man those look awesome. i wonder if i have a shot in hell getting a marang to fruit here.

rate the best in flavor, Pulasan, Rambutan, wild yellow Rambutan

Bryan:

It was Pulasan by 10 lengths.....not even a close race.

Harry

i read the other thread afterwards.

i always thought there were more cultivars of rambutan than pulasan, i wonder how variable they are.

agree with harry tha pulsan was easily the best- but ( and sorry if i sound like a broken tape recorder) i dont particularly rate any of them except for the pulsan we had from a seedling tree at Juan's place- now that was spectacular.

Jay- amazing pics. much better than the ones I took. guess i was too busy shoving my face with fruit

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing your adventure.

How much were the grafted achachairu? Definitely looks like I should have went.

Looks like you guys had so much FUN!! thanks for sharing your adventures with us...Love the pictures! Keep them coming!

MK...definitely pulasan over rambutan any day. Not only is the taste better, but the flesh does not pull the seed coating off like rambutan does. The seedling pulasan we had at Juans was very very good. The down side was a larger seed at it was not free stone. The yellow rambutan was not near ripe but it was going to have a nice flavor. We tasted all kinds of rambutan and only Gerry was unimpressed. There are more cultivars of rambutan. I believe this is due to the fact that pretty much PR, Hawaii, and Malaysia is the only places doing anything with it. There are a few named varieties with Seebabat being the most known. Others are still a "numbered" variety. Many, like Ian's and Juan's, are seedling trees of Seebabat or one of the numbered varieties. There seems to be good variability with these grown from seed and most are coming out just as good as the parent or even better. This seems to be just opposite with the rambutan.

John...the grafted plants were $10 and $20. I grabbed a $20 plant. Kind of funny when everyone was grabbing $6 and $8 dollar plants...including breadfruit and breadnut, I of course find the one plant that cost the most! I think Sheehan's grafted Spanish Limes were at least $10 though.

Here are a few of my pics.
Brian's farm, the creek:

Somebody has to stand up for the ornamentals:

Marang

Refreshments at Sherry's

Mangosteens

Guarana

I believe this to be a herrania

New fruit for me: longan, rambutan, pulasan, mangsteen, abiu, durian, guarana, soursop, herrania imbricata, achachairu, langsat, rollinia deliciosa, marang, eugenia victoriana, inga edulis

No one mentioned Cupuassu.....which I had never tried. I am not sure the one we had was ripe, in fact I think it wasn't, but it was interesting to me.

The dreaded durian collection along with an over ripe marang at Ian's:

Not sure why people go crazy for durian, but it sure is interesting horticulturally:

Some interesting things to me about the trip (aside from the characters in attendance) were (in no particular order):

-Mangosteens do not have to be cut or hacked open with a knife when they are fresh. The ones we get here in Florida literally have a shell to crack open. The fresh ones break open easily with your hands. And I did a lot of breaking. In fact, I could almost say that I had my fill of mangosteen early in our travels. It got to a point that I could never have imagined.....that being that I had had enough mangosteen.

-We also got to taste fresh clove. That was an interesting and exhillaring experience.

-The trees bearing rambutan and pulasan were not all that big. I had envisioned tall monsters required to reach frutiing size. This has of course set my imagination ablaze for trying to grow Pulasan here in Florida.

-Pulasan was just an amazing fruit to me. I enjoyed the rambutans we ate, but the Pulasans were really special. Each one I tried seemed better than the previous, ulitmately reaching climax at Juan's Farm with the seedling he had growing.

-Of course I couldn't leave Puerto Rico without getting a mango cultivar that I don't have amongst the 85 or so I have right now. The nursery we went to had grafted mangoes for $6 and I picked up one called Piniero. The sales people showed me an extremely large green fruit that had absolutley no evidence of anthracnose. I figured if they could grow that mango there with their 100 plus inches of rain per year, it might be a good tree to try in my yard.

Harry

I agree with Harry. The pulasan was a special hit with us last year and was again a huge hit this year. Can't say enough about it...except it should be cultivated more heavily. I'm going to try and turn my greenhouse into a pulasan farm!!

Did ya'll try langstat, and if so how was it?

jb

(hoping someone will say, hey, I don't have room for all the tree's I just bought...anyone want a pulasan? lol)

The langsat we had was a shade short of being fully ripe. There was a part inside the fruits that had a bit of a bitter taste to it. However, the flesh of the fruit away from this core area was nice and sweet and quite good. Hard to describe the taste other than sweet and fruity. Definitely worth growing in my opinion.

Harry

Pulasan, marang, mangosteen and acharachu (maybe langsat?) were probably the top fruits from PR (the only mango was not from PR).

Though the langsats were not 100% ripe, I did get what I believe to be a ripe fruit. Like Harry said, there was a central core that was very bitter but the fruit segments reminded me of a sweet grapefruit without the acid or bitterness. Natural tasting grapefruit candy? Definitely should be grown more.

-Ethan

I forgot to eat my langsat. I think I left it in the hotel room. I've had it before but I can't remember what it tasted like, only that I did not care much for it. It is no Barbados cherry after all.

Good description, Ethan.....my mind was blank earlier when I trying to describe the flavor, but I do think there was a hint of a sweet grapefruit flavor to the langsat I ate also. And you are defintely correct, Sheehan, it was no Barbados Cherry for sure. LOL

Harry

Well, I am going to have to plan my trips to PR better. I've never seen any of those fruits available when I'm there!

Did you get to try the corn ice cream at the little shop a block or so away from the HoJo's?

That is the one drawback of langsat. The longkong variety does not have that bitterness.

TriangleJohn, some of the gents did get the corn ice cream and enjoyed it. Myself I went with a scoop of parcha and (sour)tamarind, unfortunately they were out or acerola. Did you hear the church bells while you were there? 6 am (3am west coast) every morning, it was a beautiful sound to hear, just early.

Jay, the only bitterness was the pithy core separating the fruit segments, just remove and on your way. Do seedling langstat grow faster than longkong cvs? I sure hope my grandkids like tropical fruit too.

-Ethan

I am growing duku-langsat, any bitterness associated with that?

Also, with the great reviews of the pulasan, I would be interested in how the compare with the better cv's of lychee?

Hi Puerto Rico travelers,

I am glad to hear acharachu tastes so good. I will just have to be patient for 5-10 years before I can taste my own. I hope one day I can visit PR too.

Tomas

Triangle John:

I had the corn ice cream which tasted very much like corn. I enjoyed it....it was interesting and different.

JB Fla:

I am a lychee lover and so the best cultivars of lychee are still some of my all time favorite fruits. The pulasan were at the same level of enjoyment, but different and new and exciting. So, if I had unlimited quantities of both, I'd probably eat both in equal quantities. Lychees are generally jucier and have more sub-acidity. The flesh of lychees does not adhere to the seed as pulasan's are want to do. Pulasan, at least one of them that we tried had a very complex and delicious flavor that did, as Lycheeluva mentioned in his post, had a flavor reminiscent of Black Currant. Other's had less complexity, but were still excellent in my opinion.

Harry

Hehe,

My family and friends go deaf with talk about the fruit but I can interest them again with the corn ice cream.

The pulasan was great. Only negative IMHO was that the flesh was either very adherent to the seed, or in the case of the freestone types we had, you came away with bits of seed coat with the flesh.

Ethan...the following is a comment from Ian concerning langsats:
>>> Langsat is a remarkably different tree as it grows so fast, has a
>>> massive and aggressive root system... and flowers after more time
>>> than a mangosteen even when it is grafted. I remember the bare
>>> rooted trees; the roots looked like handfuls of pasta. Seeing the
>>> roots of a tree tells you a lot about its growth and vigor. Witness
>>> the sad little roots on young mangosteens.

Sherry's langsat was very very big and tall. The longkong trees we saw in Thailand were no where near this big and were fruiting heavily. I don't know how old they were. Bernie Dizon claims that he can get them to fruit much sooner than normal by using multiple rootstocks. Check out his site. It is very interesting and he's obviously done some amazing stuff.

The longkong does not have that bitterness that you experienced with the langsat. It is just complete and total goodness! Just don't bite into a seed...then you will know what bitterness is all about! And the absolute BEST way to eat them is sitting in the back of an SUV while your wife's mother peels them for you!! Warren and I was quite enjoying this part of the trip. As long as she was peeling...we were shoveling them down!

Montoso will occassionally have grafted longkong available... if David ever gets around to grafting again!

So there is hope for me growing langsat, I didn't want to have to gum the fruit in my old age. Now to get the seeds to sprout.

thanks for the info,
-Ethan

Looks like paradise to me! The marang is my favorite and I didn't know there was yellow Rambutan! How very exciting!! I have to be invited next year!! LOL
Bo

Great pics...I'm soooooo jealous!

Thanks all. It was a blast. Ethan, the seeds should come up no problems. It's getting them to giddyup that is what's frustrating!

Thanks for the account and pictures--it sounds like a great time! I'm impressed by the herrania; it looks like a jellyfish! The durian in the pictures looks terribly small and unripe--were you actually able to eat it? The nutmeg also looks great; I hope someday I'll get to try a marang.

The herrania looked beautiful and the H. umbricata tasted nice too. None of the durians in this thread were eaten, just collected. The ones we ate are in the other thread. The durian hanging from the rope was FULL flavored, the smaller one was much better IMHO. I dont know what part of HI you are on but try contacting Fruit Lowers nursery (fruitlovers*dot*com), I believe it is marang season right now.

-Ethan

Here is a link that might be useful: More info and photos about the PR trip

Thanks for sharing pics of the trip. Looks like a great time! Very envious right now. ahahah.

Hello fellow fruit lovers.

So, I am going to PR for the first time with my family the second week of January.

I am obsessed with fruit and growing (or trying to grow) tropical fruit bearing trees. I live in WI so I move my plants indoors in the winter, but anyways I have some major questions for you all:

1. I'm going in January so what are your thoughts on this time of year and fruit picking?

2. Ok, I NEED a "pocket book" identification guide for tropical fruit plants/trees. I have been searching for hours online for any kind of book that would fit my needs to do this and can't find what I need. ANY SUGGESTIONS OR TITLES OF BOOKS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

3. I am not going to be able to travel all over the island in direct search for fruit. We are staying in Luquillo. We will be taking a sailboat from Luquillo to the islands off the east coast for a day. Any good fruit to be searched for there? I may have some free-time to do so on that day..

4. I will be in the rainforest for a day. Any suggestions on free-lance fruit searching in there?

5. We will be traveling across the island to the West coast on one day to try and see the whales. I wanted to try and stop at a coffee plantation on the way to grab some coffee plants and HOPEFULLY SEEDS TO PLANT AT HOME! Any suggestions on which plantation to stop at?? It'd be best if they had other fruits too that I could check out??

6. What place had the best grafted trees for sale?

7. I plan on bringing back a lot of seeds and hopefully some cuttings that I can ziplock baggie and take home and try to root. If I wash the seeds thoroughly as well as the cuttings, and there is no soil in the bags, will I have a lot of issues with the inspection at the Airport in Customs?

8. ANY HELP WOULD BE AMAZING FROM YOU ALL!! I enjoyed reading your forums and literally cannot STOP researching PR right now. I want to enjoy sooo much fruit and try and grow some back home!! THANK YOU!!

Sarah

Your best bet is to hope Gwenn sees this post. She lives on that side of the island and will be better suited to help. I wouldn't count on a lot of types of rare fruit just now. August is usually the time when the best ones are fruiting and very few of those will find their way to a market. I will check though.

As Jay said, Gwenn would be your best bet for these answers but I will try and answer a few if I can.

1. Not sure about what's available now.
2. If you can read Spanish, Bryan Brunner's book is awesome. I can't read Spanish and I still bought the book. It should have all the fruits available in PR and the seasons. Since I can't read Spanish I don't know if it actually has the seasons or not but I assume it does. So it may be helpful with your first question also. The one reviewer on Amazon is an idiot for giving it two stars just because he didn't describe the taste of the fruit as in depth as the reviewer would have liked.: Arboles Frutales Exoticos Y Poco Conocidos En Puerto Ricohttp://www.amazon.com/Arboles-Frutales-Exoticos-Conocidos-Spanish/dp/0847723461/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324228021&sr=8-1

3. No idea.

4. I was in the rainforest once. I didn't see any fruit. Gween lives near the Rainforest I think though so she may know where you can find fruit there.

5. I think one of the guys who went to PR with us has family who owns a coffee plantation. I will ask him.

6. http://jardineseneida.com/ That's the nursery where we bought all of our grafted trees. It's on the west coast near Mayaguez

7. Make sure to declare all seeds and cuttings to customs in the airport. They allow mostly everything but if they find out you didn't declare it you can get in a lot of trouble. There is a list of actual fruit you can bring back also. Ask for it in the airport when you arrive.

My goodness. So many fruit trees! I need to pack up and retire there. Imagine not having to worry about losing my fruit trees in the winter

Here I am- let me see if I can help a bit.

1- not a ton of stuff fruiting now/Jan, but you will be able to get bananas, citrus, canistel, Jobos (spondias), papaya, breadfruit, breadnut, maybe avocados, and some local pineapples (MD2). Maybe some other stuff.

2-Bryan's book is great but it is all in Spanish. There is a small book called Fruit Trees of the Caribbean by Sandra Hewitt that is very basic, but nice.

3- not much on those little islands...maybe you will find an Icacos tree, but the fruit is nasty!

4-In the rain forest itself...there may be a stray citrus, bananas (a few types), breadfruit and mango trees, Jamaican Cherry trees might be seen along the road sides in some places.

5/6- I wouldn't spend too much time whale watching, there really aren't a lot to see (I tried twice and never saw any). But if you travel down to Mayaguez, visit the UPR research center. And the best place to get the grafted trees is Jardin Eneidas that Jay mentioned. The coffee plantations are a bit of a drive from anywhere! But they are pretty. I did the Pomarrosa plantation tour.

7- Honestly, the USDA here is a joke. They Xray your bags, but I don't think they really try too hard. The list of things you can't take back is small- mainly things that grow as cash crops in the States (cotton, citrus, mango etc). I have the list somewhere, I will post it when I get a chance later.

I live right in the rain forest. My place has been hit hard by rain and my neglect these last few months, but you are welcome to stop over. I have coffee plants- there might be some fruit ready for you to take to grow. On S191, there is an organic grower of fruit trees- Robin Phillips. He will have some unusual stuff.

Email me.