Fruit & Fruit Trees

I recently received seeds of a strange funky fruit from a friend in the Amazon. We have no idea what it is, and Jim West can't tell from the photos that my friend sent to him either. There was a delay in getting the seeds here, but I stuck them in some soil two days ago, and they are already starting to sprout, so they seem like survivors!

It's a medium-small tree that fruits in February/March at ~800m elevation in SE Ecuador. If anyone knows what it is, please don't hesitate to comment.

study (Wayback Machine)

This is about Solanum cheesmaniae, not the domesticated Solanum lycopersicum or its wild ancestor Solanum pimpinellifolium.

posted at the request of Lumicon

fruit featured:

• Rollinia mucosa

(This video shows "winter" production.)

swap the background for a forest and that's goals

Central India, with its rich ecological diversity and dense forests, boasts a treasure trove of wild fruits that are not only edible but packed with nutritional and medicinal benefits. These fruits, often overlooked, serve as a source of sustenance and health for indigenous communities and are increasingly drawing attention for their potential in broader dietary applications. This blog delves into the scientific names, distribution, seasons, and benefits of some of the most remarkable wild fruits of Central India.

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fruits featured:

• Madhuca longifolia
• Diospyros melanoxylon
• Ziziphus mauritiana
• Aegle marmelos
• Tamarindus indica
• Syzygium cumini
• Schleichera oleosa
• Mangifera indica (wild type)
• Buchanania cochinchinensis
• Limonia acidissima
• Grewia asiatica
• Neolamarckia cadamba
• Manilkara hexandra (sapodilla rootstock!)
• Ficus racemosa

also native to India:

• Garcinia indica
• Cullenia exarillata (durian rootstock!)

India is known as the land of spices, but it has plenty of native fruits too! Does anyone know of any other remarkable fruits native to India? There are probably plenty more.

Morning frosts have hit Serbian fruit production hard, mainly affecting early stone fruit varieties.

In the Čačak region, experts from the Institute of Fruit Growing report that 95% of apricot crops have been destroyed.

The damage varies by location, with Vojvodina experiencing more than 90% loss in lowland areas, while areas near Belgrade show 40-50% damage.

Cherries and pears have also suffered, with a complete damage assessment expected by the end of April.

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fruit featured:

• Mauritia flexuosa

See also: making morete chicha

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A couples of months ago, I planted a bunch of baby engkala trees (Litsea garciae) on the neighbour's land in order to fight back against the grass. I've never planted engkala before this, but supposedly it works. I planted the trees along the edge between the area that they farm and the area used as cow pasture. There is NO canopy cover over there, no shade at all, but fortunately there were still some dead leaves from the native trees that they had cut down, so I could at least mulch around the babies.

The days immediately after I planted them were unseasonably hot and sunny with no rain at all, and it looks like they got burnt pretty badly in the sun. The neighbours also seem to have stepped on some of them and sprayed that whole border area with glyphosate (so all the other vegetation is dead), but against all odds, every single engkala is alive and putting out new growth. I think that's awesome. Everything is trying to kill them, and these trees just say "FUCK YOU. WE ARE ENGKALA. RESISTANCE IS FRUITILE."

Engkalahu akbar!

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/22866979

Source: https://mastodon.social/@MrLovenstein/113844297604610435

Secret panel: https://tapas.io/episode/220482

Alt text from replies: 4 panel comic.

First panel: A strawberry, a raspberry, and a blueberry are sitting on the floor. A tomato comes along and asks: "Can I join berry club?" – "Sorry, Tomato. Berries only", says Strawberry.

Second panel: Tomato holds up a sheet of paper. "Well this article says I am a berry and you're not." Angrily, Strawberry says "No way! 'Berry' is right in my name!"

Third panel: Close-up on Strawberry and Raspberry. "What?! I'm an 'accessory' fruit? What the hell is that?!", says Strawberry in disbelief, looking at the paper. "I'm not a Berry either?!!" exclaims Raspberry, sweating.

Fourth panel. "These are strange times for berry club. Strange times." says Blueberry. Tomato, a watermelon, and a banana are sitting next to it. Strawberry is sitting way in the background, looking sad.

posted at the request of Lumicon

fruit featured:

• Litsea garciae

(A savoury fatty fruit that has what avocado lacks. It's like salty mushrooms with cheese.)

Is there a fruit that you wish more people knew about? It could be for reasons of superior nutrition, or higher yield, or ecological benefits, or suitability for your local conditions, or satisfying the cravings that banana cannot, or simply deliciousness or uniqueness of flavour.

I have two that come to mind.

I've seen too many people in the rainforest buying mangos (Mangifera indica) grown far away and then planting the seeds expecting to get fruit based on ignorance or based on rumours that they heard from some neighbour's friend's cousin that mangos are starting to fruit in the area. Other than in times of exceptional drought, it doesn't work. Mangifera casturi is a species native to the non-seasonal rainforest of Borneo, and it fruits abundantly even in constant rain and damp, and yes, the fruit quality is comparable to a clonal selection of Mangifera indica and superior to many seedlings of that species. The flavour is intense and delicious. Mangifera casturi deserves far more attention.

Astrocaryum murumuru is not such a delightful fruit in comparison, but it fills an important niche. I know many people who enjoy (and even seem to develop somewhat of an obsession with) a particular spiny palm and its fruit of questionable edibility. Anything that that plant can do, murumuru can do better. The fruit is decidedly more edible (spines notwithstanding), as it doesn't contain calcium oxalate crystals that stab all of the soft tissue in one's insides, and it is more sweet and not so much a dry, greasy, starchy assault on the digestive system. The palm itself is more sturdy, less prone to falling over so long as it is able to grow a straight stem and its roots are in stable ground. The spines are far superior, truly a marvel to behold, as they easily achieve at least double the length of those found in many other palm species, with enhanced sharpness for piercing even bone. This plant is not for everyone, but it is a truly excellent choice for those who want a fruiting palm that poses a major hazard to all who encounter it. Great for planting along borders, and the neighbours won't steal the fruit.

The UK's strawberry season is off to a "stonking start", according to one grower, with warm days and cooler nights meaning they are sweeter than usual.

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Related: Farm has earliest fruit harvest in 50 years

Recent weeks of hot weather have given one fruit farm its earliest season in more than 50 years.

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2015:

Planting some marang in close quarter for pollination and nutrition for the future of Terra Frutis with a quick rundown on planting technique.

2019 update:

First tree is producing and in the years ahead we are looking at seeing over 40 trees coming into production at Terra Frutis! Most will be in 2 years from now, but many more in 6-12 months!

2022 update:

Straight to the action! Harvesting marang at Terra Frutis! What a delicious fruit. Come join us!

2024 update:

Discover how this majestic tree, native to Southeast Asia, grows and thrives in tropical climates. From its lush foliage to its unique fruit, we explore the Marang experience.

The Marang Fruit is known for its sweet and creamy flavor reminiscent of a blend between jackfruit and durian. We best describe the flavor as marshmallows...

Whether you're a seasoned fruit enthusiast or simply curious about exotic produce, our journey into the world of the Marang Fruit promises to be a flavorful adventure you won't soon forget!

fruit featured:

• Artocarpus odoratissimus

Have you ever had an especially rewarding, adventurous, dangerous, or really stupid experience of harvesting/foraging fruit?

I tend to live a sheltered life, so I don't have anything too exciting to share. I've harvested bananas with a hornets' nest on the underside of a leaf multiple times, but nothing unusual ever happened. I've gone wading through the swamp looking for aguaje, but the anacondas had already been hunted to extinction in that area. I've stood under a fruiting durian tree without a helmet, but it seems that durians don't just fall from the sky when I'm hungry.

Does anyone have an exciting or uplifting story to share?

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio (AP) — Stubborn drought in Ohio and the shifting weather patterns influenced by climate change appear to be affecting North America’s largest native fruit: the pawpaw.

Avocado-sized with a taste sometimes described as a cross between a mango and banana, the pawpaw is beloved by many but rarely seen in grocery stores in the U.S. due to its short shelf life. The fruit grows in various places in the eastern half of North America, from Ontario to Florida. But in parts of Ohio, which hosts an annual festival dedicated to the fruit, and Kentucky, some growers this year are reporting earlier-than-normal harvests and bitter-tasting fruit, a possible effect of the extreme weather from the spring freezes to drought that has hit the region.

Take Valerie Libbey’s orchard in Washington Court House, about an hour’s drive from Columbus. Libbey grows 100 pawpaw trees and said she was surprised to see the fruit dropping from trees in the first week of August instead of mid-September.

“I had walked into the orchard to do my regular irrigation and the smell of the fruit just hit me,” said Libbey, who added that this year’s harvest period was much shorter than in previous years and the fruits themselves were smaller and more bitter.

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No longer breaking news, but it will probably be just as relevant in the years to come.

CONTENT WARNING: gore, animal abuse, cookery

main plants featured:

• Myristica fragrans
• Piper nigrum
• Metroxylon sagu
• Canarium indicum
• Myristica argentea

Know the climate requirements of your fruits! Know the impact of future climate change on your region! The trees that you plant today will need to endure the climate conditions decades from now.

Abstract

Climate change is an emerging threat to global food and nutritional security. The tropical fruits such as mango, bananas, passionfruit, custard apples, and papaya are highly sensitive to weather changes especially; changes of monsoon onset and elevated temperature are influencing crop growth and production. There is a need for more specific studies concerning individual crops and regional variations. Long-term effects and interactions of weather parameters and increased concentration of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide, with phenological stages of the plant, pests, and diseases remain understudied, while adaptation strategies require further exploration for comprehensive understanding and effective mitigation. Few researchers have addressed the issues on the effect of climate change on tropical fruits. This paper focuses on the impact of abiotic (temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed, evaporation, carbon dioxide concentration) and biotic (pest and pathogens dynamics) factors affecting the fruit crop ecosystem. These factors influence flowering, pollination, fruit set, fruit yield and quality. This review paper will help develop adaptive strategies, policy interventions and technological innovations aimed at mitigating the adverse effects of climate change on tropical fruit production and safeguarding global food and nutritional security.

Click "Download the selected file" to open the full text as PDF.

archived (Wayback Machine)

• Useful Temperate Plants
• Wikipedia

Not necessarily your favourite fruit to eat, but what is/are your favourite fruit tree(s) to grow based on survival rate, fruit yield, ease of maintenance, ease of harvest, grass-killing prowess, and any other combination of factors? What is/are your least favourite? If you have photos or diagrams to illustrate your point, even better!

(If you provide your region and/or Köppen-Geiger or Trewartha climate zone, it will help others to know what to plant or what to avoid!)

Conservation orchards, or living collections, for fruit trees serve as a means to preserve genetic diversity while making it available in case of emergencies to preempt threats associated with global changes. Unlike seed banks, these collections provide immediate access to the necessary materials (pollen and flowers) for crossbreeding in varietal improvement programmes, as well as for reforestation and the conservation of wild relatives in forests. These conservation orchards also serve as open-air laboratories to study the response of fruit trees to climate conditions and parasite attacks, as well as the evolutionary and ecological processes that give rise to biodiversity.

archived (Wayback Machine)

posted at the request of Lumicon

fruit featured:

• Nephelium ramboutan-ake

(It's like a juicy and sweet rainforest rambutan, and the tree doesn't have such strong apical dominance.)

See also: bigger pulasan separating easily from the seed

What did you harvest recently? Post photos if you like, and brag about what you grew or foraged.

fruit featured: Garcinia mangostana

Long live the queen!

Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana var. mangostana) is a popular tropical fruit, yet many aspects of its biology and evolutionary history are little known. Its origin remains contentious, although recent findings suggest G. mangostana L. var. malaccensis (Hook. f.) Nazre (synonym: G. malaccensis Hook. f.) as the sole progenitor. We review hypotheses on the origin of mangosteen and clarify points that have been affected by errors of fact and interpretation. The narrow focus and lack of detail in published results make their interpretation difficult. When possible, we support our interpretations with field observations and examination of herbarium specimens. We outline the main biological traits (e.g., dioecy, facultative apomixis, and polyploidy) of mangosteen and its wild relatives to infer traits that might have evolved during domestication of mangosteen. We find no clear indication that apomixis and polyploidy evolved during domestication. Polyploidy is known in the wild relatives, but apomixis has not yet been demonstrated. Also, we propose a testable new evolutionary‐ecological framework that we call “Forest‐Dusun Interface” to infer processes in the origin of mangosteen. Dusun (Malay) refers to subsistence orchards in this context. Lastly, we propose future studies to address identified knowledge gaps.

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Thumbnail image by Ivar Leidus (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Archived (Wayback Machine):

• earth.com article
• study cited as webpage and PDF