HARVEST 9/2021

TOP: DRAGON FRUIT

2ND: SUGAR APPLES

3HD CARAMBOLES

 

 FIGS

 When I was a kid in Chicago, the only figs we saw were either dried or in a cookie called Fig Newtons. I had never seen or tasted a fresh fig. Twenty years ago I walked into a small fruit market in Tampa and there in a fruit bin were these Beautiful little fruit, figs. Tried one, returned for another and another and another, they tasted so great. It took me over twenty years to grow my first fig tree from cuttings. Of the many, my favorite variety are Brown Turkey. 

 

 

JACKFRUIT

Artocarpus heterpphyllus 

Jackfruit,  also called Jakfruit, Jaca, Nangka.

An amazing fruit, taste like Juicy Fruit gum and is the largest fruit in the world.The fruit is unusual in that it grows on the side of the trunk. The male fruit will  fall off and all the tree energy will be diverted to the female fruit which will begin to mature, which will grow to maturity in approximately 3 to 4 months in approximately 3 to 4 months. In its native land in Asia the jackfruit can reach a weight of over 100 pounds here in the United States it does not reach that way it normally reaches somewhere between 30 and maybe 50 pounds.a weight of over 100 pounds here in the United States it does not reach that weight normally it will grow to  somewhere between 30 and 50 pounds.

Adult Jackfruit

Male Fruit

Female Fruit

LYCHEE

The start of a wonderful taste and a very healthy fruit originally from China. This is a sweet fruit that can be grown as far north as central Florida. 

There is a Chinese saying, "The cicadas sing. Time to enjoy Lychees." It means the lychees are ripe when you hear the cicadas chirping.

Persimmon Trees

 

Winter Set Persimmon Seedling

American persimmon fruit are very small, so most persimmon trees are grafted using American root stock and a graft of a Japanese verity.

It's that time of the year, all my Loquat trees are flushing out with flowers  and fruit.

Loquats (Japanese Plums)

The best flavored Loquats are usually grafted, tho those that are not grafted are still very tasty.

Years ago ingrafted Loquats were used as landscape trees in Tampa.    

 

PASSION FRUIT

November 2018

My flowers are changing to fruit, so far I have found seven fruit on one vine with still many more flowers yet to change. I believe these are a red variety.

 

Be ware of over planting, I planted this Neem tree several years ago, and now it is 50 feet high and the trunk is 3 feet across.

Photo by Raleigh Barnes

I've been experimenting with my dragon fruit, by tipping my plants. by cutting off a small piece near the tips, it seems to force it to produce more flowers. The photos I have submitted seem to show this to be true. Next year I will try it again. As I am still getting flowers.

The variety of tropical fruit that can be grown in a sub-tropical environment is amazing. I have in a relatively small space over a hundred different types of fruit trees as well as fruiting bush's. Years ago a friend gave me a seedling. It grew, but never flowered and this year I had decided to remove it to plant something else. Well, this year it flowered and fruited. Below is a photo of it, it is in the pom family same as the apple. It taste kind of like an apple and a pear.

Chinese Jujube fruit

NATURAL PESTICIDE

     Natural pesticides are not always chemical or plant base, sometimes the best pesticides are animal base. I'm referring to things like snakes, birds. bats, wasps, lizards and many insects. All to often people are in a hurry to spray poison on everything. True, those harsh  chemicals will do the job. What you haven't taken into account, is that you also just killed off all the beneficial animals too. You spray the beetle or the caterpillar, the bird or snake or lizard that will eat that pest  will also die.
     You may remember years ago farmers used DDT to kill off mice and rat, in the process they had all kill off most of the eagles. Well some of the mice and rats didn't die, but the did a job on the eagles. The eagles are still trying to come back.
     I don't have any mice or rats in my yard and that I encourage the non chemical approach.

Here is a portrait my neighbor, a 5 foot black racer

EATING HEALTHY OUT OF A SMALL YARD

     Super Markets are getting expensive, many of us have try to grow our food in small back yards, traditional methods don't work. I have found that if we are creative we are capable of growing much of our food. All of the plants other then the trees are kept in large pots. The only exception is the Fig trees, because of the Nematodes which stunt their growth.
     Start with your basic fruit trees, if you pick them with some though, you will find that there is an overlap in harvest times. This approach will give you some kind of fruit almost all year. Here in Central Florida where we are able to grow tropical fruit, some of our trees have two or more harvest times.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                We grow citrus which we harvest in the fall and winter, Carambolas in late summer. In the summer we pick Blackberries and Raspberries from our bushes   We also grow some heat resistance vegetables in the summer and all the way into winter. tho most of our vegetables such as Beets and Kale grow best in the fall and winter providing we don't drop in freezing temperates.

     Herbs do well in the summer, we grow Sage, Basil, Chives, Mint and Stevia. 

PLUMERIA

 This is the flower that in the lei which they put around your neck when you arrive in Hawaii.

Contact: sl.rainforest@gmail.com 

CARAMBOLES

(STAR FRUIT)

SUGAR APPLES

(SWEETSOP)

 PERSIAN LIMES

Persian Limes

Grown in Hillsbrough County, Pesticide Free.

                                                      Carambolas (Star Fruit) 

 Steve sl.rainforest@gmail.com

DRAGON FRUIT / PITAYA

Dragon Fruit

Pitaya, commonly known as Dragon Fruit is a tropical  cactus which normally grow in trees in the forest, originally from Mexico. It can easily be grown here in central Florida. You can grow it from seed, but it is much easily grow from cuttings. With in 2 to 3 years it will be mature and you will begin to get flowers followed by fruit.

How to grow your Dragon Fruit

You can either plant it in a Large pot or directly into the ground. In either case you will need a 6 foot trellis for it to climb. Plant in full sun. Water it twice a week and keep it weed free. Mulch it with pine bark as it needs a little acid.

Ripe Dragon Fruit

Unripe Fruit

Dragon Fruit almost ready to pick

Dragon Fruit plant

Dragon fruit with tentacles looking for a place to climb.

PLANT ZONE BY ZIP CODE

Posted by: Steve Lohn

      Email: tropicalfruittrees@gmail.com

Ive been asked many times, how I determine what planting zone I'm in. Well here is a web site put out by the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/InteractiveMap.aspx

In this web page  all you do is insert your zip code and the site gives you you're planting zone. For those of you outside of the United States, I'm sorry, this only works here.

Dragon Fruit

It's finally cooled off here in Central Florida (high 80's / low 90's), the temperature been so hot(high 90's) that I was only able to spend a few hours a day in my garden. While cleaning out weeds I ran across a couple of Dragon Fruit. These are Photos of the same fruit.

Vietnamese Jaina

Vietnamese Jaina

51/2" Vietnamese Jaina

Vietnamese Jaina sliced

JACK FRUIT

   Jack Fruit is an interesting fruit, it is reported to be the largest fruit in the world. It grows not from a branch, but, on the trunk of the tree. In Asia is grows to a weight of over 100 lbs. In the U.S.A. it grows much smaller I've seen them weighing 25 lbs. The flavor is similar to Juicy Fruit gum, some say that Juicy Fruit gum actual got its flavor from the Jack Fruit. 

   Preparing a Jack Fruit is not as easy as some fruit. Unless very ripe, it is full of latex. You need to either oil you hands and knife with vegetable oil or at least wear kitchen gloves while cutting it. Both the fruit and the seeds are edible.

Apex. 20 lb Jack Fruit

SUGAR APPLES

   Sugar Apple, Sweetsop, [Annona Squamosa] originally from Jamaica, can be found in most of the Caribbean Islands.  Unlike most fruit trees, the Sugar Apple will start to flower and bear fruit two years from seed. 

   Eating them is kind of like eating fondue, a lot of work for a little bit of great flavor. The way it works, is that most of the fruit is wrapped around each seed and there are a lot of seeds. The inside of the Sugar Apple's skin can be scraped with your feet or a spoon, its taste is like eating brown sugar. 

   Sugar Apples are not a good produce for the Super Market, as it doesn't reach its full flavor until it begins to fall apart. A specialty shop may be able to market it if the grower is near by, because it ripens is only a few days. 

Sugar Apple Flowers

Green Sugar Apples

Red Sugar Apple