Super Scionic

The jaboticabas are looking good this time of year. I think we had one week where the high temperatures hit 80°F, but that weeks weeks before summer was even officially here. Since then it has been in the high 60's and low 70's and overcast until noon. The Plinia like it though, and it seems like the grafts that I first made on my original rootstock are all taking off now. A few like Grimal, spirito-satensis, phitrantha (possible Esalq), and Coronata var. Restinga are pushing serious leaves, which are stunning little branches. Trunciflora is lagging but I think it's starting to go. Paulista and edulis are the only two that I'm not sure about yet. Maybe they'll take, maybe not. I have gradiflora and aureana coming soon, so I'll graft those scions on to really make it a proper cocktail. Now that I know I can do it with high efficacy that only seems to be dependent on the species/variety, I'm excited more than nervous.

I recently lost all the leaves and maybe the whole aureana plant that I had. The thing never seemed to grow. Red and Blue are growing slowly again. I also picked up three small plants ( "Otto Andersen, Paulista açú", Dwarf Red  "Precoce", and Escalarte, and some seedlings  "Rosa de Pescoço" and "Polpa Roxa". If all of these grow large enough, the'll eventually make their way onto the cocktail tree. I have a second root stock that has the refrigerated scions on it. I'll use that as a backup for everything once I'm convince the original grafts are fully healed and the scions are branching.

May Gray and Cool Scions

It's Memorial Day. I returned from an out of town trip half exhausted and half missing my garden. The latter won, and I decided to take the Jaboticaba scions that I received in mid-February out of the fridge. To my pleasure they looked externally as good as fresh. A few slices with my knife showed them to look the same on the inside. Plinia edulis might have been a bit off, but it was still moist and greenish. So, I took the remaining scions and grafted them to a Sabara that has been doing just fine since it arrived recently. This is a bit of an experiment. No one seemed quite sure if this tactic would work.

On a very related note, my tree grafted back in Feb is really pushing. At least one of each variety is showing life and pushing new leaves (expect perhaps P. edulis). I don't know what normal grafting success rates are especially in cool and overcast conditions, but I think the tightness with which I wrapped the white electrical tape may be important. Some reading noted that pressure is critical to cell differentiation and fluid/nutrient transmission. This along with stripping the stock leaves really seems to be the ticket...unless it's always this easy of course. We'll see what the forums say when I show off the cocktail tree once it's more fleshed out.

And back to the refrigerated tree...I can't wait to read what the forum people say to that if it works out positively. Wait and read.

Late Winter Cocktails

Spring is rapidly approaching. Buds are pushing on most everything, except on my 'Grimal' jaboticaba, which is almost completely refoliated. It's looking really good, and it inspired me to work on a cocktail jaboticaba for myself. I've seen them online and they're beautiful trees aside from having delicious fruit. I bought a 5' P. cauliflora to be the rootstock. Everyone uses 'Sabara', but I was feeling impulsive and just went for it. Then I picked up a bunch of scions from Flying Fox Fruits, and spent a whole day grafting them on to the tree. I also decided to lop off a lower branch on my 'Grimal' and graft that on as well. This is a first attempt at grafting Plinia, but being hardwood, I think it should be relatively successful. I have about 3 or 4 chances at each of the types below.

• P. coronata
• P. coronata var. 'Restinga'
• P. 'Grimal'
• P. phitrantha (possibly ESALQ)
• P. spiritosantensis

Update: I added three more types to the top of the rootstock, and picked up P. cauliflora 'Polpa Roxa' and P. phitrantha 'Rosa de Pescoço' seedlings and a small grafted Plinia sp. 'Escalarte'.

• P. trunciflora
• P. edulis (aka Cambuca)
• P. cauliflora var. 'Paulista'

Additionally, I picked up some types that were unlikely to be successfully grafted, and I'm giving rooting a shot. This could be low success, but it's worth a shot. I'm using some CD spindle covers as the outer pot/water reservoir, a clear solo cup as the pot. I filled the latter with 50/50 peat moss and coarse sand, and then drenched the whole thing with a 5.0 pH water. The cuttings I prepared by shaving off the lower centimeter of bark to expose the cambium just below a node and chopping all the leaves in half to reduce transpiration. Then I taped a gallon bag on top to keep the humidity around. We'll see if it works for these two.

• P. inflata
• P. rivularis

New Jabo Growth

My Jaboticaba are doing well it seems. They first just sat in their little water logged pots and did absolutely nothing. But not that the heat of summer, such as it is here in Redondo Beach, is finally causing something to happen. Lots of new little branches and leaves are coming out on my Grimal Jaboticaba and my White Jaboticaba. The Yellow and Red are less active, but there's a bit of growth on those too. Who knows how long before I see flowers and fruit.

Not Just Jaboticaba

I've recently been turned on to Jaboticabas...Jabuticabas...OK, this is why I don't like common names. Myrciaria...wait..they're Plinia now? The world outside Passiflora is confusing; just as confusing as Genus Passiflora I guess. It did take me a couple years to get it down to where I didn't sound like an idiot talking to the botanical bunch.

Anyway.

Jabos are a fantastic looking tree. They have bark that peels and gives the branches and trunk a mottled look like a Eucalyptus, but the grand part is that the flowers emerge from older growth including the trunk. They can cover it in little white puffy flowers that eventually turn into spherical fruits. It basically looks like the tree has third degree necrotic burns. That's not an appetizing analogy, so let's say it looks like grapes. Apparently the flesh of the fruit have a grape like texture covered by a thicker skin. And the taste is really good too, but I have yet to eat a single one. Nonetheless, I find myself, thanks to the generosity of a plant friend, with four plants and I'm looking for the fifth. Right now I have a large Plinia grimal (Grimal Jaboticaba), a small Plinia aureana (White Jaboticaba), a small Plinia x (Red Jaboticaba), and a tiny Plinia glomerata (Yellow Jaboticaba). As I said, I need the Plinia vexator (Blue Jaboticaba)...'cause I collect things.

In addition to the Jabos I picked up a Pouteria lucuma (Lucuma) and a Inga sp. (Ice Cream Bean). I don't know much about them yet. I'm excited to learn. And, I was given a couple of Diospyros nigra (Black Sapote), some Anona species and hybrids, and some rare banana varieties like 1000 finger Musa and Michel Gros Musa. I have no idea how well they'll do in my current yard. Hopefully I can keep them going until they're big enough to fruit at least once.

It was a fun weekend potting all of these plants. Now comes the hard part. Waiting to not kill them all.