The Tropical Fruit Forum

About the coin vine from Florida( Dalbergia Ecastaphyllum),it was discovered that the expensive red propolis from Brasil its made from these trees wich grow there also.It has a blood red sap similar to that of Pterocarpus ,wich bees collect to make the propolis.
Studyes shown that this red propolis from the coin vine kills cancerous cells.But the red propolis its too complex for  the  scientists to understand how it does that and thats why its not officially registered as a med.
A few pictures with Pterocarpus sap and the first one with the bees,its the coin vine,Dalbergia Ecastaphyllum.

Perhaps if Styrofoam was OD Green instead of white it would not blow around the neighborhood and be a eye sore but could be used like perlite in a soil mix? Patent Pending.

I find invasive species a bit nonsensical. Pioneer species generally start the succession towards a forest on damaged or bare land. Eventually they make way for longer living taller growing climax species. Biodiversity is improved with all the different species that have made there way around the world in recent times and they are greatly trying to fix all the damage humans are doing.

Quote from: Rex Begonias on August 16, 2019, 10:07:37 AM

So many nitrogen fixers are serious invasives

Quote from: pineislander on August 15, 2019, 03:19:26 PM

I am using quite a few legumes. For ground cover my main go-to is Mimosa strigillosa. For shorter term ground cover ordinary peanut does well for a year. Longer term Perennial peanut makes a low ground cover. For edible bush yard-long beans(vigna sp) and 2 varieties of cowpeas. For a taller strata I have used Showy Rattlebox (Crotalaria spectabilis) which can go to a 4 foot shrub and can be cut back to regrow. Taller yet and getting into trees I use Leucaena leucocephala, Ice Cream Bean(Inga sp.), Earleaf Acacia (Acacia auriculiformis) and Candlestick cassia(Senna alata). I have some Gliricidia coming along in pots from cuttings but haven't gotten them in the ground yet. For trees in my zone 10-11 climate the best performing trees have been Leucaena and Candlestick cassia both of which grow like weeds and are considered invasive in my area. I control them by heavy pruning before flowers set viable seed.
I consider all of these to be pioneer plants with a function of supporting the main orchard trees as they grow providing some shade, hopefully nitrogen fixing and making prunings to use as mulch. The low ground covers give me a no-mow occupied space between tree rows. Over time I expect to eliminate most of these as the trees mature and dominate the site which is emulating a controlled natural succession like you would see in an ordinary forest.
I'm not sure how some of these would do in your zone, south parts of Houston League city still get some frost.

There is one nitrogen fixer in Florida wich is the only rosewood native to USA, Dalbergia Ecastaphyllum or the popular name,the coin vine.Should be a nice plant to add in your collection and a good conversational subject since this is a real Dalbergia thats protected by CITES.I think the wood is red but better avoid talking about its wood on the internet because it could teach poachers.

Got my seeds yesterday, very nicely packaged and fast shipping, Thank you Monkey!!!

Quote from: Rex Begonias on August 05, 2019, 06:58:01 PM

Quote from: Rex Begonias on August 02, 2019, 10:47:49 PM

Quote from: fruitlovers on August 02, 2019, 10:24:30 PM

Quote from: brian on August 02, 2019, 09:40:46 PM

Ive always preferred rambutan to lychee but once I got a really fresh batch of lychees that were amazing it hs changed my mind.  I think most of the lychees I was getting were a bit old

I never really undestood why people on the mainland put down lychees, until i went to California and tasted some in the stores there. They were really terrible! No comparison to fresh fruits. Rambutans also deteriorate in quality very fast. The fruit that keeps by far the longest refrigerated is longan. They are really amazing and can keep for many weeks in the fridge and still be good.

I believe it, just ate a couple that I had left sitting in paper bag on counter for a about 3 weeks, most were still fine, though a few had gone bad.

I gotta try some different varieties of longan though, didn’t particularly love these ones, had a lingering taste that sometimes reminded me of vomit, sometimes made me think picked too green, I’m not familiar enough with longans to be sure.

Bought again from same grower (was sure to try first) and they were pretty great.  He wasn’t particularly sure what variety they were as he has a ton of trees, but figured Kohala because that’s what most were.  I believe these were the same type as before and I’m guessing just a matter of ripeness/when it was picked.  He also mentioned they have been somewhat inconsistent from tree to tree for him even with same grafted variety, I guess maybe just based on growing conditions.

Longans will hang on the trees for a long time, but if picked too late, especially Kohala, they get very bland and watery. It's hard to pick them too green because they will not color up brown color until ripe.

Quote from: fruitlovers on August 02, 2019, 10:24:30 PM

Quote from: brian on August 02, 2019, 09:40:46 PM

Ive always preferred rambutan to lychee but once I got a really fresh batch of lychees that were amazing it hs changed my mind.  I think most of the lychees I was getting were a bit old

I never really undestood why people on the mainland put down lychees, until i went to California and tasted some in the stores there. They were really terrible! No comparison to fresh fruits. Rambutans also deteriorate in quality very fast. The fruit that keeps by far the longest refrigerated is longan. They are really amazing and can keep for many weeks in the fridge and still be good.

I believe it, just ate a couple that I had left sitting in paper bag on counter for a about 3 weeks, most were still fine, though a few had gone bad.

I gotta try some different varieties of longan though, didn’t particularly love these ones, had a lingering taste that sometimes reminded me of vomit, sometimes made me think picked too green, I’m not familiar enough with longans to be sure.

Conditions are a major factor with this one, that's my sense of it, best case scenario, four or five years.  I think they don't like pots because the taproot develops quickly.  Here is a seedling I plucked from the ground:



This was at least two years old, but growing in dense shade, barely surviving. For whatever that's worth.

Quote from: JoeP450 on August 02, 2019, 05:10:20 PM

Actually just picked up some rambutan at winn dixie yesterday, just ok, taste is there but flesh adheres to seed and peels off part of thin outer seed coat on some fruits giving off bad texture and taste. Hear there are better varieties out there that don't have this issue, believe they were shipped in from mexico.

This recent article is hilarious though! https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/3k3x3j/the-alien-fruit-in-netflixs-another-life-is-actually-a-rambutan

-JoeP450

Props department got lazy and just picked up their "alien" fruit at their local asian grocery store?
Rambutans, like lychees, loose quality pretty fast when they are refrigerated. There are ones that don't have pulp clinging to the seed, but most have the problem of some of exterior of skin (the testa) clinging to the pulp. This is a very thin layer that is tasteless, and most people don't find it objectionable.

I would like a cutting of argentea as well.....

Quote from: murahilin on July 15, 2019, 05:26:05 PM

Quote from: abimael777 on July 15, 2019, 04:15:38 PM

I'm sorry that that happened. You can post pictures of the open fruits. What you advise me of the shipment, I tell you that if I send a package to the Fl on Monday in the afternoon, Thursday arrives according to the experience I have had sending packages, they are the same days that it is taken from Friday afternoon to Monday because on Sunday the package follows its destiny. Always all my packages I have covered tape and I had never had problems until now that you tell me what happened with your package.

Yes, I fully understand how long it takes for a package to arrive from PR. The reason I am suggesting to mail only Mon-Wednesday is that if you mail on Thursday it will sit on Sunday, instead of being delivered. Delivery will take 4 days instead of 3 days. Friday can be okay, but sometimes it only takes 2 days from PR and that means the chance it had at delivering on day two is gone because day 2 fell on a Sunday. Just some helpful advice.

The too much tape is definitely an issue. It causes the box to retain moisture. Some of my fruit were moldy because of it and overall everything had a bad odor.





Very similar to mine which also arrived today, about 2/3rds of them moldy, smashed, rotten... 😭

There are many great videos on youtube about grafting mango.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp_QOOLRTcI
The one that started this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ2Ja76EY38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx_rCjjjJBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEKNrnsuuW0

There are lots more but if you watch these, you will hear and see most of what you need to.  Good luck.
If you were closer, I would invite you to one of the grafting demos we have from time to time, and you would leave with a seedling with a decent variety.

By the way, most important tip, label your graft

Quote from: simon_grow on July 28, 2019, 05:06:23 PM

Quote from: Rex Begonias on July 28, 2019, 11:01:51 AM

Forgive me for any egregious errors- this is my first graft EVER.  It’s a Duncan on a Tommy Atkins.






Tips and pointers greatly appreciated, I tried based on this thread.

Hey Rex, I didn’t see your post till now. You scion appears to have wrinkle lines indicating that it is drying up a bit.

I normally prep my scions by removing the leaves and waiting 1-3 weeks until I see buds forming and the petioles fall off readily. Your scion looks a bit immature. The color of the leaf appears very juvenile. You want to use scions that have fully hardened leaves. New growth will make horrible scions.

You also want to wrap your scions with Buddy tape or Parafilm before you graft. Alternatively, you can bag your scion to help retain moisture but you may need to spray the scion several times a day if there is a lot of air/gas exchange.

Honestly, your graft does not look too promising. The tip of your scion is droopy which indicates to me that it was too young and that it is already drying up.

Try spraying the scion with RO or rain water and then cover it with a bag and put the tree in mostly shade. You could get lucky but it’s not looking too good so far.

Simon

Hey Simon,
Thanks for help, I don’t know what I’m doing, lol.  That was a fresh cut of new growth, so it should not have had much water loss as it was nearly direct from tree to that photo, but yes, probably way too young, did not know the opportune time to take the scion nor how to prepare it.  I will go cut the leaf and wrap the rest of it and pray I get lucky. 

Likely will just have to try again, I just went for it because I needed to remove that branch, lol.  My mangos are all really young, so haven’t had much growth to work with.  Maybe I’ll sprout a bunch of seedlings just to play around with.