Cultivating Citrus Fruits

My foray into growing the citrus fruit started when my 6th sister gave me this plant, supposedly a Taiwanese hybrid.  She gave this plant as a house-warming gift.  Apparently she was persuaded by the sweet talking people at the nursery to buy this plant.  Initially the plant came in the form of just two stalks, and some leaves, typical of grafted citrus plant, about a foot plus tall.  I really do not know what to do this plant except to dig a big hole in my then rather bare garden (then),  planted it  using the mixed soil bought from nursery, and watered it well, having no previous experience with such plants.  I  feed it with the fertilizer that the nursery people recommended, the small round black pellets that smelled like coffee.  For a long time the plant just stood there sulking, taking  stock of its new environment (and me, the frustrated gardener, lol, who keeps checking on it daily). It did not produce  new leaves nor new stems. Then about a month or two later, it bloomed and as a result of the blooms, 6 small round green fruits appeared. Coincident or  not ?  I asked my 6th Sister. But the plant continued to express its disapproval of me and my efforts....it just stood there with its 6 tiny green fruits, no new leaves, no new stalks....., it was as if time stood still for it!  

I sought to to read about citrus growing in the internet,  as well as looked for such books in the local library and bookstore, but unfortunately did not come across any useful article.  Then feeling a bit lost, I decided to dig around the plant, cleared the grass that was crowding around it, then miracles of miracles,  for my effort the plant suddenly produced  some new leaves !!  That was about 4 months back, and now the plant seemed to return to its state of  dormancy again, but at least it has many leaves and new stems, but it is growing slowly.  No new flowers. As long as it stays healthy, I guess I am thankful.

A good friend of mine, Tracy,  told me that  when  a plant first bear fruits, we should not pluck them but let them dropped naturally when they ripen.  So with nothing to lose and everything to gain, I  decided to follow this advice. The first fruit dropped before it can even mature, still green in color . Then one  fruit burst open , and  another one dropped. I decided out of curiosity to find out  what the fruit should taste  like, and plucked one.  Still not too mature, it tasted  a bit sweet, no sourness but not much juice. The skin was thin  and easy to peel. I decided to let the last two fruits be.  Well it was in February  when I first took their pictures  (small  green fruit) and now it is October, yet the last two fruits  have turned yellow but have not fallen (see the picture where I am holding the fruit),  hopefully patience will win the day!  

                                                                                                         

A man selling fertilizer and plants said it was not advisable to add fertilizer when the plant is flowering. The fertilizer will cause the  flowers / new fruits to drop.  After the fruits are harvested, feed fertilizer to strengthen the plant. After  about a month or two when the plant is rested,  add the flowering fertilizer for it to bloom.  Well, I have yet to try it out, as I am waiting for these two yellow beauties to drop.

The lime kasturi (calamansi) is a common feature  in most malaysian  gardens. It is so convenient to pluck a fruit or two for juice to be added to the sambal belachan (prawn paste chilli sauce) or chopped chilli / garlic  with white soya sauce served on the dinner table. On a hot day, a glass of ice cold  lime kasturi  juice drink is just heavenly.  I bought two plants as I just love the smell of the lime.  The flowers smell rather nice too actually.

 

It takes approximately 3 to 4 months from flowering  to harvesting the fruits. I have harvested all these fruits now to make sambal belachan.  A friend told me to add the skin of the lime to the chilli  when making the sambal belachan.  Since I do not use chemicals on my plants, I have no worries on using the skin as it gives a  nice flavour to the sauce.  

Growing Fruit Trees ( Part 2 )

I have always loved avocados ever since I first tasted them.  So when I noticed my mother's neighbor has a tree, and the tree was laden with fruits, I  was full of hope that  I  can  plant one as well.  I asked  the auntie  for a couple of  fruits, and in no time I had a baby plant from  one of the seeds . One can imagine how excited  I was!  The auntie was very nice and  even offered me the baby plants that were sprouting up around the mother plant. I dig up one plant, and planted  it  behind my mother's house. However, the maid  neglected to water it and it did not survive.  Therefore I was a bit worried that my precious baby plant will not survive either, and watched over it like a hawk!   When the plant was young, it needed moisture and the leaves protection from the hot sun.  Aphids and mealy bugs attacked the young plant, but with some malathion I took care of them.   I surfed the net to get  information on cultivating avocado plants in Malaysia.  I would like to recommend my readers to  Dr Francis Ng  (refer http://tropicalhorticulture.blogspot.com ) who  has a good article written on avocados in Malaysia ( May 27, 2007). 

This is my avocado plant and it is beautiful, isn't it?  It is now about 5 feet tall. The leaves are so big and green.  I already have it for almost two years now.  The avocado fruits apparently are suitable for old peoples' digestive system. I tell my children I want to enjoy the fruits from this plant during my old age.  Ahh.... it is a long patient wait to taste the first fruits from the Avocado, but I can wait. Apparently some trees are said to be able to bear fruits in 5 years, some 10 and others never even bear fruits until 20 years. I guess it all depends on the species, and the environment.

 Initially, aside from the papayas and avocado, I was pondering what other fruit tress to grow outside the house compound when  there came an e-mail that expounded on the many benefits of the Kedondong fruits (ambarella).  Actually I was a bit hesitant  about the kedondong as it is prone to black mould attack and the fruits too sour to eat, especially as the sourness can be a bit harsh on the teeth.  Juicing the fruits is okay.  The plus side of this plant is it grows fast and is bears fruits early, and easily.  My kedondong was already bearing fruit  just after four months of growth.  It was a small plant when I bought it from the nursery.  

Our family loves the jack fruit. It is one of the fruits that one can enjoy the whole year round. Since our place can be rather hot, being exposed to the sun, we thought the jack fruit tree will be ideal to provide shade as well as fruits in future. My husband is a bit worried that it will grow too big, and a problem to maintain. I told him we will cross the bridge when we come to it.  Right now I keep pruning of the branches on top so it will branch sideways instead of just growing upwards. When the plant was small I was scared to cut it as I read that the main trunk might rot, so I am rather careful when cutting the plant stalks, especially the thick milky sap the oozed out.  After having planted it for almost 2 years now, it is already taller than me. Once I saw something similar to a bud, but it soon dropped, so perhaps I am mistaken.  Amazingly one article I read that if the plant is from good stock, it will bear with 18 months....rather unbelievable, isn't it?

The mulberry fruits and leaves are supposed to benefit the eyes.  I am rather fascinated by the mulberry plant and rather like the sweet tartness of the ripe fruit. The mulberry plant is easy to propagate by cuttings. The cuttings take root very fast. I have about five bushes of mulberry as a result of over-enthusiasm for some plants to grow when we first moved here ..... I know I have to remove some soon.  Actually the mulberry do not take up much space, just got to keep trimming it and it will bear fruits.

A mango plant is a must I supposed, we got two types, the Harum Manis and the Raja Pelam. The Harum Manis seems rather stunted even after almost 2 years, but I refused to give up on it.   About 8 months after we took it back, it started to bloom and even bear a fruit !  All seemed well until one day a naughty monkey  caused havoc and stole the mango (with its netting as well)/........... Later  I  found the half eaten fruit and netting in the drain.   The Raja Pelam on the other hand seems to be doing well. From the photos you can guess which is which! 

 

Well wish me luck with my fruit trees.............

Growing Fruit Trees ( Part 1 )

This cute little plant is a grafted mangoesteen, yes, none other than the "Queen of Fruits".  Strange that I should  buy this little fella, but then never try, never know. I  have always been fascinated by mangoesteens (love the fruit as well), so I  cannot resist this attempt to cultivate one  beside the house.  The nursery guy said if I am lucky  this plant will start fruiting within 3 to 5 years.  It does not matter, but just see how this one goes.  After all what is RM 13 for a lifetime experience to do what I dreamt of doing.....planting  a mangoesteen tree beside the house. Hope I get lucky. Okay, let us check  out the other  fruit trees  that I am growing.

My son loves the custard apple. The white soft flesh is sweet, but the numerous hard black seeds are an irritation.  We have to spit out  as we  eat the fruit.  The skills of taking this fruit  must be acquired and developed in order to enjoy the sweet fruit.   The plant smells nice too.  The Cananga Odorate  is somehow related to this plant.  The flowers of the custard apple are much smaller in comparison.  I planted two custard apple  trees about a year ago from seeds obtained from a  fruit  a friend gave us.   Both  trees are already bearing  their  first fruits.

A papaya tree is a common sight in villages.  When we were growing up, there was always a papaya tree in the backyard. So when we moved here, I was determined to create the  country side atmosphere, and immediately set about planting these papayas outside of the house compound.  I planted  about 5 or 6 and all looked very promising until they start to flower....and one even started to fruit (left hand side). Well errr....  not many, just about 6 precious fruits,  then 'gone case' ! One by one  the papaya trees started to yellow and drop leaves. We checked around, some people said not enough water, no I definitely watered religiously....then some said too much water --- hardly possible given the hot weather.....!  Finally with no solution to sight, I had to remove the sickly trees.  I purposely dug out  one plant to check the roots....but  there were no rooting roots, just that the roots seemed stunted.  Okay, so I am not going to be a brilliant papaya fruit cultivator.....! Growing papaya for fruits is not as easy as in the old days. Perhaps it  is something to do with the species.  Anyway  let me not  gripe and grumble .... as they say, " I will be back" ! 

Interested to hear  about how naive and over enthusiastic  I was  for a  first timer ? I was at this nursery when  I saw this strange creeper with all the green fruits so lovely looking......Wow, I asked the nursery fellow what plant is that ? It looked  like the 'lohan kuo fruit' (the fruit we bought from the medical hall  which is all dried up and brownish-black). Yes, was the reply, so I thought I will try growing one of this creeper myself. At the nursery the creeper was allowed to wind around a pole and it did not take up too much space. I naively thought no problem, I could do it.......haha, self delusional only!  Now a year and half later, what have I got ? A creeper that seems overgrown and hard to control despite me diligently removing the leaves until at one desperate time I trimmed  it all  bare except  for a couple of strangling vines. Well, two months later it looked like it did previously. Before I trimmed it all I was successful with three. fruits.....correct, 3 only, Two dropped half way and one managed to mature for me to taste it.! Was it worth it...hellaluya! Yes, the fruit - as I discovered is the Passion fruit, sweetish, juicy....not bad, if only I can get more out of the creeper! So i give it more time, if still no results,  I wowed to remove it totally, Actually the flowers are beautiful as well, but unlike my purple passion flower these  is more whitish/purple  and no fragrance. Unfortunately I have no photos to show here.  Unlike my passion flower, this creeper despite being a fast grower does not seem to bloom much. 

Last on today's blog, there is the malay gooseberry plant ( Phyllanthus distichus or in chinese - Yu -Kam).  Growing this plant is my younger sister's wish list  item actually.  Admittedly it is a nice plant. and is known to be grown as an ornamental plant in some parts of the world. My  younger sister  bought the plant during one of her home visits a year ago  and we  planted it.   When we were young, my mother had one of this tree behind the old house. We used to be very fascinated by the yellow little fruit that tasted so sour and tart.  Normally my mother will pickle the fruits. Recently a strange thing happened. My younger sister  works in Singapore and she was home again on leave. When she  inspected the  plant, she remarked, " maybe this is not the Yu-Kam, but the Too Bor Seung (Averrhoa bilimbi)" . Both trees looked similar.

Three days after she went back to Singapore, this tiny fruit appeared !  It seemed like this plant is determined to stake its identity. Normally the fruits grew along the branches, not at the tip like this one. Now everyday I checked for flowers, but there were none.  The plant seems happy though, branching out and sprouting leaves.....I imagine it must be happy now that we cannot doubt its identity! 

More on my fruit trees planting endeavors next blog.....!