The Tropical Fruit Forum

Ah I haven't tried much indoor growing, I wish you good luck.  Some of the tropical plants I have moved indoors from outside died instantly, from dry air I assume, but others do great.  If you have humidity control I think you should have success.

Hello Forum! I amquite exited that i found this place where people love tropicla fruit and plants like me, I live in seattle so growing some of these fruits can be a challenge but i have a house that i can fill. some of my plants include:
-Jackfruit
-Carambola
-Syzgenium samerengense
-Dragon fruit
-Hass avocado
-Lychee
-Passiflora edulis
-Tamarind
-Green Caimito
-Purple Caimito
-Mamey sapote
-Canistel

I look forward to meeting all of you!

Welcome!

I just visited Seattle for the first time this year, nice place.  I ended up eating gallons of currants from the Pike Place market, and discovered Shishito peppers there which am now also finding locally.  The huge bay leaf tree in the community garden is really cool.

When you say "fill up a house" do you mean a greenhouse?  If so you should post pictures of your setup, there are a number of dedicated greenhouse growers like myself amidst the Florida and California outdoor guys. 

How long have you been growing these types?  I have been trying most of them on your list in my greenhouse for the past 3-5yrs...

- Jackfruit is easy but wants to get big.  My just started flowering after 5yrs and I have to prune it constantly. 
- carombola/starfruit fruits easily in a container.  I'm not fan of its fruit but it has very pretty flowers
- I have malay apple which is similar to wax jambu/samerengense, it is very healthy but supposed to be a looong time to fruit.  Not sure if I can let it get big enough
- Dragonfruit cactus is a tippy thorny monstrosity.. that I would totally grow out if I had more space.  It looks so cool but I ditched mine before it flowered as I was sick of it falling on me.
- Never tried growing avocado because the grocery store ones are already so good
- Lychee has been incredibly difficult to grow for me, not sure why.  I think they don't like my soil or water (that every other plant seems to like).
- Haven't tried growing passiflora, the gooey fruit pulp texture grosses me out, though the taste is really good
- Tamarind is easy and a very pretty tree, I grew mine from Indian store tamarind paste seeds.  Long way from fruiting though.
- Never tried growing caimitos.  I tried the fruit once and it was kinda bland so it never caught my attention
- My green sapotes keep dying, no sure why, I assume mamey is similar.  I am going to keep trying though as I really like mamey.
- Canistel has been a massive success for me, the tree is gorgeous and I love the fruit.  I have a Ross Sapote/canistel that just started flowering and I hear it is even better than normal canistels.

what a difference planting in-ground makes!   A year ago these trees were both around the same size.  The one in container is maybe twice as large in a year, and the one in ground is five times bigger and has been actively putting out new growth all winter long.

My in-ground kwai muk is now ten feet tall and 6ft diameter!  I can't believe the first picture was from only 8 months ago.  The one in the container grew about six inches in the same time.  I guess I don't need it as a backup anymore, the in-ground one is super healthy.

I am holding the container one in my hand. Because it is so close to camera it seems large but it is in a half-gal pot and only 3ft tall

I am happy to hear it is different, simply because it is nice to try something new.  I realize there are a TON of eugenias out there and many are quite similar.

Thanks.  I am really pleased with the greenhouse.  I have been looking to buy land nearby to build a bunch more greenhouses, but with the massive increase in housing prices lately land itself has also become much more expensive.  It makes me sad to know that 90% of the trees I grow are destined to be trashed because there isn't enough room for everything.

Looks and sounds quite like Eugenia reinwardtiana.
 
https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=38764.msg383921#msg383921

It does look very much the same, Oqueel!  Maybe it is the same, or a variety of it.  The leaves and fruit seem slightly rounder in the generic wikipedia/elsewhere descriptions of Cedar Bay Cherry, and they are writing it as "large shrub to small tree" while the mystery fruit is supposedly very small on its own. 

Maybe Jaboticaba45 can post some detailed pictures if he gets a chance.  I will follow up with more photos over time, we can see how similar they are to the CBC photos around.

In February of this year I ordered a bunch of random seeds from Bellamy.  I was poking around my greenhouse today and noticed that one of these had flowers and fruitlets forming, only nine months after planting thje seed.





I hope Kameron won't mind me posting his description here, from https://www.bellamytrees.com/seeds/p/fruta-do-mistrio-fruit-of-mystery
"Fruta do Mistério - Fruit of Mystery
Seeds were imported directly from Brazil. This is thought to be Syzygium sp but it is not for certain. It is a small dense bush, that always stays small. Due to its size, it can stay in a container long term, or maybe even used for bonsai. The plant fruits abundantly, and several times a year. This plant like well-draining soil and lots of sun. The fruits are said to be good and eaten out of hand and are very sweet. Each fruit contains only one seed. Collectors in Brazil have reported that their seedlings are starting to produce after only 2-3 years from seed!"

his photo:



These particular ones were pre-germinated and most of them sprouted and survived.  I don't remember if I tossed the excess or if I have a few more floating around my greenhouse somewhere.  I guess it is possible there's another one flowering in my greenhouse and some flies cross-pollinated, but most likely these are just easily self-fruitful.

Citrus seem to be able to handle full sun with no problem at all. 

I have seen a lot of citrus small seedlings die off.   Every time I start a batch of kumquat or trifoliate seedlings I usually lose a third of them or more without any obvious cause.   The soil/fungal explanation makes the most sense to me.

I have grown a lot of different mandarins and Kishu is definitely one of the keepers.   Large crops, always sweet, no seeds, easy peel.  I have never had a bad one, they don't get puffy and dry like some others.  They are a little small but they have no inedible parts aside from the skin so for the smallest ones you can peel and eat the whole thing in one bite.  You could probably eat the skin too it isn't that bitter.

I am whittling down my orange/mandarin collection to just a Kishu, Shasta Gold, and Shiranui/Sumo/Dekopan.  These have been consistently the best for me.

My lucs garcinis are among the slowest growing plants I have, even mangostana grows faster.  Lemon drop and seashore mangosteen grow much faster, and achacahiru is the most vigorous for me.

My lemon drop fruits still look the same as when I first posted.  I wonder if they will turn out to be runts and fall off.  Regardless, I am happy to see fruit and I understand these may produce large crops when a bit more mature

The fruit tasted okay, it wasn't too sour, but it was so small and scant flesh it just wasn't worth it. I am looking forward to trying regular non-pink wampee next

The leaf stippling pattern in your second picture looks like spider mite damage, is it possible you have a severe spider mite infestation?  I have found annonas are absolute magnets for spider mites. 

My rollinia flowers all the time but has never set a fruitlet.  I assume it is lack of pollination, mine is in a greenhouse and I haven't tried hand pollinating yet

I finally started getting more guavas than I can eat at 20gal, so I am keeping mine there.  They are quite productive.