Do I dare start a non banana/papaya thread?

Do I dare start a non banana/papaya thread?

No offense, but noticed how on this board all we talk about is bananas and mangos?

Can we start a thread on other fruits?

Here's what I have my hopes up on: lucuma. Lucuma is kind of like a highland version of a mammey sapote, which tastes like maple syrup. I've had the lucuma flavored ice cream which is so popular in South America, so I know it does taste pretty darn good.

Come on, guys, let's not leave this empty, There is more to grow than just papayas, mangos, and bananas.

Oh, by the way, when can I harvest my macademias? I don't want the sqirls to get them.

Axel

The following thread was started by Axel on November 03, 2001 at 9:26 pm PST

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Macadamias and Cherimoyas

Axel

I was reading the CRFG fruit fact sheet and it suggested to just gather the fallen nuts from the ground each day instead of shaking the tree as you will get immature nuts mixed in with your mature ones. What variety do you have? And how old is your tree? I had the " Cate " when I had my house in Lemoore. It never had a chance to grow as my son would break off a new limb almost daily. Talk about frustration. I never got around to replacing it but was thinking about trying a Beaumont and cate next summer. Jeff What variety are you growing?

Axel how are your cherimoyas doing? I know that you have booth and that it has produced very well for you there on the coast. Are you trying any other varieties besides Booth? How are the highland seedling cherimoyas doing? are they old enough to fruit yet?

I was suppose to get some scion wood from Eunice Messner of the " Elixer " cherimoya and was going to graft it on some seedlings I have around here. What do you think the probability is of being successful in fruiting cherimoyas here in the valley? Do you think I would have to go to all the trouble of rigging up a misting unit to keep the humidity high around he plants? I'm hoping not , that would be alot but if needed I guess I would in order to get that wonderful fruit.

Anyone ever try the grumichama or the pitomba? I have both but they are still to small to fruit. also have a couple of cherry of the rio grande in 5 gallons hope to get those in the ground next summer too. I have ate this fruit down south and its not bad. The tree its self is very beautiful.

Next summer I hope to be in my new house and will attempt trying some pineapples, rollinias,plukentias, and alot of other things.

Lets get some of that famous cloudforest disscussion going that keeps bringing us back to this board day after day.

William

The above followup was added by William on November 04, 2001 at 3:04 pm PST.

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Fruit Ramble - Inca Peanut

Yes, let's talk fruits. The more viariety, the better. If there is something you don't know anything about, look it up and chime in.

William, I highly recommend Beaumont. It is a vigorous bearer. It does very well for me here. I am just watching the nuts to make sure I get them before the racoons do. I have a real bad racoon problem this year. They stole all my peaches, plums, pluots, and tomatoes. I did get a few loquats. They're too stupid to go after things they are unfamiliar with, so charimoyas and sapotes are safe.

Speaking of cherimoyas, my highland cherimoyas are getting big, although it will be at least a year or two before I get fruit. I do think you will need to hand pollinate, and you may even have to mist your cherimoyas. Here, I am in the hills, so when the overcast comes in the evening, my garden is in the fog. Fog and 55F seems to be the ideal condition for getting massive fruit set. I have to thin the fruit out so as to not overstress the trees, because literally every flower sets fruit. I can understand why booth was picked as a cultivar.

I don't have any other cultivars. I need to learn how to graft, because I have so many seedlings. All my attempts at grafting have failed. This includes loquats, citrus, and sapotes. Maybe I am picking the most difficult plants to graft. I have to take some lessons from someone.

I definitely have to expand my Eugenia collection:

Pitomba
Eugenia luschnathiana
Hardy to 27F

Grumichama
Eugenia brasiliensis
Hardy to 27F

It's interesting, the Ortho book states that these are hardier than the Surinam cherry. This is what the book states:

Surinam cherry
Eugenia uniflora
Hardy to 30F

I have to agree with that statement. The tips of my surinam cherry looked somewhat stressed from the at least 5-10 32F mornings I had last year.

Now the other one is Cherry of the Rio Grande, which is hardy to 20F! You guys should all be growing this in the Central Valley. It looks very tropical with peeling white bark and glossy leaves. Mine is almost 6 feet tall already. It grows very vigorously here.

Cherry of the Rio Grande
Eugenia aggregata
Hardy to 20F

What are rollinias and plukentias? I keep hearing about rollinias. There is no references to a fruit called rollinia in Morton'sbook, and an internet search turned up nothing but catalog references, no botanical name. There is a whole genus called Rollinia, but the fruits have different names.
Biriba
Rollinia mucosa
It's very tropical, growing along the Amazon river. It has been grown in Florida where it died when exposed to 27F.
There is another one called Rollinia deliciosa. The two get mixed up on the litterature.

William, plukentias is the wrong name. It's called Plukenetia volubilis, also known as the Inca peanut, wild peanut, or Ticazo. The leaves are supposed to be edible, and the seeds are roasted and are supposed to taste really good. It originates in the high altitude rain forests of the Andes, so it should be quite adaptable to California. I certainly would like to give it a try.

What's even more fascinating is that the Inca Peanut is the first plant food discovered to have a perfect protein with all amino acids present.

Guess what, I want one. Where did you get yours?

Check out this quote:

http://ift.confex.com/ift/2001/techprogram/paper_8366.htm
Inca peanut (IP), a plant native to the high altitude rain forests of the Andean region of South America grows as a vine and produces tetralobular fruit containing one seed, with a nut like coat in each fruit. The seeds are valued for their high oil (49%) and protein (33%) content. Inca peanut seeds contain a nutritionally complete and a highly digestible water soluble (albumin) storage protein (IPA) that accounts for 31% total seed proteins. To our knowledge IPA is the first plant protein to contain all the essential amino acids required by an adult human. It is not known whether this protein is expressed only in Inca peanut seeds or it is also expressed in other commonly used seeds as human foods. It is therefore necessary to develop a sensitive assay that can detect trace amounts of IPA.

It's amazing what we can come across through these discussions. Thank, William.

The picture below shows what the Inca peanut looks like. The image was taken from the Missouri Botanican Gardens Website.
http://www.mobot.org/
The image gallery where I found it is
http://mobot.mobot.org/W3T/Search/image/iix147.html

Axel

The above followup was added by Axel on November 04, 2001 at 6:30 pm PST.

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Rollinia

I have 2 seedlings of Rollinia sylvatica, which I believe is the only truly cold-hardy Rollinia. Seed from Nestlebrae, NZ. They describe it as more of a curiosity than as a really desirable fruit, but its a Rollinia anyway. Survived happily its first winter here unheated. The tropical ones are really highly regarded, I beleive. Also have Eugenia uniflora plants from them, anyone know anything about this one?

The above followup was added by Ben on November 04, 2001 at 7:21 pm PST.

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Eugenia Uniflora = Surinam cherry

Ben,

Surinam cherries do well here. The only drawback is that it blooms as a reaction to short days, so it will bloom fall, winter and spring if there is enough heat. If it's too cold in the spring, the fruit don't set, and then you get to stare at an empty tree for a while.

Fall bloom can ripen well if fall is warm enough.

New growth and the leaves can barely take any temperatures below 32F, but older wood is considerably more hardy. It is sensitive to cold, wet Winter soil, and will defoliate in the spring under those conditions.

The fruit is highly variable from seedling to seedling. Fruit of some seedlings are said to taste like turpentine. The best flavored one I have found is the variety "Lorver". It makes delicious orange colored fruit even in cooler weather.

Axel

The above followup was added by Axel on November 05, 2001 at 1:17 am PST.

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mirtáceas

That´s what you call them in portugues any ways. Thanks for filling me in on why my pitanga/surinam cherry hasn´t been in flower this past summer. It´s setting fruit now though.
How does the Rio Grande cherry taste?It´s supposed to taste similar to pitanga. I´ve seen it in books but I thought this was a species that was pretty well unknown. I don´t know anyone in Brazil who has eaten or seen them.
My grumixama is finally starting to grow after a year and a halfs wait. It seems to only grow when it´s really wet and hot outside.
E. luschnathiana (pitomba-da-baía) also sounds interesting. I once tried a pitomba-do-norte (Talisia esculenta) which is from the lychee family but it tasted terrible.
I did have two E. tomentosas(cabeludinha) but they succumbed to the low temps. where I used to live.
Another "mirtácea" which is interesting is guabiroba (Campomanesia fenzliana ). That´s supposed to taste great but my freinds in Brazil keep forgetting to send me the seeds they collected for me a couple of years ago. Don´t think it´s worth sending them any more.
I have three kinds of cattley guaves= red, yellow and big. I´ve eaten tons of the first two but the big kind,like the guy from the ministry of agriculture called it, flowers but never sets fruit. Any ideas why?
The rest (guave,jabuticaba,feijoa)are growing quite well. One of my jabuticabas keeps getting peed on and trampled by my blind dog but the other one has grown so much this past year. A collegue of mine from Brazil says that it looks about bit enough to start fruiting soon.
About the only other "mirtácea" from Br. I know of is uvaia (E. uvalha) which looks çike a small pear and can be tasty.
That´s all folks! Thanks for your many responses. Cheers JASON

The above followup was added by Jason Huerta-Portugal on November 05, 2001 at 10:34 pm PST.

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hi

Hi well it's getting cooooold here and there's cherimoyas everywhere and my time in the internet cafe is gone, but don't be scared to plant cherimoyas, it get's to -3c here

Jason

The above followup was added by Jason on November 06, 2001 at 3:06 am PST.

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Macadamias and Cherimoyas

Axel and Ben

I had a friend who lived in Tulare who was growing both the Beaumont Macadamia and the Vermillion surinam cherry. His plants were old and established and had went through both the freeze of 1990 and the snow event of a few years ago. I was amazed to see that both events didnt really set either of the trees back that much.

Most plants attain more hardiness as they age. The cherry of the rio grande and the capulin cherry are both real good selections to grow here and the fruit is quite tasty. It is my belief that Pitomba & Grumichama would perform well here after getting themselves established. I have a Cas guava that seems to continue to put out new growth inspite of the cooler days and nights.

Axel you can get seed for the plukentia from Jim west / ecuador explorer website. As far as the Rollinias are concerned, I am not sure if it is Mucosa or Deliciosa as a guy from Costa Rica sent me the seed and did not specify which one it is. What ever it is, its very vigorous and should grow here with some protection. There is a picture of the fruit in Julia Mortons book listed under Biriba. The fruitis described as being very good.

I like to have these disscussions as I always learn little things here and there to keep my interest up.

William

The above followup was added by William on November 06, 2001 at 2:11 pm PST.

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