Viewing comments posted by greenman

I grew several from seed. They shoot up the first 2 ft or so in growth very fast and need a deep container for the taproot. I had several, so I put one of them in the ground. Predictably, it died back in the winter to about 8 inches tall. The rest of the top rotted off. It did come back to life in spring with vigor. I was very surprised. It's about 3 ft tall now, and I am awaiting this winter. We still haven't gotten freezing temps yet (today is Nov 30). The coldest it's been is 48 or so. The plant has lost a couple of leaves but is still looking healthy. I hope we get a mild winter. If I can get it through the next 2 years without losing too much wood, I think I can get it to grow larger. Fruiting may be another hurdle.

The other one I have is in a tall kitchen trash bin as a container, with compost, sand, perlite, and rotted coffee grounds as soil. I added a handful of compost worms and a top dressing of woody mulch. I tip-pruned it 3 times during the summer to keep it short ans bushy. I added some fish emulsion, 1/2 strength, every week in the middle of summer and once a month in late fall and early spring. I gave it 1/2 dose of 10-10-10 in the spring.

It needs fertile, well-draining soil high in organics and lots of sunlight.

i purchased a 3-gal in the spring of 2014. By the end of Summer 2015 I had 6 fruits. A week later it flowered, at least 20 flowers, but it was too hot and it didnt get enough water, so the flowers dried up.

They grow much faster when given long hours of daylight and lots of sun. although they need a lot of water when doing this, and a lot of organic matter in the soil. Do not let this plant's soil totally dry out. It is NOT drought tolerant.

A small amount of molasses helps with iron and other minerals. I add fulvic acid and use it as a foliar spray as well.

I think the reason most people dont get fruit for 5 years or more is that most people grow them in Florida,
in soil that is mostly sand, with little organic matter, and in containers. Most people tend to feed them chemically.

Mine is in a 5-gal container, but I had used composted coffee grounds and lots of other compost, with a leaf mulch on top, and feed it fish emulsion. I had also given it mycorrhizal fungi, and put some compost worms in the container.

If you have a black container, paint it white. The sun can heat up the soil, killing good microflora, which this species seems to like. I've noticed the same goes for Papaya, starfruit, and jujube as well.

My understanding is that it takes 2 plants to produce a good quantity of fruit. Although it will produce some with only 1 plant, cross pollination greatly increases fruit set, and perhaps taste and size? Can anyone confirm this?

I have also read that grafted plants are much better than seedling plants. Is this mainly fruit-set? Taste? Size?