pics or your still in Ohio.

You are so lucky to see all the old trees and visit all the farms. If you are still in Thailand, please try to take some pics of these awesome trees you are describing. I've been to Thailand twice and I know what you are talking about regarding the humidity. It was so hot and humid that I had no energy at all. Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!

Sounds like you are in fruit heaven. Eat a bunch of mangosteen and rambutan for me!
Can't wait for pictures. How large were these 100-200 year old trees?

Hi Jay,
Sounds like your having a wonderfull time. I dream of the day I can go to Thailand but the trip to get there? I don't know if I could do it, and then the humidity? Then again, sounds like the trip is paying off!! Enjoy the fruits for all of us who only wish we could be in your shoes!!(Sweat soaked or not!) I can't believe western NY is hitting the 8o degree mark all ready!!
Andrew

That sounds like an excellent trip, would be a dream for me.

If you come across good longans or anything else for seed, let me know and I'll send you my address, and reimburse. Better if sent straight from there instead of after coming home.

If not, not a big deal, just enjoy your trip!

Gary

Jay, I wish to go to Thailand one day too but we don't know anyone there. It's hard to get around when you don't know anyone there. The tour guide only takes you to the common places and no tropical fruit trees. Maybe you can be our guide if we meet you there? :) Do you see durian vacuum chips there? Enjoy the heat and the fruits.

Doesn't sound the the hub of He!! to me, maybe limbo? Tough weather (esp coming from Ohio) but amazing fruit, hmmmm, hard to pity you.

200 year old mangosteen trees, amazing enough let alone eating the fruit from it.

enjoy,
-Ethan

I envy the fruit tasting, but I am not sure I could handle the humidity. It's bad enough down here in FL. Can't imagine how miserable I would be if it was even worse. I guess the mangosteens would make it worth it though.

Travel safely.....would prefer not to see you on the evening news being held by the rebels. Are you planning to get up to the north of Thailand....anywhere near Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai. I hear there are some excellent things to see up that way...and lots of longans (some of the best in the world). Thanks for the travel log and fruit eating journal......love to follow along from afar. Of course, pics will be nice when you get a chance to post them.

Harry

Can't wait to see the pics Jay. Has the situation in Bangkok improved? I'm sure you left all your red clothing back in Ohio lol.

thanks for the rpt. eagerly awaiting pics

Hey gang! Still hot. Lord is it hot. Pouring down rain at the moment at dinner time. Should cool things off for a minute or two.

There are tons of pics so far and that was only two days into the trip. Definitely got pics of the ancient mangosteens. They were enormous. Very tall and huge stately canopies. The trunks were not as large as you would believe out of a 200 year old tree. I would say every bit of 50 feet tall.

I've only seen a few longans in the markets. Mother-in-law was not too excited about them so I can only surmise that they were not good ones. They lychees we've picked up are most likely Emperor. They are enormous! Taste pretty darn good too. Don't worry Ger...they are no competition for mauritius!

I wouldn't say that I'm sick of eating fruit...but I can say that right now I'm nearly sickly full.

Won't be heading up north. That would require plane rides and no one is up for that.

To bed soon. Have to be up about 5:30 tomorrow and head to our land. The folks have new fruit trees to be planted, some losses to be removed, and some concrete structures they want moved over the canals. Should be loads of fun in this heat. More later and if I get time, I'll try and upload some pics. J

Have FUN Jay...have a wonderful and safe vacation. Looking forward to great pics!

Humidity I'm very familiar with...but I think the humidity in Thailand is worse than FL?

THANKS FOR THE UPDATE- CANT WAIT TO SEE THE PICS. stay safe. eat eat eat.

Have a nice time in that wonderful country :-)

Felipe

Be safe and enjoy your trip! We're eagerly awaiting pics!

Bo

Everytime we get in the vehicle...sitting in the heat of course, there is an overwhelming smell of durian. That's what you get allowing the consumption of such a beast inside a vehicle! But the smell was NOT going away. Yesterday at a stop for lunch, Warren was looking for something and guess what he found under the seat?? A big piece of durian wrapped in a banana leaf!! This was from our first day!!! He hands this to me as we get out and I'm like...WTF!!!???!! We all had a great laugh over that one. Hopefully the car will smell better today.

Spent all of Wed at our land pruning and supporting mango trees with huge bamboo poles. Ankle deep mud but the temps were pleasant...overcast as well. I guess what I was thinking was hot is way off. Before our arrival it was much hotter than currently.

Warren and I went thru custard apple trees, carambola, and mango trees with cutters like the Tasmanian Devel! Puglvr would be proud!! The folks nearly sh$# themselves at first but soon warmed up to it after some explainations. We pruned the crap out of them!

The water table is going to prove difficult. It lies about a foot down. We believe this is the reason for the jackfruit losses as well as some others. Oddly enough, the mangos, sapodillas, citrus, guava, and a few others are doing well...just need support. I don't think it will work well in the long run.

Link to a few pics: http://gs126.photobucket.com/groups/p100/OY47SHJMOP/

You call those mangosteen trees??? They got nothing on my majestic tree....

Opened a few jack varieties yesterday morning from mother-in-laws trees. Jampa...flesh was very orange. And Rien Baht, yellow fleshed. Both were delicious! I was very impressed witht he flavor and texture. Crunchy. Very aromatic. The Rien Baht was a little more juicy.

Nice, Now don't chop down your Gold nugget.

Great pics Jay.

I can only imagine how horrible your car must have smelled. I was cleaning durian seeds and I forgot a piece of durian in a box in my hotel room for one day and when I got back the smell was unbearable. How did you guys even manage to drive that car?

GREAT pictures Jay! ROFLMAO on the durian story in your car. That must have smelled wonderful! BTW, don't think the Puglvr comment didn't go unnoticed,lol...I'm sure I would be very proud indeed.

Jsvand, your mangosteen tree is well on its way to looking like Jay's...great job!

Eat as much fruits as you can for all of us..your jealous friends back home.

Jay, I would like to hear more about this water table problem you think you have. I thought you had a bunch of canals and raised berms on your land.

There are canals but the land between each is only about 1 foot or so above the water. We'd pull out bamboo and it was just a watery muck. The perimeter is built up several feet.

Purchased a kopmaetow grafted durian at the festival and later 4 more mangoes at a nursery. Most mango trees here are airlayered believe it or not. And huge ones too!

One of the mangos we purchased is named Brahma something or other. Named after the upper/top class of India's social classes. The fruit is supposed to be so good, the story goes that a Brahma man sold his wife to buy mangoes!!

Probably Brahm Kai Mea (sp?), which is carried by Zill and others. I have a small one.

Gary

You see it as either Brahm Kai Mea or Brahm Kai Meu. I have two of them....the latter purchased as a mismarked tree. Supposedly one means trade for his wife and the other for his porcupine. But, that is what some Hawaiian mango grower wrote in response to a Hawaiian mango review (or panning, I should say) by our local fruit expert, Crafton Clift......trying to show Clift didn't know what he was talking about as he didn;t even have the name of this mango right. In any case, if the guy who named it was willing to sell his wife for it.....she must have been a pretty rotten wife. The fruit is an eaten green variety and while a prolific producer, with numerous clusters and good size, it is otherwise unremakable.

Harry

Jay, could you ask your mother in law if maprangs usually only produce one fruit per panicle? I was looking around online and most pics that I see only have one or 2 fruits per panicle.

awesome pics jay- love the truck full of durian. jackfruit is also incredibly stinky if it is out of thye fridge on a hot day

Wow Jay, great photos! I like the 'protein' stop, so long as the legs dont get stuck in your teeth.

cant wait for the full report,
-Ethan

John...from what she told me, a more mature tree will hold onto multiple fruit.

Went to a festival today and tried the gan yao durian. Very good. Took home Edock durian, an ancient variety, to try later. Real hot today.

What is the pest/disease situation there on their trees? I've always wondered about that in the tropics, because up here if you don't spray, you have a very hard time getting ANY fruit! (apples/peaches/etc). I'm guessing they must have some sort of beetle or fruit fly?

we get alot of invasive weevils and crap from Asia, the Sri Lankan grey weevil munches everything down here.

many of their fruits have a rind thats hard to penetrate, softer fruits like guava are sometimes bagged to prevent bug infestation.

Guava attracts a lot of white flies. I've also noticed mealybugs nearly everywhere. The folks try to keep things organic at the land but it is just a waste of time, effort, and money.

Went to the JJ Market yesterday which is a massive outdoor market selling anything and everything. Wed & Thurs are plant days. Hundreds of stalls selling all kinds of plants at prices that would make you weep. Giant seedling mangosteens(7') are about $8...just to give you an idea. Warren purchased a crap load of plants to have shipped back. Among the oddities were variegated jackfruits and a pink fleshed mafai.

On our way home later tonight. It's been a great trip but I look forward to getting home...not the plane rides!

variegated Jackfruit you say?

how much was the shipping and certificate for the trees?

The lady doesn't charge all that much to do what she does. The shipping, once divided by the number of plants and all expenses I believe Warren figured around $22 per plant the last time he did this.

I'm back in the fruitless state of Ohio now. Withdrawal is setting in.

Jay, how many of Warren's plants will require post entry quarantine?
Any more pics Jay?

That I don't know all of them. The USDA has a list they make pretty clear. I know longkon, mangosteen, and jack is on the list. Maprangs are not. Durian, longan, and I think lychee cannot be sent out of the country.

The lady went thru a long list of garcinias that she could acquire for us but not a single one sounded worth the trouble.

what about jackfruit seeds in season? can they ship those?

like variegated jackfruit. sounds interesting. i bet the fruit are variegated like panache fig.

I would think the variegated jackfruit would probably not produce variegated seedlings. I think grafting may be the only option for that.

probably right. wouldnt stop me from trying though. good thing is though you would be able to tell when its a seedling unlike fruit quality.

mangokush,
If you're interested in buying one of those variegated jackfruit I just saw one on eBay from Thailand. You could set up a quarantine area in your backyard. Richard at Excalibur has a variegated jackfruit but its not for sale. Maybe in a few years once he can get some grafts from it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Variegated Jackfruit

Can someone explain to me the fascination with variegation. I know Gene Joyner up in Palm Beach has an interest in variegated plants, but I always wondered what he saw in them that made them desireable. After all, I thought most variegation was virally caused. Please explain.

Harry

a variegated Jackfruit tree would be beautiful

i love the exotic look of variegated plants, like Monstera Delicosa

Hmmmm......I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....to me it looks too much like chlorosis.

{{!gwi}}

Harry

One thing we learned about the variegated jacks while walking the market was that you MUST cut out the leaves that are not variegated. You can actually see the vein running thru the different stems.

Supposedly, the flesh will be a mix of orange to yellow flesh as well...remains to be seen. It is cool looking but not enough to go for.

I think the jack looks great, but I am not willing to pay the $90 for it. Maybe if it was below $50 or so. Another thing is I wonder if the fruit is good. These are propagated because of the variegation so I wonder if the fruit is good or if it is a type that would not be good enough to propagate if not for the variegation?

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