The Tropical Fruit Forum

TropicalFruitHunters, thanks for the kind words.  The ceilings fans have been great, they are really high quality and run almost nonstop for years.  I just wish I had gotten ones with cages instead of having to rig my own to keep the quail from flying into them.  They are advertised for agricultural (barn) use and I have had zero rust on them.  They have no opportunity to accumulate water as they only turn off when the exhaust fans turn on.  My entire greenhouse is usually wet anyway because of condensation or messy watering.  With nothing organic to rot there isn't any issue with moisture other than algae growth.  I saw your sill plate rot issue on your blog and I am thankful that I managed to avoid wood entirely.  My gas pipe might rust out one day but it is above ground so it should take a long time. 

I clean the walls two or three times a year but it really isn't so bad.  Takes about 2hrs to wash with a sponge and soap and water.  I have dreams of a frameless greenhouse design which would be much faster to clean. 

Scale is a real pain.  I probably spend more time spraying scale than all other greenhouse & tree maintenance combined.  The spider mites are relentless on certain trees such as annonas but I am finally keeping the mealybugs in check with frequent soap or hort oil spraying.  It is a huge relief when I bring my trees out in the spring watching all the predatory insects hunting mealybugs and the rain suppressing spider mites. 

My rollinia set some fruits but the entire limb they were attached to died from an unchecked scale infestation.  I expect it will set more fruit soon, though.  Like you describe, I am basically just waiting to try the fruit before I chop it down.  It doesn't seem like a good fit long term. 

The growth on my Lucs and Mangosteen has finally started accelerate.  For years they would put on a couple leaves a year with node spacing of only millimeters.  I don't really have high expectations for most of the other garcinias but I figure I'll grow them as long as I can find room for them.  I cram them all together really tightly as they are shade tolerant so I can fit a dozen in the space one tree typically needs. 

The marang growing well was a huge surprise to me.  They are tip bearers, I hear, though so I am not sure if it will actually be possible to reach fruiting size without taking up the whole greenhouse.  It is already putting out a lot of new growth so I expect it may hit the ceiling within a year or two.  I saw your graft, looks awesome... but I don't think I will be finding any mature marang scion to graft with in Pennsylvania


drymifolia, I am glad I happened to prune and clean up my greenhouse just a few days before eyeckr came.  I didn't know he would be making a video until he arrived and it was way uglier in there only a week prior. 


BloomAndSprout, I am incredibly fortunate to have bought my house when I did.  Suburban land costs are insane now.  I had dreams of buying a few acres of land nearby to build more greenhouses but vacant land prices have doubled or tripled because of potential for building subdivisions.  Maybe when my kids are grown we can move to central PA where land is cheap.

Carolyn, I hope eyeckr visits you next

I have been trying to think of reasons to take my family out to the midwest, I'd love to see your greenhouse sometime if you'll have us.  You've been quietly growing very difficult trees in an even more hostile climate than mine.

Yes, I was getting too many volunteer chicks I had to start collecting eggs to slow them down.  Takes a dozen eggs to equal a typical chicken egg!  They are really tasty, though.

Jaboticaba45, yes I got mine from HI tropical nursery.  Once I get the container plants out I am going to make an honest effort with miticides to get my greenhouse anonnas more healthy.  Mine flowers like crazy and set some fruit but it dies back as fast as it grows and has been really scale prone.

The amount of time I spend worrying about this... I should just buy some Buddy Tape

Thanks for visiting, eyeckr!

Thanks, guys.  I will leave it alone

I don't know anything about milk spore.  Japanese beetles are only a problem when they swarm.  I would not worry about a few, simply blast them off with a hose

Thanks, all, for the suggestions.  I have trimmed the leaves back more severely.

I have a very high success rate on lychees, rambutan, sapodilla, wax apple, guava, langsat, sour sop, canistel and others. In the last 2 weeks I have put over 200 marcots on my trees and expect most to work well from experience. Pity its hard to post pics these days.
Anyway I see a few red flags in the pics and descriptions. Ideal branch width is 1cm to 3 cm but micromarcots are easy. Ideal ringbark width is 1cm to 2cm not like in the pics below. Paint or brush with rootex or clonex 8g per l concentration. I prefer gel to powder. Have pre prepared ziplock (I use 15 x 9cm mostly) cut on one side then tape over ring back. Tape it up well. Aluminium foil does not change the success rate. Remove in 4 weeks to 6 months with 8 weeks being average. Make sure they are well rooted unlike the plant below in the pic. Trim then pot. EASY. The mix in the bag I use is 50 : vermiculite and coco coir but sphagnum is fine. Below does look too leafy with too many roots and should be settled in a pot until properly rooted.The ties shown are less secure and looser than using electrical tape. The width of bark removed below is way in excess of required. In many cases it works out better than grafting for tree vigour and speed to fruiting.

Thanks for the detailed advice!

Too late, it's cut.  The roots do look sparse, I'm not sure if it'll survive.  I cut half the leaves off to try to balance it out, as you suggest.  It is now in a container in the greenhouse in half shade.

Think it has a chance to survive?

If not, it isn't a huge deal.  I expect the parent will survive the coming mid-30F lows and if so I have six months or so to try again.  And I have an Inga Spectabilis seedling growing meanwhile.

It has been nearly two months since I started the airlayer on my inga.  The branch is still very healthy but I have yet to see roots appear on the soil bag.  The article I posted mentioned 100% success with rooting after five weeks.  Should I cut the branch and assume it has roots they just haven't reached the edge of the bag yet to become visible?

I would just wait until they appear but colder weather (~36F) is coming and I have to haul most of my trees back into the greenhouse.  The inga is too big to move now that I up-potted it into a 35gal container knowing that it will be trashed when winter comes.  I am guessing that near freezing weather could harm the airlayer, but I might be worrying about nothing.  I expect the parent tree will be fine.

Should I cut the airlayer now and put it in the heated greenhouse?  Or leave it as-is until it shows roots?

Ugh, they are dioecious?  I didn't even realize

I highly recommend sumo, it has a permanent place in my greenhouse

Ah, ok cool, thanks

12Zodiac, your sumo fruits look just like mine.  Except that weird twinned one.

I have noticed that the sweetness varies somewhat across even a single segment.  One end might be very sweet and the other bland.  Overall, they are really great though.