The Tropical Fruit Forum

Gentle TFF Members,

Coffee is a tropical crop/product and so of interest to some of us TTF members on here who grow it.  That coffee may soon be going provide us with certain unexpected medical benefits should make this article from the Tico Times, a Costa Rican online newspaper, very interesting to some of our TFF members.  So despite it being not directly on-topic to TFF, I have included it here below for those who may be interested.     –Paul M.
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Beyond the Bean: Costa Rica’s Coffee Antibiotic Breakthrough

Researchers from the University of Costa Rica (UCR) have shed light on an unexpected potential of a coffee by-product, coffee mucilage.

Historically overlooked, this substance has demonstrated significant antimicrobial properties, building on the already known ability of certain coffee components to inhibit bacterial growth.  [ snip ]


[The rest of this Tico Times article is available at the link below for anyone interested in it.]

https://ticotimes.net/2023/09/12/beyond-the-bean-costa-ricas-coffee-antibiotic-breakthrough

Comments, anyone?

Yet another perspective:

There are those who might shoot a fruit thief, but not to kill.

A shotgun loaded with rock-salt could be a memorable reminder to lay off nabbing fruit uninvited.

That actually was a not too uncommon remedy for this sort of thing some decades back.  It seemed to work.

Just sayin'

Paul M.
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How about 'MEXICOLA' (not 'Mexicola Grande') which grows to about 15ft tall?

My 'Mexicola Grande' is about 18ft tall after four years and is supposed to grow up to 25ft.  I do prune it back to about 8ft, but then it jumps back up to 14ft or higher fairly quickly.  It seems more upright than spreading.

A 'Mexicola' with a mature hight of 15ft might be a better sized tree for you unless you are wanting something that stays really really short.  (My 'Mexicola' (not 'Grande') also looks to be going to be more upright than spreading.)

And BTW both of these two are very cold tolerant, and are part of the Mexican race of avocados.

Paul M.
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Kevin,

'Garnet' order arrived in good condtion and promptly!

I have seldom seen so much of two big plants come out of so small a box!  (But hey, that's a good thing!!)

Cheers!

Paul M.
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Found this blurb in the "Tico Times", a Costarrican Online Newspaper and thought that it might be of interest on some level to our TFF members:

The Del Monte Zero pineapple, grown exclusively in Costa Rica by Fresh Del Monte has become a finalist in the New Launch category of the 2023 World Sustainability Awards, to take place this coming October in Amsterdam. This category highlights innovative products or services unveiled in the past year that have an instantaneous positive societal effect.

What makes Del Monte’s Zero unique? “This pineapple is the world’s first to achieve carbon neutral certification,” noted Michael Calderon, a Del Monte spokesman. “The accolade signifies a harmonious equilibrium between emitted greenhouse gases and proactive endeavors, and constant monitoring of our transportation fleet’s emissions to minimize the carbon footprint”. Other areas contributing to the nomination showed the company has curtailed greenhouse gases by a whopping 22.64%, purchased six new fuel-efficient transportation vessels and initiated renewable solar and wind energy installations in California and Costa Rica."

(Source: TicoTimes)

¡Pura Vida!

Paul M.
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Since this guava seems to have been developed in California (and for California) I am wondering, would this cultivar adapt well to our more humid Florida conditions?

If so will it eventually be approved for Florida or is it restricted?

Just wondering.

Paul M.
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Idalia is squeaking past west central Florida except for the Gulf coastline areas of the state which have been evacuated ahead of potential storm surges.

Rght now at about 3am here in Tampa we're inland far enough from the Gulf (and the center oof Idalia) that we are just getting a lot of (needed) rain and intermittently, off-and-on, blustery breezes which are alternating with quiet spells. There's more rain to come, though before daybreak. (I hear some thunder in the distance.)

Keeping fingers X-ed for those folks in the Florida Big Bend area where Idalia tom'w is expected to make landfall WED morning.  Hoping that they all heeded the storm surge warnings and cleared out.

Paul M.
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The only thing I ever heard from my wife is you have too many effing trees.  The place looks like a jungle.  Of course, it never looked like a jungle.  That was the old house.  Now I have to deal with an HOA board that says we don't allow new fruit trees!  (Far worse.)

Mayhap the answer could be –as a way to to thwart the HOA– to plant smaller/dwarf fruiting trees that can be kept trimmed into hedges or topiaries (and still give you fruit) —so the HOA won't realize it, or at least not until it's too late!

OK  —  HTH

Paul M.
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I recently wrote that I bought two mangoes from a Publix here in Tampa.  The stickers code them to Kent.

One is greenish-yellow  (mostly yellow) with a nice red blush on its cheek.  Ther other is mostly with a dark green skin and a slight red blush.  Both are hard but just starting to soften, but only very slightly.  And both are heavy weighting about two pounds each.

Oddly the dark green skinned one has more mango odor thatn the greenish-yellow one.

Is it possible that the one with the dark green skin could ripen and be edible ahead of the greenish-yellow one?

They both still need a few more days to soften up a bit more, but to know if they are ripe should I go more on softness or on smell?

Advice welcomed . . . . .

Cheers!

Paul M.
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Thanks for the useful observations, booeyschewy and cassowary!

[ snip ] Grumixama does well in partial shade.

Planted my grumixama where it gets full sun just over half of the day but is shaded by the neighbor's large oak tree after about 1pm.  It seems really happy with this arrangement and is growing well.  It is about five feet tall and just as wide, and has flowered several years now but has never set any fruit.  It's five or six years old. 

I have bought a smaller unrelated grumi that is large enough (2 ft tall) to flower and planted it about four feet away.  Hoping that this second plant when the two grumis flower next to each other may encourage some fruit set.

Lots of the ultratropicals from pluvial forests won't survive the first years without shade for example cacao relatives, clove, juçara (açaí relative), many garcinias, Brazil nut, Guaraná, etc.

Can anyone please suggest some of the Garcinia species more frequently seen here in Florida 9b that prefer shade during their early years? 

Would that perhaps include G. hombroniana (syn. G. celebica)?  The only others that I'm trying are Luc's, G. intermedia and G. humilis and they're still small and have been mostly kept in shade; perhaps too much shade.

Advice welcomed . . . .

Paul M.
Tampa — 9b
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The Garcinias I know from here in Brazil are all shade loving forest species. They actually grow taller in extremely shaded conditions and less in full sun. They rise from he forest floor across a decade or so before fruiting. My false mangosteen and true mangosteen seem to act the same and it’s all a similar climate (equatorial pluvial forest). This is a feature of the garcinias because you can plant them together with other big trees and they’ll happily grow.

The recent thread mentioning that Garcinias tend to like some shade is interesting and illuminating (no pun intended).

This has prompted me to wonder whether much the same may apply to certain Eugenia species, and if so which ones in particular.

I'm sure that there are TFF members growing various Eugenia species who can comment on whether they seem to do better when provided more shade, or.....?

Some shade is surely inportant for many tropicals, especially with the intense heat and strong sun that so many of us have been experiencing this season.  [whew!]

Comments invited!

Paul M.
Tampa — 9b
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Mind you all that a quick Googling for 'mango' + 'doughnut' popped up a whole passel of mango doughnut recipes, including mango glazed ones and some with mango fillings.

I cannot imagine making any of these mango doughnut recipes myself but the various photos of them online look scrumptious.  And even though I'm highly unlikely to make any I'd sure gobble 'em up if they were available anywhere nearby.

I do however see mango ice cream and sherbet are available commercially but they've been dispapoiningly bland.  Sounds like something to make at home where one can make it from scratch with enough mango.

Now it is just a matter of waiting for my several mango cultivars to make me enough fruit to experiment making some ice cream or sorbet.

Yumm!

Paul M.
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