2020

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13-1 Israel	p	Israel	Gow	p	Thailand	Nam Tan Teen	p	Thailand
A	p	Indonesia	Guadalupe	p	Peru	Nang Klarngwun	p	Thailand
Ambalayi	p	Sri Lanka	Gudang	p	Indonesia	Ngowe	p	Africa
Ampalam	p	Indonesia	Gullivers Triumph	p	Australia	Nixon’s Special	p	Australia
Apple2	p	Kenya	Gundu	p	India	Number11	p	West Indies
Arumanis	p	Malaysia	Harumanis	p	Indonesia	Nuwun Chan	p	Thailand
B.O.T.	p	Australia	Harumanis Red	p	Indon/Malays	Ok Rong	p	Thailand
Bali Apple	p	Australia	Hindi-Khasa	p	Egypt	Olour	p	India
Banana-1	p	Australia	Hong Sa	P		Ono	p	USA
Bappakkai	p		Indian-17	p		Orange	p	USA
Baramasia	p	India	Indochinese	p		Pahutan	p	Philippines
Batawi	p	Kenya	Indochinese Late	p		Peach CG	p	Australia
Binoboy	p	Philippines	Ingham Late	p	Australia	Philippine	p	Mexico
Black Java	p	Australia	Jakarta	p		Pico	p	Philippines
Boribo	p	Kenya	Joellen	p		Pineapple	p
Bourbon	p	Brazil/Paragu	Kamerunga White	p	Australia	Rajah	p
Bowen Early	p	Australia	Kasturi	p	Indonesia	Reasoner	p
Brander	p		Kensington Bmboo	p	Australia	Roberts-3	p	Australia
Bullocks Heart	p	Australia	Kensington Pride	p	Australia	Rockdale Saigon	p	Indochina
Bundaberg Late	p	Australia	Kensington Rajah	p	Australia	Rosado de Ica	p	Peru
Cambodiana	p	Vietnam, 2ndry USA	Kensington Red	p	Australia	Rupee	p	Sri Lanka
Carabao 1	p	Philippines	Kensington Spooner	p	Australia Q	Sabre	p	South Africa
Carabao Chun Tie	p	Philippines	Keow Savoey	p	Thailand	Samini	p	USA
Carabao Harbon	p	Philippines	Kopu Reva	p	Tahiti	Sampee	p	Thailand
Carabao Lamao	p	Philippines	Kuala Selangor	p	Malaysia	Santaella	p	Puerto Rico
Carabao Pepe Gomez	p	Philippines	Kurashige	p		Senora	p	Philippines
Carabao Super Manila	p	Philippines	Kuru	p	Sri Lanka	Simmonds	p	USA
Carabao Timoeto Llena	p	Philippines	Laris	p	USA	Simpang Empat	p	Malaysia
Carne de Ica	p	Peru	Lebai Mohamad	p	Malaysia	Sings Late	pm?	India
Cathamia	p	India	MA 173	p	India	Spychala	p	Australia
Cecil	p		MA 2	p	Malaysia	Sri Lanka	p	India
Ceriese	p	South Africa	MA 3	p	Malaysia	Sungi Siput	p	Malaysia
Chandrakaran	p	India	Ma Muang Paa	p	Thailand	Taimour	p	Egypt
Chato de Ica	p	Peru	Madame Francis	p	Haiti	Tango	m?	Israel
Cheteau	p	India	Madu	p	Indonesia	Tekin	p	Australia
Chino	p	Cuba	Mag-B	p	Australia	Thomas	p	Australia
Coconut	p	Sri Lanka	Maha 165	p	Malaysia	Tok Boon	p	Malaysia
Colombo Black	p	India	Mammee	p		Torbet	p	USA
Coracao De Boi	p	Brazil	Manzano	p	Virgin Islds	TPP 1	p	Australia
Crimson Blush	p	Australia	Marr	p	Australia, WA	Trusso	p	Australia
Doubikin	p	West Africa, Kelmscott	Mekong	p	USA	Turpentine	p	Caribbean & Sth Amer
Dunlop	p	Malaysia	Mempelam Siam	p	Thailand	Tutehau	p
Ewais	p	Egypt	Micongensis	p	Vietnam	Wester	p	USA
Fa Lal	p	Thailand	Millaroo 16	p		Xoài   Buoi	p	Vietnam
Fa Lan	p	Thailand	Millaroo 6	p	Australia	Xoài  Cat Hoa Loc	p	Vietnam
Fa Lan 97	p	Thailand	Mooyandun	p		Xoài  Thanh Ca	p	Vietnam
Fairchild	p	Panama	Mullumbimby Gold	p		Xoài  Túóng	p	Vietnam
Florigon	p	USA	Mun	p	Thailand	Xoài Cat Chu	p	Vietnam
Fred Roos	p	Australia	Mundappa	p	India	Xoài Cat Thom	p	Vietnam
G Allen	msp	Australia	Mylepania	p	India
Goldsworthy	p	Australia	Nam Doc Mai	p	Thailand			*m=mono
Golek	p	??	Nam Doc Mai 4	p	Thailand			p=poly
Golek 2	p	Malays/Indon	Nam Doc Mai Gold	p	Thailand			sp=some poly

Sourced from: 

Sub-Tropical Fruit Club of Qld. Inc Newsletter February – March 2007

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I worked for 17 years in research at the Alstonville Research Station, Dept of Agriculture NSW and my responsibility was basically everything other than bananas, avocadoes and macadamias, which gave me a pretty fair spectrum for doing all sorts of things and I was responsible for bringing in and testing new fruit crops that might possibly be commercial.

I’ll be talking about flower initiation in both lychees and mangoes because they turned out to be very similar in the way they form flowers, but it also applies to longans and virtually any terminal flowering sub-tropical / tropical type fruit.

The myth of winter dormancy

There’s a myth that for a lot of these species you need a winter dormancy to get them to flower. It’s bollocks.  The myth has been around since the 1920’s when a fellow by the name of George Groff, an American missionary in China, got it from the Chinese. Researchers around the world took on this myth that you needed this dormancy to get regular flowering. Consequently, all sorts of experiments were done—I could write a book about all the experiments I did to get winter dormancy to get them to flower better and every experiment failed.  In fact, the more dormant they were, the less they flowered but DPI in Qld and NSW advised growers not to water or fertilise because that was going to make them flower less.  I did experiments to get that to work, but nothing worked.  I sat under a tree one day, despondent, thinking I’d give up, when I made a significant observation—probably not significant to you—but it was a bit like the apple falling from the tree for Newton (if that really happened).  This was an inflorescence with leaves on the bottom part: a shoot with leaves near the bottom and flowers towards the tip.  I thought that if flower initiation occurs in dormant buds, then that can’t happen. You can’t get leaves produced and then switch to flowers unless the bud is actually growing while this happens – it cannot happen while it’s dormant. You see this in a number of lychee varieties—Bengal, Kwai Mai Pink (‘Bos 3’), Salathiel.

Also, in SE Qld and northern NSW in any given year there will be some trees that flower and bear a decent crop. In other words, there is always enough chilling to get them to flower.  There is never a lack of winter chilling; that is just not an explanation for failure to flower in this area. So the question was why does one tree flower and not the next?

Testing the idea that flower initiation occurs in growing buds

So I had the idea that flowering induction occurs in young growing buds, not dormant buds.  That was pretty radical at the time, but the question was how do you prove it?  Well, the experiment was this:  Begin buds growing at a high temperature, e.g. in a glasshouse with a temperature of 25ºC constant, (they won’t flower at this temperature; it’s non-inductive), and then transfer them into the inductive temperatures like a cold glasshouse eg 12/18º (night/day) or outside in winter (late July, early August) and see what happens. And what happens if buds are different sizes?  If my idea was correct, small buds should produce just flowers, but longer ones at transfer, which will already have produced some leaf initials, will produce leaves on the bottom and flowers on the tip.  Bigger ones again should only produce leaves.

The experiments:  I cut the tips off to get back to auxiliary dormant buds, forced them to start growing at the high temperature, and transferred them to the cold conditions at a whole range of different size buds (having measured the sizes of the buds).  At ‘zero’ size, we just pruned the plants and put them straight into the cold conditions so they didn’t have a chance to grow. With one experiment with Salathiel, half of them grew out and produced inflorescences but the other half produced leaves only.  If we look at buds that had grown a bit, e.g. 1–1.8mm long, which is not very long when transferred into the cold, we got about 70% that produced pure inflorescences and 10% that produced mixed leaves with flowers at the top—so over 80% produced flowers—and about 15% produced only leaves (vegetative).  Then if you go bigger, you start to get mainly mixed ones—in other words they have produced some leaves and changed the flowers and an increase in the number of vegetative ones. Then as you get bigger again, you get even more that are just leaves and fewer with flowers and finally if they’re bigger you just get leaves.  So you can see if the buds are growing, you actually get better flowering than if they’re dormant but of course what happens here is that the ones that are actually dormant, they actually start growing in the cool room and then they flower but if they actually don’t start growing they won’t flower so the idea of winter dormancy is really crazy when you think about it. Tai So, which is an early variety and tends to be cold sensitive, in this experiment, didn’t work well and the reason I think was because they were pot bound but when they were transferred at 18º constant day temperature and 12º constant night temperature, a lot of the buds that had actually started to grow, stopped and then aborted.

With Tai So we got no flowers whatsoever when they are dormant when they were transferred to the cold room, but at least we got some flowers on the buds that were growing when transferred.  With Wai Chee, the ones that were dormant, about 60% gave flowers but if they were growing, all of the buds flowered.

We also did a set of experiments where we grew them through a cycle of growth at between 20–27ºC before we did the experiment so there was no way in the world that they could have been pre-induced to flower (just to cover this possibility).  The effect was even clearer, if anything.  With fresh, vigorous plants, it worked really well.

We found the same thing in mangoes—flower initiation occurred on young growing buds. 

Where did the ‘winter dormancy’ idea come from?

If you get a flush in April–May (autumn) they often don’t flower so that’s where the myth came that they have to be dormant in winter—people rightly observed that if they did this in April-May before winter (so the flush would be still hardening off during winter), they don’t flower.  But they don’t flower because they can’t grow—because they are dormant!

Lychees, mangoes, avocadoes, longans and all sorts of terminal flowering sub-tropical and tropical tree crops grow by flushing and when they flush, they actually have to have a period when they harden off the flush before they start to grow again.  So you cannot make them grow from the tip until the terminal bud hardens off or matures.  When the bud finally matures it will grow again, but there’s nothing you can do to make it grow until it is mature enough.  You can prune it off, and then you’ll get growth from lower auxiliary already-mature buds.  In summer in SE Queensland, it can be about 50 days (7 weeks) from the beginning of a flush to the start of the next one, but in winter this stretches out to more than four months so if a flush starts in May, it can be September before the terminal buds can grow and so they don’t flower because it is too warm then for floral induction.

How long does the cold spell need to be?

When we transferred Irwin plants with buds just starting to grow (in a hot house) outside in winter (average daily min 10°C and max 20), after only 30 days you could see flowers developing—the induction obviously occurs quite quickly.  Lychees took a little bit longer, but it happens very quickly. The idea that you need months of cold is rubbish. We have strong evidence that less than 3 days of low temperatures is fine to get them to switch to flower.

The buds in Irwin can range from 0.7 mm up to 10 mm long and you’ll still get flowering, so there’s a big window of opportunity to get the cold snap while the buds are growing.
If you look at the weather data for Cairns (13°S), for example, they usually get 1 or 2 cold snaps in a year (temperature drops down to 12 or 13 degrees at night) for a couple of days.  If a lychee happens to have just started to grow when they get that cold snap, they get a good crop.  If it’s not cold during that window of opportunity when the buds are small, they don’t flower.  That’s why cropping is somewhat erratic at Cairns. 

In that environment, growers could tip prune trees several weeks (timing would have to be worked out by experimenting) before a cool snap is expected to maximize the likelihood of a crop (although just when it comes is a bit unpredictable).

George: What’s the minimum and maximum temperature for floral initiation?
Don:    Nobody knows really precisely, but a daily temperature range of about 13–20 degrees will produce flowering.  Daily maximum temperatures above 20 inhibit flower formation. It could also be a drop in temperature that is more efficient than absolute temperature so if it’s fairly warm and it’s just starting to grow, then the temperature drops, it could be the drop in temperature that is more important than the absolute temperature. 

The optimum size for the mango buds was 1.5–2mm long for getting pure inflorescences. Irwin is a Florida variety and is known for fairly reliable productivity—not so good to eat but reliable productivity but what is weird is that when Irwin’s buds were bigger (about 10 mm long), it actually produced a flush of vegetative growth and just kept on growing and produced an inflorescence on the tip.  So it didn’t actually have a dormancy period when they stopped growing and hardened off. The cold actually stimulated it and it kept on growing and it produced inflorescences on the top of the vegetative shoot. Mangoes are actually easier to deal with than lychees; I have not seen lychees do that but not all mangoes will do it either.  I think it’s probably a characteristic of some of the more productive Florida varieties and that’s one of the reasons they are more productive.

How do we use this knowledge?

Lychee and mango grow in flushes. Following a recent flush, bud growth won’t occur because of maturation of buds so if buds can’t grow during inductive conditions (e.g., winter), flower initiation won’t occur so we need to make them grow during winter—it’s all to do with timing. In SE Qld a flush beginning in May (autumn) will prevent flowering because that flush will take months to mature and they won’t be able to grow again until spring at which time they’ve gone through flower induction period so you won’t get flowering.  This applies for lychee and most mango varieties. If the post harvest flush starts (2mm long buds) in early March (first week of autumn) that will in most circumstances result in having nice mature buds coming into winter without starting to flush in May (late autumn) and it will be ready to begin to grow in June/July (winter) giving good flower initiation giving you the foundation for a good crop.

In Cairns, Nth Qld they get two flushes between harvest and flowering but between there and here in Brisbane there can be a no man’s zone where you have to delay the post harvest flush so you don’t get a second flush starting before the cool period—this can be tricky.

In this part of the world, we need to get the flush away pretty well straight after harvest and that means that your trees should be fertilised / watered and do everything to them to make them grow at that time.  Once the post harvest crop is underway; that is, it’s growing away nicely, don’t fertilise/don’t water—just let them settle down and hopefully they won’t grow again until winter arrives. So in June (winter) you should fertilise them lightly and water the trees to stimulate them to grow. This is the opposite of the advice that has been handed out in the past—it’s the complete opposite, but it works!

Timing for longans will be different because they harvest later then lychee. %

This article was compiled by Sheryl Backhouse

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• New method from India makes mango trees bear earlier   Usually the grafted seedlings are planted in the field and grown, but the farmer says, “through this new technique (polybag growing), mango seedlings come to commercial bearing in 2-3 years.” Giving details about how he does the grafting the farmer says: “Good bearing mother plants are selected and the desired variety is grafted together and grown for 45 days in plastic bags in a controlled environment. After the first flush of leaves emerge, the seedlings are moved to open conditions and kept under shade and watered.” “Grafting ensures purity in variety, till date many growers simply plant the grafted seedlings they buy straight into the open field. The investment, maintenance and labour for growing the plants is quite high. Whereas, in the poly bag method, the plants are grown for 1 to 2 years and then planted in the main field. “The cost of cultivation drastically comes down. Farmers need to take care of the tree only for 2 to 3 years, after which it comes to bearing and can be harvested,” explains Mr. Kulandaisamy. But what about the regular infestations which affect mango trees? “I use my own bio plant growth promoters while I plant my grafted seedlings in the poly bags. The plants are regularly sprayed with our own bio growth promoters and grow quite well. So far we have been sending our seedlings to several parts of the country and are receiving encouraging feedbacks,” he replies. Even a single tree, if grown by this method and taken care of properly, can yield more than 150 fruits. For an acre about 80 seedlings are required and in a year a farmer can get an income of at least Rs. 1,50,000 (minimum), assures Mr. Kulandaisamy.   Source: hindu.com 

• Preparation of scion material The best scion material is obtained from the tips of mature (rounded) shoots with prominent buds (called tip wood) immediately before the August (winter) growth flush. Tip wood is prepared two or three weeks before use by removal of leaves from the scion, leaving 1 cm of petiole (leaf stem) remaining. The graft stick is cut from the mother tree when required and should be about 6-8 cm long. If not used immediately scions can be stored, wrapped in a moist towelette and plastic bag, in a cool, dark position for periods up to seven days.  Ref:  Terry Muller – WA Dept of Agriculture – Carnavon.

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There are three key groups that warrant consideration:

West lndian (Mexican, Key, Kaghzi nimbu of India) All the same variety

Very sensitive to cold. Only grows well in frost free areas in sub-tropical to tropical countries

eg. India Thailand, Egypt, Morocco & Brazil

Very sensitive to Carker and to Tristeza virus.

Used as an indicator seedling for Tristeza testing for other citrus clones.

Black Aphis (Aphytis Citricidus) is a very efficient vector for Tristeza

The variety is highly polyembryonic, very seedy, and is commonly grown from seed, such seedlings having a very short lifespan if Tristeza is present.

Very thomy and less vigorous than Tahiti with smaller leaves.

Second crop forcing can be done using a modified Verdelli practice like that used for Som Keae Wan in Thailand.

Large Fruited Acid Limes of hybrid origin: Citrus latifolia Tan      Tahiti, Tahitian, Persian, Bearss

The same variety, and highly mono ernbryonic.

The Tahitian lime is often called “Lime of Commerce” and is the main variety used in Floridian Lime culture.

This variety for all practical purposes, is seedless.

Care must be taken to harvest the fruit in a pale green state, since a physiological breakdown occurs at the stylar end of the fruit (Stylar-end rot) if the fruit colours on the tree. It has been suggested that the reason why Limes are sold in the green state has been the commercial necessity to harvest early.

All Limes including Tahitian, require wind break protection, and must be considered cold-sensitive. However Tahitian can be considered at the top of the Lime varieties, being only as cold-sensitive as Lemons.

Because the Tahitian offers the most promise commercially, most work has been done with this clone which includes virus indexing for Psorosis, Exocortis and Xyloporosis.

A range of rootstocks can be considered to suit soil and climatic conditions.

These include Poncirus trifoliata, Troyer and Carrizo citrange.

Rangpur – Kusaie Citrus limonia (Osbeck)

Kusaie is a yellow fruited variant of Rangpur, but for most purposes can be assessed with Rangpur.

They are considered to be a Lime/Mandarin hybrid originating in India and are highly polyembryonic.

Both are tolerant to Tristeza virus.

Fruit sizes range between West Indian and Tahitian.

Fruit cropping is year round, but with one major crop.

Both are very cold tolerant unlike the true limes.

Sheryl    Ian lives in South Australia and is about to publish another book on citrus so will let you know when it becomes available. http://www.tolleysnurseries.com.au/

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Dwight in Guatemala says that his seedlings of Mangifera casturi started to bear in four or five years. This is the most consistent bearer of mango fruit under rainy conditions that I have found. Flowers set fruit under daily rain and the fruit mature without anthracnose. Would like a bit more size but don’t mind the fibre one bit. You should sow freshly harvested seeds to get the best germination results. Soak the seeds in water with a temperature of around 20–25 °C for about 2–6 hours. After soaking, sow the seeds in the soil (light, sandy soil) and keep the temperature of the pot at a temperature of at least 20–25 °C.

Seeds sprout within 1–3 weeks. Young seedlings should be kept in a moderate sunny position.

http://www.kpr.sk/botanix/en/ Kalimantan Mango (Mangifera casturi) or locally known as Kasturi is a tropical fruit tree about 10–30 m tall which is endemic to very small area around Banjarmasin in Southern Borneo (Indonesia). Nowadays it is extinct in the wild due to illegal logging. However, it is still often cultivated in this area due to its delicious fruits. The fruit size of the Kalimantan Mango is relatively small compared to other species of mangoes. It weighs around 50 to 84 grams each. When not ripe yet, the colour of the fruit is green – when ripe however, the colour changes to brown or purple-black and has a shiny surface,

often with a shade of purple. The colour pattern is also one of the determinations of the variants of M. casturi.

There are 3 recorded varieties of Mangifera casturi – Kasturi, Mangga Cuban and Pelipisan. The most popular is the Kasturi because of its fragrance. The Mangga Cuban and Pelipisan are often regarded as a separate species. The Pelipisan could however be found with a sweet fragrance like the Kasturi which indicates that the fruit is most likely a hybrid of the Kasturi. Much research still has to be done to define and set the status. The flesh of this fruit is orange in colour and the texture stringy with a unique sweet fragrance. If we compare the Kasturi with the Mango (Mangifera indica), the Kasturi tastes less sweet but has a stronger taste and has a softer aroma. The flesh of the Kasturi fruit flesh is high in fibre The Kasturi is very popular amongst the South Borneo people as well as in the neighbouring region. The fragrance of the fruits is so pleasant that there is an old song around this: “Seharum kasturi, seindah pelangi, semuanya bermula.” which means: “Oh, as fragrance as Kasturi, as beautiful as the rainbows. This love begins its journey.” Illegal logging activities caused extinction of this tree in the wild. Old Kalimantan Mango trees are in danger of extinction by logging because of its wood quantity. Trees are often cultivated on a small scale by local people in their backyard gardens or on small farms. Unlike the fast growing tropical fruit trees, the Kalimantan Mango is not planted in

large plantations in Indonesia due to its slow growing process.

Kalimantan Mango plantations could only be found in the Mataraman area in the Banjar district (the Banjar district is not the same as the Banjarmasin district). The people of Mataraman tried to plant a small-scale cultivation in 1980 and the first harvest was in 2005. Although the fruit is locally found abundantly, it still does not satisfy the demand. The uses of Kalimantan Mango trees are limited to the fruit and wood. Although old trees could have trunks exceeding 1 metre, the Banjar people (an interior and coastal native ethnic group who settled in Southern Borneo), tend to use the fruits only due to the tree’s long growing period. For this reason, the Banjar people choose other trees as their wood source with a similar or higher quality of wood. To get to the fruit, is not very easy as the Kasturi trees grow very tall and one has to climb very high to get to it – the fruit falling to the ground are of much lower quality. The fruits could be eaten fresh or processed as Kasturi jams. This is however rarely on sale on the markets, as farmers consume this themselves. Other products made with mangoes are puree, jams, juice or dodol (traditional cookies). These products are however quite hard to find as the fresh fruit are always high in demand and one of the favourite fruits of the Banjar people. The fruits are also quite expensive but to the Banjar people it is worth their money because of the wonderful taste! On

Borneo Island in Indonesia there are 34 Mango species (Mangifera) occurring naturally on the island.

Many of these species are seriously in danger of extinction due to the rainforests’ deforestation. Mango trees from Borneo are for instance the Mangifera griffithi (known under the following local names: asem raba, and romian), Mangifera pajang (asem payang), Mangifera quadrifida (asem kipang) and Mangifera torquenda

(asem putaran).

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Young jackfruits can have rounded or lobed leaves but when they are mature the leaves are more uniformly elongated.

Flowers

When Jackfruit start to flower they are nearly always male flowers. Male flowers have thin stems while the females have stems as thick as your little finger. Male and female flowers are borne in separate flower-heads.

Male flower-heads are on new wood among the leaves or above the female. They are swollen, oblong, from an inch to four inches long and up to an inch wide at the widest part. They are pale green at first, then darken. When mature the head is covered with yellow pollen that falls rapidly after flowering.

Female heads appear on short, stout twigs that emerge from the trunk and large branches or even from the soil-covered base of very old trees. They look like the male heads but without pollen, and soon begin to swell. The stalks of both male and female flower-heads are encircled by a small green ring.

One way to increase the seed set of most fruit is to spray the very early flower bud stage and the tree in general with a solution of 1 gram of borax and 1 gram of urea in one litre of water. Say 5 to 7 litres of this solution.

Jackfruit Seeds  

Before cooking the seeds, place them on a tray in the sun and turn them occasionally. The sun will crack the hard husk so you can then remove the husk and boil the seeds for 30 minutes then salt to taste. They taste like nutty potatoes and you can also use them for nibbles. If you don’t crack the hard husk, they will explode and this is caused by water vapour trying to escape a confined space just like a roasted chestnut. You could use them as an extra to your stuffing in chicken. If you fry them after boiling, you could add a little butter, garlic salt and curry powder.

How to tell when your Jackfruit is ripe to pick

Jackfruit mature 3 to 8 months from flowering.

• A dull hollow sound is produced when the fruit is tapped with your knuckle. If the fruit is too high up to check if it is ripe, slap it with a long pole to hear that dull sound.
• The last leaf of the peduncle yellows.
• Fruit spines become well developed and wider spaced and soften.
• The spines yield to moderate pressure.
• An aromatic odour develops.

Picking time depends on whether the fruit will be used at home or sold.

• Fruit intended to be eaten soon should be harvested when the rind is fairly soft, the peduncle leaves turn yellow and the fruit has an aromatic odour.
• Fruit intended for sale should be firm with no aroma but the leaf nearest the fruit must be starting to turn yellow and the spines set far apart. The flesh at this stage is crispy and pale yellow.

The quantity of latex decreases as the fruit ripens. Try to cut a fruit that is green and you will have latex all over you. Cut into an over-ripe fruit and there is almost no latex.   If you do get the sap on your hands you can easily get it off using lanoline soap, the kind they use in industry.

You can also make 3 shallow cuts in the fruit a few days before you plan to cut it down which will let some of the latex drain out.

Use rubber surgical gloves and coat knives with olive oil.

After ripening, they turn brown and deteriorate rather quickly. Cold storage trials indicate that ripe fruits can be kept for 3 to 6 weeks at 52° to 55° F and relative humidity of 85% to 95%.

Propagation

It is normally propagated by fresh seed but you can root by cuttings as well as airlayers and grafted varieties are available. There are two main varieties. In one, the fruits have small, fibrous, soft, mushy, but very sweet carpels with a texture somewhat akin to raw oysters. The other variety is crisp and almost crunchy though not quite as sweet.

• Soft Types:    Alba, Black Gold, Cheena, Lemon Fresh, Reliance, Tree Farm
• Crisp Types:  Bosworth No. 3, Hew, Honey Gold, Galaxy, Nansi,  Ziemen, Yullatin

Problems

Rhizophus artocarpi attacks both the developing and ripening fruit on the tree and after harvest. Male flower clusters typically develop a fungal rot following the release of their pollen but under normal conditions this does not affect the developing fruit. Phytophthora and Fusarium are two species of fungi which can occur. Root rot is caused by an unhealthy root system.

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Have you ever thought about growing an edible hedge instead of a fence?  We have just planted one about 50 metres long, with the plants spaced at about a metre apart, with a watering line with drippers running the whole length. Hopefully the hedge won’t need watering when it is well established. I did a bit of research on suitable plants. Obviously you want hardy plants, evergreen, that can be pruned hard but still remain leafy and thick. Below are some ideas for suitable plants. As well as these, we have used Acerola, Lemon, Kei Apple, Grumichamas, Icecream Bean and Lillypillies.

Sandberry  (Austromyrtus dulcis)

A low shrub to 50cm high with 80cm spread.  Leaves develop reddish shade which is apparent in new growth.  Flowers are white, similar to tea tree flowers.  Mauve edible fruits.

Natal Plum (Carissa grandiflora)

A fast growing dense shrub reaching a height of 3m x 4.5 metres.  The small, rounded leaves have sharp spines among them.  White flowers appear from spring to summer.  The edible fruit that follows is red, fleshy and oval.

Coffee (Coffea arabica)

A commercial coffee tree.  Very attractive evergreen shrub for frost-free gardens.  Can reach 4.5m tall.  Small fragrant white flowers.  Dark red fruits that contain 2 ‘beans’ which when extracted are dried and roasted into coffee.

Jaboticaba  (Myrciara cauliflora)

An attractive ornamental fruiting tree.  The fruit is borne directly on the trunk, is blue-black and possesses a thin, touch skin.  Very sweet and slightly aromatic translucent pulp.

Magenta Cherry  (Syzygium paniculata select)

Small to medium tree with a rounded crown.  Densely foliaged.  Leaves are shiny green.  Coppery brown when young.  Fragrant creamy white flowers held in dense clusters mainly in late spring.  Decorative fruits are rose purple, oval and up to 25mm long.

Tea (Camellia sinensis)

A shrub to 3m tall with thin, serrated leaves.  Insignificant white to cream flowers.

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Most connoisseurs of grapes are fans of the drinkable form of this ancient fruit. There are thousands of varieties: Cabernet, Shiraz, Semillon, Chardonnay to mention just a few. Some people on the other hand are aficionados of table grapes: Sultanas, Ribier, Flame Seedless and Waltham Cross are among those readily available in our greengrocers.

Yet all these names — diverse in size, colour, taste, texture, and ripening habits — are varieties of just the one species, the European Grape. But the European Grape, Vitis vinifera, of Asia Minor origin actually, is not the only species available for SE Queenslanders to enjoy. Two American species, the Fox Grape Vitis labrusca and the Muscadine Vitis rotundifolia are available here and are worth the attention of members. (Actually, there are some dozen other native American species but we haven’t come across any in Australia other than these two).

Our interest in different species of grape arose when we lived in the relatively humid climate of the Dandenong Ranges, outer Melbourne. Traditional European varieties of grapes, both wine and table, became afflicted with downy mildew during the moist weather that lingered in the Dandenongs during and after summer rainstorms.

This same characteristic is relevant to Queensland. Although the relatively dry summer climate in the inland (e.g. Roma) and in the Granite Belt (e.g. Stanthorpe) make it possible to grow the European grapes successfully there, in coastal Queensland this is difficult, and humidity-resistant grapes do much better.

The labrusca varieties are also resistant to the root aphid phylloxera and so have been used as rootstock and hybrid partners all over the world. Many of the grapes we regard as labrusca are actually hybrids.

The labrusca varieties are distinguishable by the softer downy undersides to the leaves and less glossy top sides. Usually the leaves are less deeply dissected. The skins also slip off the fruit more easily than with the European varieties.

Flavour

Labrusca grapes are commonly described as ‘foxy’ in flavour, or typically muscat. Neither description resonates with us. Foxy apparently refers to the disagreeable flavour these grapes impart to wine, but in the fresh form disagreeable is the last description to cross one’s mind for these fine fragrant fruit. Muscat is also not a very appropriate description, as it is not unique to labrusca, for the Black and White Muscats are varieties of vinifera.

A nurseryman whom we approached for new varieties of labrusca said, the only good thing about them is that they taste so bad that the birds leave them alone. He must have been referring to the wine, as this does not apply to the fresh fruit, either for birds or, in our experience, to humans. A ripe Iona is exquisitely tasty: rich, sweet, mellow. And unless we bag or net them, we get no crop at all as the birds sample the lot before they even colour. (We have gone cool on netting since we lost a couple of bearded dragons in the net one year, so plan this year to bag every bunch).

Perhaps our friends in the Western Suburbs Wine Guild might one day submit an article on what happens to these delicious fresh fruit to give them such a bad name when converted to wine.

Varieties

Many labrusca varieties once present in Australia seem to have vanished from cultivation: Niagara, White Labrusca, Gros Colman, Wilder, Delaware, Catawba, Aurelia. Some are kept by CSIRO but there must be home gardeners in pockets of Queensland who treasure these unusual kinds.

Some varieties seem more vigorous than others: Isabella is worth growing for its luxuriant foliage alone and its stamina, even in the early part of the wet season when rain is sparse.

 We have tried the following on poor sandy soil at Bayside Brisbane.

• Isabella: the best known Brisbane grape, vigorous growth, rich purple. There is also Improved Isabella which ripens more evenly.
• White Isabella
• Pink Iona: our favourite as to taste, a pellucid pale yellow-pink skin. We also have a White Iona which is said to be more resistant to waterlogging, but we cannot distinguish the foliage habit or fruit.
• Concorde: (from CSIRO via DPI), the most popular US table grape
• Japanese Raisin
• Strawberry Grape (courtesy of Jenny Awbery)
• Muscat Flame (from Schnyder), not Flame Seedless which is vinifera;
• Lady Patricia (from Daley)
• Chambourcin (from Daley), a hybrid wine grape, one of the few to tolerate high humidity
• Golden Muscat (from Schnyder. Daley have it listed in their catalogue but have been unable to supply it in the past three years).
• Muscadine (from Daley, but they will grow it only on order and require a minimum order of 20) 

We also have some unnamed varieties.

Despite our praise for labrusca, if you still prefer vinifera grapes then in SEQ you may like to try Carolina Black Rose which seems to tolerate the humidity better than other vinifera grapes.

Exchanging Material

We would be happy to provide cuttings of Isabella and Iona to any members within Queensland but our specimens of the other varieties are not yet vigorous enough to prune heavily. Also, please note that grapes may not be sent interstate without a phytosanitary certificate (a precaution against phylloxera).

We would also be willing to travel or pay expenses to collect scions of any labrusca varieties that we are missing.

Cultivation

Cuttings are collected when vines have completely lost their leaves. Take cuttings from year old wood and cut them 40-50cm long, about pencil thickness. They may be kept in the fridge crisper after wrapping in damp newspaper inside a plastic bag. Plant in winter, leaving only about 2 buds above the surface so that a good root system is developed.

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Rain, Rain, Rain!  That’s what you can expect at Mullumbimby anytime of the year.  Reputed to be the second wettest place in Australia, and already this wet season, they’ve had 2.67m. Mullumbimby is about 1½ hours south of Brisbane, and a short distance north of Byron Bay. A good number attended the grafting course, forty-nine in all, mostly from the Sub-Tropical Fruit Club in Brisbane.  To everyone’s delight it was a beautiful sunny day – apart from two brief showers – just to remind us we were in Mullumbimby!

Chester Dott and his wife, Ketut, hosted the day and it was a pleasure to be in their company and enjoy the warmth and hospitality of their home and place of business. The day began with Chester giving a thorough explanation of all the materials and tools associated with grafting and budding.  This included grafting tapes, plant I.D. tags, plastic bags to cover new grafts, and the correct sharpening of grafting knives and plane blades. Following this, we were taken on an orchard walk for the purpose of learning how to select grafting wood.  Chester took selections of Carambola, Black Sapote, Mango, White Sapote, Longan, Wampi, Star Apple and Citrus.  These were promptly defoliated by secateurs, tagged, and wrapped in moist newspaper so that on return to the house there was no confusion about variety, and no dried out wood. After the walk we were all ready for a bite to eat, and eat we did! For a small cost we were treated to a delicious Indonesian vegetarian lunch, prepared by Chester’s wife, Ketut, and a friend visiting for the day.  I didn’t know what I was supposed to eat first, but it didn’t matter – it was all fabulous (as it turned out I ate the dessert first!) How would you go cooking hot food for 49 visitors to your house?  Well, they did and everyone was well satisfied.  The black sticky-rice pudding with coconut cream was a big hit with me! If the food was fabulous, equally was the view from the front veranda where we ate.  In the near distance were the picturesque valleys of Mullumbimby neatly framed by the nearby huge Ice Cream Bean trees and in the far distance the majestic Mt. Warning National Park with its unmistakable peak of Mt. Warning.  Talk about an appetizer! After lunch Chester demonstrated the grafting techniques for the selections he had made on our walk.  He told us he can graft up to 400 plants a day if he has help moving plants into position. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to see a demonstration of an orchard tree being “top-worked”.  This is where the branches are pruned back hard, and another variety grafted onto the tops of the cut limbs or shoots growing from the cut limbs.

The following are a few points of interest that I noted throughout the course of the day:

1.    The best times to graft are the days leading up to a full moon.

2.    Most grafting or scion wood should not be refrigerated but used as fresh as possible. 

       The exception is deciduous trees like: persimmon, fig, apples, pears and stone fruit.

3.    Use methylated spirits to sterilize grafting tools.

4.    Put a dab of grafting paint on the top of the scion or any open cuts in graft area.                     

       This is to prevent disease, & to stop the scion from drying out.

5.    To grow seedling apples for rootstocks use Granny Smith seeds. This applies anywhere on the East Coast.

6.    When grafting a tree already growing in your yard/orchard, do your graft on the sunny side.  This gives a better success rate                  .

7.    Fast growing plants/rootstocks don’t need any leaves below the graft union eg. White Sapote, Mango,  

8.    Avocado. Carambola, etc.  Slow growers like Macadamias, Black Sapote should have some leaves retained on the rootstock below the graft, if possible, to improve success rates.

9.    A graft can be done anywhere on a tree.  On most nursery stock, the graft is found on the lower part of the trunk.

10.  Keep soil dry when grafting/budding citrus.

11.  Longans have very hard wood so use a small plane to make angle cuts on scion and rootstock.  Graft October and late March (Spring & Autumn) Longans are very difficult to graft successfully.

12.  Sapodilla – graft in hot weather.

13.  Ringbark (cincture) branches of Longans and Macadamias to be used for scions.  Leave on tree for up to two months to build supply of sugar in the scion.  This will improve chances of a better success rate.

14.  Choose vigorously growing young rootstocks when grafting.

15.  Don’t overwater the rootstock because when you cut the top off the tree to do the graft, the roots are not able to take up the excessive moisture.

16.  Don’t let the cut surface of the rootstock dry out. If it does, then recut a little off immediately prior to doing your graft.

It was late afternoon when we finished the workshop and folks were keen to get home, but then we had to pass by the nursery.  Now who in their rare-fruit-mind can pass through a nursery of exotics without a bit of a gander!  Yes, I bought a couple!  One, a native I’ve been after, an Atherton Oak that bears edible nuts and a grafted Rollinia.  This cultivar is a selection by Chester that comes highly recommended.  All his grafted selections are prefixed with the nursery name “Forbidden Fruits” indicating place of origin.

This was a rare opportunity to learn from someone who has been in the business a long time.  I’m sure all who attended, appreciated Chester’s willingness to share some of his hard earned experiences with us, making our path to learning a little easier.