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Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

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Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really even a hypothesis. Farmers select for traits that increase profit. Since most markets don't let customers actually taste the product, they aren't choosing to buy it on that quality, and no one in the commercial space is trying to optimize it. Instead customers are buying fruit that LOOKS good - big, bright, colorful, blemish-free (survives transport without damage). So farmers plant fruits that will look g…

I learned that baby carrots were not actually "baby" (small carrots) when I was I my 20s, after consuming them for years. Baby carrots are carved from disfigured (but otherwise edible) carrots, because otherwise most people won't buy disfigured carrots.

Baby carrots are a real thing. The taste is distinctive, and you couldn't replicate the stalks or skin texture by cutting up larger carrots. It's rather unfortunate if they're allowed sell pre-cut carrot chunks as baby carrots where you live!

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#202
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I asked someone why local village wine in the south of France was better than 75% of the bottles I'd had. They told me "The best grapes never make it out of the village. The next best grapes never make it out of the region. The next best grapes never make it out of the country." Wine was probably a terrible example, being a less perishable good suited for transport, but the quip always stuck with me. No idea the orig…

> We (city folk) assume that the best agricultural output is exported, but... why would it be? For the same reason everything else is exported. Its value somewhere else is higher than its local value.

No post body was provided.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#203
post #154
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is, check out Harry & David: https://www.harryanddavid.com/h/fruit-gift

We've received Harry & David gifts in the past and - if you're expecting exotic fruits - you'll be very disappointed. The presentation is beautiful, but getting 5 under-ripe pears wrapped in gold foil does not seem worth the $50 (including shipping) cost. Most of their fruit really seems just slightly above grocery store quality (though I do live in California, so our fruit is good). The varieties may sound special,…

You may not be eating it correctly

Pears are fruits that ripe after being picked from the tree. The photos in the web look like Decana pears, that are known universally as one of the top varieties of common pear.

Freshly picked from the tree are just hard and sweet, nothing special, but wait some days and wow... When the skin starts to feel soft at the touch, the flesh melts like butter and the juice drips from your mouth.

Is annoying to culture (must be pollinated carefully and the steams take strange directions that made it difficult to prune correctly), but is royalty in the pear world.

If yours were from that variety you should give it a second try, wait to middle of summer and taste one in their prime. Is just a pear, but it offers all that one can expect from a pear.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#204
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a tasty fruit native to the midwest US called pawpaw (aka Indiana banana) that's like a mix between a banana and a mango: https://www.seriouseats.com/what-are-pawpaws-wild-fruit-midw...

Kind of reminds me of the atemoya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atemoya . Saw it for the first time visiting South America, and it reminded me of a mix between a banana and something citrus. One of the best fruits I’ve ever tasted.

Paw Paw and Atemoya are in the same family as the Cherimoya. All share a rich mix of tropical flavors in a soft mousse texture.

Not to be eaten in very big amounts in any case by their Annonacins (linked with Parkinson disease)

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really even a hypothesis. Farmers select for traits that increase profit. Since most markets don't let customers actually taste the product, they aren't choosing to buy it on that quality, and no one in the commercial space is trying to optimize it. Instead customers are buying fruit that LOOKS good - big, bright, colorful, blemish-free (survives transport without damage). So farmers plant fruits that will look g…

I learned that baby carrots were not actually "baby" (small carrots) when I was I my 20s, after consuming them for years. Baby carrots are carved from disfigured (but otherwise edible) carrots, because otherwise most people won't buy disfigured carrots.

Carved is probably not a good way to express it. Cut from forked carrots more probably so there is not need to replicate the skin or size. You have it already.

Real baby carrots are very nice, but tender roots from forked carrots (that would be otherwise discarded when are perfectly ok to eat), is a tradeoff solution and decent replacement

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#206
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've received Harry & David gifts in the past and - if you're expecting exotic fruits - you'll be very disappointed. The presentation is beautiful, but getting 5 under-ripe pears wrapped in gold foil does not seem worth the $50 (including shipping) cost. Most of their fruit really seems just slightly above grocery store quality (though I do live in California, so our fruit is good). The varieties may sound special,…

You may not be eating it correctly Pears are fruits that ripe after being picked from the tree. The photos in the web look like Decana pears, that are known universally as one of the top varieties of common pear. Freshly picked from the tree are just hard and sweet, nothing special, but wait some days and wow... When the skin starts to feel soft at the touch, the flesh melts like butter and the juice drips from your…

Yup, confirmed, the pears sold in the web aren't the old decana de comice but a close variety in the same group of comice pears.

Therefore a fruit that plays in the major leagues and has nothing to envy from tropicals

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#207
post #138

I grew up in Egypt, my dad is from a town on the Suez Canal called Ismailia, famous for its mangoes. We would wait the whole year for mango season (August/September). As kids, our clothes would all get mango stains. Our parents would make us take our shirts off before we eat them to avoid that. I moved to the US, and I haven't had a good mango here. When friends visit Egypt, I tell them to get mangoes (in season, aro…

Hey, wait. Egypt is just around the corner from Europe. Why don't we get good mangos? The only good ones cost around 7 EUR per fruit and are flown in from the tropics.

Lack of demand and plenty of acceptable replacements. Tropical fruit has a distinctive acid-sweet flavor that not everybody likes in large amounts. I would pick one avocado or a good apple or pear over a mango all the times. I would choose a Cherimola over a Mango all the times. Is a cultural thing I suppose.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#208

I grew up in Egypt, my dad is from a town on the Suez Canal called Ismailia, famous for its mangoes. We would wait the whole year for mango season (August/September). As kids, our clothes would all get mango stains. Our parents would make us take our shirts off before we eat them to avoid that. I moved to the US, and I haven't had a good mango here. When friends visit Egypt, I tell them to get mangoes (in season, aro…

Same with plums. I don’t even know why they sell them in the us. It’s like eating a ball of water. Think of the flavor of an ice slushie that’s just the ice. I gave them plenty of chances, in every corner of the country, in every season I could find them. Always terrible.

> It’s like eating a ball of water.

We are talking about different fruits here: Prunus domestica, The Common or European plum, and Prunus salicina, the Japanese plum are, by far, the most cultured.

European plums are sweet, acidic, fleshy and firm, with a rich taste.

Japanese plums are sweet, acidic, have a less complex taste and are soft and --watery-- by nature.

The best Japanese plums are decent fruits with an useful trait. Matures earlier, so if you buy plums in June are most probably Japanese plums. You will have a sweet-acidic ball of water all the times.

Not much unlike cherries that mature at the same time, everybody loves and are basically sugar and water. The good part is that you can have plums off-season. They aren't the best, but is the best plum that you can have in May-June; and is the only that you can culture in warm areas. Their season extends to July and maybe August.

European plums --require-- cold. Without a minimum amount of frost hours in winter will not bloom. A few mature as early as June or as late as October, but the common season ranges from mid July to mid Sept. Those fruits had much more time and sun to develop their flavor and are more diverse and different in nature, with several subgroups. Some are mostly acidic and some store a lot of sugar. Some have a very nice trait, a 'clinging seed' (can be detached cleanly from the edible part). Unlike Japanese, they can be dehydrated and stored as prunes for many months. In sum, a much more versatile fruit.

And there are the new pluots an plumcots also. Hybrids from plum and apricot that taste like very good european plums.

So you need to educate yourself in what to expect, or ask in your grocery. There are lots of different fruits in the Prunus genus.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#209
post #69
post #5

Amazing video! I recently found some ginkgo seeds and have also been trying to make them grow. Some had naturally germinated, so I tried to replicate the conditions where I found those ones (covered with ~1cm of soil, in a shady spot, receiving some rain), but no luck as of now. Perhaps I should try soaking some in water in a closed container as shown in the video. (Assuming it is water, of course; a clear liquid cou…

Ginkgos are peculiar plants, with ovules and spermatozoids. I don't know if the term "seed" applies well. You need an (fertilized) egg to grow the plant. https://kwanten.home.xs4all.nl/ovule.htm

I’m no botanist, but I believe cycads have spermatozoids too. All seed plants (including angiosperms) have ovules.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wonder if there's a market in the U.S. for luxury fruits As a hobbyist rare fruit grower and someone who spends a lot of time watching rare fruit YouTube, I would say that even though all the ingredients are there, it would be a huge uphill battle. First, let me say the amount of hype right now around rare fruit is completely insane. It's literally hundreds of times harder to get the top fruit cultivars than it i…

I know I’d easily pay at least a few hundred a month for at least one overnight shipment of fresh, in-season, rare/novel fruit. Receiving a shipment like that would be a joyous monthly treat. I can’t be the only one … can I?

> I can’t be the only one … can I?

I mean the person growing the mango is most likely paying a few hundred bucks per mango, on the assumption that they'll get one or two every couple years if they keep it in a container, so in comparison paying a few hundred bucks a month and getting actual fruit is a pretty good deal.

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