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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]

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I should be amazed they exist at all. Exactly this. Go back a century and the idea of eating exotic fruits like these was the only available to the wealthiest. It's a shame in a way that bananas and the like have become ubiquitous, to the detriment of fruits which were locally available.

Bananas were actually already sold fairly widely in the US in 1922. United Fruit Company et al. imported them by the boatload. In fact, there was a crisis of supply caused by the Panama disease infesting the plantations, and people were very unhappy with that, because they got so used to the fruit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes!_We_Have_No_Bananas

> United Fruit Company et al. imported them by the boatload.

…assisted by the United States Marines, and in fact the origin of the term “Banana Republic”.

I was shocked by the tastelessness of the company name when the Banana Republic clothing chain opened up.

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

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I should be amazed they exist at all. Exactly this. Go back a century and the idea of eating exotic fruits like these was the only available to the wealthiest. It's a shame in a way that bananas and the like have become ubiquitous, to the detriment of fruits which were locally available.

>Go back a century and the idea of eating exotic fruits like these was the only available to the wealthiest. My father told me he was 27 years old when he ate his first banana. This was in Canada in 1950.

A few weeks after the fall of the Wall in Germany we were in the grocery store in western Niedersachsen (just a few km from the wall) and encountered a woman from the East. She asked my wife what the names of several fruits and vegetables were.

For a couple of months after the wall came down it was impossible to find bananas. Germans love bananas!

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

#113

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…

Food in the United States is generally very bland.

When I visited Greece, the food was so much better than anything else I've ever tasted. It's not one problem in the US, it's every level of our supply chain is geared towards mass market tasteless junk.

Going out of my way to eat as much junk food as possible, I actually noticed I lost a bit of weight from the two weeks or so I spent in Europe.

I'm hoping to live outside the United States for at least a few months to see if this was a fluke.

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

#114
post #47

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…

A lot of tropical fruit is uninteresting in the USA: bananas, pineapple, mangoes etc have little flavor and typically one variety is available at most. I sometimes have 50 year old memories in dreams of eating fresh fruit and they are so different in form and flavor I wonder if they are hallucinations. But as you point out, they require a climate unavailable on the continent so have to be harvested unripe and transpo…

Very interesting. There's this supermarket that sold these mangos with the label "shipped by air" for like $30/box which had like ~6 of them and I was wondering who would buy such expensive fruit!

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

#115
People here complaining about good mangoes not being available in the US haven't been to CA. You can get a box of 14-15 alphonso or ataulfo mangoes for $10-12 at local indian and asian stores around late summer. These come in from Mexico and near the beginning of the season are still not yet ripe (on purpose so they don't spoil in the store). Wait a few days after purchasing them and then they become really sweet.

Yes, also when things are in season those fruits and vegetables taste better in your tropical/subtropical countries, but that's the problem with places like India, when things aren't in season it's difficult to get those items or they are really expensive and really bad quality. In the US (esp. in CA!) I can get decent quality fruits and vegetables almost year round and I can grow lots of things on my own, freeze them, and then enjoy them year round too. The open stall markets where the majority of Indians do their grocery shopping only have seasonal vegetables, there's 0 refrigeration. The chicken and fish areas are full of blood, it's very unhygienic and if you want beef or pork, good luck.

Also in India the concept of eating raw leafy green salads is completely foreign and due to lack of food hygiene there's no demand for eating raw lettuces. The blistering heat also doesn't help for growing kales, chards, and microgreens. Leafy vegetables must be cooked or flash boiled. Again, you can get microgreens at the supermarkets but it's more expensive than in the US and just like everyone else there I'm not going to eat raw leafy greens for fear of getting food poisoning. People in the US complaining about low quality food have no idea how good they have it, even with the few ecoli scares you have a few times of the year, you can be sure major stores pull the bad produce. Before I go to India and immediately after coming back I eat tons of salad loaded with avocados, various types of nuts/seeds, various types of berries, olives, and various other fruits and vegetables. I find myself craving these items a few days into my month long India trips. It's easy to eat and live a healthy lifestyle in the US, not so much in India.

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

#116
post #95

I really want a solar powered time lapse camera that takes a photo around noon every day, saves to SD card. Would be great for plant time lapses. I haven't been able to find anyone who's done this already. It seems like there are trail cams and similar that have all the parts, so this should be possible to manufacture for a price point of around $50, and I think it would be an amazing product: I bet every gardening e…

Not exactly what you’re asking for (at least price wise), but there are solar power adapters for trail cams: https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/tactacam-external-solar-pane...

Yep, I've seen solar trail cams, just none that have a setting for taking a picture at the same time each day.

I expect if you eliminated the need for taking video and motion detection, should be able to get away with smaller panel and battery. Most trail cams also have IR modes, don't need that, which would drop cost as well.

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

#117
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of tropical fruit is uninteresting in the USA: bananas, pineapple, mangoes etc have little flavor and typically one variety is available at most. I sometimes have 50 year old memories in dreams of eating fresh fruit and they are so different in form and flavor I wonder if they are hallucinations. But as you point out, they require a climate unavailable on the continent so have to be harvested unripe and transpo…

> I should be amazed they exist at all. Exactly this. Go back a century and the idea of eating exotic fruits like these was the only available to the wealthiest. It's a shame in a way that bananas and the like have become ubiquitous, to the detriment of fruits which were locally available.

I remember watching a documentary on the Titanic movie and they said oranges were considered luxury only the rich could afford

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

#119

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…

> I moved to the US, and I haven't had a good mango here.

I'm used to the chaunsa variety, but I've found that alphonso mangos are a good substitute and are not too difficult to find in the US. I don't know how those varieties compare to the ones commonly found in Egypt.

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

#120

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…

In South India, our parents would make us take our shirts off before we eat mangoes to avoid getting stains as well. I was stuck in India due to the pandemic and got so lucky to be stuck during the mango season. Bliss!
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