The Tropical Fruit Forum

 Although i have about 2 more months till spring and the growth flushesh , every year without fail i have the same problem, late frosts in april. I wrap and unwrap with frost cloth , varieous early waking species like, cherries, kiwi, peaches, pawpaws and alot more, in order to preserve the woken bugs.Our springs have gotten so eratic, that without covering and protection, i lose the flower buds, the trees do recover fine though.  Last april there was a very ufortunate event, where around 7-9 april, we had one or two subzero day temperatures, with night temps falling to -8 /-10 C. Alot of the stuff that was awake experienced from total, to almost total percentage of damage.
Every year i wrap the plants with frost cloth, i add several layers usually, at least 2-3 , and when i do that i usually significantly lower or even prevent damage, but wrapping and unwrapping is quite tedious of a job, especially when the trees/ plants are quite big, like some of mine are.

I awlays thought of leaving the frost cloth on them, till the danger of frost passes for good, like for a month or so, but then when we get high wind days, the cloth catches the wind very bad and bruises alot of the buds on contact, also theres the moment when it tears and i am also worried about catching too much wind and causing brocken branches.
Since i have wires over my yard, which hold the hail net in summer , i could teoretically cover my whole yard with frost cloth, could buy the widest size i could find, which was around 6 meters, from which i will need 2 lenght of 12 m by 6 m, and i am good to go, i could even do them a double layer. I am not sure though if this would work, since the sides of the space that will be covered, will be open.

Right now i am thinking of doing the whole yard cover idea, but i would like to read what some of you have to say about this, mainly if you think it would be efective.
Will have to be really careful and remove it prior and place if after snow events, which we do have in early to mid spring.

Found a garden center offering them, kinda looks like a mirtle of some sort, they have it listed as a strawberry tree or madruno, whish it is not!

My 2 big cherimoya trees have crown rot, the rot hadnt gone deep toward the hard wood, and i already cut and scraped the damaged portions, about a month ago. They seem to be healing. I sprayed a few times with copper based fungicide, what else can i use as a spray desinfectant? Thanks!!

I have a chance to buy this plant, but i dont knowlw what exactly it is, can someone id it fo me? I think it is either a green sapote(Pouteria Viridis ), or a mamey sapote (Pouteria Sapota).
The seller sais it is Manilkara Zapota, sapodilla, which is clearl that  its not! Can someone quess ? Thanks !

I want to get 2 fans for the gh, aiming for a sollar powered solution, also for a fan that will move the air inside, than rather taking air out. As far as i understand, exaust fans take air out, and ventilation ones take air in, right? So as most of the products i find are labeled as exaust's, could i get one and turn it on its other side, so that it blows in, or should i rather  get a ventillation fan? I know sollars will be weaker , compared to electric devices, but i am willing to try them out' as i dont want to mess with cables and stuff. Also bein sollar, they will pretty much run only when needed.  Anyone can  reccomend a brand or a particular model, i am finding alot of exaust tipe ones, its hard to choose. Thanks!

I have 2 cherimoya trees, greenhouse culture. For a start, this year both of them produced exceptionally low amout on flower buds, following the yearly prune and leaf strip at the end of april. Now, as the temperatures have gotten to their summer readings, the greenhouse scores around 30C, at near ground level, those are not everiday readings, but the highest ones. The upper temperature should be higher, probably maximum around 35 C. Ive read that high temperatures lead to pollen sterility, low pollen germonation, and fruit set. The few buds that the trees had, are starting to abort , and i believe it may be due to the high temperatures, as last year i had several fruit on one of the plants, around wallnut size, which few of 2 days after when the greenhouse got up to 40C, which was an major accident. 
The gh is vented all day long, cloused at night, will be removing the policarbonate from the doors today, as night temperatures have increased drastically.
On a side note, this is the second year , in which the trees produce very little flower buds, since ive installed the heating in the gh. I feew like its too warm for them at all times now, as i had a marvelous fruit crop the second summer after planting, the heating of the gh that first winter was much worse, and i think the cold back then triggered the strong bloom on both of them.
 

I am thinking of removing the concreet tile path in the greenhouse, the slightly raised beds in which the plants are planted have started spilling the dirt out of them, and onto the tiles, i have quail which do do this. Due to the constant topping with mulch from the plants, the soil has risen quite a bit up, from the root flares of most of the plants, i originally planted them a bit deeper that needed, which is a problem. I have cut up buckets, which are placed around the bases of them, so soil does not touch the trunks.
If i remove the tiles, the place that gets freed will easily accomodate the excess dirt. I think that the plants would benefit  with the thinner soil layer on top of their roots, right now some of them are planted like 20 sm below grade.
I could then place back the tiles, but do i need to? I mean, if no tiles, will the soil get too compact from me walking on it? I awlays try not to step outside of the tiles, as to not compact the soil. Another problem i have with them is that ive found a few dry dirt pockets underneath the tiles, as i dont water there. My thoughts are that without tiles, the soil will get compacted, but i dont know if it will be enough to cause problems.
Any thoughts?

A friend send me about 20 of theese, said they were send to him as jaboticaba seeds, the seeds are the size of a chineese jujube or a big lemon seed, with very hard shells , almost as thick as on an almond as an example, very hard to break. Inside is a tiny seed embrio, also reminiscent in shape of an almond, just rounder and smaller.
What doesnt add up is that i thought that jabo seeds are soft, also read treads on here in which people claim to eat the seeds along with the pulp, the ones i have are like rocks , def could not chew trough those....
I quess my friend got scammed over those seeds, i have suspicions that those are not jabo seeds...

I am getting a grumichama plant i a month or so, can i graft from it, onto my surinam cherry? I wont top work the surinam, but rather want to add the grumichama, since i dont have a place in the greenhouse, where i could plant it.
Could they be grafted to each other?

Wonder what kind of plinia this is, its easy to tell it is not the regular sabata tipe jaboticaba, what could it be?

I have several very sad looking seedlings, that look like they might die any moment now. They are around a year old and are just about 5 -10 cm high. Leaves are light yelowwish green, they do not grow at all anymore, planted in well drained turf.
Can someone give me a hint as to what to do to make them grow? They were in the greenhouse all summer, in dapled shade, now they are inside the house ,on a south facing window.  I have 2 soursops that i started along with the uvaria's, and those although still not doing wonderfull, are growing much better that the uvaria, if that is of any value showing what the conditionds are like.

I am looking into adding one or possibly both of those products to my potting soil for tropicals, bonsai and other more valuable plants. Should i use one or the other, or is it best to use both as an equal part in a potting mix?  I was thinking of getting just the lava rock, but i saw there is also pumice available.
What is your reccomendation?