The Tropical Fruit Forum

So, years ago, I got a seed for Crateranthus talbotii from a seed dealer in Cameroon. I can find out no info on this plant regarding fruiting, size, or anything. All I can find is that it is red listed as vulnerable. It wants to vine, and I don’t have room for it.

I am trying to donate it to a botanical garden. Fairchild hasn’t gotten back to me yet.
Does anybody have any other ideas on what botanical garden in the US might be interested?

Thanks!

Carolyn

Hmmm, tough question. I guess I would wonder about the criteria -
Taste?
Nutrition?
Monetary gain?

The little yellow Alphonso mango is really good.
I can eat myself sick on both lychee and rambutan, so for flavor, those rise to the top.
The bananas that I grow in my greenhouse actually earn me a few pennies.
Miracle berries can make the lives of cancer patients SO much more bearable.

Is a puzzlement...

What a find! It’s one tough tree if it is that old.
My thoughts are - only change one thing at a time. Location, wait a month, repot, etc.
According to the California Avocado Commission, they bloom and set fruit best at a temp of 65-75F, and they need full sun. A window, even a large one, is not full sun. Some good lights may help.  If it has been inside its whole life, that would explain not blooming. 
Have fun and good luck!!!

Carolyn

So, just got back from the Caribbean, and loved all the ackee growing in Jamaica.
I am thinking about growing it in my greenhouse.
Does anyone else grow it?
Not worried about the size as I generally keep things pruned down.

Cheers,
Carolyn

Yeah, anything can be toxic.
The entire Solanum genus is poisonous in one way or another.
Drink too much water and you dilute your blood and could have seizures or die.
Undercooked kidney beans can send you to the ER.
Don't let your asparagus bolt and fruit - kids can find the bright red, poisonous berries irresistible.
But then again, you gotta die of something...
Might as well be something tasty!

I have not purchased from him because it is too cold right now, but I have communicated with him. Seems like a nice guy. They get all their trees from Puerto Rico. It sounds like he has some family or business connection down there.  He was careful to explain that the plants are inspected and fumigated.  I would imagine they come to him bare root, but I don't know for sure. I may try an order once it warms up a bit.

Cheers,
Carolyn

I still think you could keep the bottom and sides intact, and use that to hold the groundwater out.  Throw in a foot of gravel, then soil, and water carefully.  I have over a hundred fruiting tropical trees in 20 gallon pots, using WAY less soil than that, and they do great.  Cover the pool with a frame and mesh, throw plastic over it during rainy periods, and viola! 

Well, I am in zone 6/7 and everything I have is in pots. So for me, it is less about the soil, and more about the nutrients that I am feeding.  I did conduct my own tests a few years ago, where I bought the organic food that contains mycorrhiza and beneficial fungi that was supposed to improve your potting soil.

I had a bunch of pots with different soils or soilless mediums and fertilizers, both organic and synthetic, grew the plants, observed them, then sent the plant and soil samples off to a lab and spent a huge amount of money for the results.
What I discovered was that potting soil is just not that good at holding microorganisms.  Too fluffy and inert.

The thing is, all the helpful symbiosis that occurs between plant roots and organisms in the soil are really only advantageous in the case of stress.  My trees all lead a pretty stress-free life, so anything that I WAS able to achieve in the soil wasn't needed.  Sort of like those boxes of emergency food kits that sit in your closet for 20 years, taking up space.

So now, after my very costly "experimental phase", I just use a really good complete synthetic fertilizer, top off my pots every so often with fresh soil and worm compost (because I have the worms, not because I think its magic...) talk to my "leafy kids" a lot, and enjoy my completely unscientific greenhouse.

Happy New Year!

Guess I'm dumb. I can't figure out how to vote.
I am a Yes"...

Everything I have bought from them does really well.

However, I NEVER buy 2 or 3 seeds. I buy a dozen, to hedge my bets.

Then they all come up, and look so happy I don't cull them, then they take over my greenhouse. I think I still have some visitors from last month lost in the jungle out there...

 

How fun! Your plants will be stars!

What kind of window is it? Old single pane? Newer double pane?
The newer windows let in way less plant-usable light, so you may want to pick things that do well in lower light. 
I use a PAR light meter to see how many PPFDs are actually getting to the plant.  You may need to invest in some really good lights right above that location.

And if you can't meet the light requirements, just rotate them out frequently so they don't suffer from being in a "cave" for very long.

Carolyn

Because it is a Theobroma, I am guessing that the stamens/anthers are hidden under the fleshy white petal cups, just like cacao. You will probably have to dissect the petal cup to get at them.  The stigma is, more than likely, way down deep inside the ring of staminodes.  When I am pollinating my cacao, I wear a jewelers loupe or I would never see anything...
They may be like cacao also, in that the flower can be open for days, but the ovary is only receptive for the first few hours it is open.

Carolyn

I so wish I could do this!
If anyone goes, please post pics, for those of us living vicariously through traveling fruit hunters!

Carolyn