Nice photos! Your biriba is some kind of annona? The curry tree fruits, you let them turn black(fully ripe)? Plant them! The leaves are used to make a base for curry, but I use my own whole spices I pan-toast and grind. The curry leaves make great flavoring with red bell peppers in an herbed coconut milk.
You have a greenhouse to have all these tropicals in S. Calif.?
kevin

The biriba is Rollinia deliciosa or mucosa, I'm not sure. Its very closely related to Anonas though. One curry tree is huge enough, way more curry leaves than I need and its about 8ft tall. The last seeds are being sent out tomorrow. thanks for the great recipe, I'm gonna give it a try.
Most of the plants are outside. But plants like maprang ilama, and langsat which I'm not familiar with are inside the greenhouse now. Salaks, jambu, biriba, kuini, etc. are outside.

Such nice pics. How tall does the persimmons tree get? I've never tasted that fruit b4

Eggo-Love those pics, great images (especially that variegated Namwah).

Eggo, your pictures are awesome!! Did you plant all these from seed? If you ever have any spare seeds, I'd love to trade for some. You don't just have a green thumb, you have two green thumbs and magic fingers. :)

Leona

Hi, would love tom see your pics but all I get is http://127.0.0.1:1033/clear.cgi? and no pics.
What am I doing wrong?
cheers....

Eggo, indeed, you are a great grower, all your fruit trees are great looking! You are in a colder place than I do and all my plants are not so great looking as yours ones. >=D

My maprang = dead (bird attack)
My mangosteen after 6 months of geting sunburned when it was just 2 inches tall began to grow again a pair of leaves (1 mm) >=:
My jackfruit got sunburned and now just pruned back to 6 ft tall (it was just a long stick).
My salaccas are doing fine (6 months old)
My longan seeds where dead when I bought the "fresh" longans at 99 ranch market. No longans for me. >=O
My annona diversifolia are beggining to germinate.

All these endured 38C in the shadow, even though its the rainy season in here, we´ll see how they do in the dry season.

I want a L. domesticum! they are so hard to get fresh seeds.

Thanks for the kind words everyone.
Maureen I have seen Japanese persimmons get up to 30ft tall but for the most part I think they could be maintain at about 12-15ft in height. The fruits are sweet and crispy, no acidity to it. The tastes isn't really complex, very sweet almost honey sweet I would say. The texture is very crispy but very juicy at the same time. This variety is eaten while hard and crunchy. The acorn shaped varieties has a more complex tastes but could only be eaten when it is soft.

NorthTexasGirl, most were grown from seeds but some like the wax jambu and longan was airlayered. Some were purchased as small seedlings like the salaks, guanabanas, etc. I will have some longan and cherimoya seeds soon. Also some guava seeds, these varieties are eaten while green and crunchy, and wouldn't tastes right if its allowed to soften. I won't have any jambu seeds till next year and the persimmons has no seeds. That's the type I sent you Patusho, round, sweet white flesh plus the red flesh variety.

Udon, I don't know why you can't get to the pictures. You should be able to just click on them easily.

Patusho, my jackfruit is also just a long stick, barely showing signs of branching in the last few months. Maprang, bird attack! whoa.

a few more.

Red Dragonfruit

Dwarf ambarella, I hear this fruit takes an extremely long time to mature.

Eggo-Again, great pics. Your dragonfruit is beautiful. I think you are going to like the ambarella. (Have you ever tasted them?) I have had one for about 2.5 years now and really enjoy that one. The first time I tasted the fruit, I thought it was not very good. As the plant has gotten older, the fruit has gotten much better. As a matter of fact, it is one of the trees I check everyday looking for another ripe fruit. The seeds are really strange looking but the fruit is pretty tasty.

I've tasted ambarella before but not fully ripe ones. Green ones are availabe at the Asian supermarkets, its sour and a little sweet at that stage. Its usually eaten with salt and red pepper. With this potted plant, I want to try a fully ripe one. Seeds are really odd looking like you said, it looks like a hard tough albino rambutan to me. How do the ripe fruits tastes like? Color?

Eggo-I think your description of the ambarella seed is excellent. They really do look like a white rambutan. I have never tried the green fruit. I have a good number on my tree now and may give one of them a try with some salt and red pepper.

A friend of mine told me you should wait until the fruit falls from the tree and then take it inside and let it sit on the counter for a few days until it starts to soften slightly and turns a yellow/golden color. I think the flavor of the ripe ambarella is a pineapple/mango mix but it's kind of hard to remember exactly since I have not had any fruit ripen since early August. They are very good but I just can't put my finger on the flavor right now. I wish I had some ripe fruit and could give you a better answer.

thanks for the info GA. I wish I had some ripe fruits too. Interesting, I hear that the leaves are used as greens in certain dishes. I've tasted them. They smell exactly like the unripe fruits and are slightly sour.

That was a very good description. It sure did something to my taste buds. You are very fortunate to have all these fruit trees. I recently moved and took my lychee, mango, cherimoya , custard apple trees etc....with me and only the mango tree made it. I'm so diappointed

Maureen, sorry to hear about your trees. That really sucks. With the previous experience you gain, look at it as a new start. Maybe you can experiment with new cultivars this time if you didn't like something about your previous ones.

Eggo-The day after I wrote my last message I found an ambarella lying on the ground under my tree. (Since then 4 more have fallen from that bunch of fruit.) The first ones have finished ripening and my wife and I tasted them tonight. My memory was pretty good, I would still describe the flavor as a pineapple/mango mix. My wife leans more towards a straight pineapple flavor.

Hi Eggo,
I am very interested in the Thai seedless guava. Where did you buy it? Do you have extra seeds or plant that I can buy from you? or can I trade with my sapote seedling? Please let me know. Thank you.

GA, fruits sounds tasty. Lets see some pictures!!! Reminds me of my pineapples that so far have not flower yet. So how do you get past those spiny seeds, seems dangerous if you just take a bite? hehe. On the green ones, I just stick a knife through it and twist.

Hello Tminh, the seedless guava is a good tasting fruit and is great when picked at the right time(almost like an Asian pear in texture) but NOT A VARIETY I WOULD RECOMMEND for anyone. Its more of a novelty and unless you have the space and time for it, its not worth it. I found it in an L.A. nursery long time ago, you don't see it too often and I can understand why.
I have never tried to propagate this guava. It came very close to being chopped down several times. I believe its a triploid and has several problems. Any seeds are probably sterile or mostly likely will not come anywhere close to the parent. It flowers very little and sets fruit even less. The number of fruits it sets each year can be counted by one hand. I had 7 fruits this year, and its the most I've had for quite some time. This is an OLD tree, 7+ years and its a large tree. Most likely you will need another tree to help with the pollination problems. High humidity also helps with pollination. Another problem, is that its quite hard to tell when fruits are ripe, picked too green and it is pretty astringent for a guava, picked late and it gets soft quick. The fruits didn't produce any seeds this year but its probably best to graft. I could send cuttings, you can graft them onto other guavas. It maybe a bit late in the season though. Send me an email offlist if your still interested but let it be known you were warned. =)

Eggo-After the fruit spend a day or two on the counter the seed spikes seems to soften a bit. I was like you and a little unsure about biting into them. I have now found if you peel them (that may not be necessary) you can carefully get in there and act like a squirrel (or your other favorite rodent) and nibble away at the flesh without getting stuck by the seed spines. It's not pretty but I tried cutting the flesh from the seed but I felt like that was wasting too much fruit so I decided on trying the "nibble method."

The picture below is no that good. It was almost dark when I got around to taking it so the lighting is not that good. The fruit closest to the camera are about the size a very large egg to give you some idea of the scale. A lot of the fruit that fall this time of year are pretty heavily "russetted". The plant is about 5 feet tall and about that wide at this point.

{{gwi:1317443}}

I never knew the spines on the seeds actually get soft. Learn something new everday. Now, I can't wait for mine to ripen. Its a great picture. They look almost like small avocados. Have you tried it green yet? It may not be for everyone. It would have an overwhelming smell, just like the leaves. But if you do, Slice off the skin. May not be for everyone, it has a strong smell, just like the leaves.

I have only eaten it green. with salt and hot pepper. the dwarf ambarella fruits don't even need to be peeled. I eat them when they are only 1.5 inches long and there really is no seed to worry about. I have a larger ambarella tree, its about 12 ft tall but I have never seen any flowers, it dies down every winter and then grows back very fast. thanks for the great pictures!

Jun-Is your tree planted in the ground? Does it get killed back to the ground in the winter and come back from the roots in the spring? If so, that is good news. I really like the fruit and would love to get a tree in the ground so it can really "flex its muscle". I grow mine in containers and I am sure they would love to be in the ground.

Many Thanks.

I must say that folks, who have never lived in California have no idea how different the weather is there, than from that of Florida lets say, but I think folks are trying more of the exotic tropical fruits nowdays, though humidities can be low at times and winter temperatures sometimes chilly, and in some areas it's not unusual to have 50 degree + temperatures even in midsummer by morning , which aren't aways favored by the warmest loving tropicals or tropical fruit trees, but many plants are quite adaptable, and I love your collection, and the results so far, so best of luck and lots of tasty fruit in the future. I have to say looking back and having learned, what I now know about gingers for example, I was somewhat surprised to hear they're so common in California nowdays and do well there, despite the somewhat chilly weather at times, and my memory hasn't gotten so bad , that I don't recall seeing many gingers growing in my area of California in those days. It's just possible they may have just "caught on" in the past twenty years, so they're much more common now, and they may have been more common in my time there, had they been well known and popular as they are today, and equally as easy to grow even then. As warm as Florida is by some standards , even their cooler winter weather hasn't been to the liking of some of the real "hot" loving fruit trees, palms , and some other tropicals, and I'm going on mostly information I've read from different sources. I'd say also , it's not such a leap of faith in a zone 9-10 garden to think you can grow even the most "heat loving" of tropical plants, and should try growing them!! In my zone 5-6, it's only in my dreams or my house , where they'll never reach the size they need to produce fruit, should I even get them through our long, dim, and chilly winters indoors!!

Birdinthepalm, you're observation are so ture. I've never been to Florida but I have experience the heat & humidity of the Northeast and of southeast Asia. Humidity? What humidity in California? lol.
I think a lot has changed in the last twenty years, we have all sorts of Californians from everywhere. Along with that we see all sorts of different plants being attempted here.

I've noticed increased humidity here in the last 2-3 summers during July-September. I hope it's just an aberration and not because of the tremendous increase in plants as the southland has grown.

is there anyone who would want to trade Biriba seeds with me please ? i'm looking for Biriba seeds urgently
i have got pomegranates varieties.
send me message pls

Hi Eggo,
Your pics are amazing , you have so nice tropical collection.
I am really interested in pandanus .
Do you have them available to trade.
PLMK, thanks
Joy

Eggo,
Your collection is amazing! What potting soil do you use for 'em? Do you add anything to it when potting?

Thanks,

GATrops,

I'm in Houston, zone 8b-9a my ambarella tree is in the ground. It dies down to the ground even if I cover it. But by summertime it's up to about 8 - 15 feet or so, but no fruit.

my dwarf ambarella is also in the ground. Without any protection it will die to the ground, but by May it's about 5 ft by 5ft wide, with tons of inflorescences and fruit of varying stages.

I know your question was posted 5 years ago....but better late than never!