rain and cold. 

If you go to a certain nursery or check out the video on California Backyard Mango Growers FB group, my friend recorded trees already dying at the nursery right now. Some tupertine grafted mango trees do well, but it's a gambling which one does well. Some do well in CA, but there are countless dead ones or very low vigor. Do you feel like gambling? None of my friends ever posted their failure on FB, TFF, or anywhere.

Mango is one of the easiest fruit tree to grow if you have the right rootstock and graft the problematic-free variety (OS, CAC, Sweet Tart, Maha etc). 

Thanks Kaz, i read they do die here so that’s why I wasn’t too keen initially.
If I get one, I’m going to leave it in pot, it saves me from digging around and then have to remove it later. Lots of hassle.

They die because VN nursery import mango variety from Florida grafted on turpertine roostock which doesn't like our clay soil, wet and cold winter. Turpertine rootstock is like using sugar apple as rootstock and graft atemoya on top when cherimoya does so much better here as rootstock and graft atemoya on top it. Nursery used to imported alot of sugar apple from Florida during covid time, but they all ended up dying. Alot of my friends lost 30+ mango trees, $$$, and lost time buying from the nursery. Even some master gardeners I know gave up growing mango in CA because it died.

If you have to start growing mango in CA, start by growing Manila, Ataulfo, Corriente, seedlings as rootstock. I recommend Sweet Tart, Maha Chanok, M4, CAC, Guava, Peach Cobbler, Orange Sherber to graft because they are productive, great tasting, and disease resistant. Good luck.

Quote from: SoCalGardenNut on January 06, 2026, 09:02:04 PM

I remember Kim from Kim Le Garden said something not good about Thai Ruby, so I don’t buy it.

Kim Le also criticized Ruby Thai for fruits being small and not being productive.  Both are proved to be wrong.  However, she is very honest person, and that pisses a lot of people.

Here is a good example that proves her wrong.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auO45kPv7Pg&t=379s

She is right. Thai ruby seedless guava naturally is not very productive unless you spray it. She only tell you what she observed at the time back during Covid time and before people know how to retain the fruits. My one tree have over 100+ fruits but very little for  other without any intervention. All my trees are 65 gallon+ size. I know I am the exception because so many people in Vietnamese fruit group couldn't get a decent crop. The same goes with all my friends who didn't spray it. My tree has more fruits than her. More fruits than leaves. I wish I can send video for you to see.

TW ruby, Thai ruby all have very poor production unless you spray it. TW ruby is the worst even with spraying.

I think she also called out O2 saying Diamond is the same as Nu Hoang. I tried NH and it tasted exactly like my Crystal. It's all marketing hype by O2.

Guy, seedless ruby Thai is very good.  The longer you let it ripe, the sweeter it gets, and still retain a tiny bit of crunchiness.  Here are pictures of my fruit.

Not for me. Thai ruby seedless guava isn't that sweet vs other variety. It isn't my top 3 guava. When it get sweet, it lose the crunchiness. I had 5 Thai ruby seedless guava (65 gallon+) at one point, and sold/trade all except one. For my palate: Taiwanese Pearl, Crystal, and Thai seed guava/TW ruby still come out on top. Disclaimer: I haven't try DA3, Red Diamond, Red Lava yet.

Thanks for the heads up. I just joined!

Welcome! We’re glad to have you here. There are many experienced growers in this group with a wealth of knowledge. Hopefully, we can all help each other grow mangoes successfully and identify varieties that are both productive and great-tasting.

My question is theoretical and not based on any experience doing what you are doing.

Warm air rises, and if your venting is at the top, wouldn't your warm air inside your enclosure escape through the vent to be replaced by the coldest air, near the ground, entering the enclosure from the outside?  Clearly, you must vent, but you may also need to generate heat within your enclosure, perhaps on or close to the ground.

I vent at the top during the day time when the inside and outside air is near the equilibrium. I only do it 2-3 per week. Incandescent Christmas light with good insulation is good enough to keep it 65-75F. It only cost me $0.25/night even with root heating cable. Practically free with my solar setup.