Branny1's Edible Backyard
|
Joined:
00/00/00 Updated:
10/03/19 Frost: About My Edible BackyardWhy Branny1 Love's Edible Plants
Comments* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Fruit Tree Forum ContributionsBranny1 Forum ContributionsWhat to feed a fruiting blueberry bush - Ah, see this is where what they say about assumptions comes in... lols. All the brands of blood and bone available locally that I buy now come with things like 'Added Potash Booster!' or 'Fortified with Potassium' or some such on the packaging. Since a..2786 days 4hrs What to feed a fruiting blueberry bush - Hey, dude, did anyone answer this for you yet? Really, Blood and Bone is a good one for potassium anyway, but if you have homemade compost that's had a fair few banana peels thrown in, then a few handfuls of that mulched around your blueberries with do..2821 days 24hrs Seville orange - Ooh, if anybody has seedlings going, I'd love a couple. As long as there is no issue with postage to Brisbane? Thanks in advance to anyone that could help!..2822 days 0hrs |
Branny1's WISH LISTDwarf Apple - Dorsett Golden Why Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST Top of my priorities is growing apples in Brisbane. A few locals are having great success in South Brisbane. I want so badly. Dwarf Apple - Tropical Anna Why Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST Top of my priorities is growing apples in Brisbane. A few locals are having great success in South Brisbane. I want so badly. Dwarf Apple - Tropic SweetWhy Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST Top of my priorities is growing apples in Brisbane. A few locals are having great success in South Brisbane. I want so badly. Nectarine - White Satin Why Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST I've never been a fan of white nectarines (or peaches) but I have only ever tasted supermarket stock. I'm told home grown is a whole 'nother experience. The description is lovely.... Nectarine - SunwrightWhy Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST I really want some stone fruit in my garden. Dare I make the leap of faith in rotten old muggy Brisbane? Spicezee - Nectarine x Plum Why Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST Oh, but I would love to try this. Heard it can out perform a low chill nectarine in my part of Brisbane. Would like a productive stone fruit. But how well does this do in a pot? Pear - Flordahome Why Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST Would love to grow some good pears, but yet to encounter anyone doing so on my side of Brisbane. I love pears. Peach - Angel Subtropical Why Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST I have heard great things about the taste of this one, and despite the amount of chill hours required, found folk growing it in South Brisbane. Really want it now. Kiwiberry - IssaiWhy Branny1 wants it: - WISH LIST I am desperate for this one. I don't know if I have the space though. And do they grow in Brisbane? Japanese Raisin Why Branny1 wants it: - Sounds so interesting, I would love to try this. Malabar Chestnut Why Branny1 wants it: - I love trees, I love edible trees, I love effective shade trees, I love fast growing trees, I love multifunction trees- this one seems to be one that would really tick every box. Sweet Leaf Bush 6/10Why Branny1 wants it: - I'm always looking for more greens that will grow in our grimey, humid summers. I've heard excellent things about the flavour. |
Guava Yellow Cherry 10/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 1866 days 19hrs Comments: - Bought this a few years ago at Green Harvest up at Maleny, and until this last week, I THOUGHT it was the Strawberry Cherry Guava. It is not. I bought it as a tiny thing, but grew sort of okay once I got it into the pot. Not in a massive pot, 35L I think, but it did okay. Came out in a weird pattern of red blotches that I couldn't quite match to any photos online to any disease/pest that I researched. Couldn't see anything else wrong but these blotches, so I left it be. It kept growing? Not well, but kept growing. All of a sudden, September 2018, it put on a mass of growth, most of the red blotches disappeared, it came lush and green and bushy and it flowered! Every flower set fruit (the native and european bees loved them) I have a dozen fruit on it! It's January 2019 now, and they're still green, but the plant is holding well, no fruit drop. It's getting quite a bit of sun, until about 2-3pm, and gets watered every second day. It shares a pot with parsley and a rando violet that popped up, and a lovely red geranium cutting I shoved in that has grown well, and mulched with sugar cane mulch. Just in compost and coir soaked in molasses, seasol and worm wee to get it started. I think I gave it a toss of blood and bone earlier last year? Never pruned, never done anything to it, just seemed to really enjoy our cooler, very mediteranean spring we had here last year. Now if the fruit would only ripen so I can try them.... EDIT March 2019, the fruit have began to ripen, and nope, not the strawberry! Definitely the gold/yellow cherry guava, and I can't say I'm disappointed, because it is WONDERFUL. Not in the slightest bit resinous, just really beautifully flavoured. Not overly sweet, not acidic at all, just slightly soft, and a delightful flavour that is sort of part tropical pineapple, part 'apple', part something else I can't pinpoint. Very hard to explain, but I adore them. I let them fall off the plant for the perfect fruit- not too soft, juuuust firm, and very aromatic.I just check it every morning for dropped fruit. Seeds are soft enough to eat the whole thing, skin and all. Good both sun warm and also chilled. AWESOME with vanilla icecream. Despite the flowers setting fruit all at once, the fruit are ripening a few at a time, which is great, as it spreads out the feed. I'm planning to allocate some of my prime pot space to a few more, as I can see myself happily eating these all autumn long for the rest of my life. They also seem to ripen as soon as we get cooler weather, and so I've not seen a single pest near them, so I think these would be great to grow if fruit fly is a problem. I've given it just one or two liquid feeds of seasol and liquid fish emulsion plus worm tea and molasses, and one week I added a bit of liquid gypsum so I could do the pumpkin vine nearby as well. Despite very little care the fruit are amazing, and the leaf growth has not suffered at all for it. Plan to top dress with a bit more blood and bone and some rotted sheeps manure at the end of fruiting, with the plan to repot every three or four years. WARNING: I have since discovered that these are on several city council weed lists, with my own being quite fussy about them, so if fruit bat/possums/fruit eating birds are a problem at your place, net your plants! I'd hate to see them banned from sale because of excessive weed issues, since they are just so good! Fruiting Months January, February, March, October, November, December Height 1 metres Growing: In a Pot Qty: 1 Fruit Harvest: 0.5 kilograms per Year First Fruited: 18 Months from Purchase in Pot Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringPollination: No Pest Control: No pesticides, etc. I've left it to battle sickness and such on its own, and it has been a real trooper. Definitely worth the prime space in my yard! Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 4 of 8 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
antidesma erostreBranny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 1913 days 21hrs Comments: - Finally found one of these buggers! I'm dying to see how well it does here in my hotbox Brisbane suburban concrete rental monstrosity. This is a native currant, supposedly a bushy, sprawling shrub that loads itself down with many, many, tiny, tasty fruits. I'm keen to give a few more native fruiters a go in my yard, so I'm hoping for a surviver for my concrete hotbox. Bought from Neilsen's Native Nursery at Loganholme, after I found the currant listed as a plant species of Tarrawood native growers down south- Neilsen's was listed as the only QLD supplier. Emailed them, and they had one lone plant left! And when I got there, it was a stunningly healthy plant, and damn cheap too! Woot! That nursery had so many great things, at reasonable prices, and excellent condition. My experiments with native fruit trees tells me to go SUPER easy on the nutrients. They sicken and die with too much good stuff. They prefer wood chip compost over food waste compost, coir is good when soaked in seasol and worm wee, and a nice layer of mulch on top. I'm babying this one by the side of the house for a few weeks, as Neilsen's had a heck of a lot of breezes, that kept the place a lot cooler and less humid than my yard. I'll let it acclimatise, and seek out a nice big pot for it. Now seeking antidesma bunius (Bignay), and antidesma ghaesembilla (Native black currant). Planted: 2019 Height 1.5 metres Growing: In a Pot Qty: 1 Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Pollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 2 of 2 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Fig - Sandpaper Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 1913 days 21hrs Comments: - Brand new to my garden. I'm excited! Going into a pot with compost and a little organic slow release native fertiliser in there. Mulched heavily, given seasol and worm wee until settled. EDIT: Jan 2019. I left repotting a full fortnight after it arrived, and it was starting to look dreadful- too big for its little seedling pot. I ended up flicking all the soil off the roots, trimming the root stock back by half, and taking half the top off it, then repotting. Left out the fertiliser, and just used mild woodbark compost. Wondered if I'd killed it, as it lost a few leaves and sat looking sad for a few days, but then BOOM. It was off. Lovely little bushy thing. I'm calling it one of my tough nuts. Gets watered every few days, in a 20L pot which it is slowly filling, and in part shade- it gets sun from about 7-8am depending on season, and is in shade by 12. Have never fertilised, and it does great. Will be repotting when it starts to get cool, and I'll top dress with a mild fertiliser then. Qty: 1 Pollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 3 of 10 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Black Apple (Seedling) Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 1913 days 21hrs Comments: - Brand new into my yard, and I'm super excited about them. I've consulted a few sources, and I've decided to have a go at confining them to a smaller size in large pots. One will go straight into the ground, and the other three into pots. I'm going lean with potting mix, as I'm worried about killing more native fruit trees, so some compost and a bit of native pelletised fertiliser on top, mulched heavily. We'll see! EDIT: Jan 2019 Doing really well in their pots, I'll have to repot them soon. One died- I had it positioned in such a way that it wasn't being watered. I cut it back in hopes it would reshoot, but three months on, it's still sitting there. That being said, the stalk is still quite firm and bendable, so I shall leave it be. Another was attacked by something that the ants are farming, and leaves a black, sooty sort of stuff behind. I moved it further into the sun and away from the others, and it seems to be growing well despite the problem. After four months of it not clearing up on its own (I like to give the bugs a chance to solve things for me) I've given it a spray with some oil, and we'll see what happens. It looks healthy enough anyway, and is still growing. The others are doing the best, and the one in the most shade has grown the most. I water every few days. Planted: 2018 Qty: 4 Sun/Shade: Full Sun Pollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 7 of 8 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Strawberry - Redlands Joy (Seedling) 5/10Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2127 days 19hrs Comments: - Started with five. Some went into pots, some into the ground. Two in the ground were absolutely decimated by Morning Glory, one in the pots died for unknown reasons. One is going strong in part shade in my front yard and still flowering and producing fruit in the middle of June! One is in a pot and has only ever had one short flowering season. Delicious fruit, though. Needs quite a bit of feeding and watering to coax out a good crop in our hot Brisbane weather, though. I'm not going to rip them out, but I have more productive plants in my yard than that. Qty: 2 First Fruited: 3 Months from Purchase in Pot Pollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 1 of 3 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Kei Apple (Seedling) 7/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2127 days 19hrs Comments: - These are such tough little buggers. I was told you need male and female plants, so I bought three, but I have no idea if I have different genders yet. One is a paler green than the others, but that might come down to slightly different soils? They're in compost and coir with dynamic lifter in medium sized pots, and they do well. Not particularly tall, just a meter, but lovely and bushy. They do have thorns, but I've never been scratched. I'm wondering if I need to prune them to promote growth? They can be left alone for a VERY long time without watering. I didn't know that one had been moved away, and was not getting any water at all, and it lasted all summer without watering!! SUPER tough. I've never tried the fruit, but of course, I'll have to hope I have both male and female trees! I'm thinking about saving for another three to be sure. Five years till fruiting, though, and I'm only two years in!! Planted: 2016 Height 1 metres Growing: In a Pot Qty: 3 Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Water Given in: Summer After FruitingPollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 4 of 8 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Grumichama - Black (Seedling) 6/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2127 days 21hrs Comments: - Sort of a bit so-so on this one so far. I was told it was a fast grower, but in the two years I've had it, it has maybe doubled in size from the 30cm plant that came from Daleys. It's healthy enough, I guess? Occasionally a few of the leaves will be blotchy, or a bit speckled, but they fall off, and new glossy green growth comes in, and it's fine? It's in a pot, in my standard coir and compost mix, with some pelletised chook manure, and it definitely prefers to be in full sun, but it just sort of sits there. I'm calling it a slow grower, and ignoring it, mostly. Gets mostly rain water, and a splash from the waste water bucket once or twice a week, and it's mulched heavily to keep it happy, and it's fine. It's happy. IT JUST DOESN'T GROW. I'm leaving it, because I know that some things just need some patience, and it's only two years old, so, my attitude at the moment is to wait and see. I hope it pays off. Planted: 2016 Height 0.6 metres Growing: In a Pot Qty: 1 Sun/Shade: Full Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringPollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 1 of 1 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Pigeon Pea (Seedling) 10/10Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2127 days 22hrs Comments: - Loving these trees! I started with one, but I chucked some seed about, and I've a few more in strategic places, now, and would like a few more. While they are great for a prolific food provider, and the leaves make excellent compost additions, what I really love about them, is that the Morning Glory will not grow near them!! The only thing I have ever found that keeps the Morning Glory back! The immature fruit are okay, especially if you actually shell them, but I prefer them dried on the bush and then shelled. I spread the harvested dried peas on a baking sheet and bake them at a VERY low temp- 70-80d C, to kill of any insect eggs or bacteria. Then they store well in a glass jar until I want to use them, which I cook them like any other dried legume. They are prone to attack from some insect, I don't know what, but every sixth or seventh pod will have a hole in it, and the inside will either be mouldy, or have webs inside, or the peas will be shrivelled up. Honestly, though, they are so incredibly prolific that I don't bother doing anything about it. The birds come and pick over the trees every once and a while, and I'll leave it at that. Never seen any sort of disease attack them or anything. Only problem with them, is that when they fruit, they fruit so heavily, that the entire bush bends over!! The branches will be resting on the ground! It can look very messy and you can't have anything growing underneath that might be squished by the laden branches. And I have to time things well, as my peas will be almost dry, and then all of a sudden we are expecting rain! If they get too wet when they are drying out, some of them start to rot. Best to harvest whole branches with the pods still attached and then hang them somewhere under cover to finish drying. And then bake them, of course, to finish drying any that were not quite ready. Other than that, I don't water them after they've had a few weeks to establish in the ground. They prefer crappy soils and no fertiliser, so they're an easy plant-and-forget food source. And, of course, the leaves really do fill out the compost well, as do the empty dried pods, and break down quickly to make lovely rich compost. Very multi purpose and useful, very fast growing, and attractive, when they aren't sprawled across the ground like swooning ladies. Growing: In a Pot Qty: 1 Pollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 9 of 10 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Passionfruit - Panama Red (Seedling) 10/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2127 days 22hrs Comments: - Love, love, love my Panama passionfruit!! Planted in early Autumn against the north facing brick wall in a mound of compost, over a handful of chicken livers, and the thing has gone great guns ever since. It gets nothing but rain water now, and the VERY occasional handful of pelletised chicken manure. Mulched with whatever is as hand. It has attempted to TAKE OVER THE WORLD- or, my house. It has vicious weedy morning glory winding all around it and it just does not care. I've yet to build a trellis it actually stays on; it would much prefer to grow wherever it wants, around the corner and along the ground on the west side of the house and then climb the stairs to take over the security screens. Or up through the old crepe myrtle five meters away and across the grass. I get dozens and DOZENS of fruit every year, but while the vine goes ballistic over summer, it is not until the rains come down in March that it flowers (even if I manually water and water- it only responds to heavy rains!), and then I'm harvesting for almost the entire Autumn/Winter season. I then cut it back for the beginning of spring, and let it go crazy again over Summer. It definitely does not go dormant in the cooler months, but then, Brisbane does not get terribly cold to begin with? Fruit is tart and sweet and very juicy and super delicious, really lovely strong passionfruit taste, almost sweet, without being sour. The rind is thick, but the pulp is generous, and the fruit is very large. The taste really is outstanding, and everything we make with them tastes incredible. That's on limited rain water alone, and far superior to anything we've ever bought from the shops. I'm trying to make room for a Yellow Panama, now, as my vine has just had it's third fruiting season, and I'm told it will start to wind down soon, and die in three years or so? I'm sort of addicted to a massive amount of passionfruit to find purpose for. Freezing the last of it for Christmas works really well, and saves me a butt load with putting together the Christmas pavlovas! Planted: 2015 Height 15 metres Growing: In the Ground Qty: 1 Fruit Harvest: 60 Fruit Per Year First Fruited: 6 Months from Purchase in Pot Sun/Shade: Full Sun Water Given in: Summer and Spring After Fruiting and SpringPollination: No Fertiliser or Organics Used: Dynamic Lifter When I Fertilise: Yearly Pest Control: Something bites/burrows into some of the fruit sometimes, and the fruit wither and turn a funny colour and fall off, but really, we get so many fruit it's just not an issue. I'm surprised, as whatever it is that eats into them does not touch any other fru Organic Status:Organic Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 1 of 1 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Panama Berry (Cutting) 10/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - Gosh I love this plant. My pots all go through some unintentional neglect at some stage, so things have got to be able to stand some tough love occasionally. Other than prefering to be in partial shade through summer, this one is easy and fuss free. Can go a few weeks with me forgetting to water it, and still bears beautiful fruit. I'd never tried it before buying it, but it absolutely lived up to its reputation! It is delicious! If i had to describe the flavour... it's like a lot of people say. Sort of burnt caramel/popcorn. It's most definitely a sweet fruit, but the after taste reminds me of tomato. It's not the least like a tomato or at all acidic like a tomato, though. They're difficult to explain, but super tasty!! It doesn't get a lot of fertiliser- I just do the compost top up and maybe a bit of whatever else I have once a year while doing some of the other pots, and it is mulched thickly, and underplanted with salvias and parsley. It gets water when I remember, and I move the pot into full sun in the cooler months so I continue to get fruit, and back into part shade in summer. Other than that, sweet fruits all year round! Definitely one of my favourites for fuss free pot growing in hot, humid, dry Brisbane! Planted: 2016 Height 1 metres Growing: In a Pot Qty: 1 First Fruited: 3 Months from Purchase in Pot Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringWas this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 5 of 8 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Finger Lime - Red Cutting (Grafted) 9/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - 2018: I bloody hate this thing, and if it wasn't a gift with a story, I would let the bloody thing die. I was told this was the citrus to grow in Australia, as it is hardier than most introduced species and likes our heat better, and to that, I call horse sh*t. This thing is the fussiest, sulkiest, most ridiculous WASTE OF TIME of a tree. It becomes infested with aphids or mites at the blink of an eye, collapses at the very first sign of heat, and is very prone to root rot in winter (root rot in Brisbane- what?). It dies right back through summer, then starts to grow in Autumn, will be coming along nicely, and then BAM, root rot. I've started to get the feel for when to stop watering it, but ugh, it's a stupid fussy thing that I would dearly like to take the choppers to. Never had fruit, it's a pitiful little thing that never gets any bigger, even in my most shaded spot (only 5 hours sun a day in summer!), with the pot itself protected from direct light, thick mulch, good soil, a nice bucket of water- it HATES Brisbane heat. It is most definitely a rainforest understory tree from NSW. My dry humidity is no good. It does, however, like to be underplanted, and that does help with keeping the surrounding soil moist and free of ants, and stops its roots rotting- the other plants suck up the moisture, I suppose. The only reason I have persisted with this stupid thing is that the thorny bush sits in front of an unused sliding door, and to move it means risking the massive thorns. I've never been scratched, but every single tradie that has come to do things at our house has been scratched like crazy, so I call it my living security screen. 2016: Mine is on a rootstock Cox. Recieved as a gift Christmas 2015, didn't repot until January 2016. Seemed fine sitting in the pot it came in, but absolutely exploded with growth once I got it into the new pot- which I am still not sure if that was the size of the container it is now in (70 L) or what it was potted into. I used cheapy bunnings compost, cow poo, a block of coir soaked in seasol and mollasses, a hand full of dynamic lifter, and a smidge of lime. I'm told they don't like very rich soil, but mine has thrived in the mix. Another thing I have found is that despite everything saying full sun for these guys, mine did NOT like the full sun in my hot, concreted suburban backyard. Instead, I have moved it to a spot that only gets perhaps two to three hours of morning summer sun before it is in shade by 11, and it did a whole lot better there. The sun was scorching the new growth right off, and the leaves were all turning yellow. It is happy and bushy now in more shade, even with very little sun in the midst of winter at the moment. I have it underplanted with an english spinach plant, bok choy, a whole whack of johnny jump-ups, and a succulent as living mulch, and there is a butter bean vine planted in the back of the pot, and it seems to tolerate living with these really well. There is a Salvia in there as well, but it is not doing great in so much shade, so I shall be digging that out soon. It IS a very spiky plant, though I have never been scratched by it. A little care is needed, but my kids know to be careful, and nobody has been bitten yet!! I have it placed by my front gate, in front of my glass sliding door. We don't use the door as a door, so it is a good security measure, lols. My biggest problem with the Finger Lime has been ants and APHIDS. The ants persist in wanting to nest underneath the Finger Lime, so I have to flood the pot every few weeks to drive them out again. This has become less of an issue since I underplanted the tree with flowers, etc, as I think the additional root systems around the edge of the pot are keeping the soil more moist than they like. I shall see how this progresses. But they do herd the bloody APHIDS around the tree. Despite wanting to keep my yard as chemical free as possible, I have had to resort to chem aids to rid my poor Lime of the aphids. They tuck into the delicate new growth where I cannot reach them, and so I have had to spray every two-three days for the last four weeks to rid myself of them. The ants will herd them to unsprayed foliage, as well, so you must spray the entire plant if you have aphids, or they will simply reappear elsewhere a few days later. Very annoying. I was told that I would not get fruit until the tree was at LEAST three years old, but many others seem to have fruit much earlier than that, so I shall see this summer, I suppose. Planted: 2016 Height 1.5 metres Growing: In a Pot Sun/Shade: Low Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringWhen I Fertilise: Spring Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 5 of 10 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Dwarf Mulberry - Black (Seedling) 10/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - Location: RUNCORN Brisbane Southside. Very hot backyard on a concrete slab. 2018: Autumn here, and I adore my mulberries. I have a few, now, and really, the bigger the pot, the better they do. I can force a dormant state in winter if I keep them tucked up under the eaves on the East side of the house from the start of Autumn, but I can kick start a new season of fruiting simply by moving one out into the middle of the yard. I adore the fruit, and it never fails to be tasty, no matter how I treat it. I've been told I need to prune them after they've finished fruiting to get a bigger harvest, so I've done that this year, and the one that had to be moved to clean the eaves has already come out in fruit, in the middle of June! Bloody lovely, and we fight over them when they're bearing. Unfussy customers, don't mind the heat too much if I give them part shade (shade from 2pm) and don't even care much if I don't water them often. One got totally forgotten about tucked under the eaves with no rain or water for 2 months over summer and did fine with part shade in a 65L pot. I keep them thickly mulched with sugar cane and underplant around the edge of the pot with salvias and parsley, with the occasional lettuce or pak choy shoved in there. Easy care, fruits well regardless of the attention given it, produces fuss free in one of the hottest, dryest parts of Brisbane, while in a POT, and is delicious- an absolute favourite of our garden. 2016: Recieved as a christmas pressie 2015. Repotted to a 65L pot late January, with cheap bunnings compost, 1/3 bag of cow poo, a block of coir (soaked in a bucket of water with seasol and mollasses), a handful of organic dynamic lifter for veg, a handful of blood and bone, a sprinkle of lime, and a handful of a rose fertiliser called 'Black Marvel' that I bought on a whim that I find does well with fruit trees- it's high potash. I should not have waited so long to repot. It struggled in the hot summer here, in it's standard little pot, which I knew it would, since I have managed to kill a few before. It took off really well after repotting- I think mulberries need a larger pot if you aren't going to stick them in the ground, because they will die very quickly if they dry out or overheat. Mine has absolutely exploded with growth, though, since I started popping a half a litre of water from our little table-top pond in there every week. We have fishies, so the water is rich with nutrients. Besides that, I generally leave it to recieve rain water, or toss a half a litre of water on it near the root zone every other day, with a deeper soak weekly. I expect to water more often in dryer or hotter weather. The pot is also shielded from the sun by another pot in front, but the soil and plant recieve about 4-6 hours morning sun, and completely in shade of the house by afternoon. I have underplanted it with strawberries, garlic, and garlic chives, and I plan to pop some spinach or sorrel in there, too, now that it has cooled for Autumn. Although I have had a few massive Citrus Swallowtail Butterflies hovering about it, I have no caterpillars on it yet. Fruit flies (both the bigger, fly looking ones, as well as the little mite hovering things) tend to hang about and sit on the leaves for some reason, though that seems to be lessening since I planted the garlic cloves and chives. I plan to hang yellow sticky fruit fly traps this Spring, as I have had an infestation of Citrus Gall Wasp in my lemon and limes this last year. We shall see how that goes. I know that Mulberries are supposed to be deciduous, but in my part of Brisbane, I have never seen them do much more than thin down a bit. Certainly, mine has lost maybe a dozen leaves -two or three at a time yellowing and falling off- but it just seems to bush out furthur despite the cooling weather. I've been told that I will not get fruit this year, because I have put it in a big enough pot that it will focus on leaf growth rather than fruit, but I cannot really see that as a bad thing (the more growth it has, the more likely it is to survive Summer 2016!) and I cannot confirm this anyway. We'll see how it goes. Really happy with it so far. I've actually had a hell of a time with all my citrus, so I'm looking forward to watching something be actually productive and healthy in my hotbox of a rental yard. Planted: 2015 Height 1.5 metres Growing: In a Pot Qty: 2 Fruit Harvest: 1 kilograms per Year First Fruited: 6 Months from Purchase in Pot Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Fertiliser or Organics Used: Blood and Bone, Seasol, Worm Wee Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 20 of 34 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Loquat - Seedling (Seedling) 8/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - Purchased from Daley's, and I love how fast it was delivered, as well as how well it was packaged. I love the clear seedling tubes!! My posty lady was very careful with it. I think it's brilliant, making the packaging clear so the delivery peeps are a bit more careful. I waited a bit too long to repot I think. I popped it my bathroom for a few days, in the window, because we were having a very hot week, and I didn't want it to die, as so many things do on entering my hotbox urban rental yard (Brisbane Southside!). When it went outside a week later, I promptly forgot about it for another week, while the poor thing was sitting in a tubestock pot!! So when I repotted it, it had lost two of the seven lovely healthy leaves it came with. I repotted it immediately into a huge 70 L pot I had, with lots of compost and some coir soaked in mollasses and seasol to help it retain some moisture in the last of the Summer heat. I also threw in some blood and bone, and a handul of dynamic lifter pellets. It lost another leaf after that, and then just... sat there. It wasn't dying, but it wasn't living, either. Since then, in the available soil around it, I've put two different succulents in, a rose cutting, and my son's bean plants he grew at school. And they ALL just sat there for a while, doing nothing. Despite it being the middle of winter, and cold, and dismal and cloudy and rainy, suddenly, I have new growth on the loquat! And the two succulents I thought were going to die are looking good, and the beans are actually flowering. Sadly, I did not remove enough of the skin of the half a potato I stuck the rose cutting in, so I have had a massive potato plant shoot out the side, and I had to remove that (and repot it once I saw all the baby potatoes growing off the roots!). I am quite surprised at its sudden growth, and once looking at it, despite it having only the four leaves it started with, I am startled to realise it is actually taller. Quite a hardy little thing after all! I think I'm a few years off a harvest, but I'm hoping that it will be a good grower once the warmer weather sets in. The plan is for dynamic lifter and seasol once spring rolls around. No pests have touched it, despite the persistance of mealy bugs, grasshoppers, fruit fly and aphids all through winter this year. I'm hoping it will be hardy enough to grow to shade my bedroom window this summer! Planted: 2016 Height 0.75 metres Growing: In a Pot Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringWas this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 3 of 5 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Dwarf Lemon - Meyer (Seedling) 8/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - Mine is the 'Lots of Lemons', which I believe is a Meyer variety. Not grafted. This, with my Tahitan Lime, were Christmas gifts 2014. These poor citrus. Goodness me, they have been through a lot. For some reason that escapes me, I repotted the Lime, and not the Lemon, and it sat in it's original 25L pot for months in my yard- poor thing. I know I fertilised it, but it never occured to me to repot it. It set flowers the first month, and I had one fruit come in nicely (the possums ate the other flowers and have since not touched them. They prefer everything else in my yard) and then three more fruit a month or two later. I hadn't been told yet to pinch out the fruit the first year to help promote growth of the tree, so I let the fruit grow. The first lemon was delicious. I have never had such a lovely lemon. You could smell them a few metres away while they were on the tree! Lovely! Seven months for the fruit to be ready, but it was delicious! Sadly, hubby had borrowed one of my hoses for something, and when he replaced them, the sprinkler was moved, and I wasn't aware. So when I was setting the timer on the sprinklers every morning before running off to school, I never noticed that the lemon was now not getting even a speck of the water, and in the heat we had, it dropped all the developing fruit before I had caught on. It looked dreadful, and I pruned it and moved it, and watered it. And then had aphids, citrus gall wasp, giant brown caterpillars, leaf miner, and citrus swallowtail catterpillars absolutely decimate the poor thing. Fruit flies everywhere! They were breeding in the soil beneath the tree, even! I should have just let it die, but I didn't. It went into a huge pot with chook poo and compost and coir soaked in mollasses and seasol, some dynamic lifter pellets and some blood and bone, and some lime. I trimmed off all the galls and anything really dead, and underplanted it with garlic, garlic chives, and marigolds. It has a few lettuce seedlings, and even a few carrots towards the edges now. At first it looked woeful, a stick about 30cm tall with a few leaves on. But it has put on so much new growth since, and in the last six months has reached a half a metre, not much, but more wide than tall now, and very bushy and glossy. No more pests, and it looks healthy. We shall see. Mid winter 2016 now, and it looks lovely, even though it gets very little sun with the stupid weather we are having. Everything in the pot is doing well, and I occasionally throw on a few dynamic lifter pellets, and a cupful of fishy pond water or two. I will be guarding against the pests with great prejudice this year, and setting yellow sticky traps to catch as much as possible. This tree will live, so help me it will! Height 0.5 metres Growing: In a Pot First Fruited: 1 Months from Purchase in Pot Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringWas this review helpful? Yes | No | Report * You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Dwarf Lime - Tahitian (Grafted) 8/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - I recieved my Tahitian Lime and my Lots-of-Lemons as Christmas gifts in 2014. And wow, these things have been put through the ringer. Any pest capable of getting something from a citrus, has attacked my babies. ARGH! This was repotted into a large 70 L tub, with Osmocote citrus soil, cheapy bunnings compost, coir soaked in seasol and mollasses, chook manure, dynamic lifter pellets, and some lime. I think I threw in some blood and bone as well. Plant did well in the mix, and bushed out quickly, and set dozens of flowers in the first month. Which the possums quickly ate. I mean it. Any time I get flowers, they eat the lot. Any that last long enough to turn into itty bitty fruit either get eaten, or knocked off in the possum's haste to eat all the flowers. I have tried covering with netting and weighting it down with bricks, and they shove the bricks away, and climb under!! So far, in two years, I have not had a single fruit. They also eat all the Lemonade flowers, as well as capsicum flowers, and all my strawberries. Dagnabbit. Since then, I have had citrus miner, citrus gall wasp, giant brown caterpillars, citrus swallowtail butterfly catterpillars, fruit fly, aphids, you name it, they love it. The poor thing has hung on, and I am about to give it a bit of a hair cut, and move it to a better spot, since it is far enough around the back yard that it gets little attention. I think a season of being centre placed for me to baby it will do it good. I remove most bugs by hand, so this one has never had sprays. I fertilise every other month with dynamic lifter pellets under the sugar cane mulch, and a good dose of seasol when I remember. It also seems to do well with some of the 'black marvel' rose fertiliser every once in a while. I plan to underplant with a few different herbs before spring to try and keep the bug population down, so we shall see how that goes. And yellow sticky cards, to trap any returning gall wasps I have missed! I am attempting chicken wire cages to deter possums. Here's hoping for fruit Summer 2016!!! Fruiting Months January, February, March, September, October, November, December Planted: 2014 Height 1.5 metres Growing: In a Pot First Fruited: 1 Months from Purchase in Pot Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringWas this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 1 of 3 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Choko - White 9/10Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - I didn't buy a choko plant. I bought a choko from my local coles, and sat it in the kitchen. A week later, I had fifteen cm of vine coming from the top. I have literally done bugger all to get this to grow. I had a large styrofoam container -the type you get from the F&V shop that had broccolli in- and it had some very woody compost mix from my mother-in-law's yard that she had already grown a few seasons of ginger in, and I just shoved it in. I barely even water it. The only hiccup in starting this, was mealy bugs. As soon as the vine was thirty cm long, it had mealy bugs all tucked in the new growth and it stopped growing. I used a spray (I do try and keep my yard chem free, but lately the bugs are OUT OF CONTROL) and sprayed very carefully into the folds of the new leaves every two days for about a week, and I have not had a problem since. However, that may be because I have planted a few garlic bulbs into the other end of the box, and added a marigold or two. They seem to all be growing quite well together, though I am hesitant to add anything else to the box, so I will be adding some sugar cane mulch soon, to insulate through the warmer months. No fertilisers used yet. Just the occasional cup of water from the pond, loaded with fish poo! I will probably get the worm juice and seasol out there come spring, and chuck some dynamic lifter pellets on for good measure. The vine is a month old, and about a meter tall, working its way over a trellis I have put over our container pond. I am hoping that the prolific vine will deter the birdies from trying to take my fish!!! I am quite surprised at how well it is growing in this cold, wet winter we are having. Where it is, it gets about an hour or two of sun on a good day, and should get three or four hours of morning sun in the Summer. Here's hoping it will be big enough to withstand the heat of my hotbox urban cemented yard come summer!! Height 1 metres Growing: In a Pot Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringOrganic Status:Pesticides Used Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 14 of 15 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Curry Plant (Seedling) 10/10Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - Wonderful little thing that loves my neglectful nature, thank goodness!! Found as tiny tubestock plant at Bunnings September 2015, now in September 2016 it is a lovely knee high, quite wide bush, that seems to do best when I ignore it and let the rain keep it happy. Planted into the ground into a slightly aged layered bed (compost, coir soaked in fish and seaweed, cardboard, bit of manure) and mulched with sugarcane mulch. Slightly under the eaves on the north side of the house, a metre from the brick wall. Lots of sun, and a bit of protection from being drowned. Never flowered though. Perhaps not old enough? Planted: 2015 Height 0.6 metres Growing: In the Ground Qty: 1 Sun/Shade: Full Sun Water Given in: Summer After FruitingWhen I Fertilise: Never Pest Control: Pests don't touch it, and it is sitting in between two passionfruit vines planted at the same time, that have never had a pest problem ever. Quite the strong smell to it when touched, so natural deterrent, perhaps? Organic Status:Organic Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 4 of 4 people found this review useful CommentsLuke :) says... [1888 days 8hrs ago]What does it taste like?branny1 says... [1887 days 17hrs ago] Erm... well, sort of a bit like curry powder? I throw it chopped into the pan with the rest of my spices and herbs with a little oil and then cook whatever in it. Makes it taste as if I used a bit of curry powder. You can eat it raw, but I don't? You can use it much like rosemary- grows the same, too; likes dry mediterranean, at least in my yard. The taste is a bit hard to explain, but it really does smell and taste a bit like plain ol' curry powder.Luke :) says... [1883 days 2hrs ago] Cheers for the firsthand info. I was looking into the health benefits and given that taste is fine, I think I will buy one.* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
|
TRIED BUT DIED
Raspberry - Heritage (Cutting) 8/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2127 days 21hrs Comments: - Tried but DIED. Actually did okay for quite a while. Grew and fruited in a pot okay, but was water and nutrient hungry in a pot. Moved it to the ground, was doing really well, but was strangled out by invasive Coastal Morning Glory at about the same time we had some wicked summer heat, and it died. I occassionally see a cane pop up in the corner where it was, so I don't know if I can call it truly dead, but the Morning Glory is just too dominant. They get strangled out again. Was surprised it did alright in Brisbane. I'd like to try again some time, but I'm not in a hurry because the fruit wasn't that spectacular. I much prefer mulberries and panama berries anyway. I think I'd prefer to find things that are more prolific and tasty. Really liked rich soil and water. Both in short supply in my very dry, hot, baked clay yard. And doesn't like competition from viciously invasive weeds. Height 0.6 metres Growing: In a Pot Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Water Given in: Spring SpringPollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 3 of 9 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
|
TRIED BUT DIED
Blueberry Burst (Seedling) 5/10Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2127 days 21hrs Comments: - Tried but DIED. I had three of these. All of them are gone now. They were in a layered bed, with lots of lovely broken down composted material, and I mulched them with pine needles collected locally. At first, they did well. One up and died within a few weeks, though, and the others lasted a few years. But they were spindly, water hungry all the time, and the fruit was nice, but sparce. The bed kept becoming over run with invasive Coastal Morning Glory, and so they would be strangled and starved of nutrients, and I'd detangle them, and fuss over them, and they've be fine, but they never THRIVED. I have a feeling it was partially the location, but also our climate in Brisbane. Ended up dying in a week of particularly brutal summer heat. They were not particularly productive, and needed too much water to make them worth it. I'd prefer to pay $5 a punnet every once in a while, then an extra $50 on my water bill. Panama Berries and Mulberries are far tastier anyway! Height 0.3 metres Growing: In a Pot Qty: 3 Water Given in: Spring SpringPollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report 3 of 5 people found this review useful* You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
|
TRIED BUT DIED
Bush Lemon Tree (Seedling) 1/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2127 days 21hrs Comments: - Tried but DIED. I still don't know what happened to my wee bahbee Bush Lemon. After my disappointment in my Finger Lime, a friend told me I had tried the wrong native citrus, and Bush Lemon was the way to go- like a normal lemon, but hardier in our heat. It struggled from day one, and hated every single spot I put it in. Hated full sun, hated part sun, hated shade. Hated lots of water, hated barely moist, hated dry. Damn thing lasted a few months as a sickly looking thing, and then as soon as summer rolled around it just... died? Straight to dropping every leaf and becoming a dead stick. I've since planted a few natives into the garden, and having learnt what I have about our natives and their soil needs, I'm actually wondering if my soil was too rich. I'd really like to try Bush Lemon again, but perhaps in the ground, and with minimal soil amendments. Maybe some more research is required? Made me sad to lose this one. I plan to try again some day. Growing: In a Pot Qty: 1 Sun/Shade: Medium Sun Pollination: No Was this review helpful? Yes | No | Report * You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
|
TRIED BUT DIED
Passionfruit - Black (Seedling) 3/10 Branny1's Edible FruitsUpdate: 2128 days 17hrs Comments: - Tried but DIED. I had this planted along the same wall as my Panama, about a meter away, same growing conditions and same treatment. The black was fussy, wilted badly without twice daily watering in my Brisbane heat even after growing strong in the ground over Autumn, Winter and Spring. Prone to some sort of insect I never identified, and ultimately kicked the bucket once the morning glory came near it. Not sorry to see it go. Was unproductive and fussy. Much prefer the fruit of the Panama anyway! Height 2.5 metres Growing: In the Ground Qty: 1 Water Given in: Spring SpringWas this review helpful? Yes | No | Report * You need your own My Edibles Page to contribute Quick & Easy |
Zoom out to see people near Branny1 |