Wow.......that's early for longan blooms. Great shots! Thanks.

Harry

wow- my very own post, j!. I'm honored. Nice pics. Khola? whats the story behind the plant? (source,graft/airlayer/seed- how old etc.)
same qs as to the lemon guava

Hey Jay,
Conrats! Everything looks so nice and healthy! I have never had longan before. Not easy finding most of the stuff people grow here. I have seen sites that will sell a lot of this stuff this summer. Can't wait. Right now I have several things growin good. Mangoes are growin, Citrus is growin and keylime is blooming again. My Caimito is goin thru a huge growth flush. I can't wait for next year. I think I should be able to pick fruit from Cogshall and maybe Julie. Blood Orange is slower grower but I also have a pineapple top that is probobly going to fruit this year. This will be a very exciting year for most of my tropicals. Good luck to you and all your tropicals for the new year.
Andrew

what's up with sneaking in the ghost chilli? i like it :)

Thanks all.

This chili plant is one of four that germinated out of approximately 30 seeds. Pi$$-poor germination rate. Notorious for low germination. Could have been bad seeds. I'm trying again and see how it goes. Dangerous pods.

Ger...the Kohala is air-layered. Probably all Kohalas found in Florida today are descendants from Bill Whitman's enormous tree on his estate. Big groves were planted from air-layers from his tree.

I've not tasted a Kohala fruit yet. It better be miles better than all other longans I've sampled...else...it goes. I have to get it to actually develop fruit first! This is the first time it's bloomed. I kept it out in temps hovering around freezing for a long time. So the combination of chill time and keeping it in a near drought condition must have done the trick.

Guava was a rooted cutting from a few years ago. Started blooming early and hasn't quit. Not the prettiest plant in the greenhouse but I do like the fruit. Bee, my wife, will not eat it nor will most folks in Thailand. Considered a nuisance and not worthy of the real guava.

wow- my very own post, j!. I'm honored. Nice pics. Khola? whats the story behind the plant? (source,graft/airlayer/seed- how old etc.)
same qs as to the lemon guava

oops- sorry for repeat post- accident

hey J,
congrats on the Kohala flowers, it is a good tasting longan but if you dont like longan, I predict bad things for this tree. I have to agree with Bee and all of Thailand, lemon guavas are good if you cant grow real guavas but otherwise not worth your space (IMHO). I plan to move my lemon guava closer to the street, here in a month, it is in a prime spot. I'm going to do the same with my strawberry guava (same reason).

nice pepper!

-Ethan

Kohala is a good longan...but not the best...IMHO. I like Biew Keow or See Chompoo better, both Thai varieties. I am also growing Tiger Eye, Tommy Wong, Edaw, Daigelman, DDR (rolling leaf) and a Kohala seedling. I personally much prefer lychee or rambutan to longan. However, my understanding is that many Chinese people much prefer longan. One of my friends ( a much more high brow fruit conniseur than me) looks down his nose at me and my preference for lychees. I say.....who cares.....they taste much better to me.

with u all the way harry- i think lychees are a hundred times better than longons. maybe your friends who poopoo lychees have never had florida lychees. there r some truly terrible lychees that are imported into the US from asia.
Longons are for eating when lychees are not in season.

Gerry:

No....he is very familiar with Florida lychees. He has some friends that have 5 acres of mauritius trees in So. Dade. They supply him with whatever he needs or wants. He just doesn't want very much. He and I don't see eye to eye on lots of flavors. He is into wine and loves the strong tanin flavor of a bold red wine. I wouldn't give you two cents for some of the wines he drools over and pays big bucks for. I can get the gastric burn that that stuff causes me from something a whole lot less expensive.

Harry

Harry,
coming from someone who never believed that anything could come to a good lychee, I have to say that I have come to now put a fully ripe, plump longan right up there with lychee. I find that when I have both available I tend to 'concentrate' on just one, well maybe till the following day,, which ever one starts off first I guess.

Here are a few pictures of my first crop some years back-

Ronald:

Those are some great looking longans...and some very happy and proud folk. I like longans...don't get me wrong. They just don't quite get to lychee level. Longans tend to be the soapiest tasting of the soapberry family (to me) and some have a rather medicinal taste. Some of the plump, meaty, sweet ones are very, very good though. The smaller ones with the large seeds.....you can keep.

Harry

I agree, for me I don't care for diamond river, it taste like cough syrup to me, maybe that is what you mean.
I have kohala, edaw, biew kiew, chompoo and diamond river, personally I would go for kohala and edaw, but I am yet to get some good specimens from b kiew and chompoo so I can't really compare them properly.

My understanding is that Edaw is the main commercial cultivar in Thailand. Or, at least was so about 15 years ago. I would rate it on a par with Kohala. Biew Keow and See Chompoo are larger and better flavored...to me. But, seeing your's....I assume they are either Kohala or Edaw....I would really like to see how the See Chompoo or Biew Keow would fruit for you. Maybe Kohala is a better fruiting variety for Jamaica where you are. It originates from the North Coast of I believe the Big Island of Hawaii. If you got some to fruit there, they would be huge.

Harry

Yes I think the edaw is the comercial cultivar in Thailand, understandable as its skin is much thicker than the others I have tried.
Of course I do use clorate when available as fruiting is far and inbetween with out it.

Ronald- awesome awesome pics. I could look at those pics all day long.

Thanks, glad you like them, the pictures are all of kohala.
has anyone ever tried alupag?

I tasted Alupag at Bill Whitman's about 15 years ago. Tasted pretty good (kinda longanish), but not much flesh on his fruits. How about yours?

Oh I only have a tiny seedling so I have never tasted it, I did read somewhere that they are compatible with longan and thrive on longan rootstock.

They are a bit strange. Whitman's tree was not very hardy. It had a crop on it around the end of May as I recall. The flesh is scant, compared to lychee and longan. In fact, the flesh didn't even fully cover the seed with any thickness...except at the top end of the fruit where the flesh was somewhat thicker. I tried to grow them with the seeds I got from Whitman. Never had any luck with them beyond 6-8 inches tall. They just declined and died. Overall, interesting fruit....but no comparison to longan or lychee in desirability from an eating standpoint.

Ronald, great pics...ah I miss fruit-season. I had a lot of Kohalas this year and some Biew Kiews. The Kohalas were good and had a sort of melon-taste to them, almost like a version of honeydew. I had Kohalas from 5 different trees and the taste was ever-changing between them, but this is because they were grown in different locations and picked at different times. My Biew Kiew was also good, but each fruit tasted like it had been dipped in a liquer...don't get me wrong, they were very very good...I'm just wondering if anyone else knows what I mean by that taste.

Can't comment on Biew Kiew yet as I am yet to taste a good one (had a couple fruit hold last season but doubt they were the best)

what I have noticed is that the kohala are the only ones (so far) that are able to give such large bunches, and this after I have thinned them by at least a third.

More and more flowers open up and still all males. Getting a little concerned...and pi$$ed.

Ronald, were those fruit thinned at an early stage? They look great in size. I still have some frozen from last year.

Bluepalm, I heard someone else say that about Biew Kiew. My BK struggled for life for some years, but looks poised to have a great year of growth this year.

Longans are one of my most favorite fruits, in my mind superior to lychee.

Gary

Jay, don't worry the females will come.
Gary, I start thinning when they are about pea sized. I must admit that the first time I was surprised that I was still able to get good sized fruit.

I usually look bact at the tree when done and swear I had not thinned enough.

will take some current pictures when I go out in a bit and post later.

I would have started thinning a week or two here already

some current photos.

edaw

one my old 30+ lychee trees

chompoo

diamond river

Ronald:
Those last longan pictures are from this year?
Harry

Yes the trees I took earlier today and the fruits are from earlier last year. (2009)