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lycheeluva

memorial day trip to miami/Fort Lauderdale

lycheeluva
12 years ago

This is a report on my visit to south florida, which took place over the Sunday and Monday of memorial day. I travelled with a buddy from the fruit and orchard forum, an exceptionally generous guy called Grover who is forever mailing me surprise fruit related packages. Grover grows about 60 fruit trees out in long island on an acre sized lot- mainly stone fruit. Once in florida, I met up with warren (fruitguy) and Sheehan. Warren had a couple of buddies with him as well. There could only ever be one first stop- and that was of course Harry�s place. Fortunately for me, Harry put me out of my misery and took us straight to his collection of about fifteen lychees trees. We ate Mauritius, farwell, early red, peerless, ha kip, Bengal and kaimana, right from the trees. The Mauritius, early red, and farwell look and taste really similar, and early red and farwell are likely seedlings of Mauritius. Of those 3, Mauritius just about edged it for me, with a slightly tangier flavor. Peerless looks and tastes very similar to Brewster. Bengal had a distinctly spicy flavor, and kaimana was not really ripe yet. Ha kip has a distinct astringent quality, and although it is large and has a small seed, it is one of my least favorite lychees due to its astringency.

After the lychee tasting was over, we did a general tour of harry�s yard, and then it was time for a mango tasting. Harry presented about 10-15 mangoes for tasting. I did not make a note of the names- most of them were pretty good with only a few being a little on the bland side. Harry showed us his 3 maha Chinook seedlings which grow together in a clump, with all 3 seedlings currently fruiting and the fruits looking pretty distinct from each other and from their parent. One of the seedlings has the prettiest colors, starting off green, then turning a beautiful red blush for most of the mango and reverting back to green at the tip. We got to taste one mango that was ripe- its wasn�t very good but perhaps subsequent fruit will be better- if they are, harry def has a naming variety on his hands due to its stunning looks. One of the mangoes we tasted was brought by Sheehan- its called Exclaibur. Sheehan asked us to all to praise the mango on the forum, and the truth is, it was pretty darned good. I don�t remember the names of the other mangoes- perhaps harry can fill some of them in, but they tended to have 3 flavor profiles- plain sweet, coconut, and floral/perfumy. I liked the floral ones the best.

I bought some lychees, canistel, a very large sized and healthy looking maha Chinook custom air layer, and a couple of unknown variety, smaller sized lychee airlayers from harry. Harry kindly threwn in a couple of mangos and we went on our way. Thank you so much Harry for your kind hospitality.

Next, it was time to hit Noel Ramos�s place. Noel has a small but incredibly productive and healthy looking collection, including a red sugar apple, green sugar apple, mango, and a handful of other fruits that I have regretfully forgotten. We tasted a mango which had a delicious floral aroma. I don�t rcall the name- is it PSM? Noel made Mamey shakes for everyone and then Sheehan forced noel to drag some black sapote out the freezer to make him a black sapote shake

Next we hit Jeff Hagen�s place. I had e-mailed Jeff a couple of days earlier and asked him what he had growing at his yard, thinking he had 5-6 trees. He never replied. When I arrived at his yard, I found out why he never replied. He would still be typing if he had tried to list all his trees. Jeff doesn�t have a large yard by S. Fl standards, but he has absolutely crammed it with fruiting and ornamental plants. Jeff and his wife gave us a tour, punctuated by on the spot fruit tastes pulled from the trees/vines. I tasted my first sapodilla that I have liked- variety macok or something like that- a small and very sugary fruit. We also were given passionfruit, 2 Barbados cherry- one was bland, the other pretty good. Sheehan also enjoyed a fruit that tasted of swimming pool water- looked like a june plum but don�t recall the name (Sheehan?). jeff�s wife then gave grover a couple of incredibly intense hot peppers that grover for some reason thought were a fruit- man he nearly exploded after he put those in his mouth- that was pretty funny. We tried some fruit from a "strawberry tree"- it tasted like popcorn- pretty gross. Jeff generously gave us a couple of mangos each. I bought a lovely looking psm? mango and then we took off. It was pretty late by this stage so we went out for dinner and called it a night.

The next day, grover and I toured on our own. We started out at fairchild�s botanical garden and pretty much made a beeline for the Whitman tropical fruit pavilion. We saw some mangosteen in early stages of development- the trees were pretty small considering they were 30 years old. Next we sneakily sampled some miracle fruit and garcinia intermedia (lemon drop mangosteen)- strangely, the miracle fruit tasted much better than the miracle fruit I have tried from a different source, but they didn�t work anywhere near as well- I was only able to discern a slight sweetening of the garcinia. After checking out the rest of the park, including some amazingly fragrant cannonball tree blooms, an amazing ficus and the baobob tree, we took off for Robert is here fruit stand. He had Mexican haden mangoes under the marathon label that were bursting with juice and flavor. We also bought some passion fruit. I was a little disappointed not to find a greater variety of tropical fruit at his place. His prices are very high. I subsequently learned that his store is really a tourist trap.

Next we hit the fruit and spice park where we helped ourselves to yet more lychees and sapodilla (alano) from the tree. Unfortunately, the jaboticaba were not ripe. Then we hit a road side stand where they had a greater variety of tropical fruit than RIH at far cheaper prices. I bought some white sapote and sapodilla. We had a great dinner at one of the waterfront outdoor cafes and then it was time to pack up my plants which I put in a giant duffel bag, stiffened with cardboard and crumpled paper. They made it in pretty good shape to ny. All in all, an amazing two day fruit tour. Thanks to all the generous hosts.

A few pics

cannonball tree blooms

developing mangosteen at the fairchild whitman pavillion

owl in jackfruit tree at fairchild

rainbow euclyptus tree

one of harry's lychee trees

Comments (13)

  • Andrew Scott
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    WOW! Those lychees look really goood! I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will get to try some good lychee this year!

    Looks like you had an awesome experience!

    Andrew

  • jsvand5
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sounds like a great trip. I'll hopefully be heading down in a couple weeks. Did you drive down from NY? Sounds like Harry still couldn't break you from your Mauritius addiction.

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

    jsv- i flew. yep, maritius is still king

  • adiel
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice trip lycheeluva, if you are ever in South Florida again, pass by my house. I don't have a huge collection but I can show you the couple of trees I have.

    Adiel

  • mango_kush
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    as much as lycheeluva is an authority on lychee, I dont know of a single person besides you who prefers mauritus over sweetheart or kaimana or even brewster. i think Pine Islands cultivar selector is spot on in its flavor ratings. the only benefit of mauritus is that the tree is more productive, but comparing fruit to fruit, nolo contendre.

  • mango_kush
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    also, it may have been that particular seedling of maha chinnok gets alot of sun? I know a glenn mago that gets direct sun during sunset, and in a good year the mangos on the outside have a brilliant flourescent color break, especially the nubbins. when they are bright you think they are ripe but then just get brighter if left on the tree

  • jeffhagen
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    :-) Sadly, I'm with lycheeluva in the 'weird lychee lovers' category. Mauritius is also my favorite.. over kaimana even. So, I guess that makes two of us :-). My wife, however, is in the 'normal' camp; she prefers kaimana and hak ip to mauritius.

    Jeff

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

    MK- I know many people who prefer mauritius, including many people who sell lychees for a living. Obviously, I also know many people who dont. Taste is very subjective. Mauritius is also one of the first lychees to ripen- only hak ip ripens as early as it- so thats another benefit- it also has a smaller seed than brewster.
    As I am not certain I have tasted sweetheart I cant comment on it authortatively, but if it tastes similar to hak ip, it aint that great in my opinion. alot of people like hak ip because it is larger and has a smaller seed than mauritius. a pumpkin is also larger and has a smaller seed than mauritius- doesnt mean it tastes better!
    Again- it goes without saying that I only speak for myself and if others disagree, thats completely fine.

    I forgot to note in my report that Jeff Hagen and his wife have a large selection of healthy looking tropical fruit trees and ornamental plants at great prices. If you are looking for something, I would definitly recommend that you check if he has what you are looking for.

    Adiel- I will def be back to S. FL. What trees do you have

  • puglvr1
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sounds like a wonderful trip!! Thanks for the pictures.

    Man, that lychee tree looks awesome!!

    I hope my young lychee tree (Mauritius) makes it this winter.

  • rayandgwenn
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I am coming up to Florida in July and hope to bring back a number of goodies. How did you get your plants back- with you as carry-on, via the US mail or in your checked luggage?
    If on the plane, which airport? No problem with USDA?

  • adiel
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    lycheeluva, so far I have kwai muk, barbados cherry, gefner atemoya, uf sun peach, bananas, julie mango, valencia orange, guava seedling from cuba, pantin magana and pace mameys, mangosteen, glenn mango, pitaya, guanabana, simmonds oro negro russell avocados, brewster lychee, rosigold mango, hamlin orange, green sapote, ruby red grapefruit, jaboticaba, canistel, golden pillow jackfruit, sugar apple, tamarind and am growing okra for this summer.

    I have some other trees in pots and my sweetheart died before planting probably because of over-fertilizing.

    My favorite fruit from the yard so far is the Glenn mango.

    Adiel

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

    Ray- I packed the trees into a large duffel bag, that I stifffened with cardboard. After i put the trees inside, i filled any remaining space with crumpled newspaper. the trees sustained very little damage. In fact one of the lychee trees had 2 lychees on it when i packed it into the bag and on arrival, one of the lychees was still attached to the tree. I checked my duffel bag in regular baggage so no one said anything to me, but even if they had seen the trees, from FL to NY there is no issue. It may be different from FL to PR. Certainly, when I left PR for NY, i was questioned extensively about fruit in my hand luggage.

    Adiel- thats the best collection of a "couple of trees" i have ever read of. are any of your trees fruiting size yet? how big is the nagosteen?

  • adiel
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    lycheeluva, most of them are small-medium size. I have not had any fruit yet from the Guanabana, oro negro avacado, jackfruit, pace/magana mamey, green sapote(this one is going to be a while from what I hear). The others have given fruit, the most fruit is from the Glenn mango. The two mangosteens are five years old, first year on the ground, they are covered with a 50% shade cloth structure. I am getting ready to prepare them for the winter and we will see what happens...

    Adiel

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