grafting – Florida Fruit Geek

Growing the Fruit and Spice Park’s variety of ‘Himalayan’ mulberry in North Florida

June 30, 2021

Of all mulberry cultivars I’ve eaten, the one which to me has the best flavor is variety ‘Himalayan’, which came from the Fruit & Spice Park in Homestead, Florida. Its taste is so intensely fruity and sweet it can make other mulberries seem bland by comparison. I first encountered this variety in early February 2013, … More Growing the Fruit and Spice Park’s variety of ‘Himalayan’ mulberry in North Florida

Some of the best mulberry cultivars need nematode-resistant rootstocks in Florida

June 11, 2020

As I’ve acquired and planted out high-quality mulberry cultivars, I’ve found a major challenge in growing this fruit that’s been very little reported: many of the top quality varieties are extremely sensitive to root-knot nematodes. Parasitic root-knot nematodes (hereafter just referred to as “nematodes”) are tiny microscopic worms which are abundant in sandy Florida soils … More Some of the best mulberry cultivars need nematode-resistant rootstocks in Florida

Fig nematode resistant rootstock project, 2019 status report

December 22, 2019

My project to test out various Ficus species as potential nematode-resistant rootstocks for edible figs has made slow but steady progress in 2019. Root-knot nematodes are one of the biggest challenges in growing figs in Florida and other warm climate regions around the world. I am trying to acquire every Ficus species that’s reported to … More Fig nematode resistant rootstock project, 2019 status report

Chocolate pudding fruit successfully grafted onto American persimmon

August 21, 2019

If you’re a fruit geek like me, you sometimes wonder what kind of fruit trees you can successfully manage to graft together. Several years ago, I started wondering that question about two excellent fruits in the Ebenaceae plant family: American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) and its cousin chocolate pudding fruit, also called black sapote* (Diospyros nigra). … More Chocolate pudding fruit successfully grafted onto American persimmon

I named this carambola variety ‘Anna’

March 15, 2018

‘Anna’ is an excellent carambola variety, and at the time I write this there are only three trees in the world of this cultivar, two of them in my greenhouse. This variety seems at least as good as the common commercially propagated varieties, and possibly a bit better. Here’s the story of how it came … More I named this carambola variety ‘Anna’

I’m converting sour plum trees into sweet plum trees by grafting

December 28, 2017

My property here in North Florida has lots of wild plum trees that grow like weeds and make huge quantities of fruit, but the fruits on these wild trees are sour and unpleasant-tasting. For the last several years, I’ve been experimenting with a technique to convert them into sweet-fruited plum varieties: each spring, I graft … More I’m converting sour plum trees into sweet plum trees by grafting

Fig-Grafting Update: Progress with Ficus pumila

October 6, 2017

Time for a long-overdue update on my project to explore potentially nematode-resistant fig rootstocks. The project hasn’t progressed as fast as I would have liked, but I do have some potentially promising results with the Ficus species I rated as a “wildcard” in my first post on this topic: creeping fig, Ficus pumila. To recap, … More Fig-Grafting Update: Progress with Ficus pumila

In Search Of Nematode-Resistant Fig Rootstocks – Progress Report 1

December 16, 2015

Figs are a great fruit that’s mostly well-adapted to the south-eastern US, but they’ve got a major problem limiting them in our area: root-knot nematodes. Many of our soils are full of these microscopic parasitic worms that burrow into the roots of fig trees, sucking sap and impairing the roots’ ability to pull water and … More In Search Of Nematode-Resistant Fig Rootstocks – Progress Report 1