Passion Fruit

I got a lot of Passion Fruit this year. I did not count them, but estimate I got about 700 this year. This box contains about 130 and I have 50-60 on my counter ready to make juice. There is still about 100 on the vine.

Dragon Fruit

I pollinated these Dragon Fruit flowers a week ago and they are still green, which means I successfully pollinated them. If not they would have turned yellow in 3 or four days.

I thought I would have to wait until August or September for more flower buds, but I just found these two. I suspect this plant will produce more fruit than expected.

Myoga (Japanese Ginger)

This year my Myoga plants have been extremely productive and getting a handful of Myoga every week.

Guava (Red)

These Guava are getting bigger and there are hundreds of fruit on the tree. I need to start wrapping them soon.

Mikan (Orange)

My little Mikan orange tree has three nice fruit.

Japanese Sweet Potato (Beni Imo)

I planted these Beni Imo slips last December and harvested today. I got 1kg (2.5 lbs) of Sweet Potatoes.

Dragon Fruit

The rest of the Dragon Fruit flowers bloomed tonight and I could pollinate them. There were ten flowers tonight and four last night. I do not see any more flowers, but I expect this plant to produce more buds the end of July or early August.

 

Dragon Fruit

This plant produced six flowers earlier, but I was unable to find pollen and lost them; however, I was able to find pollen today and was able to cross pollinate them. If successfully, these will mature in 30 days. There are about 10 more flowers on the plant. I have a lot of pollen so will keep some in the refrigerator and freeze the rest. Pollen will stay fresh in the refrigerator for about 48 hours and can remain viable in the freezer for about two years. Dragon Fruit plants flower between May and September, so after these fruit mature the plant will flower once more in late July or August, so will be able to get more fruit at that time. 

Myoga (Japanese Ginger)

I'm getting plenty of Myoga recently and not sure what to do with them. They are best eaten fresh with Somen noodles and the like, but I have more than I can use. Need to find a way to store them.

Dragon Fruit

I removed many Dragon Fruit buds. I left one or two on each branch, but there are still many flowers left.

Guava (Red)

I picked the last rip Guava from this tree about a month ago and it is again full of fruit. 

The fruit are still young and the birds will not bother them yet, but insects will start to damage them. You can see a fruit at the top-left that is brown. Ants and Mealybug larva damages it. I need to cleanup the tree and start wrapping the fruit.

Shikuwasa

The Shikuwasa tree in the back of my house is producing fruit, but I have a Shikuwasa tree in the front of my house that is just starting to bloom. I never got any significant amount of fruit from my trees in the past and do not understand the production cycle. I'm not sure if these trees bloom twice a year, like Guava, or perhaps the tree in the front of my house is mislabeled. I need to study the situation. Also, the tree in the back of my house is constantly under attack from Citrus Bark Beetles. I check the tree everyday and must have eliminated over 20 beetles, but more keep showing up. I think I've eliminated the larva in the ground, but they did considerable damage to the trunk that I keep working on. These are a serious pest. 

Blossoms

Mango (Kitsu Mango)

It is rainy season and it has been raining quite a bit, so I was worried about these Mango; however, they are doing well. 

These Mango and getting quite large but do not ripen until September, so wondering how large they will get. This is the first year I've gotten fruit so have little experience. I hope they survive until they fully ripen. So much can go wrong. 

Lilikoi Butter

Last night my wife and I made Lilikoi Butter and this morning we used it on our Pancakes. It was absolutely delicious. Lilikoi is the Hawaiian word for Passion Fruit. The process was a bit involved, so I am not able to add it to this post, but there are many receipts on the web.

Dragon Fruit

My Dragon Fruit plant is going crazy and producing so many flower buds. It has already produced six flowers, but I could not find pollen to cross pollinate them and they died. Anyway, I need to remove some of these buds. Normally, I do not allow more than two flowers per branch. Since I have so many branches with buds this year, I think I will only keep one bud per branch. That way I will get larger fruit. I've found the bud at the tip or end of the branch is best to keep since the plant seems to send all its nutrients there. I'll experiment. 

Pineapple

My Pineapple flower has turned into a real Pineapple. I cannot wait to try it. I did not document the type of fruit I planted at the time, but it looks like what the Japanese call a Snack Pine. The skin of the Pineapple is very bumpy and can latterly be pulled out and snacked on without cutting it open. 

Pineapple

 

The Pineapple crown I planted the end of May is doing well. It has not grown at all, but rather I suspect it is working on developing its root system. 

PawPaw Tree

I purchased this PawPaw sapling from a nursery in October 2022. It has barely grown, but still alive and has a few leaves. I thought this tree would die if placed in direct sun since it is extremely warm and humid in my region, so kept it in partial shade, but it just did not grow; therefore, I moved it into direct sun and it seems to be doing much better. 

Asparagus

My Asparagus plants are doing well and look very healthy. It kind of looks like a bamboo forest, but they are actually Asparagus sprouts.

These plants are now two years old and technically I can starting picking about half, but have not picked any yet. Recently, I've noticed rhizomes popping out of the soil and producing Asparagus, so believe I can start picking these. 

Green Peppers (Piman)

I have to Green Pepper plants, but not getting many Peppers. I recently transplanted one of the plants to a larger container in hopes it improves. 

 

Passion Fruit Juice

I'm getting so many Passion Fruit this year. I give many to my neighbors, but still have more than I can eat. I still have jam from last year, so I decided to make Passion Fruit juice. This is the first year I made juice and so surprised how delicious it is. 

I use 15-20 Passion Fruit. I remove the pulp from all the fruit and place it is a blender. I blend the pulp, on the slowest speed, for 10-15 seconds. I place the mix in a cullender and separate the juice from the seeds. Then I weight the juice and add one part juice to three parts water. Finally I add sugar to taste.

Really refreshing.

Myoga (Japanese Ginger)

Starting to get Myoga.

Papaya

I have not picked Papaya for a while. I've left them for the bats, but decided to pick one and freeze it for smoothies and ice cream. Here is how I prepare it.

Cut in half and remove the seeds.

use a spoon and scoop out the pulp and place in a freezer bag. I typically place 400 grams of pulp in each bag, since this is the amount I use for ice cream.

Finally, I smash the pulp and make it flat to make it easier to use once frozen. Place it in the freezer.  

Mango (Kitsu Mango)

We had a typhoon last week and lost a Mango. It is hard as a rock, but I'm going to keep it on the counter in hopes it ripens.