The Tropical Fruit Forum

I'm in an area of east Seminole Heights, Tampa (Zone 9b).  My neighborhood sits on a broad-topped hill so much of the cold air seems to run down to lower areas of a nearby neighborhood.  This seems to minimize the coldest air settling on the ground in my part of the neighborhood unless a hard freeze is predicted.

But the effect is that many of my orchids or my tropical fruit trees (which are still in pots) tend to be spared the worst of the cold if they are near or under tree canopies in my yard.  Of course they must be moved indoors or covered if it goes much colder thatn 32º for more than an hour or two.

The only things that got damaged in this year's two Xmastime cold snaps (we got down to 33 or 32º for one night) were my bananas (burnt leaves) plus A. reticulata, A. diversifolia, my small sugar apple, two ilamas and my biribá and an achiote all defoliated.  Everything else seems to have slid through with no apparent damage.  A seedling mango 'Pickering' also defoliated but the stem/trunk is still green.  Several green sapotes were fine and two canistel 'Trompo' had their leaves turn yellowish green but that seem to have recovered.  Several pomgranates and a fingersop and several guavas were also unaffected.

So Shovel n Seed, the Tampa area may be a place to consider.  There is even at least one neighborhood (near McKay Bay in Tampa) which, not unlike the Pinellas peninsula, may verge on being zone 10a.  Gibsonton just a few miles south of Tampa along US 41 might also offer some warmer areas.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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Saludos Abimael.  Plants arrived today, promptly & in good condition.

Muy amable!

Paul M.
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Shawn,

A thrips (= singular & plural) is a tiny insect with rasping mouthparts which it uses to scrape away plant tissues from the surfaces of leaves, flower petals, and fruit skins.  That results in an abraded area that scabs over and is unsightly.

Thrips control and prevention is thoroughly discussed on this website for California but should be applicable for the avocado thrips here in Florida:

AVOCADO THRIPS  (Scirtothrips perseae)
https://ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/avocado/avocado-thrips/

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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Good to hear about the Fingersop, Epicatt2. I have some seedlings going, and was debating whether or not I wanted yet another plant to worry about when it got cold. Has yours flowered or fruited yet?

Hi Fliptop,

Got my fingersop about two years ago from Abimael in PR as  a 4-inch pot seedling about 8-inches tall.  It is now about 2-1/2 ft tall. 

It is maintaining its conical, xmas-tree like shape as it increases in size.  It is growing a bit faster (but not that much faster) now that it's larger but apparently it's still too small yet to try to flower or set fruit.  Maybe this coming summer season it will.

Fingers X-ed!

Paul M.
Tampa — Zone 9b
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It's often possible to salvage some resinous-tasting pitangas (Eugenia uniflora).  The trick is to let them get full ripe so that if you just touch them they fall off the bush right into your hand, and then collect them in a bowl and leave them, covered, in the 'fridge overnight.  This has the effect of helping to dissapate the resinousness aspect of the fruit.

This will work on some but not all pitangas (Eugenia uniflora), depending, of course, upon how strong the resinousness in a particular cultivar may be.  This is primarily useful for the red-fruited ones. It can be less so for the dark/black-fruited ones which can tend to be less (or not) resinous tasting than the red-fruited ones.

Might be worth a try for our TFF members to see whether their red-fruited variety loses the resinous taste by allowing them to sit in the 'fridge overnight.

[Now this has me wondering whether giving them an overnighting in the 'fridge would work with pitangatubas (Eugenia selloi) which have fairly tart fruit but which might sweeten up slightly after chilling them.]

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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Going Bananas in Homestead lists Hua Moa as available from them.

Just FWIW, I grew it once and it was highly cold sensitive here in zone 9b, which I learned the hard way.

One alternative maybe, would be to visit one of the Latino supermarkets near you to ask if they have a banana called 'Hawaiana', which is the name of Hua Moa in spanish.  (The Cubans like to use 'Hawaiana' to make fried plantains.)  I found it easier to just buy the fruit instead of trying to keep that cultivar alive and happy.

Cheers!

Paul M.
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Just to chime in . . .

I find that I'm quite partial to how my Biribá (Rollinia deliciosa aka Annona mucosa) looks, very tropical, as well as my several ilamas (Annona macroprophyllata).  I find them graceful. 

Also my white sapote (Casimiroa edulis) is nice to look at with its palmately compound leaves.  Hoping that mine will give me some fruit soon.

Paul M.
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Suggest that you plant them together in pairs for better pollination.  It will be less stressful, too, since pulling or cutting them apart will stress or shock the roots.

Once they are old enough to bloom and set fruit you can evaluate the fruit and its flavor and if not so good or not productive you could prune one of the two away from each pair as necessary (or no)t and just leave the better tasting one(s).

That is what I would do in a situation similar to yours.

Paul M.
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After reading that kwai muk is apparently cold tolerant enough to survive here in Florida 9b that convinced me to try growing it. 

This species, from the descriptions of the fruit and its flavor that I've read about, sounds clearly underrated.

Paul M.
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Is anyone on the TFF here growing this batwing leafed, yellow flowered passion vine?

My vine grew well all summer and I was hoping to get it to set some fruit because I am curious to taste it since I can find no reports on the flavor of the smallish fruits.  So far no fruit set.

But now the leaves are getting a yellowish cast to them and I'm not sure why exactly.  It may be a deficiency or possibly it wants more fertilizer.  It gets watered regullarly and receives half a day's sun, then shade in the afternoon.

I'm hoping that one of our TTF members maybe can offer me some suggestions for how they are succeeding with this fairly recently discovered species.

Any & all suggestions welcomed....

TIA

Paul M.
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I am curious too.  My Geffner has its first significant crop.  Last year it made two tiny fruits that fell off early so I don't really count that. 

Mine did pretty much the same last year, Brian.

Not sure when to pick them, they don't have far to fall so waiting until they drop is a possibility.  Not sure what typical fruit size is for these, I assumed the current ones I have are still undersized

The one surviving fruit on my 'Gefner' looks to be about the same size as yours in the photo that you posted above, and appears about as spiky, too.

Don't know if mine will get any/much larger before it ripens –if it ripens at all. Some of my tree's leaves are beginnng to yellow and some have dropped but the fruit still looks okay.  I'm guessing the leaf-fall is due to the week of cool overnight temps that we had here in west central Florida about ten days ago.

Fingers X-ed!

Paul M.
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One that I potted two years ago (a 'Trompo') grew slightly taller than yours you described and then branched of its own accord.  It's in a 7 gallon pot and about 6-ft tall and well branched.  It has a nice, balanced shape to it and probably will go into the ground next season.

A second one that I potted into a 3 gallon pot last year is about a meter tall and hasn't branched yet.  But I'm going to leave it alone and expect that it will branch of it own accord like the older one very soon.  This second canistel is an unnamed seedling.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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Gentle TFF Members,

I have one fruit hanging on my 'Gefner' right now in late October.  It had two fruits eariler this season but, sadly, my neighbor broke one off while asking me about it.

The remaining one is approximately 3-inches+ in diameter and I am wondering when it should be ripe.

What is the best way to tell?  I'm unsure what to look for to be able to know since this is the first time this tree has set any fruit.  It's in a 5-gallon pot; does that make any difference?

Any/all suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA

Paul M.
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