Despite the fact that I can’t find anything on it, I think there are a few different cultivars of Barbados Cherry floating around.
I have never had a fruit that hasn’t tasted very similar to a storebought Rainier cherry with a little more sour and less flesh. Both times I’ve had it were from nurseries, one in Lakeland and one in Fort Lauderdale.
I have heard multiple people give very different claims, that it was bland or off tasting, with no sweet or sour taste. Normally I would write off the description as people eatting them underripe, but some of the people who have told me that would have mentioned that if they did.
The marketing at big box stores has also changed. They used to be called “Barbados Cherry” or “Tropical Cherry” but are now marketed as “Southern Sweet Cherry” with a note on the tag that says they are Barbados Cherry. Obviously marketing changes don’t necessarily reflect actual changes, but “sweet cherry” fits the taste description better in my opinion.
This was kinda just a rambling observation because I saw my South Florida coworkers last week, and they description of Barbados Cherry taste was drastically different to mine (and reflected what some members on here have said). There are two different species ( m. emarginata and m. glabra) in cultivation called Barbados Cherry, which could be thebtaste difference. But I imagine there is an improved version of Barbados Cherry floating around the nursery trade and is not being marketed as such.
The ones I’ve had from my tree don’t have off flavors and I wouldn’t say they are bad; with that said I wouldn’t describe them as good. They have minimal taste, some hints of sweet and sour. It’s not at all frost tolerant, so it’s a pain to protect. I may get rid of my large tree since I managed to root a cutting last year. And keep that cycle going, I like to have it but don’t love the fruit
I had two and they were very different looking in habit and leaf shape. Only one of them matured enough to fruit, but it was good once ripe.
I ended up selling both plants to people who were more willing to seriously protect them over the winter. But approve it to say there are certainly different ones floating around.
This is my first winter with tropicals in zone 8a (Waxhaw, NC). I’m growing a Meyer Lemon, Meiwa Kumquat, Owari Satsuma and Persian Lime in ground. I’ve been using frost fabric and Christmas lights on a temperature switch that comes on at around 36 degrees. I also have pineapple guavas, kiwis, apples, peach, pears, pluots, mulberries, blueberries, strawberries, elderberries and loads (17 varieties) of figs. I also have a 9 bed garden.
I have a similar thing going with an automated switch, I cut mine on at 33* because it’s usually wrong. For some reason as nice as that outdoor smart plug is, it never has my local temperature 100% right. It was cutting on at like 40*, so I kept moving the cut on temp back. I found 33 to usually cut on when it’s 33 or lower, but almost never cuts on at 40 like it was doing when I set it at 36. Last year I had it set at 40 because it wouldn’t cut on until it was well below 34. Weird how it has changed on opposite sides of the spectrum. It just doesn’t find my location well. It has my location on the map but says it’s a different county for some reason.
Yeah, I bought some Inkbird, set your own temperature, switches for my chickens they aren’t the wifi ones and they seem to also have a 1-6 degree variation dependent on what temp you set them to. Once you dial them in, they seem pretty decent. I also have 2 of the one to three prong adapter types and you can’t adjust those. I don’t love the one that cuts on at 40 degrees but the 36 degree one seems to do really well for my citris. The only plant that isn’t really loving the frost blanket and lights is my meyer lemon, seems to have some yellowing of the leaves. But it also has new growth that looks great so maybe it is a lack of a nutrient. I also have a meyer lemon that goes inside and out that is in great shape and I feed them both the same organic fertilizer so I’m not 100% sure what is going on yet.
Some carambola seedlings I plan to be able to graft over in fall from fruit off my Kary starfruit. Gonna separate them and pot them when I think it’s ok for them to be outside.
This tiny Sete Capote seedling was unfazed being under a foot of snow, due to the wind drift against the fence. I know it’s way too close but I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Didn’t expect it to make it haha
It’s had no protection outside of the fence and a handful of leaves I toss on it when it’s cold
Nice!
Yeah mine also showed now damage, even after the nights the yard when down to around 10 F!
Granted, they also never sprouted, so…
Haha my seeds didn’t either. I got this one from Bellamy trees for $12
Glad I did since the seeds are a no show
Yeah, same with Psidium longipetiolatum and robustom. So I bought two plants of each.
I had some of those grow, not sure how many of each tho
I still have a gang of robustum seeds to send you, remind me sometime
So I found this tree growing in the back woods of the property. I orginally thought it wad some sort of funky citrus, but according to INaturalist, it is ximenia americana, sometimes called sea lemon or hog plum. It is a very interesting native plant; has semi-parasitic roots, thorns and an edible fruit. I wanted to get seeds for it, but they were sold out when I was buying seeds, and I settled for its African cousin Sourplum (ximenia caffra), which has similar characteristics (I have 4 of those potted with a cocoplum seedling that are doing marginally okay).
I’m glad I wasn’t able to get seeds because apperently in grows wild in my backyard! Going to get some fruit from it (it was forming flower buds while I was back there) and see if they are worth seed saving.
There was a plant sale today at Hollis Gardens in Lakeland (cool place thats free to the public). Got a black fruited Surinam cherry and malabar spinach as far as tropical edibles. I did get 3 endangered native cacti though; consolea corallicola, harrisia aboriginum, and harrisia simpsonii. The two harrisia are columnar cacti and pontentially produce a fruit. Some places say that all of the consolea corallicola specimans remaining are male, so it probably won’t fruit, but it is very cool.
Its been about a year since I planted out my ice cream beans, so I guess its a good time for an update. Originally had 5, one died (root rot), 2 are in ground and 2 are in pots. The 2 in pots have been mostly in the greenhouse and the 2 inground were protected whenever temps threatened to go below 40.
Potted ones:
They are both about 4 hands tall (idk like 2ft more or less). Very green leaves, albeit a little leggy. One probably needed a stake, but its been really windy out and its mostly straight up and down again. They haven’t had any abnormal amount of leaf loss and have put out new growth since our 2 weeks of winter.
Inground ones:
One is about 1 hand tall and the other is 2 hands tall. The shorter one has had better vegatative growth, but seems to be stunted vertically. The taller one wasn’t receiving enough water, until about a week ago it was mostly a barren stalk. I changed my irragation system about 2 weeks ago and it has already put out new growth with a bunch of leaf buds ready to open. Both of them are considerably smaller than the potted ones.
I think the reason for the size disparity is just not enough water on the inground ones plus being exposed to the Sun at all times. When my potted ones start to get leaf burn on show sun stress, I just move them into the shade, the inground ones just have to tough it out. My sprinklers also weren’t hitting the ice cream beans very well; I fixed that issue. Overall, currently disappointed at my ingrounds, but that can change pretty quickly with a new season starting. Hopefully they’ll put on some growth this year.
How old are your seedlings? 
I didn’t mean my seedling grown trees which I was growing from seeds off my fruit was blooming (that would be awesome but they are only 1 year old now). I have two in ground loquats which I assume are seedlings as when I purchased them they weren’t of a named variety. I had to read back to understand what I was saying and I think I misspoke: because strawberry was the earliest bloomer here. My seedling tree (in ground for 3-4years? I am awful at this) was second to bloom, then argelino if I recall correctly. I basically got no fruit this year, I think the heavy snowfall broke most of the fruitlets off. But it’s so lush right now I’ll have to wait until they ripen to be able to see how many made it, I’m sure a handful at least. A far cry from last years hundreds of fruits on my 8ftx8ft tree.
Ah, gotcha gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. Have you had strawberry before? How is it?
I haven’t, was hoping to be trying it around now, but the one branch I had grafted fruitlets didn’t make it through our rough winter.
Awww, will watch out for your review in the upcoming years 