Last year someone I knew went to Australia picked some Kangaroo Apple's and brought back the seeds to Canada. I planted some and now have a very nice plant with lots of fruit hanging on it. I have read that it is only edible when it is VERY ripe and am a bit scared to try it.

I am posting here so that hopfully someone who has actually eaten a Kangaroo Apple fruit can tell me what to do because no one in Canada has ever seen it before. It will soon be freezing here and the plant will die, I will most likely bring the plant in so that the fruit can ripen some more......?

My plant looks like the one at this website http://museumvictoria.com.au/forest/plants/apple.html

Thank you for any help =)

Secondly I would like to point out that the various Aus native Solanum species are extremely aggressive colonisers and can be quite invasive even in their natural range. Solanum aviculare is no exception.

So what you and your friend have almost certainly done is introduce and Australian environmental weed into Canada. Perhaps you should google "environmental weed" and learn about the devestation that these do to ecosystems across the globe.

Most particularly those that produce edible fruit that can be distributed in the bird droppings hundreds of kilometres from the initial infestation. And which you will have little chance of preventing it from spreading.

I think the right thing for you to do would be to destroy your Kangaroo Apple, dispose of it in land fill and choose a more appropriate and non-invasive Australian native plant.

It doesn't matter what everyone else does, it only matters what you do! And you certainly don't have to add your contribution to the environmental problems in your country do you?

These sort of situations are an environmental line in the sand for individuals like yourself. Your authorities can do only so much and the rest must be up to individuals behaving in an environmentally responsible manor.

As for the -40 degree celsius winters.

Do you have a degree in ecology or botany that gives you the expertise to reliably assess whether or not an exotic species has the potential to be invasive in between your cold winters? I thought not.

Seeds can survive extraordinarily hostile conditions, expecially the seeds of many of our native species.

Imagine an Australian going on vacation to Mexico, finds a flower that they fall in love with that is not native to Australia and decides to bring it home with them. Well, what if that flower has a weed germinating in its soil and it is planted in the ground in Australia. That weed was not native to Australia and if that weed spreads into a nearby crop field it could potential cost that farmer a lot of money to exterminate the weed, if he is able to identify it in time.

The results of doing something like that are just not worth the ability to look at the foreign flower in your backyard. Please just follow the laws that are in place, they are there for good reasons.

Never mind the possibility of spreading a disease that could potential cause an epidemic.

I agree that it is unfortunate that laws governing the importation and exportation of agricultural items are needed but the lay person does not understand the complexities of the agricultural world and the problems created with all good intentions.

An example would be the importation of citrus from Canada into the United States in lunches for those working in the U.S. and meals for the travelers through the U.S. Because import standards are extremely strict, it prevents those citrus imported into Canada from countries other than the U.S., to get into the U.S.

Canadian import standards are not as strict and unfortunately citrus from non U.S. counties at times are contaminated with eggs, larvae, and adult "bugs" that would devastate the American Citrus Industry in California, Arizona, and Florida.

In fact even Florida citrus can not be sold in California and vice versa. Each has a unique pest contamination that the other State does not want introduced in theirs adding to an already major problem, ie. Medierranean White Fruit Fly. Enough said.

Have a great day everyone only double for you personally.
Trooper_jay

I have a kangaroo apple in my garden. It germinated from seed dispersed by wind or bird droppings. It definitely has the ability to be invasive.

Having lived in Canada for all of my youth, I would agree that the chances of kangaroo apple or its seed surviving a Canadian winter are slim. I do agree though that the average person doesn't know enough about quarantine to be making decisions about whether it's safe to sow exotic seeds in their local area.

Don't be fooled into thinking that a plant that is sold in an area has all the approvals. Sometimes it takes a while for enforcement to catch up with legislation.

Cheers,
GW

I have been doing a little research on the plant as I have a huge amount of it growing on my 52 acres. Never seen it as prolific but as we were affected by the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009 it has sprung up.

Interesting to see if come up, but don't think I will be tempted to eat it.