Mikan Orange

One of the Mikan Oranges on my little tree ripen early, but I found a worm damaged it, which caused it. Anyway, I removed the bad part and ate it. It was juicy, but not that sweet since it did not have time to ripen naturally. Sad!

Dragon Fruit

This will be the last flowering this year and got a lot. I pollinated six flowers on 1 Sep, twenty one on 2 Sep and six more on 3 Sep. I hope my pollination was successful. 

My neighbor sent me this picture of the Dragon Fruit at 11:30 pm. This picture is not clear, but she said there were more blooming than this picture shows and they were so beautiful and smelled wonderful. She said she actually woke up another neighbor to see them. Anyway, it has been almost two weeks since I pollinated them and it looks like they all made it. That means I will have 33 Dragon Fruit ready for picking the beginning on October.

Micro Tomatoes

I was able to get a few Micro Tomatoes from a cooking class and planted one.

About a week after planting a Micro Tomato I could see the first sprout.

I dug up the Tomato with all the sprouts and transplanted five of them. This is day four and they are doing well.

Peanuts

The Peanut plants are back and doing well. They are unstoppable. 

Dragon Fruit

This Dragon Fruit plant has tons of flowers. After this picture I thinned them out. I only want one or two fruit per branch, so removed the smallest flowers. Also, I found a fruit on the plant that is growing well. I did not pollinate it, so something was able to successfully pollinate it. Wow!

Green Peppers (Piman)

This Green Pepper (Piman) plant produced a few Peppers, but during the recent typhoon I put the plant in the house and all the fruit and leaves fell off. As soon as I put it back outside it grew new leaves and started to flower. It actually looks healthier, so believe it will produce many fruit.

 

Bitter Melon (Goya, Nigauri)

The typhoon at the beginning of the month destroyed these Goya plants and all the fruit dropped. About a week later I could see the seeds on top of the soil start to grow roots, so was expecting this. I added some fertilizer and Goya plant food and these new plants look super healthy.

Japanese Sweet Potato (Beni Imo)

I planted these Japanese Sweet Potato slips (Beni Imo) on 1 December 2022. These are a white variety, but when baked they will become a beautiful purple inside. 

I removed the vines and set them aside for replanting. 

I flipped over the container to make it easier to remove the tubers. They were quite large, but about half were rotten. We had a typhoon at the beginning of the month and had a lot of rain, which I suspect caused the tubers to go bad.

These are quite large. I placed them outside in a shaded area to cure. 

Asparagus

Though it is okay to pick 50% of the Asparagus the second year, I have left these alone and recently I have noticed the sprouts are getting thicker. Next year they should be perfect and ready to pick.

Guava

We had a typhoon that lasted quite a while (1-7 August). Most of my trees had damage, but the Guava fared well. I estimate 30% of the smaller fruit were knocked off, but many of the larger fruit made it. Go figure!

Canistel

I planted four Canistel seeds in early 2020 and have four trees. Two are in pots and two I planted in the ground. It generally takes 3-6 years to bear fruit when grown from seed. This tree is in a pot and now has buds, but the other three trees do not. 

Canistel generally produces buds between May and July and ready to eat between December and March. This tree has lots of buds on all the branches. Canistel are bisexual and pollinate with the assistance of pollinators. I will spray some honey water on the flowers to help them out, because I really love Canistel. 

Guava

It's Guava season!

I'm getting both red Guava and some Strawberry Guava. 

I picked a few green Guava due to their size. We have a typhoon coming and these will most certainly be damaged.

 

Dragon Fruit

My Dragon Fruit plant has many flowers and this one will blossom tonight; however, I do not have any pollen to pollinate it with so will lose this one. There are more that will blossom them day after nd the next day; unfortunately, we will be hit by a typhoon tomorrow, so not sure I will be able to pollinate them either. Bad timing!

Acerola

My Acerola tree is full of flowers and the cherries are so large and unblemished. 

Every Acerola cherry is perfect and sweet, plus Guava are starting to ripen. This season the Guava are so sweet. 
 

Dragon Fruit

There are so many Dragon Fruit flowers. I have thinned them out and have to remove a few more. As previously mentioned, I do not want more than two flowers per branch. One is best, but no more than two.

Shikuwasa

This is the first year I actually got fruit. There are not too many, so will probably make juice or use them for cooking. This tree is constantly being attacked by Citrus Bark Beetles and has significant damage. I have been battling them and thought I had them licked 2-3 weeks ago, but found two adults this week alone. More importantly is to kill the larva in the soil around the roots or inside the trunk. They are the most destructive. I have a special chemical with a tube that goes into the ground and can reach inside the trunk were the larva bury. I cannot see any new damage, but the adult beetles continue to show up. What a pain.

Dragon Fruit

I decided to pick all the fruit on the plant two days ago. I thought there were 13 fruit, but actually there were 14. Though they do not look large in this picture, they are all a pretty decent size.

The largest fruit weighed 510 grams (1.1 lbs).

I selected this one to try.

Absolutely beautiful.

The skin is thick and pliable, so very easy to remove.

Just slice and enjoy. This fruit was sweet and very juicy.

Dragon Fruit

Well, it has been 30 days exactly since I pollinated these Dragon Fruit and they are ready to pick.

The fruit can be left on the plant a few extra days, but there is the possibility that pests, like bats or birds, will damage them, but more likely they will start to slit open.

There are 13 fruit on the plant. I lost all six when the plant first blossomed, because I could not find pollen. I lost another three during this blossom due to rain. In the end I got these 13 and should get another 10-20 in August.

I thought I was going to have and wait until the end of August or September for the next batch of fruit, but the plant is already starting to bud. There are buds all over. I might get two more harvests this year. 

Dragon Fruit

I pollinated these Dragon Fruit on June 21 and 22 and some are starting to turn red. It typically takes 30 days from the time of pollination to harvest. 

Pineapple

My first ever Pineapple. It is tiny, but still a Pineapple :)

 

Guava (Red)

I continue to wrap Guava.

Passion Fruit

 

There are only a few Passion Fruit left on the vine and they are falling off little by little. I have not trimmed this vine ever and it is around 80 ft (25 m) long, so it needs a trim badly. Fruit only grows from new growth, so all the old vines are messy and unhealthy for the plant. The longer the vine gets the more difficult it is to transport water and nutrients, so it's best to trim the plant every year.

Guava (Red)

I started wrapping the Guava about two weeks ago and estimate I wrapped nearly 300 based on the number of bags I used. There are still some small fruit on the tree I did not wrap and plan to wrap them with the bags of fruit that drop sooner.

A few Guava dropped early. They are not quite rip, so not sure why they dropped. Perhaps I did not water enough or the wind blew them off. I hope they are sweet.

Goya (Bitter Melon)

These Goya are doing well. There are six on the vine and a few will be ready to pick in a week or so.

Green Pepper (Piman)

This Green Pepper plant is doing much better after I transplanted it. I left this Pepper on the plant to turn red. It is looking beautiful and I will pick it soon.