Sorry it has been so long since I have been here. I am recovering from my surgery and had a few problems. As far as my tropicals go, I have had quite a few good things to report. I got some starfruit seeds that came from fruits that Harry sent to Ysalan, and she sent me the seeds. After what seemed to be forever, they have sprouted. I am going to pot them up tomorrow but wanted to get some advice here before I did this. I don't know what soil would be best for this. Jay gave me 2 dragonfruit cuttings and they are growing really well. I can't believe how vigorous they are! I had been so into my tropicals that I kind of forgot about how much I really enjoy citrus and with the citrus greening and all the problems going on, I figured I should add a few more to my collection. I really wanted an Improved meyer lemon tree and I ended up stiking gold. I bought a 6 footer from a local nursery. This tree is a monster. It is 3ft wide and must have 200-300 blooms at least(No joke!), and 11 lemons plus 2 that are forming. This is one of my favorite trees now. I have never seen citrus blooms that are this big before. The fragrance is permeating my living room. I honestly didn't think it would be happy here but it has adjusted well. I did lose a buch of leaves the first week but they were all ready yellow. The root system is excellent and I actually will need to put it into a new pot soon since the current pot isn't adequate now. This tree came from Florida and is very healthy. I also bought an Oro Blanco grapefruit. I decided to get this instead of the cocktail because it has less seeds. I know it has a thicker rind but the cocktail grapefruit requires high heat levels to ripen the fruit, and this one does not. I should have it here by Thursday next week. I ordered it from Four Winds and it is supposed to be 3-4ft tall. I wish I could have got it locally but they are not selling it. I will have my 'Day' avocado the first week of April. My keylime is fruiting for the first time, and my julie mango is going thru a nice growth flush. The temps in western NY are warming up quickly. We have come very close to hitting the 70 degree mark at for the past 2 weeks. Nightime lows are still hitting the low to mid 30's often but last year I had my tropicals outside by the first week of April. I am only going to add another mango, maybe another citrus, and a guava to my collection, and I will have to stop for now. I have bought(Or started from seed), around 16 tropical fruit trees in less than a year. I am running out of room fast and don't want to end up with no room and more trees to bring in this fall. I am very happy with what I have and want to thank everyone for all the help I have got this past year. Joining this forum was the best thing I ever did, and if it were not for you guys here, I would not have most of my tropical fruits. This year I am going to focus on getting better light setups for the fall and winter, so my trees can thrive indoors as well as outdoors.

Harry,

It looks like I will still have the chance to come and see you this summer. I am hoping you can give me some advice on grafting. I want to start with citrus. I planted a bunch of seeds for rootstocks and I will have some of my own material to graft on to the root stock. As for my last citrus, I am thinking of buying a navel, honeybell, or the page mandarin. I have heard so many good comments about this fruit. I picked up a bunch of champagne mangoes yesterday. I am going to plant the pits and see what happens. I LOVE THIS FRUIT!!

Andrew