Richard, you do seem to have the midas touch when it comes to your plants. It must be nice having access to such trees to take cuttings from. Don't understand why, but I seem to be the only person around Ohio growing these types of fruits! Odd eh? Nice pic and the fruit looks beautiful. Any pics of the flowers? J

Thats really neat that it can make fruit that little. It gives me hope of getting fruit from my trees in pots.

John

hehe Jay, subfreezing temperatures, who wouldn't want to grow tropicals in Ohio. =)
Here's a pic of the blooms on the ones in the ground, taken about two weeks ago. Nothing spectacular, its similiar to all other Syzygium species.

John are these airlayered or seedling trees you grow?

Eggo: That's so effin cool! lol. I want some!! They have a huge tree both Syzygium Malaccense and Syzygium Jambos at the USBG, but without fruit as of this past week when I went. Could you tell me how you rooted the cutting?

Jay, Do you visit the Krohn Conservatory? They've got some great tropical fruits over there!

Eggo, what part of Long Beach do you live in? You have so many tropical fruits that are spectacular. Do you give them extra shade or misting? Any tips or tricks you could offer to a fellow Long Beachian?

-Hal

I'm glad to have found this thread. I was just this morning trying to decide whether to put my little Wax Jambu in my greenhouse ground beds or to keep it in a pot. Eggo, since you grow it both ways, do you have any thoughts?

Hal, I'm in between Lakewood and Paramount. Any grafted or airlayered plants can usually be acclimated to full sun right away, seedlings will need to be shaded for a few years. And of course different plants will require different amounts of sun/shade. No misting but I have been planting more and more bananas, they seem to do a good job of adding moisture in the surrounding area I think.

Tips for in ground planting of tropicals/subtropicals:

Give them the longest growing season as possible, this usually means a planting in May or so in our area.

Amend your soil, I usually dig a hole that's at least 4 feet or more in diameter, mix in lots of mulch with your soil and add 3 or more inches of mulch on top of it. This does two important thing, lots of nutrients for fast root growth and lots of beneficial soil organism which will hopefully by the end of the growing season make this area drain well. I know that some people go by a whole different plan of planting in native soil as this will be beneficial in the long run, and this probably does work in different climate/ area or different native/deciduous plants but will not do in our area. Growth in that first growing season is very important here.

And of course, keep a continuous layer of mulch.

Again i have to say it is extremely important to get as much root development/ growth as possible in that first year. This is so it can handle our rather mild but wet, cloudy winters. Plants in our area don't die from cold but from rotting roots.

Tips for planting in pots:
I will be the first to tell you that I am not a very good potting plant grower. I admire those that do. Planting in pots require a much better watering fertilizing regimen that I usually don't follow up on. But there are a few things I have noticed for tropicals. Use peat moss in your mix as these tend to hold water much better while at the same time does not get too saturated, while keeping the PH more on the acidic side. Repotting; repot tropicals when they are beginning to grow or growing not when their dormant. Yes its a bit contrary to what you hear. But messing around with a tropical plants that is not growing means your gonna damage some roots and at the same time this plant is usally not growing much or replacing much of these roots during the cooler weather.

Hal, what kind of plants are you growing? Where are you at, North, Westside, Eastside?

Stressbaby, I am not a very good potted plant grower so any plant that fruits for me in a pot I get a bit surprise by. I would recommend that any fruiting plant should be planted out. But if you do have limited spacing, I think the jambu is one that will do well for you in pot and keep that area for a more difficult to fruit plant. Or you could just plant it and if you ever need the area for something else just dig it up. What variety are you growing?
Its root system seems to be a bit more vigorous than I thought so it may have to be repotted after a year and a half or so.

Tropicaliste, I was bit surprise too that the cuttings rooted, they were trimmings off the airlayers when I was potting them up. I simply cut 6inch stems, always cut the very tips of the growing stems because they usually have new growth that simply won't survive the rooting process and only drains energy. It was stuck in potting soil mix, highly shaded, very humid, and warm. I think I ended up rooting 3 out of the 4 cuttings. That was simply it, I did not even use rooting hormone so it appears to be an easy plant to root. This one was in those 6inch small container for a while, I had just recently repotted it in a 1 gallon container this year when it was blooming.

The blooms of this plant are really beautiful. The variety that produces the pink blooms are even more striking. I would love to grow one just to see the blooms. I can hear my wife's foot going down with a big "boom"!

Stress, the soil in my greenhouse is densely packed clay with ph of at least 7.0...a killer for my tropicals. I am going to experiment planting out a few of my plants into the ground though. It will take some work. Removing the gravel, cutting out the ground cloth, then digging out a large enough area to amend. I've been repotting nearly everything I have lately. These hot and humid days have jump started all my trops and the roots are growing thru the bottoms of the containers. Can't complain about that but it is a lot of work! Aha!! A thought...they come few and far between these days! I could dig out a few spots in the greenhouse and use that dirt as a base to fill in the grade outside the new patio and sidewalk. Lots of work. Do you plant any of yours into the ground? If so, what is your procedures?

Tropicaliste, is the Krone Conservatory the one in Cincinnati? I'll put that on my list of future visits. I hit up our local Franklin Park Conservatory here in Columbus. They have a nice selection of tropical fruits as well including their huge breadfruit tree. We've just been too busy trying to finish off the greenhouse to go anywhere at all lately.

Eggo- I live between Long Beach City College and the Lakewood mall. Thanks for the tips. I have not ammended the soil much, but have been using peat as mulch. I am new to tropicals but recently purchased a home W/ a backyard that already had queen, sago & pygmy date palms, bougainvillia, strelitzia, podocarpus, plumeria, etc.(AKA- tropical according to Home depot.)
Over the past 2 yrs I have added:
Gingers-variegated shell, kahili, butterfly
Cannas-bengal, cleopatra, yellow king humbert, picasso, futurity red, lucifer and wyoming.
Fruit--blue java & dwarf red bananas, Cattley guava-strawberry, star apple Caimito(seedling).
Vines and fence cover-tecoma stans alata, mascagnia macroptera, petrea volubilis, Rangoon creeper.
Other stuff- bromeliads, hibiscus rosa-sinensis, clerodendron Ugandense & Quadriloculare, heliconia, taro, alocasia, caladiums,justicia and others I have forgotten or killed.

My goal is to lush up the existing borders with cannas and gingers, while searching out other plants, in 4" pots to begin growing in the "nursery" area, and swap them into the landscape as they mature. Right now I need to focus on some overstory/canopy plantings to provide some shade and humidity to what I already have started.

Eggo: Thanks for the tips! If I ever get the chance to get cuttings, i'll have to try.

Ohiojay: Yup, that's the one! It's actually the first conservatory I ever went to, so although probably the smallest compared to the others i've visited (bbg, usbg) it's still a place I love. They have a nice waterfall feature that really adds to the tropicalness. Alsoooo, it's free, donations are appreciated, and it is on top of a huge hill so you get a great view of Cincinnati. :)

holedigger, your like less than ten minutes from me. Looks like you got a great collection going there. Caimito??! You don't see too many of those around here. Is it still in a pot. Besides the fruit, it really is an incredible looking tree, green leaves on top and an extremely copper like coloring on the underside of the leaves.

Eggo - The caimito is just a seedling in a 8" pot. I just got it a few weeks ago. It seems happy but only has 3-4 leaves with a few more starting. I am really looking forward to it taking off. I chose it for the fruit, the shade and its beauty, but not necessarily in that order.

I do live pretty close to you. If you want any cuttings or rhizomes from my list of plants email me off list.

Eggo,

I couldn't believe it when I saw your jambu pic. Jambu plant in a pot? Bearing fruit? I haven't seen any jambu plants for years.

When I was a kid (many decades ago) I used to climb a neigbour's HUGE jambu tree to get fruits for them. But I would also sit up on the tree and eat the nice red juicy ones first. The jambu tree was also my hideaway - when I sat in the uppermost Y of the thick trunk, folded my legs, I was fully hidden from view.

In Singapore, where I grew up, the slightly pale pink ones (not fully ripe) are eaten dipped in light soy sauce with cut red peppers.

Wish I had a pot of jambu (sigh, living in an apartment) it brings good memories to me.

hi eggo,

i've just got a pot too. Need a tip or two from you. What kind of potting medium does it prefer and how do I go about watering?

thanks.

dragon

The little jambu that thinks it can.... great photo Eggo!

I planted a pink jambu in the ground with little or no amendments (mostly decomposed granite) in 2004. The first winter it lost all its leaves and nearly died but I left it in the ground while I looked for a replacement. Suddenly, this year it has taken off and is now about 5 feet high and full of new growth. The foliage is beautiful but I do want it to fruit.

It has never bloomed. What time of year do they bloom and when does the fruit mature?

PS: A friend visiting from Taiwan told me it would grow into a huge tree and they they spread sugar around the plant to help sweeten the fruit.

Another question. Does the wax jambu self-pollinate?

Dragonking, wax jambu does self pollinate, many times it just produces seedless fruits. I used a potting mix of about 50/50 mulch and peat moss. I would keep the soil moist at all times, just not soaking wet. It appears to handle inconsistent watering well when it is only leafing. If it is a young plant, the fruits appears to split easily with inconsistent watering.
Avorancher, most varieties tend to bloom at least twice a year here, once early in the year and another later. But can bloom several times a year. From the time the bloom opens to ripe fruit is about 3 months, which I think is rather quick for most fruits. In the last month is when fruits begin to ripen. There is a belief that adding sugar around the plant helps makes most fruit trees sweeter but I don't know how true this really is, even my grandma believes it also. Mostly sweetness will depend on cultivar, "Black Pearl" I have heard is a good red skin one, most of the white skin cultivars also tend to be sweeter than the red ones too.

hey. i love your plant. i live in nyc do u know where i could buy some jamu seeds or a plant?

Tradewinds might carry seeds.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tradewinds

eggo, if you put that little plant up on ebay, do you know how much it would be worth??? I think I would pay $100 for that, and I already have a big tree. Awesome picture!

Maybe you should root some more of that variety and sell them!

Wow, I love eggo's plants, always amazing to look at. I used to live at Bellflower and Centralia. I just got a little wax jambu (only 1 foot tall), looking forward to the experience.

Thanks for posting all your photos,

How are you wax jambu's doing now? Does anyone have the caimito for trade or sell?

I'd never heard of a jambu, but you've got me lusting for a one, so I googled for more info--we call them mountain apples here. I've had two or three in the ground for a couple of years, but no flowers or fruit yet.

Yes, they should be growing well for you since you are lucky enough to live in Hawaii. I just bought one from Ebay a couple months ago and it already has two fruits and it is very small. Maybe try getting a good variety out there. I'm sure they are really good ones there. Mine is "Black Pearl" which is supposed to be from Taiwan. People say it taste great though I've not tried one. I have tried them years ago in Asia and they were really good. Some of the ones out here in the US are tasteless though.