Thee years ago, I bought a 5 year old jaboticaba at the Fruit and Spice Park in Miami. (http://www.fruitandspicepark.org)
If you haven't been there, you have to go, each January they have the Redland festival, with arts and crafts, nurseries selling rare fruit trees, food, vendors selling all kinds of ware.
Jaboticaba's are very slow growing trees in the myrtle family. They are closely related to grumichama, guava etc. Seedlings take 8 - 15 years to bear fruit. Mine has taken 8 years.
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-20.pdf
It was towards the end of the day and I struck luck, I paid a mere $15 for a plant bigger than local plants going for $65 or more!
I have watered it, mulched it with pine bark (acidic) and fertilized it often with a very good quality fertilizer for rare fruit.
While doing my daily walk through the garden, I noticed one green fruit on the tree, closer inspection revealed an almost ripe fruit and several others.
Almost daily, I notice a cluster of 4 little blooms appearing on some branches, right on the trunk, in random places.
This must be the fruit that I have waiting for and hoped to fruit the most. I just can't wait for the first one to ripen. I really hope I like it and it doesn't turn out like the Suriname Cherry, Marlierea or other failed fruits.
If you haven't been there, you have to go, each January they have the Redland festival, with arts and crafts, nurseries selling rare fruit trees, food, vendors selling all kinds of ware.
Jaboticaba's are very slow growing trees in the myrtle family. They are closely related to grumichama, guava etc. Seedlings take 8 - 15 years to bear fruit. Mine has taken 8 years.
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-20.pdf
It was towards the end of the day and I struck luck, I paid a mere $15 for a plant bigger than local plants going for $65 or more!
I have watered it, mulched it with pine bark (acidic) and fertilized it often with a very good quality fertilizer for rare fruit.
While doing my daily walk through the garden, I noticed one green fruit on the tree, closer inspection revealed an almost ripe fruit and several others.
Almost daily, I notice a cluster of 4 little blooms appearing on some branches, right on the trunk, in random places.
This must be the fruit that I have waiting for and hoped to fruit the most. I just can't wait for the first one to ripen. I really hope I like it and it doesn't turn out like the Suriname Cherry, Marlierea or other failed fruits.
