Any advice would be much appreciated.

might be best if you do a search and look for their ideal growing conditions, and try and emulate that. i have the small leaf and large leaf variety growing (i think they said the large leaf one crops twice a year) mine are in sandy loam and heavily mulched have been given some wee water and compost tea, didn't seem to make much difference to them.

ours where bought as small plants the 1 small leaf plant was about 6"s tall and is now after 3+ years nearly twice that height so we are not holding our breath for its fruit anytime soon. the 2 large leaf ones where about 18"s tall wne bought and are around 24"s now again not hoping for fruit any day now. got a friend down the road said he waited for 15 years for his to fruit. not sure if grafting a fruit bearing bud/stock to a young plant would help like it does in say mangoes and avacados etc.,?

they don't appear to like the cold we get at winter so may do very much better in more tropical humid conditions further north.

len

mail len

lens garden page

Cheers,
Aggie

you've wetted our appetites tell us more about these things called muscadines????

len

YELLOW JABOTICABA, Myciaria glomurata
The Exotic fruit special for this month is the Yellow Jaboticaba. We consider this tree a showpiece. Its lime green leaves have an unusual soft, almost powdery appearance and its beautiful golden green pendulous branches make it a worthy feature in the garden for its highly ornamental nature.

The fruit of the black jaboticaba is becoming more popular and widespread while the yellow jaboticaba still remains a mystery to many.
A prerequisite for enjoying the fruits of the Black Jaboticaba is patience. They can often take 6-7 years to come to fruit. However, we have found the Yellow Jabot produce fruit in as little as 3 years.
It is a small bushy tree, usually growing to 3-4m in the subtropics of Australia, however I have seen photographs of the tree, in Brazil (its place of origin), with a couple of young boys perched high in the branches. These trees must have reached 9-10 m tall. The tree has a moderate cold tolerance but is best protected from frost. It is a suitable container grown tree in those areas that do receive frost and can be moved to a sheltered position during the cooler months.
They are happy in full sun or part shade and are generally small enough to find a place in most gardens. They are relatively wind tolerant but will not enjoy salt spray. They particularly enjoy deep rich soil pH 5.5 to 6.5 but with regular nutrient application can be grown in most soil types.

While the fruits have some similarities to the Black Jaboticaba, they are quite different in appearance, having a slightly furry yellow skin instead of the smooth shiny black skin. The fruit contains a gelatinous whitish pulp which has a pleasant, sweet tangy flavour reminensint of pineapple. A single tree will produce fruit, but cross pollination has shown to increase productivity.

When planting a jaboticaba, the crown (uppermost) roots should be 2 to 3 inches higher than the surrounding soil levels to provide water runoff. Peat, compost or rotted manure may be mixed with the soil from the planting hole to improve it. The soil should be a well-aerated mixture.

got the link saved i knew i had asked a question about something somewhere but oldtimers prevented me remembering in which thread lol.

len

In case anyone is wondering about the bananas, check out earlier thread from other forum about scrub turkey eating my bananas :)