Quote:
Originally Posted by chong
Richard,
I've been looking into sources for scionwood cuttings for rare plants myself ... Plants like Malay apple, wax jambu, lansones, seedless sugar apple, sweet guanabana, mamey sapote, ylang-ylang, etc.
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Chong, all of those fruits are being grown by members of the
California Rare Fruit Growers; like myself, Joe Real, and many other members here. I know one member who by himself is growing all of those in San Diego. You could join and start receiving their bimonthly publication with lots of sources in it, or just post on this site under "Other Plants" (one fruit at a time) and you'll start getting feedback.
To answer your second question: The cuttings I have discussed in this thread so far have come from
ARS-Davis. I will also be receiving plant material from other sites this year (see
GRIN Plant Collections and
GRIN Taxonomy site). The mission of the entire USDA repository program is to provide plant material for R&D -- so you have to be willing to provide them with some plan of mutual interest: in my case an event log of experiences growing them, any breeding I may do, and eventually supplying any repository request for cuttings and seeds from the plants I've propagated.
Your third question about agricultural regulations: plants from the USDA repositories are shipped with a "Certificate of Quarantine Compliance". It is no cost to them (or the receiver) because they are the inspection agency. Most nurseries and individuals have to go through quite a bit of paperwork to produce a "Cert", and they either charge you for it, or don't bother to ship to areas where one is required, or just ship it and hope for the best. This has been discussed in several threads including
International shipping requirement for bananas and
Interstate shipment of plant material .
Your fourth question about conditions of materials received: For cuttings, if they are taken at the right growth stage, cleaned and treated with a light fungicide, moisture-wrapped, sealed, and shipped "next day" FedEx or similiar early in the week then you will have great plant material. In fact for any kind of plant material, shipping "next day" delivery early in the week is great. My experiences with the quality of material from USDA so far has been good. Once you start inquiring about specific plants, we can hopefully give you feedback on our experiences with them.
Unasked question #1: Why doesn't the CRFG have a site like Bananas.org? Answer: They have dismissed the idea many times stating that most CRFG members are not interested.
Unasked question #2: Are the popular fruits of Sweet Guanabana (Annona muricata, soursop) safe to eat? Answer: no, and neither is the drug "Graviola" or the drink "Guanabana juice" made from this fruit.
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