Gardening Part 2 of 3- What’s in the Works

New Plants in the Ground

After the move to Puerto Rico, the first thing I planted was a Jobo tree (pronounced hobo).  It came from a tree, not too far from here.  It’s similar to a Mango, but the fruit are much smaller.  I started it from a seed and it is now over 9 feet tall with a 3.5 inch thick trunk.  They shed their leaves during the Dry Season.. the first time it did that, it spooked me.  It looks good now.

Next up were 2 Mandarin trees purchased from a local nursery in early 2010… only one survived though they were identical.

The one that prospered stands about 5 feet tall and is quite healthy now.

I also planted an Icaco tree (Coco plum), 2 Quenepa trees, 2 Papaya plants, 1 Malay (Rose) apple tree.  These were started from seeds in 2010 and planted in late Spring of 2011.  The Papaya are very fast growers, as is the vining Parcha mentioned on the Gardening in PR page (in the Menu Bar above).

At the end of summer 2011, I planted 7 more Coconut and 4 Date Palms… all from sprouts and doing well.

Plus a little Sugarcane..

The 8 or so Sugarcane coming up, were all taken from cuttings of a single plant in Yabucoa, last year. Though Sugarcane used to cover Puerto Rico in abundance, it’s hard to find anymore. Easy stuff to propagate from cuttings.

I’m using it as a garden border and privacy screen.

When I was a kid growing up in East Texas, I remember my dad buying us pieces of raw sugarcane from the ‘7/11’.  Basically, you cut off small pieces to chew on, then spit out the pulp when all the ‘sweetness’ is gone.  A 4 foot piece cost a nickel back then.  It was fun.  Today, the closest thing to that is Hain Natural Turbinado Sugar.  It has the subtle flavor of sugarcane.  It’s great in coffee! Unpurified cane sugar is also sold as Sugar in the Raw and comes in those small brown packets.  This type of sugar should not be confused with brown sugar… they are two different things. I digress.

More Trees…

Before deciding to go with just seeds, we purchased several things. In addition to the previously mentioned trees, there is also a Gondo Berry, native to Central America.  We scored the grafted Avocado from the Aibonito Plant Fair in July of 2010.  The Governor’s Plum and Gondo Berry were from Govardhan Gardens.

Supposedly, the Governor’s Plum can go to fruit in as little as 3 years.  It’s looking very healthy these days.

Failures.. I’ve had a few

The Brazilian Guava, Guarana and my first Cacao (Chocolate) plants all died on me.  These were also purchased as plants in pots.

However I know what the problem was thanx to Sadhu so I should have better luck next time.  Seems there is a small beetle that likes to bury their larva in the roots of young plants so when they mature they have something to munch on.  Once I knew what to look for, I could see the small 1/4 inch holes next to the young plant stalks.

The solution is to spread around some cut-up cardboard to confuse the beetles.

Deep Root Irrigation

For the few trees that need water during the Dry Season, I’ve ‘planted’ PVC pipe in the ground so the water will go directly to the roots.  These are between 16 and 22 inches long with a piece of mesh screen hot glued over the top to prevent critters from getting in.  They seem to work pretty good.  I modified one piece of pipe to serve as an auger by cutting the tip at an angle and adding a handle to it.  Once the hole is cut, I tap the perforated, screen covered pipe into the hole.  I need to make up more of these.

Plants in pots from seeds.. my new focus

I currently have 18 different types of plants and trees I started from seed about a year ago.

These plants will go in the ground this spring.  I never know how effective germination will be so I try to start as many seeds as I can.  If I’m lucky, I’ll cull some of them back before planting.

On one of our trips into the  mountains, I collected White Pine cones from a stand near Jayuya.  They were mature, majestic looking trees.  Those cones produced about 30 seeds.  I managed to get 6 to sprout, but only 3 survived.  Those are doing well. They look like little green bottle brushes.

Success from seeds seems very hit or miss.

Citrus in Pots- A few more Mexican Lemons, 5-6 PR Oranges, 5-6 local Mandarin Oranges, 5 Orange ‘Lemons’ from Jayuya and 2 Mandarins from Jayuya.

Fruiting trees in Pots- 7 Rambutan, 5 Carambola (Star Fruit), 9 more Papaya, 7 Pomegranate, 4 Noni, 2 Mamey Zapote, 1 more Malay Apple, 2 more Avocado, 1 hybrid Mango, 3 Imbe, and 6 Biriba.

Palms in Pots-  I have one African Oil Palm I started from seeds I collected off the ground at the Mayaguez Agriculture Research Center.  I started with about 2 dozen seeds to get to this one plant.  I’m surprised any of them germinated.  These can get very big so it has to have it’s own space.

I have 1 more ‘standard’ Date Palm I started from a seed, I got out of a box of ‘seedless’ dates from Walgreens.. go figure!  Besides those Date  palms, there are 4 healthy Dwarf Date Palms too, but I’m not sure if they are edible.

My first round of 3 Acai Dwarf Palms (from seed), all died.  I may have over-watered them.  It’s a hard habit to break… over-watering can be as detrimental as under-watering.

The issue with Date and Acai Palms is that they are either male or female… so you have to plant a bunch to insure you have at least a few of each.  

Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing what you got until they reach maturity.

There are more of these seeds in the works, but I’ll elaborate about that in the next post.

Other Trees in Pots-  In addition to the White pine, I’ve also collected seeds from a thin wispy pine that grows down by the seashore.  They produce small cones about the size of a US nickel.  They are very delicate looking, but can reach 40 to 50 feet tall.  I managed to get 7 of these to sprout.

Then there is the 5 Breadnut trees in pots.

These seeds came to me via Govardhan Gardens (as well as the Rambutan and Biriba).

Another late comer to the set of seeds in pots are my 6 new Macadamia Nut Trees.  These are doing well, but are months away from getting planted.  Supposedly, this particular variety can get to nuts in as little as 4 years.  We shall see.

Last. but not least, there are 4 small potted trees that produce beautiful, bright orange flowers followed by small round fruit.  I honestly don’t know what it’s called or if the fruit is even edible… still working on that one.  They are popular as shade trees in parking lots.  We got those seeds from trees out in front of Sam’s Club in Ponce.

Yes, I’ve been busy…

So you know- There is about 1.5 acres spread between two different garden areas I’m working on/in.  There is more I could use, but it’s not as accessible as these are.  What’s more, it’s a ton of work to clear out the tall grass and keep it knocked back.  So if I run out of room, I do have somewhere to go.

Open Question:  These last two shots are of a nut tree on the property that everyone sez is not suitable for human consumption, but cannot conclusively identify it.  Can You?

A complete breakdown of what is growing on the property today, can be seen by clicking- ‘Our Garden in PR’ in the menu bar above.

My efforts at growing bamboo can be seen over on my Isle of Bamboo site.

As always, there are larger shots from this Post, over on Roberto’s Puerto Rico– Facebook Page.  Check it out!

The final ‘Part 3- Seeds in Process’ will follow in a few more weeks.