That's awesome, I've never tried those fruits, how do they taste?
Anything else interesting at the plant sale?

-Tropicaliste

That's a really nicely shaped tree I didn't expect.

That's pretty cool. I just acquired a small plant and it already had a bloom or two on it. It turns out to be a very beautiful tree. Thanks for sharing.

The leaves have a spicy, pronounced smell. The fruit tastes excellent, vaguely like coconut. Extremely fast grower. Thought my fruit would be ripe by now, but not quite. Got a whole bunch getting close to ripeness. The trick is to get that canopy in perfect picking range, I'm trying it with mine. Easy tree to grow. Also hope to air-layer mine soon.

Gary

That is certainly a beautiful tree! Thanks for posting the pic Lisa

Muntingia Calabura is a wonderful tree though short lived. I pruned mine back at 15' , like Gary says, to create a "canopy" my family loves to wander under and pick fruit. Right now there are hundreds of fruits at different stages on the tree and I have two others at smaller stages in the ground! They smell and taste like carmelized sugar to me.
They air layer well and I have some 10" seedlings my daughters started 8 months ago...

To me they taste like a strawberry/fig combination. How interesting that they taste so different to different people!

How short-lived are they Floridays? I have my 2 year old, have seen a 4 year old (that I was told was a mature size at 10'), and suspect the Mount's tree is 7-10 or more?

Lisa

I was told by our local RFC people 5-7yrs. I think a well maintained tree may live longer... the one in the pic you posted is a beautiful tree, likely that old.

Where can I get a Muntingia?

I'm in southern California. Long Beach. I found a gardening center about two hours away that can sell me one for $65, but that seemed kind of steep. What do you guys think?

Is there any way to get seeds or a cutting? Maybe make a trade with somebody here? How long would it take to grow it to bush size or fruiting size?

You inspired me! I had to find this plant. Pretty tree with fruit and flowers- I love it!
Montoso's garden in PR has seeds- so I just placed an order.
Thanks!

I put one in the ground at 2' and in one year it had grown to 11'. They are very fast growers and seem to produce (if seed grown) within a year. Air layered Muntingias will likely produce much quicker perhaps as soon as it establishes itself after transplanting from pot to ground.
The seeds are extremely small, in fact to start some from seeds I simply squeezed several fruits into a 1 gallon pot and waited...it looks like moss as they begin to grow then they cull themselves out...When they are approx 2-5" tall I seperate them and repot them.

Can I beg/wheedle for some Muntingia seeds? I looked at Montoso Garden, just now, and they want $3.50 for 10 seeds. If the seeds are as small as reported, and the germination rate is as poor as it is for other trees grown from seed, it would seem like you would need a lot more than that to be sure of getting one to take. Am I wrong?

It is very easy from cuttings.

stressbaby, how do you grow from cuttings?? Do you use rooting hormone?

doof, if I can figure out how to rinse the seeds and dry them I could send you some...There are some that are close to being ripe enough, this drought here has had an effect on the size of fruit and ripening rate.

Floridays, I would be extremely indebted!

I have never saved Muntingia seeds, but I would imagine it's not very different from any other fruit. I understand the seeds are fine, correct?

Usually what you do is squeeze the guts onto a piece of paper and allow it to dry. Coffee filters work nicely for this. Washing and fermenting them clean is nice extra credit work, but that's much more work than is necessary for seeds that are destined to go straight into sterile planters.

If you want to email me, I'm NOSPAMronunderwood2000 at NOSPAMyahoo dot NOSPAMcom. Take out the NOSPAM's.

This past winter, I took softwood or semihardwood cuttings, dusted with rooting hormone, peat:perlite, bottom heat, humidity dome. This summer I will try similar setup, only with mist, no bottom heat or dome.

doof, I emailed you...
stress, I'll try some hardwood cuttings with rootone and see what happens.

The tree at Mounts is only 2.5 years old. It was planted as a sapling in late 2005. They were calling it a ylang-ylang, but as in most plants they talk about in their newsletter, they were incorrect.

Longwoodgradms, I'm utterly amazed. Obviously my tree was slowed down by being containerized for a year.

How tall do you estimate the Mount's tree to be?

Lisa

Wow!
2 1/2 years. That's downright scary.
I'd hate to be standing near it as it flushes out. LOL.
I have seen that tree and it is really beautiful, the way the branches grow spirally around the trunk and spread outward, literally covered with white strawberry-like flowers and fruits hanging under the leaves.

I got my copy of the "Leaflet," the Mounts publication today, and to my delight, the Muntingia (one very long, horizontal branch) is on the cover, along with the pavilion!

Of course, their professional photo is much prettier than mine.(G)

Lisa

My containerized 2' Muntingia is producing small, ripe fruit. It is a nice tree for container.