- Burdekin Plum My Mum taught us to bury the purple fruits in damp sand until they became soft and sweet. I think fruit flavour varied tree to tree but the sand trick turns them all into edible fruit within a few days. Ref: Daleys
- Syzygium fibrosum otherwise called Fibrous Satinash or you might also see it marketed as Raincherries is usually grown from seed and is probably the best Syzygium to grow as it has so few seeds so is great for processing. Another good one for the home garden is Syzygium leumanii and one outlet sells this product as Rainberries. If you just have the one growing, then you might find it is seedless but if you put in lots, then you’ll find lots of seeds. Ref: Graeme White – Witjuti Nursery www.witjutigrub.com.au
- Don’t prune the branches on Syzygium fibrosum or Sygygium leuhmannii as the branch won’t produce fruit beyond the point where it was cut and the tree doesn’t tend to grow new branches. Ref: James Hansen
Bunchosia Tips
We have the same problem with birds eating the peanut butter fruits here but it is easily solved because you can pick the fruits hard, in the yellow stage and they will continue to ripen fine indoors. Ref: Oscar – Hawaii
Breadfruit Tips
- Propagating breadfruit cuttings by root. What you do is cut them 6 inches long, but don’t uproot. They just remain in the soil until sprouts appear in every segment, then they are transferred to seedling bags. With this method there is higher percentage of germination of shoots. Ref: Alexis de Manuel – Philippines
- Kwai Muk rootstock can be used for Breadfruit. Ref: Mr. Zahar who works at the Agricultural Park in Kuantan
Brazilian Cherry Tips
Weed Potential – Eugenia uniflora Some Councils say that this plant is classified as a weed as birds are attracted to the bright red fruit. Before the fruit ripen, cover the shrub with a net so birds can’t get access. Ref: Sheryl Backhouse
Blueberry Tips
- Stay healthy and productive if pruned regularly.
- Young bushes up to 2 years old should be trimmed only to remove dead or diseased canes removed.
- Mature bushes (3 to 8 yrs.) require removal of prostrate canes and canes longer than 2 feet in length.
- Lowbush varieties can be pruned with a lawn mower. Because they will not produce berries the year following pruning, cut back half of the bushes each year and keep the other half of your plants in production.
- Blueberries should be taste-tested before harvesting.
- Berries that have just turned blue are not the best tasting.
- Gently shake a cluster of berries to determine ripeness. The ripe ones will fall easily off the bush.
- Store blueberries in the refrigerator immediately after harvesting. Cooler temperatures than the average refrigerator (31º to 32ºF) will keep them fresh for up to two weeks.
- Varieties Misty and Sharpe Blue are susceptible to rust.
- Blueberries will stay healthy and productive if pruned regularly. Young bushes up to 2 years old should be trimmed only to remove dead or diseased canes removed. Mature bushes (3 to 8 yrs.) require removal of prostrate canes and canes longer than 2 feet in length. Lowbush varieties can be pruned with a lawn mower. Because they will not produce berries the year following pruning, cut back half of the bushes each year and keep the other half of your plants in production. Blueberries should be taste-tested before harvesting. Berries that have just turned blue are not the best tasting. Gently shake a cluster of berries to determine ripeness. The ripe ones will fall easily off the bush. Store blueberries in the refrigerator immediately after harvesting. Cooler temperatures than the average refrigerator (31º to 32ºF) will keep them fresh for up to two weeks.
Bloodwood Tree Tips
- It was used on Norfolk Island to collect ink for the school classroom
Insert a knife and using kurrajong bark for a rope (we can now use a wick!), tie a container to the trunk just below the insert and leave it overnight to flow in.
Blackberry Jam Tips
An interesting plant for fruit tree collectors and those in search of fragrance. Randia formosa is a shrub related to Gardenias. It produces small fruits that taste like blackberry jam. The fruits are yellow and in size small. It’s a small bushy shrub to 2mtrs+ and produces fairly large, fragrant, ornate white flowers and is hardy. It enjoys full or partial sun and likes acidic soil. To Lower pH: Both ammonium sulphate and ammonium nitrate acidify the soil, but ammonium sulfate is much more acidifying. Generally, the plant is fairly easy to grow and can make a container specimen in colder areas. Propagation by seed. The University of Guam say it is a primary windbreak species. Native to Central and South America. Family : Rubiacea
Black Walnut Tips
Different varieties have different flavours. You can shake the tree to see if they are ready. You leave them in the husk and let them rot with the husk on. The bitterness of the shell goes into the nut so the best thing to do is to clean them when they’re green turning yellow and get that off. To get the husk off, I step on them on something hard like concrete and roll them under my feet. I then throw them in water and stir them up so they clean each other so the nuts are rubbing against each other then pour the water off until they are relatively clean, let them dry then let them sit for a month because the nut inside is not ready then I crack them with a nut cracker. If you use them right away they are too moist – there’s too much water compared to oils. They have one in the Christchurch Botanic Garden and it was called California Black Walnut. We call them Heart Nuts because they are heart shaped. The Heart Nut Juglans ailantifolia has a smooth shell whereas the Black Walnut Juglans nigra has a sharper shell. Ref: Rob Danford – NZ.
Black Sapote Tips
- Flowers arise in leaf axils and may be either hermaphroditic (possessing male and female plant parts) or male.
- Some trees may produce only male flowers. Graft on a scion off a female.
- Male flowers are usually in clusters of 3 to 7.
- Female flowers are usually solitary. Flowers are white and tubular, with a green calyx and an 8 to 12 carpel ovary.
- Black Sapote apparently can have female flowers, male flowers, and hermaphroditic flowers. Some trees may remain only one sex and not have any fruit unless pollinated by another plant and others can one day produce flowers to have pollination.
- They often take a while to produce female flowers. Seedlings often produce only male flowers, which are narrower and the flower quite triangular, for the first few years of flowering. The female flowers are much rounder and more tubular. Some seedlings never produce female flowers. Grafted plants should set fruit within 2-3years. (Bruce)
- Grafting Black Sapotes I kept hearing that they are hard to graft so went looking for answers. One big production nursery uses cleft grafts on very juvenile seedlings. Another nursery uses side veneer grafts on a little larger material. Both leave half a leaf at the tip of the scion and bag. Both nurseries say it is an easy graft.
Bilimbi Tips
- Averrhoa bilimbi
- A fruit cared for only by a few and unknown to most. The Bilimbi from the family Oxalidaceae is a minor fruit closely related to the more famous Carambola but it is quite different in appearance, manner of fruiting, flavour and uses than the Carambola. It is also more sensitive to cold than the Carambola, especially when very young. While the Carambola thrives in partial shade, the Bilimbi shows vigorous growth in full sun. Bilimbi’s lack of popularity stems from the fact that it is extremely acid. Native to the Moluccas, Bilimbi is now widely cultivated in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, India and throughout south-east Asia. It grows wild in the warmer parts of India. The Bilimbi is ellipsoid or almost cylindrical, its 5-edges not being as pronounced as in a Carambola. It is anywhere from 1½ to 4 inches long; capped by a thin, star-shaped calyx at the stem-end and tipped with 5 hair-like floral remnants at the apex. The unripe Bilimbi is crisp, goes from bright-green to yellowish-green, ivory or nearly white when ripe and then falls to the ground. The outer skin is glossy, very thin, soft and tender, and the flesh is green, jelly-like, juicy and extremely acid. Usually there are a few flat, disc-like, smooth and brown seeds. http://www.geocities.com/bohuroopi/Bilimbi01ASIT Ref: Asit Ghosh
- https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-23.pdf