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pikorazi

Canarian Orchad Tour, April 2011

pikorazi
12 years ago

Hi friends,

I was back home a few weeks ago, sending my vacations working on my parents orchad (used to be a commercial citrus plantation, now I am slowly reconverting it to a little botanical garden... at least I try!). I know you all like pictures, so I'm sharing some impressions with you:

This is a mango variety from the canaria islands called Gomera. There are a few different Gomera types. The fruit is rather small, high sugar, strong aroma (not too complex) and lots of fibre! It's used manly as a rootstock:

Another Gomera mango:

This is my Nam Dok Mai airlayer from Thailand after one year in ground:

I had to cut all the flower panicles, except of one with two tiny fruit:

This is Osteen, which produces very good over here and tastes pretty good, but not in the top tier:

Cashew seedling starting vegetative growth:

Rincón avocado and a little dog looking for lizzards:

A picture before removing :-(

A grafted lucuma (i don't know the cultivar):

..with a lot of flowers:

Bruce canistel:

Sweet tamarind seedling:

Green zapote seedling (1 year in pot + 1 year in ground). Seeds from fruitlovers.com:

...which I tip-pruned to induce branching (picture was made one week after pruning):

Sapodilla airlayer again from Thailand (I don't know the cultivar) after 3 month in ground:

I told my dad to please remove any fruit:

Jambul seedling:

Rose apple:

Manzano banana:

Ice Cream banana:

My three Fino de Jete chirimoyas coming out of dormancy:

My newly planted bael:

My jaboticaba is not looking that good after one year in ground. Maybe it is waiting the hotter climate to sproud..:

An exotic from Africa, a Manilkara discolor seedling a.k.a. 'forest milkberry'. I would love to try the fruit, but I think I will have to be patient:

One of the pacay seedlings:

A litchi airlayer (don't ask me about the variety). 1,5 years in ground, but no fruit so far. I hope one day it gets half as big as one of those litchis in Harry's yard!

As usual, plants are not labeled when you buy then localy in nurseries over here. This cultivar has one of the best guavas i have ever tasted. I think it could be Red Malaysian:

Kei apple:

Geffner atemoya still dormant:

Spondias pinnata; some sources says it's ultra tart even fully ripe, others say not. I hope the second thing:

My grafted and ultra productive black zapote:

Green zapote seedling No2:

Sri Kenbangan carambola dropping leaves and spouting:

And the last one is a newly planted wax jambu airlayer from Thailand:

Tanks,

Felipe

Comments (18)

  • tropicaliste
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well, you weren't kidding, that's a botanical garden in the making... lol and I'm surprised that you can grow those species in Las Canarias, and it brings back such fond childhood memories of helping my mom grow her Asian vegetables in Cadiz... you must have to amend your soil extensively if it was anything like the chalky soil in Andalucia.

    :)

  • mangodog
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Piko - splendid pics and a HUGE piece of property - it's dryness reminds me a lot of the Southern California foothills - glad you got some auto-sprinkling going on....
    what are the average winter and summer temperatures?

    The Cashew - one of my faves - how long before it produces?

    ...and all the mangos look healthy - hope it goes well for you - this botanical extravaganza!!!!!!!!!

    MDawg

  • red_sea_me
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow everything is looking so nice, what an amazing place you have now and (hopefully) in the future.

    How long do you spend away from your property?

    thanks for posting,
    -Ethan

  • puglvr1
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Awesome Pictures! Very Nice orchard...and YES, we do like pictures! Thanks for posting!

  • hmhausman
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Felipe:

    Thanks for posting. A very nice selection of plants. Now all you need is time. Fast forward 15 or 20 years, it'll be great to see how the prospective fruit paradise fills out.

    Harry

  • nullzero
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice pictures, looks like you are off to a great start. Your yard is well on its way toward a fruit forest.

  • pikorazi
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    thanks all for your kind words :-)

    @tropicaliste: i would not say our soil is chalky, but full of rocks. it's hard to dig holes and worse doing it under the 'african sun'.. lol..

    @md: yes, the property is pretty big. on the pictures you see a lot of weeds because we had a very rainy winter, but it gets drier. my area is quite arid with only 270mm rain per year...

    the climate is very balanced. i would say average temperature in winter would be over 70 farenheit, in summer over 90. it doesn't get cold by night. when the spaniards colonized the islands in the 15th century, they called them the islands of the perpetual spring. this metapher is quite accurate. so no freezing, but occasionally hot and dry winds from northern africa (sahara dessert).

    i'm not sure about the cashew, but i think it doesn't take to long.. maybe 5 or 6 years.. at least i hope ;-)

    @ethan: i'm living in germany, but i try to spend 4 weeks every year, which is not much. my dad hasn't the tropical fruit fever, but he watches out for the plants and irragation system :-)

    @harry: yes, my plants are still young, only a few of them are in production. i have many more plants, some of them still potted (caimito, annonas, soursop, bananas, longan, salak, jackfruit,...). i can't wait to see them develop and maybe produce. but while i wait the orchad to become a exotic fruit paradise, i'll be watching the pictures of your paradise, my inspiration :-)

    thanks,

    felipe

  • jfernandez
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Congrats Felipe,

    The Spaniards did not have to travel so far to find Paradise. The landscape looks a lot like Socal, your trees look terrific!

    JF

  • msk0072
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Felipe,
    What is your source for the Thailand fruit trees?

    Thanks
    Michail

  • lycheeluva
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Great pics Felipe and congrats on an incredible orchard. I would recommend adding a second lychee tree of a different variety as having 2 or more varities is said to increase fruit set.

  • pikorazi
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    @Michail:

    I bought the sapodilla and wax jambu in this german webstore: www.flora-toskana.de

    You can buy Nam Dok Mai airlayers in this spanish store:
    http://tienda.semillaslaexotica.com/epages/eb2863.sf/es_ES/?ObjectPath=/Shops/eb2863/Categories/Acodos_Aereos

    Where are you located?

    @LL: Thanks :-) I've this lychee on the picture (cv?) and another Kaimana, but I still want more cultivars..

  • pikorazi
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    @Michail:

    Another source in Spain for Nam Dok Mai:

    http://frutalestropicales.com/category.php?id_category=5

  • tropicalgrower89
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice fruit tree farm you have there. :-)

    Mangoes can be air layered?

  • kobe24
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice jambul tree, they grow very fast, and also were did you get your black zapote

  • ohiojay
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Awesome! You need to just move back home and tend your new garden full time. Thanks for the pics. Everything looks great. You've done a fantastic job there. J

  • msk0072
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi
    I live in the island of Crete in Greece (Zone 10?) with hot and dry summer. During the winter in February the temp falls under 10oC for many days. I try to start with the tropical (fruit) trees here. The problem is the high shipping costs from Spain to Greece. Which Nam Doc Mai variety do they have in their web shop? I think they graft on Gomera3? Is it better than Gomera1 for our area?

  • adiel
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Pikorazi, nice collection of fruit trees! Just a curious question, how often are you watering the Mangos during summer/winter?

    Thanks,
    Adiel

  • pikorazi
    Original Author
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    @tropicalgrower: yes, mangos can be airlayered, but i think only in tropical places with humid climate. as far as i know, it is the usual propagation method in thailand. over here, mangos are grafted, like in u.s.

    @kobe: all my syzygiums are growing very fast! i also have s. samarangense and s. jambos. i bought my black zapote from a german online store. i think they brought them from florida.

    @jay: it would be great if i could be the whole time there, but due to work it is not possible in mid term. many of the plants i did propagate in germany, so i know how hard it is to grow those tropicals without a 'decent' climate. i have enormous respect for what you are doing in ohio! on the other hand, would you consider moving to thailand?

    @msk: i don't know which nam dok mai they are offering, but i think any nam dok mai would be very cool :-) i'm wondering how the fruits of my tree will taste, growing in a hot and dry climate. i didn't get to try the fruits last summer, because i was not on the island and my father didn't check the tree..

    i don't know the differences betweet gomera 1 and 3. i fact i don't know which rootstocks i currentla have. i will ask...

    @adiel: in summer the fruit trees are irrigated 3-4 times a week and in winter, as long as it does not rain, only once or twice a week.

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