I think there’s a current offer from someone on TFF buy/sell/trade, unless he recently closed it. I ordered some, $25 for 6 pods including shipping. They were OK, I did really like the flavor, but I didn’t like how the seeds were all polyembryonic and breaking into smaller pieces when I tried to suck off the flesh. Once I realized I should cut or pull the flesh off the seeds rather than putting the whole seed in my mouth, it was a little easier going.
I planted all my seeds in a community pot and will probably have many dozens of seedlings that I’ll have nowhere to grow, if anyone wants them later.
Based on how these seeds looked, I would say each “seed” had like 30+ embryos in it, though probably most were too small and weak to be viable. I bet if you babied them, almost like tissue culture starts, you could get hundreds of plants from one pod.
@Richard Wanted to invite you to this thread to share your thoughts and advice if you get a chance. I saw from some other threads that you have a beautiful Mango in your yard.
Also I saw your comment that Manilla “root stock” from the nurseries is not actually a great mango. That was super interesting. I got my 2 Mangos (about 3 ft and 4 ft tall) from a local CRFG chapter - they do a bunch of grafts each year and then sell the results the next year if they take. One of the mangos, I think the Lemon Zest, has another branch where there was another variety grafted but that didn’t take and fell off, and now the Manilla is starting to grow. I was originally thinking of letting that grow and then when it’s bigger, maybe grafting more on there. Or maybe trying to keep it to try the fruit. But am wondering if that’s a bad idea now.
Would love any other advice you have for us around Tropical Fruit growing, especially in CA/SoCal.
It’s definitely grafted and I’ve had it almost exactly a year. Grew slowly but pushed growth late in the summer and even bloomed and held a few fruit but I cut them off because I was sure A. It could kill the tree and B. It wasn’t a natural bloom cycle. Not sure of the rootstock as it will forever stay in a pot, but it’s stayed very healthy
I’m inland of San Diego (zone 9b). I had a grafted star fruit in the ground that I bought from Exotica nursery, which would absolutely be worth a field trip for you because it’s such a unique place. The star fruit survived with minimal frost protection and produced fruit well but I ended up rehoming it because we would inevitably get a freeze during ripening and the fruit would be spoiled. A lovely women on mt Soledad arranged to have it dug up and transported, no easy feat I’m sure since it was over 8 ft tall at that point.
I grew cherimoya, guava, strawberry guava and white sapote in ground which all did well. Lost a Luc’s Garcia and dragon fruit in ground.
In pots I now have a Mauritius lychee (fruits lightly) jaboticas (red hybrid and Grimal), pineapple and an achacha that haven’t fruited yet.
Other good nurseries for subtropicals closer to San Diego would be California tropical fruit trees in vista and ong’s nursery (I believe by appt only)
Thank you! Good info to know. Will look up Exotica and add to the list above. We don’t really get freezes here so maybe I’m going to be ok with Starfruit … or at least I can attempt it. How old was it when you got it and how long did it take to produce? Do you remember the variety by any chance?
Yea transporting and digging it up sounds like a lot of effort! Glad it found a new home.
I haven’t tried Cheremoiya, Atemoya, sugar apple etc yet but am excited to. Good know Cheremoiya’s we’re fine in the ground for you. If you remember the variety, could you pl share? Also, how long did it take for you to get fruit?
Guavas - I put 2 in the ground late last year. One was a seedling I saved from a root sprout from a mature tree at our previous house that we rented. And one is a “pink guava”. Both are growing fine so far. The pink set a few fruit last year while still in a pot but the squirrels got it before I could. Let’s see what happens this year.
Lychee - thanks for the info on Mauritius. That’s one of the varieties available here so I’ll keep that in mind.
Appreciate the overall report and the new nursery names. Will dig in and add to the list above.
If/when you can, I’m sure we’d love to see pics of your trees … for me, seeing other’s trees gives me a lot of joy and encouragement and also hopefully learning.
I believe the star fruit was Kari. It was really small when I got it, under a foot and the graft was probably pencil diameter or a bit less. It looks like I posted its first fruit 9/2016 which was probably about two years later. It grew quickly. You can search for photos of how tall it was at first fruit.
I had two cherimoya, a pierce that flowered but didn’t fruit well, I got it at clausens nursery and suspect it may have been a seedling and a grafted el bumpo that I think I got at Home Depot that did much better. I was really bad and didn’t hand pollinate. A friend has a huge honey heart that is phenomenal and fruits prolifically in La mesa.
I don’t live at the house with the in ground trees anymore but happy to add pictures of the potted ones if that’s helpful!
No extensive plans for this Annona, couple of months ago I started a few seeds from a fruit we ate. Kept one and it’s still in a cup. I might move it to a larger pot sometime in spring.
Made it out to Mimosa Nursery today, right before closing.
Bought 2 trees - a Hasya Sapodilla and a Sri Kembagan Starfruit. The sapodilla is about 3-4 ft tall and has a bunch of tiny fruit on it but I’m considering removing them this year to let it keep focusing on getting bigger and getting it into the ground over the next few weeks.
The Starfruit is about 8-9 ft tall and very leggy and also had 7 fruit ripening on it. 4 of those fell off over the drive from the nursery but we will enjoy them tonight :). I’m debating putting this into the ground vs uppotting. I think I want to make this more bushy instead of super leggy as it is today.
I’m excited about both of these!
Will post pics soon and look for advice on pruning and care from more experienced folks here.
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but we will enjoy them tonight :). I’m debating putting this into the ground vs uppotting. I think I want to make this more bushy instead of super leggy as it is today.