Man, I really hate winter. With a passion. It just sucks. Not much is happening inside the greenhouse. It's usually dark and always damp. I can see algae building up on the block and glass each day. There just isn't much to do in there except to occasionally water.
But not all is quiet. My jaboticaba tree that my buddy Warren in Florida sent up to me a few years ago has finally put out first blooms. That's it at the top of the page. There were maybe 3-4 very small bloom clusters and unfortunately, none of them produced any fruit. Soon afterwards, the tree put out another small bloom. Nothing showy like having the blooms covering the entire tree, just a few.
Next up is my big cherimoya tree. This tree was quickly inching up on my "pissing me off" list. Just ask my Gold Nugget jackfruit and the two big Imbe's what happens when you reach the top of this list!
This tree is one of my biggest...and most frustrating. Many years ago I grafted several varieties onto it. Quite a few actually and some had multiple graftings. But over the years, for some unknown reason...and after thriving for several years, some of them died off. I'm down to maybe three or four with a huge part of the tree being the original seedling. I don't believe I've gotten a fruit from it since it was in a container many many years ago. Damn thing just wouldn't bloom. I've pruned and defoliated and even done it again during the year and nothing. I should have been wading in cherimoya fruit by now.
So maybe it's the timing when I prune and defoliate? Seems to me that I've done this so many times, I've lost track of all the different times attempted. So this year, the first week of February, I fertilized the shit out of it with triple phosphate and then pruned and defoliated.
Next up is my big cherimoya tree. This tree was quickly inching up on my "pissing me off" list. Just ask my Gold Nugget jackfruit and the two big Imbe's what happens when you reach the top of this list!
This tree is one of my biggest...and most frustrating. Many years ago I grafted several varieties onto it. Quite a few actually and some had multiple graftings. But over the years, for some unknown reason...and after thriving for several years, some of them died off. I'm down to maybe three or four with a huge part of the tree being the original seedling. I don't believe I've gotten a fruit from it since it was in a container many many years ago. Damn thing just wouldn't bloom. I've pruned and defoliated and even done it again during the year and nothing. I should have been wading in cherimoya fruit by now.
So maybe it's the timing when I prune and defoliate? Seems to me that I've done this so many times, I've lost track of all the different times attempted. So this year, the first week of February, I fertilized the shit out of it with triple phosphate and then pruned and defoliated.
Here is the before pic. Sorry, terrible photo giving no scale of the overall size at all. But as you can see, the branches are hitting the top of the greenhouse. That's pretty much 13' there. The tree covers a huge area and the trunk is bigger in diameter than a coke can. The other item that spurred me to do this in February was that the leaves were pretty much covered in spider mites. Trying to treat such a large tree with all that foliage and getting complete coverage is just impossible.
Shave and a haircut...two bits! I also took the time to tie up some branches that were hanging low, crossing others, or just in the way. Once I got all that crap done, I mixed up a big tank of Horticultural oil for the spider mites. I've found that a good dosing of this will knock these little bastards down hard. You just have to get good coverage. I figured there were still some on the branches so I covered them all really good...me too apparently.
There are a few other noteworthy items. Top two pics are my little pitangatuba. Seems to bloom frequently and actually fruit much less. I've not had a fruit stay on the tree long enough to turn bright orange yet. The taste is much more sour than I would like. The flavor itself I think is very good. It would be great with miracle fruit.
Bottom left is my Namwah banana. This banana is fantastic. Great texture and awesome flavor. Everyone enjoys them. They are also great in various dessert dishes. This bunch has been as productive as anyone could ask for. They never stop. A little slower than they would be growing outside in Thailand of course, but they kiddyup quite well inside the greenhouse. However, they are sort of a pain in the ass. While this is considered a small growing variety, they can still easily hit the top of my greenhouse. Their 7' leaves spread far and wide shading plants I do not wanted shaded. So I just bend the leaf at the base and let them hang down. Takes away the grand look of a banana, but keeps them the hell out of my way! A win-win for us both.
Last pic on bottom right is one of my white sapotes. This particular plant is one I grew from seed and grafted from scions I got down in Florida. The variety is Redlands...can't remember if I have Suebelle grafted onto or not. Anyways, this one has a very attractive canopy and shape, when it doesn't defoliate. It is compact and spreading. Yeah, both of my white sapotes will defoliate more often than I like. Get their feelings hurt...defoliate. A little lack of watering...defoliate. However, they always quickly bounce back with a full flush and normally a bloom. I would like them to start setting more fruit though. The fruit is good. Not Florida mango good, but "I'll take a win in the greenhouse when I can get it" kind of good.
Bottom left is my Namwah banana. This banana is fantastic. Great texture and awesome flavor. Everyone enjoys them. They are also great in various dessert dishes. This bunch has been as productive as anyone could ask for. They never stop. A little slower than they would be growing outside in Thailand of course, but they kiddyup quite well inside the greenhouse. However, they are sort of a pain in the ass. While this is considered a small growing variety, they can still easily hit the top of my greenhouse. Their 7' leaves spread far and wide shading plants I do not wanted shaded. So I just bend the leaf at the base and let them hang down. Takes away the grand look of a banana, but keeps them the hell out of my way! A win-win for us both.
Last pic on bottom right is one of my white sapotes. This particular plant is one I grew from seed and grafted from scions I got down in Florida. The variety is Redlands...can't remember if I have Suebelle grafted onto or not. Anyways, this one has a very attractive canopy and shape, when it doesn't defoliate. It is compact and spreading. Yeah, both of my white sapotes will defoliate more often than I like. Get their feelings hurt...defoliate. A little lack of watering...defoliate. However, they always quickly bounce back with a full flush and normally a bloom. I would like them to start setting more fruit though. The fruit is good. Not Florida mango good, but "I'll take a win in the greenhouse when I can get it" kind of good.
First pic on the left above is the cherimoya again. We're now at the end of February, so roughly 3 1/2 weeks after pruning/defoliating. So maybe this time, the effort will pay off? First couple of blooms popping gives me a little hope. As we get into March and now the first of April, the tree has a good number of blooms and some still popping out. I've even begun to collect pollen and have attempted to pollinate a few female blooms. This is the tricky part. Catching the blooms in a male stage to collect pollen and also having blooms in the female stage in order to pollinate! That's why having lots and lots of blooms is a huge advantage.
Next pic is one of the flowers on the jaboticaba. One of only a few...but better than none! Bottom left is one of four jaboticaba fruits that set. We're into late March now. The last pic is a full shot of the plant. This is April 1st.
Next pic is one of the flowers on the jaboticaba. One of only a few...but better than none! Bottom left is one of four jaboticaba fruits that set. We're into late March now. The last pic is a full shot of the plant. This is April 1st.
Ahhh...I know you are dying to find out what is going on with my jackfruit project! For those of you who are reading this, but have NOT read my previous blogs...shame! As of today, the grafts are growing well and looking good. First pic is the Cristela. Second is the unnamed orange flesh variety. Both are healthy though I hope some of the branches firm up. The fan in the corner was to create movement and help strengthen the branches, but it stopped working and will need replaced. Hard to keep these cheaper fans going out there in such a damp environment.
The two containers in the first pic above are jackfruit seedlings. About 100 of them. These were from a fruit purchased at one of the local markets. Pic on right are five seedlings I transplanted to their own container. I'm going to try and graft some of the orange fleshed variety onto them. This is a variety Brandon would like preserved. He's the one that sent me the scions from his tree which was sadly lost due to phytophthora. So why 100 seedlings? While I did have success grafting onto my big tree, my success rate onto seedlings has been terrible. So I'm playing the numbers game.
The above pic is one of my many sugar apple seedlings. I'm praying that at least one of them is a Big Red. This one has been a little slow coming out and some of the new growth burning off. It keeps trying though. I can also see a bunch of little blooms popping as well. Hopefully I will get several pollinated.
Just to the right of the larger sugar apple tree is my little forest of sugar apple seedlings. The taller one in the middle is already putting out blooms. These are great plants for containers and can start blooming in three years, maybe less. Again...hoping some of these are Big Red.
Got bored the other day and decided to graft up a couple of cherimoya seedlings I had dug up a month or so ago. The timing for the scions was probably not the best since they've already flushed. Hopefully the seedlings will push more growth. Not real confident with these two grafts. I will say this though...I had just sharpened my knife and I can't stress enough how much that contributes to nice, straight cuts...on the plant and scions...not me for once!
I'll end the blog with an update on my Imbe project. First up is Luc's garcinia I grafted last summer. As you can see, the growth has been phenomenal. It is nearly in a constant growth flush. The only bummer is that aphids just love the new growth. Where these bastards come from is beyond me. No site of them anywhere in the greenhouse and then bam! Soon as new growth shows up on Luc's, there they are.
On the second Imbe is the improved brasiliensis in the pic on the left and the only remaining magosteen graft there on the right.
As you can see, the brasiliensis are doing very well and put out flushes nearly as often as Lucs. The mangosteen graft...not so much. Pitiful actually. Small, immature leaves is all that gets put out. I'm not convinced that this graft will survive much longer. Just a feeling, but I believe it will end up dying off like the rest of them. This one is just hanging on a little longer.
As you can see, the brasiliensis are doing very well and put out flushes nearly as often as Lucs. The mangosteen graft...not so much. Pitiful actually. Small, immature leaves is all that gets put out. I'm not convinced that this graft will survive much longer. Just a feeling, but I believe it will end up dying off like the rest of them. This one is just hanging on a little longer.
What's coming up? Well, hopefully warmer weather will start hanging around. That means a good spring cleaning will be on my list of things to do. I'm not looking forward to that. It's a long day of being cold, wet, and miserable. I just thought of this, but this time I think I will where some ear protection while I'm using the pressure washer inside the greenhouse. It gets very loud in there and my ears ring enough as it is!
I will soon be able to start moving some of the plants outside to the patio. This makes it easier to clean as well. Get better growth and stronger branches outside too.
Won't be long before I start getting the garden in either. This winter I experimented in grafting some tomato varieties onto a more disease resistant variety. Complete and utter failure. Didn't get a single attempt to take. So this year, the tomatoes will be in large containers since my garden soil seems to have every tomato disease known to mankind in it. This will be more expensive and quite the pain in the ass I'm sure.
May 17 we go to Thailand and visit the folks. Yeah...I'm going this time around. I will be carrying my three pulasan plants with me! They survived the winter...so far. I just got to keep them going until then. I've got my phytosanitary certificate application with the USDA complete. I'll call for a plant inspection at the end of April. Then right before I leave, secure the plants in the container. This will all be a part of the next Thailand blog. I will try and upload pics to my Facebook page as we go. The first part of the trip should be all fruit hunting. So stay tuned!
I will soon be able to start moving some of the plants outside to the patio. This makes it easier to clean as well. Get better growth and stronger branches outside too.
Won't be long before I start getting the garden in either. This winter I experimented in grafting some tomato varieties onto a more disease resistant variety. Complete and utter failure. Didn't get a single attempt to take. So this year, the tomatoes will be in large containers since my garden soil seems to have every tomato disease known to mankind in it. This will be more expensive and quite the pain in the ass I'm sure.
May 17 we go to Thailand and visit the folks. Yeah...I'm going this time around. I will be carrying my three pulasan plants with me! They survived the winter...so far. I just got to keep them going until then. I've got my phytosanitary certificate application with the USDA complete. I'll call for a plant inspection at the end of April. Then right before I leave, secure the plants in the container. This will all be a part of the next Thailand blog. I will try and upload pics to my Facebook page as we go. The first part of the trip should be all fruit hunting. So stay tuned!
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