The Tropical Fruit Forum

Great updates everyone. Many experiments end up giving results that are not positive. The sample sizes are pretty small but early results seem to point towards a thumbs down for this type of grafting.

For those of us with less than ideal soil conditions such as higher pH soil, it may be wise to plant a Brewster or Mauritius and top work the tree with the desired variety.

Simon

Here is a picture of a female Dongkui bloom on one of the plants I grafted several months ago. Unlike the bloom I posted of the An Hai, this bloom actually opened and you can see the pistils sticking out. This tree is growing at a friend’s house and multiple other trees I have scattered around San Diego have similar female bud formation. These trees are still too small to hold fruit so hopefully next year, some of my males will be ready and the female trees will be large enough that fruit production won’t hinder vegetative growth as much.


Simon

If anyone has the seed germination protocol from Facebook, can they post it here?

I am not experienced in germination of Yangmei seeds so I don’t would see what others with more experience have done. For the seeds I did germinate, I didn’t crack the seeds but it took them about a year to germinate.

Simon

Has anyone had success growing Yangmei from seed? Ive had no luck even after cold stratifying. Any tips ?

Did you crack the seed before planting? I’ve had luck germinating Yangmei seeds by sticking them in pots and just waiting about 1 year. They naturally cold stratified outdoors and popped up by themselves without cracking the outer seed.

There is a protocol for germinating seeds on the Facebook Yangmei group

Simon

Quote from: simon_grow on January 28, 2023, 11:49:10 AM

I have my original Biqi on a DNA sexed male Rubra rootstock and it’s growing at approximately the same rate as my An Hai on DNA sexed female Rubra rootstock.

Simon

Interesting, but the test would be a cultuvar to cultivar test. Anhai on male Anhai on female with 100 or so plants on each using the same graft type.

BTW
What is your opinion on adding nematode treatment to soil after potting. I did a rehydrate soak but did not treat for nematodes before I potted. Do any of you think it is worth it at this point. All plants have been potted since Monday.

I agree. I should also mention that these two trees are planted at different locations in my yard so they have different Daily Light Integrals and Heat Units.

I am very wary of planting rootstocks originating from China because of the potential for RKN so I’ve been adding beneficial nematodes to my soil for trees from China even though I up pot multiple times and inspect for RKN at every up potting. Moving forward, I will only plant trees that I have grafted myself and can verify that the rootstocks have no visible signs of RKN.

Simon

All I can say is that if you look at the picture, you can see the graft line. I can’t disclose specific details because of my contract with one of my partners.

Simon

Great thread Bill, I love your work and passion for Yangmei!

Simon

Here’s an example


Simon

Hey Galatians552,

Thanks for the confirmation! If you have a Cerifera plant already growing you should consider grafting Yangmei onto it. I’ve grafted a bunch of Cerifera rootstocks and they grow great. The only problem I have with Cerifera is that I’ll occasionally get scions that grow much faster than the rootstock so the trees will be top heavy until the rootstock catches up.

Simon

Hey Epiphyte,

It crossed my mind but Yangmei grows so fast that I’m not sure if there will be much benefit. For Mangos, I was trying to get my trees to grow faster but Yangmei takes off like a rocket once the root system gets established. Multiple rootstocking may increase yields, increase precocity and may inhibit alternate bearing but this crop is so novel that we don’t have a baseline to compare it against.

Most my grafted Yangmei shoot for the sky like this




I’ve been topping them very low to create lower scaffold branches for easier harvesting.

Simon

Quote from: simon_grow on January 25, 2023, 01:38:07 PM

I believe I have my first blooms on a few of my Yangmei plants today. I noticed that the morphology of the new growths coming out of my An Hai look noticeably different than the regular buds that form vegetative growths. This tree is growing outside and was grafted 4 months ago onto M Californica rootstock. I try to avoid planting trees with rootstocks originating from China because of the potential for them to have Root Knot Nematodes.

I am not positive that these buds will become flowers but they sure look different than what I’m used to seeing. Even if these are flowers, I will not get fruit this year because my males have no signs of flowering yet. I have also noticed these “assumed” flower buds on Biqi and Dongkui trees that are scattered around San Diego.







Simon

Gosh darn it! I'm sorry to let you know. Those growths are stanicite equipoidea bugs. Your trees are in great danger  Fortunately for you I happen to be one of three researchers that have a viable cure for them. I use a technique called "scion harvesting" to eliminate the problem. Just ship the infected plants out to me. I'll take care of it..... Really 😁

Based off your detailed analysis of this horrifying stanicite equipoidea bug, I have decided to incinerate all affected trees in order to avoid passing this bug to others. This “ scion harvesting” technique sounds very interesting, I will look into it some more and hope this technique can save my remaining trees from this horrible insect, lol!

Simon

Yangmei (Myrica/Morella rubra)

Here’s a taste description from a couple seasons ago:

A good friend in San Francisco stopped by Bi-Rite and picked up some Yangmei for around $50/lbs if I remember correctly. He was generous enough to overnight me some and I was super stoked. He was able to get some Dongkui and also some Biqi.

Ever since this group buy, I was excited to grow this tree because of how rare it is but I have never tasted the fruit and always wondered in the back of my mind, what if this fruit doesn’t even taste good?

Well, those fears were laid to rest today and I’m stoked to report that this fruit is absolutely incredible! It’s very unique and there’s no other fruit like it! To compare it to a more common fruit like a strawberry would be a disservice to the Yangmei. After eating this fruit, I can’t understand why this fruit isn’t more talked about and why did it take so long for us to find out about it?

This fruit has a slightly sweet smell with a tinge of berry, a hint of floral notes and a background of sandalwood. I know it sounds unusual but to me, the smell is absolutely fantastic.

I gave a DongKui to my daughter and she said it was reminiscent of a strawberry but better. I then gave her a Biqi and she liked Biqi even better. I feel that the people that have tried Yangmei often compare this fruit to a strawberry not because it actually tastes like a strawberry but because the taste is subtle. The sugar level is moderate and the acidity is also moderate. The actual Yangmei flavor is also moderate but the complete package is sublime.

Yangmei is not one of those fruit with an intense flavor profile but it’s fantastic smell combined with a perfect sugar acid balance makes it super addictive. I feel like I can eat a bucket full of these fruit.

The first fruit I sampled was a Dongkui and the fruit were larger than I was expecting. The Dongkui was a bit larger than a half dollar and there was a good amount of flesh on the fruit.  The fruit tastes like it smelled and it had a Brix of 10.1%.

I then sampled the Biqi which is a smaller fruit that is much darker in color. The Biqi was slightly smaller than a half dollar and had a Brix of 13.4%. The Biqi has a noticeably sweeter taste and in addition to the flavor that the Dongkui had, the Biqi also had a combination of Blackberry and Pakistan mulberry. In this sampling, I preferred the Biqi over the Dongkui. The folks at Calmei or wherever these fruit came from did a very good job growing and processing these fruit from the quality I observed in this small sampling.

I’m definitely saving the seeds and hopefully they will sprout in a year or two. Now I’m super excited that I have a few trees that are still alive. My Anh Hai and Biqi have grown pretty well and are ready to be up potted.

Here are some pictures of the absolutely incredible tasting Yangmei fruit.





Simon