Introduce Yourself

[NickD]

Hey everybody. Got bit by the mango bug. Haven’t bought them in 30 years. Never had these fiberless ones, ever! Just took delivery of a Beverly, Edward, Rosigold, and M4. I’m next to Kennedy Space Center. Thanks for having me.
Steve

How often do you get frosts down there? How do the mangos handle them?

[Kapn.K]

How often do you get frosts down there? How do the mangos handle them?

Not often. It’s a real treat to see it on the car window when I wake up. I used to leave the sprinklers on when it was supposed to get cold enough but I think that was over 10 years ago. For grow purposes, I’d consider it ‘never’.

[AmberDrakon]

Hello!

Clearly I'm new. I am a gardener with a passion for unusual, especially if that means edible! I have all kinds of plants from houseplants to veggies.

As far as fruit I have a decent selection of things. Almost all are seedlings or have rooted this year. Eureka variegated lemon, starfruit, Maypops (native passionfruit) , dragonfruit (physical graffiti, Colombian yellow, sweet Vietnam white, noids) and banana (Siam ruby, zebrina and dwarf Cavadish). I'm sure I'm missing a few.

I've ordered a few more dragonfruit (variegated, chimera, black and isis gold) and have olive and Poncirus trifoliata seeds planted that I have high hopes for.

I have a very long wishlist (as I imagine everyone here does). Vanilla, cacao, shampoo ginger, sugarcane, and more dragonfruit (I have a long list of those).

I'm mostly here to learn and talk about my fruity obsessions without annoying anyone. So hi!

[Kudo_Farms]

Just joined to learn how to start my parent's farm back up.

Inheriting 20 acres of farming land in the Central Valley of California.

Main crop currently is Asian Ume plum / Korean Maesil fruit.

These are my goals with the farm:

• Learn to graft scion wood (cleft & whip) like my dad used to.
  Plant varieties of fruit & vegetables.
  Incorporate science & technology into farming.
  Retain organic practices.

[Maypop]

I didn't really expect to post on this forum myself, so I didn't leave an introduction... better late than never, so hi everybody!

I've always loved plants, but my hobby has recently morphed into a little bit of an obsession, particularly with fruit! Taking care of my plant babies has become something I spend quite a bit of time on every day, and this forum has been the best resource imaginable for helping me through it.

I'm from the PNW, which means that pretty much anything tropical has to fit in containers that can be moved indoors for the winter, so I lean towards more tolerant plants that can be kept small (i.e. ceiling height) and produce heavily.

I'm mostly growing myrtles, as well some select Citrus and relatives. Also, a few tougher Garcinias that I saw other people have success with up North.

Despite my limitations, I hope that someday, I'll be able to have a ton of delicious fruit on the regular that I can share with all of my friends and family!

[Craig Jacob]

Hello everyone




My name is Craig. Currently living on the Mississippi gulf coast zone 9a , and just getting into tropical fruits trees. I have two small Avocado trees so far. One a Pancho the other is a brand new Brogden I purchased online last week. Looking forward to learning as much as possible, and possibly growing a Philippines mango trees for my wife in the future.

[PNWTropical]

Happy to join this community of passionate growers. I live in Portland, OR and have a handful of producing temperate fruit trees and berries in the backyard. New to growing tropical fruits, my best success has been with Meyer lemons that I have grown for three years overwintering them under the lights during winter months. I added a Sapodilla and Rose apple this year both trees are in a 7 gallon pot and have put out new flushes of growth so far staying outside. I plan to bring them inside next month and put them under the lights along with my lemon trees.  Looking for some recommendations on Mango and Annona (sugar apple) varieties that are suitable for growing in pots and overwintering indoors.   

[EchoSierra]

Hello! My name is Eric, and I am a tropical fruit enjoyer. I live in a place where tropical fruit is hit or miss as far as availability and quality, so I thought I'd come here to find out more information on commercial cultivars, and to buy fruit to enjoy since my planting zone is too cold to grow tropical fruit.

Unfortunately, I'm allergic to Artocarpus fruits (breadfruit, jackfruit, etc) as well as Morus (mulberry), but I'd still like to try new things!

[QueenofZili]

Hello everyone! I am a long-time reader of the Tropical Fruit Forum, and have learned a lot from this forum and others. I decided it was time to make it official and make an account. Interested in everything about fruit cultivation, history, ethnobotany, etc. I look forward to learning from you all.

[Epicatt2]

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[Gonzo]

Hello,

    My name is Tim, I live in Denver Colorado. I've been growing mostly vegetables since 2003. Started dabbling in berries and fruits in 2016, and have begun growing citrus this summer. I've also raised meat chickens, laying hens and bees.

List of what I've grown(that's sweet)
Concord Grapes
Seedless Grapes
Golden Raspberries
Blue Berries (3 varietals)
Dwarf Peach( I forget the type)
Asian Pear (has five varietals grafted to it)
Gooseberries (five varietals)
Charentais Melon (if you haven't, you should!)

Citrus
Shikwasa Mandarin
Meyer Lemon
Persian Lime

Still lots to learn, I'm way behind on Taxonomic terminology, and so much more. I hold a BS in Geology and an MBA and am currently looking for my next career, if any one needs someone with a Business degree or knows someone looking for help please reach out, all leads are appreciated.

Thanks for allowing me to join the group, I look forward to learning from you all, and helping others where I can.

Thanks,

Tim AKA "Gonzo" (which is a reference to HST, and my first Chesapeake Bay Retriever) 

[DaveLoch]

Hey there!

I'm Dave and I've been growing tropicals and sub-tropicals for a few years now but I'm interested in learning grafting and seriously expanding my collection. I'm in Woodland Hills, CA which is in the far west end of the San Fernando Valley. There is a bit of a microclimate here inasmuchas it can get rather cold in the winter and the summers can be brutally hot. We set a verified record of 121 degrees a couple years ago. Needless to say, my banana bunches didn't survive that.

I'm currently growing:
Mango
White Sapote
Feijoa
Jujube
Pitangatuba
Jaboticaba (no fruit yet)
Cherry of the Rio Grande (no fruit yet)
Achacha (no fruit yet)
Passionfruit
Pomegranate
Grapes
Dragonfruit
Bananas
Blackberries
Blueberries
Rollinia (seedling)
Pineapple
Old Citrus and Loquat trees
...and a bunch of seeds waiting to germinate for next spring planting.

I'm looking to add another Mango or two, more Eugenia, Cherimoya, Atemoya, a fruiting Jabo, different varieties of banana and grafting a bunch of different citrus on my mature trees. It's an obsession.

Thanks for the add - I'm looking forward to getting involved.

Dave

[yavinbase]

Hi All,

My name is Michael.  I have grown a number of plants at various times, including chiles, berries, squash, and a few others.  Currently, I have relatively few plants growing.  Maybe most notably, I recently visited San Diego and tried achachas.  I really liked them due to the lemon-y flavor (even though I haven't liked other lychee-like fruits that I have tried).  Of course, I planted the seeds and I think I have some seedlings (the pots got mixed up with some others... oops) - I'll post pictures when the fully form leaves and maybe someone can help me to sort it out. 

I also recently purchased a couple of plants from FlyingFoxFruits and Kevin Jones - really happy with them, I'll post some pictures in a few days.

Michael

[CenCalArt]

Hello everyone. CencalArt here in sunny Central Valley California zone 9b.I’m looking to multi-graft my trees this year (citrus,fig,mango,avocado,pomegranate,ect.)so if you have some to sale or trade let me know.

[MinMin]

Hi I am MinMin.

Im very lucky to live in inner Sydney right by the harbour. 25 years ago my mother and father started planting on an overgrown piece of council land. The garden has evolved over time and stretches for over 80 meters. My parents are older now and I do a lot of the work and the garden is in a transition stage to turn it all to fruit trees so as to shade the weeds and make it easier for the next custodians who ever they may be.

Currently the garden has (in order from one end to the other) small yuzo , one juvenile lime, one orange tree, the baby mangos in pots area, on  year old in ground dwarf royal red mango, one large lime tree, one large mandarin tree, one hole where a coconut cream mango will be planted in autumn, one good sized fuerte avocado, one fig tree, one large lemon tree, one mature nam doc mai mango,  one good sized secondo avocado , one good sized Kwan mango (holding over 80 fruit currently), one lemon zest mango planted 6 months ago, one dwarf king Thai mango freshly planted, one decent sized hass avocado, one lemon tree and one mandarin tree.

all the trees have fruited well some years but this year not so good. I have been trying to figure out why and that has what has led me here. eg last year I had hundreds of avos across the 3 trees but this year only a handful. last year the mangos split and I identified that boron may be needed so I added that and so far no split.

I will be looking to make posts inregasrds to getting all the trees pumping good amounts of fruit .

[Russ1962]

Hello Everyone,
Nice to meet you all!
I'm a lifelong nature lover and backyard gardener from southern California, Zone 10a/10b.
For the past few years I've been growing mostly Plumerias, Pineapples, Dragonfruit, Figs, Bananas, and now trying to grow some Mangoes.
I'm really glad I found this Forum and look forward to gleaning something from all the knowledge being shared!
Thanks for letting me in. 

Russ1962

[Moomin]

Edit: Woo, I was finally able to work around the spam-blocking issue by posting as a quote first and then editing. So here it is:

Hello everyone

I finally got my account today, so here is a quick little introduction:
My name is Alicia and I'm from Switzerland, according to a map I found online it's zone 8a where I'm at. I've only recently started to become interested in growing all sorts of fruit trees and berry shrubs; mainly because I now have my own house and garden. Before, I was a notorious indoor-plant-killer... Not a single Calathea I had lived more than two months, for example. Since I've started to kneel into plant-science, I'm proud to say I have one that has been going strong for at least 6 months
But as I said, my main interest lies in friuting plants.

What I am growing, so far:
- two cultivars of Apple trees, one of which has red flesh, bought from a nursery
- Nectarine, bought from a nursery
- Apricot-Cherry hybrid, bought from a nursery
- two cultivars of Cherry trees, one of which is yellow, bought from a nursery
- many kinds of berries, like raspberries, currants, strawberries, gooseberries, blueberries (one of which is pink)... etc.
- Kiwiberry (Issai), bought from a nursery

And the more exotic ones...
- Loquat, seed taken from store bought fruit in Switzerland
- Litchi, seed taken from store bought fruit in Switzerland
- Longan, seed taken from store bought fruit in UK (during holiday)
- Avocado, was gifted to me by a friend, he grew it from store bought fruit as well
- Mango, from store bought fruit, no idea which cultivar...
- 2 kinds of white Mulberry, got both plants from different nurseries
- Seedless Che, plant bought from a nursery
- Paw Paw, plant bought from a nursery
- Pineapple Quince, bought from a nursery
- Yuzu, bought from a nursery
- Sweet Pursha Lime, bougth from a nursery
- Noni, bought from a closing tropical garden that sold all it's plants
- Natalplum (Carissa macrocarpa), bought from a closing tropical garden that sold all it's plants
- Diospyros kaki, from store bought fruit in Switzerland
- Psidium Cattleyanum, from seed I ordered online
- Psidium cattleyanum, from seed I ordered online
- Psidium guineense, from seed I ordered online
- Psidium guajava (pink), from seed I ordered online
- Psidium guajava (white), from seed I ordered online
- Solanum laciniatum (Kangaroo apple), from seed of a fruiting tree I found in London, UK
- Solanum caripense (Tzimbalo), from seed I ordered online
- Solanum muricatum (Pepino), bought from a nursery
- Muntingia calabura, from a nursery in germany, but the mother tree sadly died recently - luckily I managed to grow a few seedlings from the only fruit it ever made...
- Ziziphus jujuba, from seed I ordered online (still amazes me, it was the only seed that was alive and grew, all other were already dry and dead when I received them)

And the very exotic ones (at least to me)...
- Eugenia uniflora (Surinam-Cherry), seeds collected in tropical garden that closed and sold all it's plants
- Eugenia selloi (Pitangatuba)
- Eugenia cf. Ligustrina (fuzzy)
- Eugenia punicifolia
- Eugenia sp Pitanga "da Praia"
- Eugenia hirta
- Eugenia itaguahiensis
- Eugenia brasiliensis var. leucocarpa
- Myrciaria strigipes (Beach Cambuca)
- Plinia phitrantha
- Plinia sapucaia
- Plinia sp Esarme
- Plinia sp Pingo de Mel
- Glycosmis pentaphylla (Gin Berry)
- Onychopetalum periquino Envira caju "Amarela"
- Manilkara rufula
- Manilkara Trifolia
- Garcinia brasiliensis
- Syzygium smithii
- Syzygium cumini
- Sphaerocoryne lefevrei (Rumdol)
- Pouteria sp Ajara
- Pouteria caimito (Abiu)
- Algrizea macrochlamys (Bico Doce)

Those in the 3rd list were all grown from seed, most of which I bought at exoteninsel.com, a very reliable nursery for exotic seeds located in germany. They are all still very small and some of them are struggling a bit, but I'm hoping to get them through winter so they can start to thrive with more natural sunlight in spring.

Phew, I think that's all. I am really not sure if the more tropical ones will ever bear fruit (if I even manage to keep them alive), but I won't know if I don't try, right? 

[LetThereBeFruit]

Hello everyone! I am a first time gardener in SE Florida/Zone 10B who was blessed with a soursop tree late last year. For this year my wish is to get more into gardening this year - and I have several tropical fruit in mind. My bad habit is I can get very detailed when learning something new, so I'm hoping that I can learn to give my plant just enough care and not baby it to death. Looking forward to learning from you all!

[brian]

Welcome!

Soursop is a tasty fruit, and the tree looks nice.  Weird smelling tree though

[jearl]

Good Afternoon Everybody, My name is Jeff.
I am The Tropical Garden Guy!   

[akimbo]

Hi everyone!

I’m a comparatively new grower in Central FL.  My family and I moved here from NYC about 2.5 yrs ago.  At first I thought I never, ever would move down here (to the chagrin of my husband who was drooling at the opportunity) but when C19 lockdowns occurred and I saw seemingly very intentional disruptions to the supply chain, in addition to several other factors, I was overcome by the intuitive mother’s urge to move somewhere where I could grow food year-round and never feel dependent on others to eat and provide for my family.  After dabbling in typical vegetable and fruit growing, my childhood sweet tooth’s love of fruit overtook all my efforts and I began the inevitable slide down the rabbit hole of finding the BEST fruits (meaning, the sweetest, most delicious) which then turned into the more rare and interesting varieties.  I literally lost my mind, spent my savings and had to develop a freaking spreadsheet just to keep up with what I bought as I spent hours drooling over the descriptions of the panoply of fruits I’d never heard of!  My husband didn’t want a dog as he believed it would constrain our movement.  Little did he know that a dog is much easier to travel with than a tropical rare fruit garden LOL. I’m sure many here understand the predicament!  It’s nice to finally make it onto this forum!

[Eric Turmeric]

Hello fellow fruit growers. My name is Eric Estrada (not the actor) I grew up in California but have been living in Telchac Yucatan for over a year now, growing  seeds and cuttings purchased from amazing people on this forum. I'm looking forward to meeting anyone interested in selling or exchanging plants or seeds here in Yucatan. I'm currently growing mulberry, black sapote, carambola, bonete, cherry of the rio grande, pitangatuba, dragon fruit, peanut butter fruit, sugar apple, and a few different citrus. Growing in Yucatan has been challenging so any help is greatly appreciated. Team work makes the dream work.
Best regards -Eric

[LoPresti]

Hello all you plant and tree lovers. I’m in California near the lower Sierra Foothills or California not far from the American River. Where the gold was found. Zone 9b although so far it’s been a 10a year which makes many of my trees happy.

I've spent some years growing large amounts of organic vegetables in the South Bay Area until around 2020 which was a piece of cake. Now it’s a little more challenging here with more extreme temperatures and I’ve taken up fruit trees. Recently almost 60 different fig trees, asian pear, 3 mandarins, lemon, lime, 4 pomegranate, kaffir, avocado, banana, cherimoya, sugar apple. Recently plum and yangmei. I still grow the veggies and many succulents, plants, some flowers and bonsai. I do lots of grafting and air layering on my trees and many others which I find to be satisfying.

Although I’ve growing off and on for over 4 decades will probably always consider myself a novice in many regards which is also why I have been reading much from this forum for years. Many of you have been very helpful and some inspirational. Thanks, Benjamin

[Marcos82]

Whats up everyone! New here and new to growing stuff. Moving to a farm soon but already with some trees there and some rambutans in a greenhouse inside the house. Portugal, Europe. See you around the forum!

[Mabus]

I am Mabus, located in Germany and my approach is often unconventional to gardening, since I am a biohacker and wannabe artist. Most of the plants I raise, is just because I want to know if it is possible.

And of course some health benefits of consumptions of fruits.