Last night I looked up other members of the Dovyalis genus. If I were to experiment with graft compatibility, I’d first try Dovyalis rhamnoides, aka Sourberry. But I don’t know why anyone with a mature Kei Apple plant would bother with this because typically they are drowning in seedlings.
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Mine are finally putting out some new growth, lined with their needle spines. I think they like these 100° days and 80° evenings. They don’t seem to react at all to more/less watering, I think they’re pretty darn tolerant of both.
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I irrigate ours for 2 minutes per week year-round, which I estimate is 5 gallons per plant per week. In contrast, our pit fruits prefer 8 minutes per week in the summer.
On the hermaphrodite / dioecious question… My mum has Kei Apple in australia, from a nursery. She has a single tree, and it fruits profusely. Even if it’s wind pollinated, it’s a rare tree there and her neighbours aren’t close at all, so the odds of wind pollination are low.
The only info she can find is that Kei Apple should be only male or female, but the fruit are there, so there may be a dioecious variety being sold in Australia. I’ve seen the tree myself, the thorns are serious business!!!
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If the plant produces only female flowers and the fruits contain empty seed hulls or no seeds at all, then it is parthenocarpic.
Other possibilities include separate male and female flowers on the same plant, or perfect flowers with both male and female parts.
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It’s also possible that the nursery grafted a male branch on the female plant.
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Thanks! I meant Parthenocarpic but wrote dioecious for some reason.
When it flowers next I’ll have her try to ID female and any male flowers on different branches (grafted male if on separate branches / hermaphrodite if distributed).
I’ve also asked her about the seeds (possible parthenocarpy), she thinks she remembers they were fully formed but will report back next time.
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Seriously productive! What are the storage properties, or how can you preserve them?
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They have a very short shelf life. My preservation methods so far include: juice frozen in ice cube trays for later use as a condiment, jelly, and frozen cobbler. I’m considering using leftovers as a mulch supplement since they have a good Salic acid content.
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The temperatures have been in the upper 80°sF here for a week and today it broke through to 94°. These fruits will likely all turn a nice ripe yellow color in a few days.
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How often do you prune to maintain the espalier? Is there any nuance too it other than “cut off what isn’t the shape you want”?
I have ~10 seedlings 2 years old that are planted 2 feet apart. Doing an espalier like this with each of them seems like it would let me keep them densely planted but still accessible. Otherwise I’m afraid they will just become an impenetrable bramble.
Initially once per year. After 8 years, 4 times per year. Keep in mind that they increase vigor with age. Left unpruned they are 15 meter high trees.
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Do you sell any seeds?
I sold airlayers. Last week I removed the plants and will install two espaliered Camellia sinensis var sinensis cultivars in their place.
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Became not worth growing anymore or just preferred to change it up and try some tea