rare fruit trees

[Stevetoad]

while visiting mattyb's house we were checking out his rainforest area and he grabed a icecream bean off one of his trees and gave me one. ive never seen one before and realized how cool it is to walk around the yard and eat random things growing around you. so now i decided that i need more edible plants arount my house. right now i have a lime, tangerine and a cherimoya. im looking to get a guava. i like the rare idea. any ideas??? how a bout pawpaw ( Asimina triloba). also i would like something that doesnt take 5-10 years to fruit...im hungry now!!!!! thanks for any ideas

[Pedro 65]

Steve, a great little fruit tree is Brazil Cherry. (Eugenia Braziliana), grape size fruit which 1 of these little fruits has the same vitamin C content as 10 oranges, tastes great too. Ice cream bean probably wont be a weed in your location but here its one of our" worst tree weeds" so its hardly rare. Thers a cold hardy Mangosteen from Bolivia that was mentioned in a thread a while back(jprimbs) as well that imo is better tasting than its well known cousin. Hard to beat a Banana for a quick return fruit, not rare but its very edible. happy growing. Pete

[MattyB]

Steve, I have some small seedlings of that Brasil/Surinam Cherry that Pedro is talking about. You can have one if you want.

Another thing that I'm really loving is a type of pepper that we grew from seed after buying them at Costco. They're about the size of a Jalepeno, but they're red and orange, and taste like a sweet red pepper. They are great producers and I just mack on them all day.

We've got 3 different types of guavas. Two tropical guavas, psidium guajava, tropical pink and indian white. They are vigorous growers and will give you fruit in a year or two. I'm having trouble getting them to get to enough sweetness though. You're hotter than me in Santee so maybe you can do it. The other guava we're growing is the pineapple guava, fejoia. This is a very hardy plant and easy to grow, even for your arctic tundra, and the taste is like a sweet pineapple with some effervescense of eucalyptus or menthalatum or something like that. Neato!

[Stevetoad]

Steve, I have some small seedlings of that Brasil/Surinam Cherry that Pedro is talking about. You can have one if you want.

Another thing that I'm really loving is a type of pepper that we grew from seed after buying them at Costco. They're about the size of a Jalepeno, but they're red and orange, and taste like a sweet red pepper. They are great producers and I just mack on them all day.

We've got 3 different types of guavas. Two tropical guavas, psidium guajava, tropical pink and indian white. They are vigorous growers and will give you fruit in a year or two. I'm having trouble getting them to get to enough sweetness though. You're hotter than me in Santee so maybe you can do it. The other guava we're growing is the pineapple guava, fejoia. This is a very hardy plant and easy to grow, even for your arctic tundra, and the taste is like a sweet pineapple with some effervescense of eucalyptus or menthalatum or something like that. Neato!

was it a pineapple guava that i ate at your house???

[MattyB]

I don't remember anything about that day because I drank that whole 12 pack you brought over.

[Stevetoad]

Steve, a great little fruit tree is Brazil Cherry. (Eugenia Braziliana), grape size fruit which 1 of these little fruits has the same vitamin C content as 10 oranges, tastes great too. Ice cream bean probably wont be a weed in your location but here its one of our" worst tree weeds" so its hardly rare. Thers a cold hardy Mangosteen from Bolivia that was mentioned in a thread a while back(jprimbs) as well that imo is better tasting than its well known cousin. Hard to beat a Banana for a quick return fruit, not rare but its very edible. happy growing. Pete

How big does the cherry tree get. Do you know how hardy they are?

[Stevetoad]

I don't remember anything about that day because I drank that whole 12 pack you brought over.

You remember that I brought over the beer...

[Jubaea]

Many dwarf citrus will start bearing early although the quantities are limited initially. They don't take up too much space. You would have the heat for something like a mango tree. They don't like below freezing temperatures so if you do get below freezing most years this might be a problem. Mine fruited in its forth year in the ground but I did not have enough consistant heat in the summer and it suffered frost damage in the winter. Bannas grow fast. A lot depends on how much space you have. If you have more space you can do more trial and error but if space it tight and is competing with palms then you may want to go for proven winners.

[MattyB]

I don't remember anything about that day because I drank that whole 12 pack you brought over.

You remember that I brought over the beer...

That was before the black-out

[Stevetoad]

I don't remember anything about that day because I drank that whole 12 pack you brought over.

You remember that I brought over the beer...

That was before the black-out

haha. it was a green one. looked like a small cucumber. tasted pretty good from what i remember.

[Pedro 65]

I don't remember anything about that day because I drank that whole 12 pack you brought over.

You remember that I brought over the beer...

That was before the black-out

haha. it was a green one. looked like a small cucumber. tasted pretty good from what i remember.

Too Much Information

[Stevetoad]

guess i set myself up for that one... zzzzzzziiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnggggggg

[MattyB]

hahahaha. Sounds like you're talking about that Ice Cream Bean Tree, inga edulis. Unless.....were they sitting in my kitchen? If so, then yeah, it was pineapple guava, fejoia.

[Stevetoad]

hahahaha. Sounds like you're talking about that Ice Cream Bean Tree, inga edulis. Unless.....were they sitting in my kitchen? If so, then yeah, it was pineapple guava, fejoia.

it was in your kitchen. how are they as far as sun/water requirements?

[MattyB]

From what I've read they're easy to grow and don't mind cold weather. I assume that they would prefer fullsun and regular water should be fine. They're not water hogs or anything. I like that you can eat the flowers too.

[Cindy Adair]

We grow Pineapple Guava outside my back door in full sun in Virginia (zone 8B). It's quite ornamental with silver on the leaves and attractive flowers. The flower petals do taste good! In fact my kids grab them quickly without harming the rest of the flower of course. We have had this one small tree (about 15 feet tall and wide?) for at least 20 years and have never fertilized or given extra water, but we don't live in a drought prone area. Great plant for us.

[Stevetoad]

looks like ill pick up a pineapple guava. there are two types right....one that starts with an S...has bigger fruit i think....or am i nuts

[MattyB]

I was told that "Nazemets" is the best Feijoa/Pineapple Guava variety for us in CA. Self pollinating and larger fruit.

Funnily, I find that the flowers aren't as tastey on these because I think they are larger and tougher, which is maybe why it grows a superior fruit. Eating the flowers is really just a novelty though, you want the fruit to be good.

[LauraAnu]

Steve,

Where I am may be a bit too tropical for you but I have been adding a number of fruit trees to my garden. Papaya give a tasty fruit and grows quickly if you can protect it. I saw MattyB posting some fruit earlier this year from his place. Citrus is also fairly easy and as someone suggested, if you get grafted trees, you can get fruit in short order. I added a fig tree and a grapevine also which should be able to fruit for you and also bananas which are pretty fast growers.

The other stuff I have are very tropical and I am not sure they will work in your climate. You may also want to try pineapples in pots as I have seen them fruiting in pots

I don't know if the list is exotic enough but just some suggestions

Laura

[Matt in SD]

Hi Steve,

As others suggested Surinam cherry is a great one, and pretty hardy. Cherry of the Rio Grande I think has even better flavor and is a nice looking tree (cool bark like a guava tree). Overall the best really unusual fruit that I've had is Jaboticaba, this is a must have (and is closerly related to the two Eugenias just mentioned). There are a lot of Eugenias and related fruits worth trying.

Don't discount the basic stone fruits like peaches, nectarines, apricots etc... My wife insisted on planting a bunch of these and I wasn't too excited about it. But in the second season, we had more peaches and nectarines than we could eat and to me these are as good as any of the more exotic fruits.

Since you're in a colder area, apples are great too. Again, this is one that I was not excited about, but we have apples for 6 months of the year, and it's just cool to be able to grab stuff to eat while you're touring the garden.

We grow a lot of bananas, and they fruit reliably. Plus the fruit is 100X better than grocery store bananas.

And passionfruit is another super easy and reliable one. I'd guess we've harvested more than 50 pounds of passionfruit this year off of one plant. It's great for flavoing smoothies, and for popsicles. My kids eat it straight too.

Be careful, if you start poking around about all the fruits you can grow around here, it can become as addictive as palms.

Matt

[MattyB]

What about dragon fruit, home shizzle? ugly and easy, just like I like my women....please don't tell jen I said that.

[DoomsDave]

Feijoa are easy to grow, even in Porno Valley, and places like that.

You can even eat the petals on the flowers.

Another good plant is a lime.

There's two basic kinds: mexican and Bearss. Mexican limes are those little ones you get with your Corona. Bearss are bigger, juicier and hardier to cold.

I use both. Mexican limes a little shrubby thing about 4 feet tall; Bearss get bigger.

Limes go great with so many things . . .

[Stevetoad]

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone. I do have a few Dagon fruits ( I don't find them ugly). Lime tree I have and it spits out tons of limes. It's the biggest tree in my back yard. The jaboticaba is very interesting. I saw one in Hawaii that was a monster. How big do they get in Cali? You guys sold me on a pine apple guava. I have a pineapple that I grew from the top of a fruit. It's been in a pot for 4 years and this last spring I planted it out, now I have a fairly big baby pineapple fruit growing out the top of it...

[Cindy Adair]

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone. I do have a few Dagon fruits ( I don't find them ugly). Lime tree I have and it spits out tons of limes. It's the biggest tree in my back yard. The jaboticaba is very interesting. I saw one in Hawaii that was a monster. How big do they get in Cali? You guys sold me on a pine apple guava. I have a pineapple that I grew from the top of a fruit. It's been in a pot for 4 years and this last spring I planted it out, now I have a fairly big baby pineapple fruit growing out the top of it...

You should join the California Rare Fruit Gardener's group (CRFG) if only to get their excellent magazine. After all, it was one tiny classified ad in that magazine that led to my farm purchase.... They have various club chapters, but none in Virginia. I'm sure their members can connect you with plenty of great information and plant/seed sources. Sounds like you already have a great start on a fruit collection.

Jaboticaba is a beautiful bonsai like tree with delicious fruit, but grows slowly in my experience. It finally fruited for me in a pot in Virginia after probably 15 years at about 5 feet tall. It's the one in the largest white pot in the middle of this picture taken several years ago. In fact, this photo sent to the person selling what is now my farm, helped convince her that I would appreciate her collection and add to it! It takes up quite a bit of space in my greenhouse this time of year but I'll never prune it. I intend to eventually donate it somewhere if I can as it will be too big to move to PR. If you are patient, seeds germinate easily as well.

[Moose]

Cindy - thank you for your post. That has got me wondering ...

Planted a Jaboticaba (Myrciaria caulifora) 5 years ago. It is 6 ft. tall now. The trunk is 2" in diameter, two main branches have 1.5 " diameter. Never seen it flower on the trunk.

Is it a size factor or age factor of when this tree fruits? I love the fruit and can't wait to be able to eat my own fruit.

The Moose needs to know ...

[The Silent Seed]

Guys,

First of all, a guava in Virginia? Wow! Never knew they could take any kind of cold.

Second - you mentioned Pawpaw - they need a cold / dormant period - no idea if you get that out there - but the fruit production is actually pretty low, and only for a few weeks in the fall. But then again, that's how they behave in the frozen North. That makes me curious what they do in tropical climates. Love the leaves. Not a very attractive plant though.

The flowers are amazing.

Is the "Dragon Fruit" the Hylocereus undulatus or something else ? Is this what is used in grafting those colorful "ball cactus" at box stores? If so, I was given one - and the ball died, leaving the green "box" and it has not grown AT ALL in the 3 years I've had it. It's one of my favorite plants. I call it my green pet rock.

I'm surprised nobody has suggested Tree Tomatoes - Cyphomandra. Beautiful, and funky.

[rprimbs]

Sapotes do great here as well. "White" sapotes in particular. Have you ever had these?

And I'm growing a "chico" sapote Also called sapadilla.

They're sort of like a very fine pear soaked in brown sugar.

I'm also growing something called a "Ross" sapote.

I guess that it's a bit like "egg fruit" -- also known as canistel.

And you can grow "Mamey" sapote here -- but it probably won't fruit.

However the closely related "Green" sapote will grow and fruit here. Roger Meyer -- in Valley Center and Fountain Valley -- sells them.

Edited December 9, 2011 by rprimbs

[Stevetoad]

I've nevere had a sapote. I almost bought one tha was supposed to taste like chocolate but I bought a cherimoya instead. How big do the trees get?

[Cindy Adair]

Cindy - thank you for your post. That has got me wondering ...

Planted a Jaboticaba (Myrciaria caulifora) 5 years ago. It is 6 ft. tall now. The trunk is 2" in diameter, two main branches have 1.5 " diameter. Never seen it flower on the trunk.

Is it a size factor or age factor of when this tree fruits? I love the fruit and can't wait to be able to eat my own fruit.

The Moose needs to know ...

I would think size is most important (no, I won't insert any tasteless jokes here but I can't control where an individual reader's mind might wander..) Anyway, the clusters of tiny buds always sneak up on me, but the white flowers, like a smaller calliandra, are lovely. They are short lived so sometimes I've missed them as well. I get them on the trunk and major branches and your tree sounds about the size of mine when it first bloomed. I've read somewhere that they like water so I try to be generous. I think yours will bloom anytime!

[nkbish]

What about an avocado? There are many different kinds to chose from. I think for the price of the fruit in the store it is well worth the space investment in the yard. I planted a hass in the corner of the back yard, they get big but can be pruned to the size you want. I am hoping to use it for canopy. I think they add a bit of the tropical look and do not drop all of their leaves in the winter. The downfall is they are always dropping leaves all over. I also have a "littlecado" or wurtz and it will only get 10-15'. Thats only if you like them.

[MattyB]

Steve,

I think my neighbor's Sapote (white sapote) still has some fruit on it if you wanna try it before buying. I've seen these at home depot now. Sorta like boston cream pie. They are large trees eventually, like avocados, so pruning would be in order if you wanna keep it in check.

[Stevetoad]

i dont think id mind if it got large. i only have a jacaranda tree for canopy so my palms would welcome so cover... i would like to try a sapote. ive never had one before

[paulgila]

have you considered lychee? metaphysically,i mean.

[Stevetoad]

i need a bigger yard!!!

[paulgila]

thats the problem with asking questions like this.

[Stevetoad]

im sold on guava, ice cream bean tree, maybe sapote and lychee (cool looking tree) i think i may have room for all these.....

[paulgila]

some people had a sapote tree that lived across the street from me when i was a kid. ultra-ripe sapotes are great for throwing at people.

[Stevetoad]

what do they taste like. do the cocco ones really taste like chocolate???

[paulgila]

i never actually ate them,steve

[MattyB]

uncommon fruit trees never taste like people describe them as, so don't hold any expectations, just take 'em for what they are. That's what I've learned. Because you're gonna be expecting some Mamey to taste like chocolate and even if it tastes like a delicious candied yam, which otherwise you'd love, if it doesn't taste like chocolate you're gonna be dissapointed. It's like drinking milk when you expect it to be water. Or wanting a BFF and having him turn out like Paul.