Bizarre - my potted, 3' high R-167 rambutan has just started a mixed bloom. I've only had it for a couple of months, so my guess is that the stress of bare-rooting and shipment from Puerto Rico induced the flowering.
My Rambutan has a flower spike!
You lucky, fortunate you-know-what!!! That's absolutely fantastic! I can only imagine how you must be feeling about that. Not many out there can boast about this. Would you share a better pick of the whole plant? I just received mine about three-four months ago. It is a Jit Lee variety. I also have a nice growing rambutan rootstock after the graften Rongrien died off. Hoping to get another scion and try grafting it myself. When I get a new growth flush, I lose the older leaves. Has this happened with you? Are you going to let any fruit develop? Keep us informed on the progress.
Jay,
Yes, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed about this fantastic little event - of course, I can hardly take credit for it since I think environmental and chance factors have more to do with this flower spike than my tender loving care. Here's a picture of the whole plant. Of the three R167s I ordered, this was the only one to survive shipping without dropping all of its leaves. There was some light insect damage apparent when I received it, so that's why some of the leaves are a bit munched up. Also, some of the branches were snapped during the shipping process, so you'll notice that the tree has an unusual shape - all in all, it's a tough little tree that I've grown quite attached to.
Most of my rambutans lost their leaves following their harrowing journey through the Carribean, so my experience with new growth flushes is limited to this one, my Rongrien (which shipped beautifully and showed very little stress on arrival), and several seedlings I started last year. In any case, I have only had a few months to observe them, and I haven't noticed leaf drop immediately following a new growth flush. I have, however, noticed this on lychees after the tree is stressed out by insect or wind damage. The tree puts out a healthy new growth flush and immediately drops all of its old leaves. Lychee leaves have a finite lifespan anyway, though, so I usually find that the mature leaves only live through two or three new flushes before dying off in any case. I assume rambutan will behave similarly, dropping older leaves when they are either past their prime or when damaged and new leaves can take their place.
I don't think I'm going to let any fruit develop even if any of the rather limited number of flowers arising from this spike are fertilized - I plan on putting the tree in the ground in March, and I would rather it focused its energy on vegetative growth. Still, who knows if I'll be able to resist leaving little immature rambutans on the tree...
Probably a wise decision on not keeping the fruit. The plant is way to small. In your environment, you should get some fine growth flushes and fill that plant out. Mine are a little more modest up here in Ohio in my greenhouse! Just out of curiousity, do you have any plans on protecting the plant in the event of a colder winter? By the way...where did you order your plants from?
Yes, I do plan on protecting it during the winter, although my area tends to have relatively warm winters (in my entire lifetime, I can only remember three nights where the temperature dropped below 40 F - the absolute recorded low at my house so far this winter is 50 F). It's actually warmer here than Bill Whitman's famous Bal Harbour grove, and I don't have to worry about salt spray! Still, I'm erecting temporary mini-greenhouses around my in-ground ultra-tropicals for winter cold spells, since cold winds tend to be more damaging here than the absolute lows are. Although they tend to deal with cold weather better than most people assume (I think Bill Whitman has proved that pretty well), I prefer not to take chances.
All of my rambutans came from Puerto Rico. The R167s are from Govardhan Gardens, and the Rongrien is from Montoso Gardens. They are both excellent nurseries run by wonderful people. Did your trees also come from Puerto Rico? I think it's great that your giving rambutan a shot in such an unfavorable climate - the fact that your trees haven't just dropped dead is a cause for celebration in and of itself!
A lot of my plants have come from Montoso Gardens. I really like Bryon. He's been extremely helpful and even more patient with me over the past few years. And he has all kinds of rare plants too! My most recent arrivals came from Frankies in Hawaii...this was a desperation move on my part. The shipping costs just kills you. I noticed you also posted on the Tropical Fruits forum. It's really been slow over there lately. I've posted a bunch of pics there this morning...check them out. I have a pic of my Jit Lee. Well, thanks again for sharing the pics and info. Do you have a pic of your Rongrien? I'm either going to get a scion from Bryon or just another plant. I would really like to try my hand at grafting.
Here is a picture of my Rongrien - It's just put on a new growth flush over the last couple of days, so it's looking quite a bit better now than it does in the photo. I agree, Bryan is a great guy. Besides the rambutan, I've ordered a Garcinia xanthochymus, two cupuassus and three mangosteens from him and I've never been disappointed (he's also sending a grafted durian in the Spring!). Good luck grafting your tree - if rambutan is anything like lychee or longan, getting the graft to take might pose a challenge. I think I'll go check your post on the Tropical Fruits forum now...
Nice! About same basic size as my Jit Lee but you have more leaves! A durian?! Now that would be pretty cool. I thought about that but there would just be no room at all for a plant like that in my greenhouse. I was thinking about one of the smaller jakfruit varieties possibly. I really want to succeed with all my plants and get fruit obviously. I have to overcome the pollenation problem I'm currently having with the miracle fruit and sapodilla. I thought about indroducing some kind of beneficial insect into the greenhouse and hope that they may help out. Maybe ladybugs and then spray an attractant on the plant that is blooming.
If you decide to get a jakfruit, I would suggest you get a golden nugget - they're delicious, and both tree and fruit are relatively small (annual pruning will keep them down to 8 feet without a problem). Besides, jakfruit takes heavy pruning very well, so you shouldn't have too much trouble keeping it down to a manageable size as long as your container is of reasonable dimensions (20-25 gallons should be enough). As for the sapodilla, do you know if it is a self-fertilizing variety? Some of them need cross-pollination to bear, although most named varieties available today don't have that problem. I don't believe that ladybugs will help either, since sapodillas are generally pollinated by very small insects like thrips. I read a study once that claimed that honeybees didn't pollinate sapodilla either. Have you tried hand pollination? I know it's been proven to significantly increase sapodilla yields. As for the miracle fruit, you might want to try to do that one by hand as well.
I've been doing the hand pollenation. It seemed to work some on the miracle fruit...waiting to see if it worked with the latest blooms. The flowers on the sapodilla never fully open like a normal flower. I try getting the brush inside the bloom but doesn't seem to collect anything. I'll keep at it. It is starting to send more and more out at the same time now which may help.
As for the jak...the golden nugget is exactly the one I was looking to get. Need to find a good source for this...meaning, who would have the nicest plant!! Wonder if Bryon would have this? That way I can get the Rongrien and this together and maybe my wife would be none the wiser!! I have to sell some others in order to be "allowed" to get any new ones. She's the finance boss and she carries a big whip! These plants need to start fruiting to justify their existence...or me to justify mine!!
The only cultivars I recognize that Bryan has listed on his site are Black Gold and NS-1. He also has one called 'Chandra' that is supposedly skinless and another variegated form; while those are interesting, I would go with a proven variety if I were you. I have a Black Gold in the ground here at the house, and it grows very quickly with little care. It was about a foot high when I received it almost two years ago, was battered almost to the graft line by back-to-back hurricanes last year, had some formative pruning and was STILL more than twelve feet tall when I measured it at the beginning of winter this year. It has yet to flower or fruit, but I expect it to at least flower in the Fall of this year. The only trouble I could imagine you having with a Black Gold is the fruit size once it starts bearing - they're huge! A potted tree might not develop a trunk strong enough to support 20+ lb fruit. While the Golden Nugget is similar in terms of vigor, the smaller fruit size really lends itself more to container culture. Pine Island would probably be the best choice for a healthy Golden Nugget, but since they don't ship bear root the shipping would be a fortune (thankfully, I don't run into that problem, since their nursery is only about a ten minute drive from my house). Barring that possibility, I would suggest giving a Black Gold from Bryan a try - if anything, its a beautiful tree.
I think I'll stick with the golden nugget. I've been thru the shipping fees from Florida to Hawaii. Just something I have to deal with being up here!
OJ...Jakfruit, are you serious?
Always wanted one...why? Can't really say!! Don't know if serious or not. Be kinda cool though.
SB, probably won't get one though. Pipe dream. I've really got to start being realistic concerning my greenhouse. It's not a conservatory! On the other hand....they are suppossed to be fast growers and fruit pretty quickly. See! There I go again.
Hey Eldys...did you check out my post on Tropical Fruits about what I did to my Jit Lee? Really stupid.
I haven't seen it yet - I'll check it out now. By the way, the flowers on my R167 are developing nicely. I'll post pics tommorrow!