The Tropical Fruit Forum

That papaya is rotting. Next time you get a papaya, lay it underneath with newspaper or papers. Turn it 180 degree daily so it can ripen . Once you see it start to have an indent, I suggest start cutting and eating it before it rots. You can also put in refrigerator for another day or two.

Saw two or three of the Mexican cream guava trees at the Lowes Home Improvement store in Covina, CA about 2 weeks ago.  All the guava trees from Lowes and Home Depot come from La Verne Nursery in Piru, CA.  I've always had good luck with the guava trees from either store, but if it is a seedling it might take a year to three for it to fruit.  Just fertilize with miracle gro and water it well.  I used to have two of them, I didn't like the fruits and dug them up.   

I bought mine at Home depot and it bears a good amount of fruit every year. Thank you tspw88 for La Verne Nursery info. They close down the one in La Verne last year and I felt so bumped out because Colorama supply Home Depot with 6 packs of different colored bell peppers, eggplants, sweet and hot peppers .I always get them every year. Yet, I did not seen them this year in any nearby Home Depot.

Hi, what wonderful forum that i have stumbled upon!
I am in my early twenties and still haven't really figured life out at all.
One thing i know is that i love tropical fruits, and i really wish i could grow them. I live in Denmark where it gets quite cold in the winter, I've tried growing cantaloupe indoors, but i only got 1 ripe fruit, but it tasted so incredible.

I have been thinking about moving to a hotter climate a lot, I would love to be able to grow mangoes, cantaloup melons and oranges which are my absoulte favourite, do you have any recommendation where i should guide my eyes towards? I think having a concrete goal would help me achieve it.

I'm thinking both in where the fruit will thrive the most, but also where it might be feasible to move to as a foreigner.

Kind regards
Jeppe

Depending on financial situation - For U.S - I recommend California ( we have earthquake) or Florida (Sinkhole and Tornadoes) - but weather and fruits availability is super. Other more affordable country with easier immigration law would be Chille (South America), Thailand and Indonesia ( South East Asia). In fact, last year article selected Chile and Bali (Indonesia) as one of the top 10 best place to invest and retire as well. In U.S, we got many imported tropical  fruits from Chile and Thailand. But I have been to Bali - even the green banana are super sweets and the people are extremely nice and honest. The downside to those 3 places outside U.S is language barrier. Chile speak spanish, while Thai and Bali have their own native languages as well. Chile and Bali  are safer than Thailand ( got to consider safety, hygiene, immigration rules and pest). Also, health care are more affordable in those 3 countries, compare to U.S. But visit those places first and stay for a month or two (just make sure get bottled water - not their local water or ice if you do not want to get sick at least for couple weeks), explore and see if its right place for you.
Here in Southern California, we have a lot of citrus - many varieties, mango only half a dozen or so in the market. we have many different cantaloupes and melons as well but compare to those that I eat on Japan or Indonesia, our melon and cantaloupes are terrible. Those that never eaten melon and cantaloupe in Japan will consider the ones in California as O.K.

I eat my saturn donut peaches crunchy but if you like it ripe, touch the fruit and as soon as they are squeezable (gently), then they are ready. But pick them asap by then or the June bugs, birds, flies and rodents will start crowding your trees for fruits and pick up all that fell to the ground as well to prevent getting flies and other pesky rodents.

You could try find tree pots to accommodate your current seedling long tap roots.

My experience in trying to grow maprang in So Cal is that they do not do well when the humidity level drops to 1 digit. The plant could never recover from 1 digit humidity level and would slowly perish.

Currently, I'm germinating some seeds and the plan is to try grafting the seedlings onto mango rootstocks. I've done this before way back in 2012 or something. It seemed to work as the scions flushed 3-4 times before the whole plants died. I'm not sure if that was due to incompatibility or care issues on my part. So now that I have more times, I'm going to try this again. But it will be my last attempt at growing maprang in So Cal.

Thank you for letting me know. I will buy pots that fits their root. I will water over the plant leaves twice a day then to create its environment, just like my green syzygium semarangnese to promote new growth. I wonder of its behaviour will be like a mango. My Keitt mango (in 5 Gallon pot) is under my jujube tree grow a 3 feet new branch this year in 6 months. But since its next to my syzygium, it also got watered twice daily. 

Brian, how long do you have yours? Any fruit/flowers yet?

Same here with mangojoy but I also want a to know how does the flower looks like and if its a vine

Here is some TIPS!
Pandan grow fast in humidity but here in SoCal, we do not have as much humidity, so you have to water over the plant to help create its humidity. Pandan (Pandanus Amaryllifolius) - wheather you plant in soil or wide pot, plant it under shade (tree or near wall). if you water twice a day, it quick spread and creates babies (especially in soil and please give room). Pandan does not tolerate winter - so I usually dig my pandan out and put the, in wide pots (5 gallon up) and bring them indoor. As long as the soil is moist and the leaves are misted, my pandan will create babies even indoor. I use pandan leaves regularly - in cake, green bean soup (dessert) and coconut rice. Pandan also a natural repellent for cockroaches - they hate the smell. Where my mom live, pandan grow like weeds - so she plug them and put them all over the house

I still have some Nagami kumquats fruits on my tree. My kumquats usually get harvested in February but this year its extended itself. I have seedlings that sprouts around the yard but not sure if they are actually kumquats or Yuzu. PM me if you want some fresh seeds or couple fruits ( at this time of year, the kumquats off the tree is not as sweet as in couple months ago but seed should not have problem sproutings).

Looking for Eugenia Polyantha Wight - seedlings, cuttings or fresh seeds - U.S ONLY PLEASE!
 
Other botanical name:Syzygium polyanthum (Wight) Waplers
Common name:
Dutch   Indonesisch laurierblad, Daon salam, Daoen salam, Salamblad
German   Indonesisches Lorbeerblatt
Indonesian   Salam, Daun salam, Manting
Malay   Kelat samak, Samak, Serah, Daun salam

Willing to trade or purchase. Anybody know where I can get/buy/trade for this plant? Any information will be helpful. Thank you.

Greeting to everyone from Riverside, California!
My nickname is IB and since I grew up on the equator, edible tropical fruits and vegetable are my passion. Being a gardener for over 20 years, my garden collections have sideline from tropical fruits to tropical vegetables as well. Aside from gardening, my hobbies include cooking and travelling (temporary halted due to Covid 19). Here is a list of what trees/plants that I have growing:

Fruit trees:
Longan
Passion fruits (2 varieties)
Mango (2 varieties)
Strawberry
Strawberry papaya
Suebella Sapote
Dwarf Banana
Nectaplum
Saturn Donut Peach
Apricot
Jujube (Li and 1 unknown species)
Rose Apple (Green, Semarang)
Guavas (Strawberry, Lemon and Thai -white)
Cherimoya
Persimmon (Fuyu and Haciya)
Apple (Red Era)

Citrus Collection(I live in a citrus county-LOL):
Tangerine ( 2 varieties)
Cocktail Grapefruit (orange color flesh)
Thornless Mexican lime
Keiffer Lime
Nasnaran (Limau) lime
Yuzu
Nagami Kumquat

Ginger collection:
Butterfly ginger
Galangal
Tumeric (curcuma longa)
Sand ginger (kencur/peacock ginger)

Vegetable collections:
Corn
Eggplants (7 varieties)
Peppers (At least 40+ varieties - sweet and hot)
Beans (15+ varieties)
Squash (6+ varieties)
Tomatoes (15+ varieties)
Cucumber (5 varieties)
Basil (4 varieties)

Roots plants:
Yucca
Yam (red and white)
Potato
Poi
Jicama
Garlic
Onion
Shallot

Herbs:
lemon grass
Laurel bay
Garlic chieves
Giant garlic
Perilla
Pandanus Amaryllifolius
Inedible trees/Plants:
Rose
Palms (queen, pigmy, fan, bottle, sago)
Giant bird of paradise.

Most of my collections are for cooking and food. In fact, my first gardening experience started with a bag of left over potatoes. I left them too long and they started to have buds.Thus, I throw them in my backyard soil and 3 months later I got 4x more potatoes that can lasted more than 2 months left in kitchen. Ever since then, I love using the soil as storage for food. Over the years, I wanted more colors in my yards, yet stick to edibles  and I achieve my goals by introducing a variety blend of plants. For example, my bell pepper collection (orange,black, lilac, chocolate, yellow, red, green, ivory), french bean ( dragon tongue, blue lake, Trionfo Violetto, scarlet emperor, gold rush, cheerokee wax, royal burgundy). The beans not only have different colors but the flowers are different colors too, very pleasing to the eyes. This way, I never envy a flower garden anymore. If you google the flower of red era apple, the peach blossom, and the necta-plum blossoms, they are as beautiful as cherry blossoms. I used to have a green gage plum to contrast the peach blossoms but since the tree was no longer productive due to its age, I replace it with other tree. I believe life should be beautiful as well as productive. Bye for now and Cheers!