Rollinia pollination

HappyEarth says...
I'm pretty sure they are self-pollinating. There is a lone tree in Sydney botanical gardens that produces heaps of fruit each year ... delicious :)

Why aren't we seeing this fruit in the supermarkets?

Rich
www.happyearth.com.au

trikus says...
Tip prune branches and strip leaves off this will help more flowers to form .
This is a hard fruit to pick and pack as it bruises so easily . One local grower here has a few thousand trees and sends some to the markets down south . These usually set fruit in 3 years from seed up here , mine is now 3 years old and I cant wait .

Jantina says...
Thanks Happy Earth, it's about 150 centimetres and I got it from Daleys about 15 months ago. Thanks trikus, I'll be brave and do as you say. Thanks Amanda, it's proving remarkably hardy down here for a Brazilian tree. I've got a Wampee and a cherimoya outside and they are doing well so I'm sure yours will. Lots of luck with the moving, it's a huge job but when you are a keen grower it's worth it to find a place with the right soil, aspect and water.Permaculture has been immensely useful to me in my efforts to grow our own food forest.

Jantina says...
Thanks Peter, I compromised and took off all the slightly burnt leaves (it got pretty hot in there a few days). Will keep the floor damp and keep you posted on the results.

John Mc says...
I've been trying to work out how to hand pollinate both my seedling and grafted varieties as well. Google tells me they are self pollinating, (I can't find anything on hand pollinating), but to get them to set they'll take as much water as you can give them. They like wet feet, and keep the humidity up.
I'm going out to tip prune mine now, while they are dormant, actually, the new growth is just starting to push through.

amanda says...
Cool BJ! Fingers crossed for you that it hangs on and u can also give us a taste test verdict?? :)

My lychee dropped it's fruit again this year - but the wampee fruit are having no dramas....strange how u can treat plants the same but some are more stubborn about hanging on to their fruit than others..? :D

BJ says...
Wow Jenny, that's a great set!
I've tried the hand pollination, but obviously, I'm doing something wrong!
Do you use any particular brush to pollinate the flowers? Is there any difference in fruit set on downward, horizontal and upright growing branches?
It is so tempting to keep as many fruit as possible on the tree. Keep in mind that the fruits get quite big and judge for yourself how many you think will grow and ripen on that sized tree. Mine could easily hold another dozen.
Anywho, I'm going to try hand-pollinating again early next week when (I'm hoping) we will get a bit of storm action and increased humidity.

Jenny says...
I'm very tempted to do more, don't know.. now i've gone around bagging the biggest fruits against fruit fly.

Jenny says...
just a possibly stupid question, could anyone please tell me why some of my young Rollinia fruit are getting black stems and dying? Is this just the tree aborting what fruits it can't sustain? There are still quite a number growing nicely.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Jenny says...
I'll check tomorrow. i haven't noticed very many pests on it at all except the ants were just starting with their scale-farming thing - hence the trappit barrier glue you can just see on the trunk in the picture. Fungal makes sense with the rain and humidity lately. There's lots of healthy new leaves which have not been attacked and I don't think i put much fertiliser on really.

Jenny says...
Hi John Mc, i'm certainly not an expert but i had very good success with pollination and on my tree anyway, the male flowers tended to be ripe late afternoon around 5 or later, you can tell when you tap them the anthers start falling. I collected pollen (which is the fine dust - sorry if you already know this, i didn't) from all the male flowers i could find in a plastic container and then used it, usually the following afternoon at the same time there were then female flowers ready.

peter says...
hi jenny
when you tap you male flowers and the
antlers drop off are you seeing a
separate fine dust, when i do it to
my cherimoyas i just seem to get antlers

at what stage (fruit size) are you geting those black stems.
if they are still tiny it may just be
unpollinated flowers.

David Lee says...
My trees haven't produced much fruit either but as far as why they aren't at the markets they are very fragile, hard to handle, ship.