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View Full Version : Haha!!! applies to me I think!


island cassie
01-07-2008, 01:25 PM
Someone just said that there is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"!!!

Cassie

inkcube
01-07-2008, 01:34 PM
i've seen this a lot with orchid growers in the US. once their first flowers blooms and lasts for several months they go crazy. i talked to one gentleman at an orchid meeting that spent $10,000.00 in one year on orchids, filling his greenhouse to the point of overflowing. those of us from the tropics aren't quite so enamored by orchids.

the size of bananas keeps people in check so to speak.

Bananaman88
01-07-2008, 01:53 PM
I think my wife would agree 100% that I'm bordering on mental illness!

island cassie
01-07-2008, 02:02 PM
Join the club Brent! Join the club!

Cassie

Richard
01-07-2008, 05:38 PM
I'm beyond therapy ...

http://home.san.rr.com/frost/OurGardens/OurGardens.pdf

:o

mskitty38583
01-07-2008, 05:44 PM
and here i thought i need to go to rehab for my coffee addiction. the banana addiction isnt too bad yet..spring isnt here yet. wonder how much of a refund ill be getting from my taxes? wonder if ill have enough for coffee beans and banana trees?

island cassie
01-07-2008, 06:01 PM
Richard - I am nearly speechless!! What do you do in your spare time??? Do all the plants behave as they should, or do they have minds of their own - mine do!!! Fantastic job! You definitely qualify!!!

Cassie

CookieCows
01-07-2008, 07:06 PM
I'm beyond therapy ...

http://home.san.rr.com/frost/OurGardens/OurGardens.pdf

:o


you don't need therapy ..... your back yard IS therapy! I also am speechless ....

Richard
01-07-2008, 07:21 PM
This summer I'm putting in a miniature golf (putt-putt) course from the deck down to the house.

:07:

magicgreen
01-07-2008, 08:02 PM
Yes.... this addiction is getting very mental!
Now i have moved all the furniture away from my south window in the living room. I put 2 bananas in that window. Lil prince and orinoco. LP has been in the basement in cool temps {56-62*} with flourescent lights, and humidifier in my homemade greenhouse. Thats where i kill the spider mites with the olive oil, water, and liquid soap i put in the spray bottle. The liquid soap i realize was an antibacterial now that i think about it.
My orinoco and saba are GROWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:ropingnaner:
I still havent gotten my memory card!
Going to try to take a pic'; at least with the cell phone for my journal!

:goteam: Yippee ki-yea :goteam: Whew! Progress. I'm starting to do it ya'll.
:banana-computer: :goteam: :banana-computer: :goteam:

Iam so loving watching them grow everyday!

Now When those velutina seeds sprout I'll be in the MIX!!!!!!

Jason, I soooo LOve your room with the plants! I think i would like something like that!
Magicgreen

harveyc
01-07-2008, 09:10 PM
I'm beyond therapy ...

http://home.san.rr.com/frost/OurGardens/OurGardens.pdf

:o

Richard, some interesting observations I noted:

What is your source for green sapote? I have not seen or tasted it but have heard good comments about it. I don't think I can grow it in NorCal (zone 9), though. :(

Your kei apple, is it fruiting? I tasted the fruit of kei apple for the first time at Papaya Tree Nursery last month. Roger Meyer has the same selection which came from a SoCal garden (forget the name). Reportedly, it's the best one.

Are the only bananas at your place in your neighbors yard???

I recently became addicted to white sapote and bought a McDill last month. I have not tasted Suebelle. Can you please describe it to me? If you're at a loss for words, please send fruit samples and scions instead! ;)

Bch Grl
01-07-2008, 09:18 PM
Harvey...

I just finished my first and only Sapote. I don't know much about what kind it was, but it was green. It grew at my dad's house in Camarillo(So. Cal/ventura area).

Very yummy and like custard! I got 3 seeds out of it. I could ask him for more, if you are interested. I don't know how many fruits he has, but he sent me home from Christmas with a hard green fruit and it ripened perfectly!

let me know!

Margie:blueskirtnaner:

Richard
01-07-2008, 09:22 PM
There are 24 mostly unrelated fruits called sapote. What size was this and what color were the seeds?

Here is a list of sapote-named fruits:
http://www.plantsthatproduce.com/column/PTP_2008_06_Sapote.pdf

harveyc
01-07-2008, 09:31 PM
Harvey...

I just finished my first and only Sapote. I don't know much about what kind it was, but it was green. It grew at my dad's house in Camarillo(So. Cal/ventura area).

Very yummy and like custard! I got 3 seeds out of it. I could ask him for more, if you are interested. I don't know how many fruits he has, but he sent me home from Christmas with a hard green fruit and it ripened perfectly!

let me know!

Margie:blueskirtnaner:

Margie, there are a few different fruits called sapote and most are not related, I believe. I would guess, and it's only a guess, that you had white sapote which is a fabulous fruit. They bruise very easily when ripe so are usually picked green. I just placed my second order from www.cherimoya.com yesterday! They are a bit pricey, but a luxury I wanted to treat myself to ($20 for roughly 5 pounds plus $8.95 shipping). Please ask your dad what fruit exactly he has and, if it's white sapote, what variety he has. I do want to try growing some seedlings also and already have 'Vernon' and 'McDill' coming in my current order. I'm glad you like it as well as I did with my first fully ripe fruit last month. :)

Richard
01-07-2008, 09:34 PM
Harvey, the White Sapote is known for producing huge volumes of fruit: in fact it produces the largest quantity (in kilograms) of carbohydrates per square foot of any known plant. The fruit contains an active sophoric drug with no ill side effects for humans other than over-consumption (an extra-large box in one sitting) will put you to sleep permanantly. The seeds have a huge concentration of the drug and should not be consumed. The plant is in the same family as Citrus and the seeds resemble oversized grapefruit seeds. If you can grow citrus at your location, you can grow white sapote.

The Suebelle cultivar is a selection that is relatively smaller in stature and hence better for home fruit culture. It is available from several nurseries -- I have even seen it at a Home Depot in San Diego during the summer (alongside Babaco Plants).

Bch Grl
01-07-2008, 09:48 PM
Here are the seeds...these are AA batteries. He says they are white sapotes, but doesn't know the cultivar. He says Suebell sounds familiar....The fruit is about 4" in diameter and lookes like the one in the PDF that Richard sent me...Margie


http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=7539&size=1

Richard
01-07-2008, 10:25 PM
Definately White Sapote. Probably not Suebelle, the fruits are usually smaller than 4". It has been pointed out in the literature that people are rarely disappointed with the taste of White Sapotes started from seedling, but sometimes the volume of fruit can be quite annoying.

Bch Grl
01-07-2008, 10:34 PM
What is the drug in them? Are they really poisonous if you eat too many???

I didn't know that about the seeds! thanks for the warning!

Margie

harveyc
01-07-2008, 11:14 PM
Thanks, Richard, I know that I can grow white sapote here and familiar with the reported sleep effects of white sapote and that the seed is reported to be toxic, though I had just looked the other day at Morton's (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/white_sapote.html)information which doesn't provide any clear (to me, at least) information on this. The CRFG information (http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/whitesapote.html) doesn't mention it. I was mostly curious about why you chose the Suebelle cultivar, which you've answered.

However, I was even more curious about the green sapote you have planned for your place. A few rare fruit friends rate it very highly and I've never seen it or tasted it and wondered how well you like (love) it. I have never seen anyone selling plants of it either but have heard from a friend in Hawaii that his green sapote was grafted onto mamey. I'd like to know more and, hopefully, I'll get to try this fruit when I visit you some day! :)

Thanks for pointing out my oversight of your planned location for bananas. Good luck with your kei apple and don't get injured by those huge thorns!

harveyc
01-07-2008, 11:18 PM
What is the drug in them? Are they really poisonous if you eat too many???

I didn't know that about the seeds! thanks for the warning!

Margie

Margie, see my post above. It's not clear or certain, but not worth fooling with. Those cockroaches tell no tales! ;)

If you speak to your father, please find out what cultivar he has. I want to collect seeds of more cultivars. Thanks!

My white sapote tree is about 3' tall and still in a pot and will get planted in the ground in the spring. Once established, it is reputed to be hardy down to 22F or 20F. A friend had some dieback with 20F temperatures last January but reports it grew back nicely.

I think they are a great substitute for ice cream, egg nog, etc. They taste great fresh and also make wonderful smoothies. I think it will be a long time before I tire of them.

White sapote never became popular in Florida and a friend in Florida who is a former resident of SoCal says that the white sapote of California taste better than those in Florida, for what it's worth. You should visit your dad often!

Richard
01-07-2008, 11:30 PM
If I had room to grow a large sapote it would be the "Golden" variety from Florida.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=7541

harveyc
01-07-2008, 11:37 PM
Ben Porier in Escondido told me during a recent visit to his small nursery that he likes the 'Vernon' cultivar the best. I loved the fruit we picked from his tree. McDill is supposedly one of the largest and my friend in Puerto Rico says its the one he grows most of.

mskitty38583
01-07-2008, 11:39 PM
is it related to a peach? if its not whats is related to??

Richard
01-08-2008, 01:38 AM
White Sapote (Casimiroa edulis) is in the taxonomic family Rutaceae, which also contains Citrus. A primary difference between the two is that Casimiroa is from the American tropics, while Citrus is from the Asian (sub)tropics, primarily China.

And just as a fun fact: Peaches are also originally from China.

AnnaJW
01-08-2008, 10:00 PM
I'm beyond therapy ...

http://home.san.rr.com/frost/OurGardens/OurGardens.pdf

:o


All I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!

chong
01-08-2008, 10:03 PM
i've seen this a lot with orchid growers in the US. once their first flowers blooms and lasts for several months they go crazy. i talked to one gentleman at an orchid meeting that spent $10,000.00 in one year on orchids, filling his greenhouse to the point of overflowing. those of us from the tropics aren't quite so enamored by orchids.

. . . . .. . . . . . . .

Don't know about you, but when I was growing up in the Philippines, until I left in 1966, I was!!(I still am, but can't afford them very much. I have a few.) Enamored by orchids, that is. So I just have a lot more of their close relative - the banana. My Mom had all kinds of orchids that she entrusted me with. My favorite was the most fragrant orchid of all, Dendrobium Anosnum(Superbum). We called it the Sanggumay. They came in stems like foxtails of salmon-pink colored flowers. You could smell that fragrance a few blocks away. (JoeReal and Bencelest, you guys can chime in anytime!) Then there's the Star of Leyte, a yellow (light) form of the Phalaenopsis. It's not just the color, it's the fact that the petals are curled like an ice cream sweet cone, or the front of a cowboy hat. Then again, there's the blue Vanda, V. Sanderiana, another beautiful and majestic, and fragrant orchid. Or the Black Orchid, Trichoglottis Philippinensis var. Brachiata. It has very deep purple flowers that's almost black in the wilds.

And what about the Giant Orchid/Tiger Orchid, Grammatophyllum speciosum? The biggest orchid of them all. Looks like a small palm tree(up to 8 feet), with flower spikes up to over a hundred flowers per stem. Alas, these orchids only thrive in very warm climates.

Though, if I were to spend $10,000 for orchids, they would probably be worth $150,000 in this country. Anyone interested in an orchid hunt in the Philippines?

mskitty38583
01-08-2008, 10:35 PM
would love to go, however i start school next week and at this present moment in time my banana fund is very, very low...oh yeah you said orchid hunt..ok..at this present moment my orchid funds are very, very low.. lol. im still trying to decide how many more plants i can put in my den(gh) before i have to move the computer and printer table out. ha ha. and what type of palm trees i want( i have the count down from 20 to 5 or 10). i have about 40 different angles trumpet seeds( thank you so very, very much kylie) to get ready to be planted. and im waiting for walmart or lowes to discount potting planters( yeah). the dollar stores dont even have planters in yet, so untill that time when the monitary value of my wallet exceeds the amount of moths flying out of it, im kind of stuck at drooling over the orchids..sigh..and the palms...sigh..and the 20 nana trees i want...sigh, and the 2 dump trucks of potting mix i want...sigh...lol. i keep sighing like this im gonna hyperventilate.:2783:

AnnaJW
01-08-2008, 10:40 PM
I sure wish I could go! Maybe I should try hypnosis for my fear of flying...

Bch Grl
01-09-2008, 12:22 AM
No need to go to the Philippines...The World Orchid Conference and Show will be in Miami this Month!
Jan 23-27

:woohoonaner: http://www.19woc.com/home.htm :giveflowersnana:

:nanerwaveytrain: I'll be making a road trip with some girlfriends for the weekend to see the exhibits!
Probably make arraingements to see some banana people, too!

Margie:waving:

AnnaJW
01-09-2008, 01:44 AM
Darn! There's that plane thing again!
It sounds wonderful though.

chong
01-09-2008, 11:47 AM
No need to go to the Philippines...The World Orchid Conference and Show will be in Miami this Month!
Jan 23-27

......................................
Margie:waving:

That may be handy if you're just wanting to look. If you intend to spend $10,000 for plants there, for the same number of plants you would only spend anywhere from $800 to $1200 in the Philippines, assuming that the plants are native to there.

chong
01-09-2008, 11:57 AM
Darn! There's that plane thing again!
It sounds wonderful though.

Anna,
There are a lot of orchid shows in the Los Angeles, CA area throughout the year. And in the San Diego, CA area as well. Check out the several CA orchid societies. During their monthly meetings, they may have displays by members,who may want to show their plants, or even sell them. In WA, the orchid society here would even raffle off some plants after their meetings.

Alternatively, if you're interested in just looking at the plants/flowers, you could check with them for a schedule of their shows. The southern CA organization meets in Burbank, CA monthly.

Richard
01-09-2008, 12:08 PM
That may be handy if you're just wanting to look. If you intend to spend $10,000 for plants there, for the same number of plants you would only spend anywhere from $800 to $1200 in the Philippines, assuming that the plants are native to there.

Or if you are in the U.S. you can skip dealing with the agriculture import problem and buy them inexpensively in the states. The world's largest producer of orchids is in Salinas, CA -- http://www.matsuinursery.net/. You don't have to go to Salinas though -- you'll find their orchids for sale at Trader Joe's!

If you are local to southern CA, visit San Diego for the weather (and bananas at Encanto Farms) and buy some orchids while you are here: http://www.sdorchids.com/.