Where did you purchase your plants and how big are they? The mangosteens are of course wonderful but will take years upon years before fruiting. Cherimoya is also a very good fruit. Hopefully you picked up a good named seedling or a grafted plant. Not sure of the carob.

OJ,

I purchased them from Garden of Eagan. The Cherimoya is supposed to be in a 1 gallon pot and 4' tall. The Rheedia aristata - CUBAN MANGOSTEEN were small growing in 4" pots I bought two of them.

I'm so excited to give these a try. What would be good night time temperatures to have these shipped? Do you have a good rule of thumb as to a specific temperature you watch for when you have your plants shipped to you?

Well above 50 degrees. I'm not that familiar with the cuban mangosteen. I thought you were referring to the original mangosteen. Lots of info out there on it though.

I know a father and son who live in HI. They have traveled all over the world, and the father vacations in Thailand. The dad owns an orchard of almost every imaginable fruit tree/plant there is. Since I have never had mangosteen or durian or jakfruit, I was curious as to their thoughts on taste rankings of fruit. I was surprised at the results. The father ranked his favorites as (descending): mango, mangosteen, lychee, white nectarine, white pineapple, blood orange, durian, (red inside) dragonfruit, marang, chocolate sapote.

The son picked (in descending order): mango, lychee, mangosteen, longan, dragonfruit and jakfruit.

Here I am growing mango trees thinking the "grass is greener" when it comes to jakfruit, durian, etc. (which I can't grow here because it's too cold)...and it's been green here all along! I would love to try a mangosteen and a jakfruit though.

I have many tropicals and some "Northern" fruiting plants that are low-chill.

My first choice, one I cannot be without, is the Persian or "Bearss" Lime. Seedless and utterly delicious. We have 4 Persian Lime trees and never enough Limes. Have 50 Citrus at this time, many varieties.

Second would be a good Mango-I have all the dwarf varieties I could find. I love Mangos, warm off the tree, chilled, or as salsa.

Third/tied for second would be a white-fleshed, home-grown Peach. So good they should be against the Law! Tropic Snow is superb.

Mulberries- I can never get enough of them.

Avocados, buttery, rich, wonderful with lime juice and pepper.

I also love Sugar Apples, Muntingia, Tamarind, Plums, Cherry of the Rio Grand, Pitomba, Miracle Fruit, Apples, DragonFruit, Carambola, Grapes, Blackberries, Jaboticaba, Mamey Sapote, Black Sapote, Papayas, Bananas, Pomegranates, Barbados Cherries, Atemoyas, Oranges, Tangerines, Grapefruits, Pummelos, and FIGS!

Not so pleased with Canistel, Longan, Lychee and White Sapote. Only tried Jakfruit once. Good, but such waste for so little edible bits!

Lisa

The Persian lime is pretty awesome. My wife uses limes in a lot of dishes. If I had room for more citrus, this would be the one I would have.

Lisa...50 citrus trees! Not to mention the rest of your inventory. Amazing. So why are you not pleased with the lychee? Bad variety? Not producing?

I live in a state where peaches are grown quite well. Yet I have not been able to keep any alive. Every plant I've had would get some kind of nasty disease within a month or two of planting out.

Hi OhioJay,

The Citrus trees were aquired over years of "collecting." I'm a sucker for a well-written fruit description(G). I have about a dozen in containers on the patio, some among the landscape, and an orchard on the NorthEast side of the yard. Somehow a Black Sapote, Jakfruit, Pomegranate and Pear Trees ended up in the Citrus area.

I've only eaten Lychees 3 times. All from Excalubur nursery. My 3 Lychee trees are too young to produce yet. The fruit tasted a little musty to me and the texture was weird. Same with Longan, except I liked them a little better, from my own tree. But each and every Persian Lime fruit is treated like a treasure around here. We use the zest, the juice and nibble away every tasty bit of the flesh.

I've had very good luck with Peaches. They produce quickly and heavily. I only spray with Bonide and dormant oil in what is called Winter here. Pretty trees, small enough to grow in containers for years. I wonder what is killing yours?

Lisa

My mango, plum, pluot, and apricot trees are too new to say which one is consistently the best for me, but these fruits are my favorites so far:

A well ripened mango- I have high hopes for my Julie and Alfonso, based on what IÂve read on line.
Rambutins- the acid in them puts them slightly ahead of the lychees in taste, at least to my palate. .
Black Persian mulberry- I grew up with purple fingers and mouth eating these fresh
Citrus ÂGold Nugget and Tarocco Blood. Hard to say which is the best. Both are wonderful!
Apple  Newtown Pippin- Applesource sends out sampler boxes, and this variety is my favorite so far, although Whitney crab and Pitmaston Pineapple are close. .
These are not trees, but are also some of my favorite fruits:
Pineapple- The Baby ones at the store are Victoria
Strawberry- Italian musk and Mara de Bois. IÂve grown a lot of strawberry plants over the years, and these two are the most consistently sweet and delicious.
Muscadine/scuppernong- Dixie is the only one IÂve been able to keep from the birds. Again, a favorite from childhood.
Tomato- Sun Sugar and Momotaro. I grow them every summer without fail.

Lisa,
Some form a canker I believe infests the trees. I no sooner got my last one planted when it started developing mishapened leaves, dropping leaves by the handfull and putting out what resembled an amber-like substance from parts of the trunk and limbs. The wood was pretty much destroyed because of this. Even cutting it out did not help the tree. I just end up returning them to the nursery.

I may try again if they ever offer a variety that doesn't bloom so early. You would think that they would know better but unfortunately, they do not. So many will bloom but then get killed by a frost. Even our Ohio State University extension service scratches their heads over this.

We had a very late killing frost last year that wiped out Ohio's cherrie, peaches, and apples before they ever got a start. I have a grafted cherry with 5 different varieties that bloomed for the very first time last year too. Zap!

persian lime? is this fruit used only for juice like a regular lemon or lime, or is it eaten straight like an orange? If the former, how come it so wildly popular? please explain

Lycheeluva,

Persian or Bearss or Tahiti Limes are seedless, juicy, with smooth green skin. They are sour, with a zingy flavor that makes nearly everything taste better. We add Lime quarters to diet soda, teas, seltzer, flavor fish, guacamole and veggies with the juice, and use the zest (grated peels) in baking. Everyone I've offered them too, also enjoys eating the Limes themselves. Even though they are sour, they are not bitter. They make great Lime Ice cubes, and the Margaritas are killer!

They are not an expensive plant, are easy to grow, and do well in containers.

I like them more than Key Limes, which are finicky growers for me.

A Persian Lime squeezed over sliced Dragonfruit, at a recent plant party here in town, changed the insipid DF into a delicacy that was raved over. It woke up the mild DF- I'll eat them like that from now on. My mouth is watering from just thinking about it!

You can get 1 gallon Persian Lime trees at Lowes for under $10. They should fruit for you at under 12" tall. I keep mine as shrubs. They tend to set large amounts of fruit.

Want me to mail you some to try? Everyone has different tastes, of course.

Lisa

Lisa- that is an exceptionally kind and generous offer. I have no room but seeing as your raving about it my other plants are just going to have squash up a little more. I'll email you my address. The weather her should be warm enough.

Lycheeluva, I meant to send you fresh fruits to try. It would be easy enough to send a small tree if you like them. It is always good to taste fruits before you buy, as I learned the hard way(G).

Lisa

Nearly all of the Thai dishes my wife makes uses the juice of these limes. I don't think I could now eat any of them without the lime. It's probably the ONLY plant in the greenhouse that my wife cares about. That should speak volumes in itself.

Speaking of key limes...I was juicing a bunch a while back to make a key lime pie. For the hell of it, I put the remainder in my mouth and started to chew on the pulp. It was soooo sweet! I couldn't believe this. I ate another. Same thing. Then it dawned on me. Duh! I had forgotten that I ate a miracle fruit berry while out there picking limes!!! I did eat the rest of the limes though!

Nearly all of the Thai dishes my wife makes uses the juice of these limes. I don't think I could now eat any of them without the lime. It's probably the ONLY plant in the greenhouse that my wife cares about. That should speak volumes in itself.

Speaking of key limes...I was juicing a bunch a while back to make a key lime pie. For the hell of it, I put the remainder in my mouth and started to chew on the pulp. It was soooo sweet! I couldn't believe this. I ate another. Same thing. Then it dawned on me. Duh! I had forgotten that I ate a miracle fruit berry while out there picking limes!!! I did eat the rest of the limes though!

Jay- I had the same thing happen to me, with regard to my peach tree. It died of PTSL = Peach tree short life disease. Apparently, it's a multi vector affliction. Nematodes attack the roots, then bacterial canker moves in to finish the tree off. It's quite a big problem in Georgia...as I understand it.

Anyway, I'm glad this topic came up...I was going to ask about what limes people thought were the best. Oh, and how could someone rate lychees lower than second place??????

Yeah Lisa, your comments concerning lychess probably had Lycheeluva and NTM crying near their plants the last couple of days! LOL!

Sorry about the double post above! Stupid site told me it rejected my message but apparently not.

Sorry about that Lycheeluva and NTM!! Maybe the Lychees I tasted were not quite ripe or over-ripe. I sure couldn't tell, I haven't had enough of them. I still bought 3 varieties, but my trees are slow growers compared to Mangos and the Sapodillas bought at the same time.

I was at Lychee Tree nursery on Tuesday, buying a new Avocado and Jaboticaba, and they had lovely, mature Lychee trees. Very nice! Their potted young ones were as pitiful as mine though(G).

OhioJay, can you find out the varieties of Peaches that are grown commercially there, and try those? What rootstock were yours on? I use Nemagard. Bay Laurel has a good selection, and you can get the rootstock you want. Maybe yours would do better in containers, in a coarse potting mix instead of the ground? You could bring them in if you get a late frost. I have 2 Peach and 2 Nectarine trees in pots on the Patio that are thriving and fruiting, year after year. Did you spray your Peach trees while they were dormant?

Aren't those MF berries fun!!?? We love to take them to parties for "newbies" to try. Always entertaining to watch their expressions!

Lisa

Lisa:

There is definitly a wide spectrum of lychee quality which runs from pretty nasty to sublime. Fresh brewster, mauritius or sweetheart lychees that are consumed within a couple of days of being picked are sublime.

Definitly do not give up on them.

Okay, Lycheeluva, I won't.. Those are the exact varieties I am growing(G).

Do you find them slow growers, or maybe it is our drought that is stunting them? I have to go out at 4AM on Mondays with a 300' hose to water them. Once a week is probably not enough..

Lisa

Lisa, I'm sorry but I cannot remember which varieties I tried. I'm pretty sure it was a variety not on the OSU extension recomended list. None of our nurseries' tags carry any information concerning rootstock and such. Here is the link to their site. Maybe some of the names will jump out at you.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1406.html

Lisa, forgot that you asked about growing them in containers. Possible but would be a major pain. Our cold winters would kill any plant in a container kept outside unless drastic measures are taken to protect it. There's also no place I could drag it in for the winter...no room in greenhouse!

I did browse around the web and several sites did mention the type of rootstock their trees were on. That didn't mean much to me since I had no idea what any of them were, or they were good or bad!

Lychees generally like it quite moist. In China most types are happy growing at the edge of bodies of water. My newest two I planted without much mounding in a low area, so they'll be getting some flooding during wet seasons. I put a jaboticaba out there like that also. Looks to me like my sweetheart is going to skip flowering this year (for the second year in a row). It should be kinda big by the end of this season. Lychee production has been a big discussion where I live lately.

Gary

Lisa, I've managed to dig up a bit more. Red Haven is the main peach grown here in Ohio. OSU have done studies with a bunch of other cultivars looking for delayed blooming. They show April 21 being our last frost date...which we know can still happen even up to mid May. Last year wasn't frost that killed us, it was a killer freeze. Hard to protect against that. Some other big performers during their studies were: Harrow Beauty, Snow King, John Boy, Bounty, White Lady. All of these averaged heavy blooms by mid April. So means of protecting the tree must be made.

Gary, please explain what is being discussed concerning lychees this season. I plan on coming down there during the season.

Gary, thank you for confirming my suspicion, that my poor Lychees are dehydrated!

OhioJay, have you ever tried frost covers? We have opposite issues, you and I. My Peach trees suffer from lack of cold, yours get nipped by frost. If you could keep a tree pruned enough to easily cover, you may get a crop, even with a late freeze. Frost covers are worth it! I have boxes of them, and they saved my tender tropicals. The Peaches, Pears, Plums and Apples are left exposed to every little cool wind we get, of course. I think we had 3-4 nights this year of a nice, crisp 45-50 degrees. I loved it! I wish we had a few **months** of cool temps!

I do not know what rootstock you need. Bay Laurel lists the different ones, and what they are intended to do. OSU should also know the right rootstock for your area/soil. Picking the right variety makes all the difference! My trees are easy-care, prolific, and pretty. Just picked and enjoyed the first ripe LSU Gold peach yesterday. Yummy! My other trees are in various stages, some naked, some in bloom, most with young fruits now. I keep my trees small. Easier to spray and pick. Most of mine are under 7' tall.

Lisa

Jay, it was all about productivity, with lychees for some people producing only every 3 or 4 years. Brewster was mostly the subject but others were mentioned. Martitius was said to be more regular bearing. Most of the people didn't supply enough information about their tree care to know what other factors could be causing it. My sweetheart is flushing growth right now, so it looks to be skipping a second year without flowering, but I fertilized and watered, which would decrease its potential to flower. I don't mind that, because I want the tree to be BIG first, produce second. But after that I'll be striving for regular production.

Gary

Thanks Gary,
I've been thinking along those lines myself lately. My mango is flushing as well. I've realized that I have to be more aware of when and how often I fertilize. It was usually as an afterthought with no regard as to when it was applied...laziness is a huge factor as well. So I could be my own worst enemy here. I determined last night that I must get more organized and create a schedule and follow it.

Also...what is going on with your Golden Nugget? Any blooms yet? I'm told not to expect anything from mine until the trunk is 3-4 inches. Thanks

My gold nugget is only now starting to show spring growth. No flowering yet, which is ok, I expect to not allow it to fruit until its at least 10' tall or more, so probably a trunk width like your speaking of. One interesting thing going on is my Redlands white sapote is acting deciduous. Its dropped all leaves but two, but is bursting out growth like a maple tree or something, with 50 or more buds of growth popping out everywhere. My "Spice Park Late" white sapote right next to it is getting new growth, but hasn't dropped many leaves, and is not getting the massive flush the other is. My new suruga persimmon has popped its spring growth, while my Izu and Fuyu have not. No longan or lychee has flowered for me yet this spring!

Gary

Hey Lisa, with our Jerry's assistance, I just ordered a couple of peach varieties. Blushing Star, a white peach on Bailey's rootstock and Winblo, on Lovell rootstock.

OhioJay, that is great news! Please let us know how they do and which flavor you prefer. Don't forget to spray with Bonide 2-4 times after you get them planted to prevent losing them. I wish you the best of luck! Peaches are awesome home-grown treats!

My Peaches, Sapodillas, half the Mangoes and a Cashew are in full bloom now. Plus the Citrus are really showing off. The Buddha's Hand Citrons are covered with gnarly, grasping purple hands. Creepy!

Lisa

Do any of you have a favorite tasting Mango that can be grown in a greenhouse? One that will produce fairly well?

Thanks.
Tj

Ladylotus, you might want to post that question as a separate post. A "Search this forum" for "favorite mango" and came up with 24 hits. Guess Gardenweb has fixed some of the search functions. The Florida forum has some interesting comments as well on favorite mangoes.
The "condo mangoes" from Florida are smaller mango trees that can be grown in pots, wheeled in and out of the greenhouse, stay around 8-10 feet or smaller with pruning. I'm growing a number of them, most are in bloom now, but they are too small to set fruit yet. They get mostly good to rave reviews for taste. A lady on the Florida forum doesn't like Carrie, thinks it tastes like mentholatum, thinks Dot tastes too "starchy". It would be nice if we could taste them all before growing them, but, unless you want to fly to Florida for the Fairchild Mango festival, you just have to take your chances.

I tend to like what's available NOW! When you haven't eaten them for awhile, they taste great!
5 tropicals I like a lot: mango (oh yeah, carries taste great but they are a soft mango--others are firmer)
white pineapple--unbelieveable flavor. Not a tree!
cherimoya--a wonderful flavor, or should I say flavors
lychee--mighty fine--plums are a temperate alternative
jaboticaba-a grape alternative? not really.
I could mention mangosteen--if they were available they would be very high on my list.
Temperate? Bing cherry, apricot, plums, nectarines, peaches, apples. I specify the cherry variety--the others--too many to name. What's important is that they are picked ripe and eaten fresh in peak season. Oh, are berries and grapes included in this topic? I guess not.
And I failed to mention avocado.