Maybe interest in new forum for gardening in the tropics?

How can you tell a breadfuit is ripe?

Personally, I wait till they fall off the tree. Keep the area free of rocks that might bust the fruit open. However, some of the trees here get so huge that gravity alone busts the fruit. Good question....ohhhhhh, Jooohhnn (done in a sing-song, sweetly questioning voice)?

Look Out!! It's raining breadfruits!!!!

I can tell you that a breadfruit can cave in the top of a phone booth!!

If you look at the skin of a breadfruit, it is rough in texture, almost like a canteloupe. Dark green in color. As the fruit ripens, the skin starts to smooth over and the color of the skin starts to get a yellow tint to it. Some people prefer fruit that is not quite ripe, while others, like me, like them "fit" I will try to get some pictures of various stages of the fruit in detail so we can all learn it....did this help?

j

island girlie(shari).....check your dmail

Try this!

Fire up the grille.....gas preferably as this may take an hour to roast. Take a "fit" or ripe, breadfruit. Lightly coat the outside with olive oil...thinking healthy....wrap with foil. Toss it on the grille, close the lid. In about an hour, peel back the foil and see if the skin is black all the way around. If so, it's done. Remove from grille with hot pads, unless you have asbestos covered hands. Peel the skin off and butter, sea salt and pepper to taste, maybe a dash of hot sauce, enjoy! You can also cut the breadfruit in half, like a canteloupe, fill with chili, or spinach, or spaghetti squash, and you will be savouring a roasted breadfruit!!!! Makes your mouth water just reading this!!!

aurabest,
j

Ha ha John....laughing at my harvesting techniques! I am not young enough anymore to climb those trees! When the maintenance guys go around and chop things down, they take all the breadfruit themselves, so I must be patient and wait till the ones they don't get fall of their own weight.

Love your idea!! I was teasing on your thread, but lots of folks garden in ponds and such like. I would think it would be of interest to lots of people.

....dreaming of vacationing in your tropical Paradise. Love that's peaceful ambien. Oloha everyone. Chao to others, Ciao to others. Tehehehe, that's my limited vocab. on international lingos.
Hope our forum be a reality soon. I'm setting out to wait for it.

Hey kids!

Just to confuse matters more...not really, just to mention that Cayman has 2 varieties of breadfruits that I know of....one has a white meat to it and the other, a sweeter tasting meat, is yellow inside....locally called yellow hearts....haven't learned how to distinguish the two but when I know, y'all will too!!!

aurabest,
j

Hmmm...I'm sure Dave will use his phenomenal reasoning to decide this issue, but FWIW, I think a regional gardening forum makes sense. I'd lurk, too, even though it's dry as a bone here.

BTW, I never knew there were so many members here in that zone - though I wish more were subscribers. It would be a great forum to visit if they all contributed.

I agree kaperc, that's one reason I haven't given up yet! But, the tropicals forum is still a place of fascination....have you checked it out?

John, dear friend.....do you know if the yellow hearts grow anywhere else? Our bf's have a sort of creamy ivory color.

Lily, no special language needed here. This thread is for any and all. As far as the Caymans and the Marshalls - English works. Welcome!

Thanks for the warm welcome, Shari. Tell me please any had Durian Fruits? As far as "breadfruits" are those Jack Fruits we're referring to? ...check it out? Have we got a "gardening in the tropics" going? I'm excited!

Lily....I'm sad to say I don't know durian fruit...please give more info. I don't think that breadfruit and jack fruit are the same, but I could be wrong. Dale_a_gardener was talking about Jack fruit....maybe we need to get him back in here. Believe me, I am trying to get a "gardening in the tropics" forum. That is what this thread is all about. Where are you from? I know they don't have this sort of thing in AL!

Jak fruit>

Thanks Dale! Know anything about it?

Shari;
How keen an observation! Indeed you're absolutely right. It must be my "accent" that gave me away. LOL. Let say I'm a transplanted tropical gal to the beautiful Alabama US. I love it here, but my soul is longing for those familiar tropics.

yup, Jackfruits, I can only have this fruits canned. Those that available commercially. (:
sob sob....

The Jak fruit is one that I have seen and never tasted (that is my hand in the photo), one of my clients has a tree. That fruit in my photo was stolen, by the illegals that cut the grass at the highrise next door to the house. I was told it is sweet when ripe. I would call it dessert food. Breadfruit is starchy?

Yes , starchy. But it really takes on the flavors and textures of whatever you cook it with. Best I've ever seen for that. Thanks for the info!

I wonder...did you know that Poison Ivy and Mango are relatives? Both are in the family Anacardiaceae, that is why some people have reactions to the leaves.

Time for me to go to bed, have any early day.

Aha! Now I know why I don't care so much for mangoes! Give me a Paw-paw anyday! I gotta go too. Need to get to the store to buy makins for Carne con Pappas. Cooking up a batch for a good-bye party tonight. Sad, but good excuse for a party. Corse, the sun came up, the sun went down....all good excuses for party! You guys all have a good night, and pass the word to get our Tropical Region forum!

Yokwe Yuk!

Shari

I don't get it...there is a forum for TOMATOES....why not a region?

I must get moving on this!!!

Good morning!!

Just wondering, is there a way to know what thread has the most views or hits? I can tell by Shari's thread here that lots of folks have a look and there are over 140 replies!!! This thread has generated a big response and thank you to all who contribute!!!

People could benefit from a tropical region forum. I had a look at all of the recently added forums, and there are a bunch. I wonder if any of those new forums have the following this single thread has???? This particular thread is my forum.

Just a reminder for those in the zone. The Atlantic Hurricane season is just a few weeks away. Get your kits in order!!! Restock now before the last minute, Be prepared and good luck to all of us!!

aurabest,

john

Although being prepared is sometimes not enough!

the last pic and this one are before and after shots of my next door neighbor's place for Ivan. We now live on the other side of the island. Our place did not fare any better than these folks, but we were prepared and no lives were lost!!!

j

John,
When Mother Nature Roars, she is non-discriminating. Many lives were lost in nearby towns, and cities in main land US. too, as well as around the Globe. Take care. May peace be with us all.
Kim

Thank you Lily, for that reminder. Yes, Mother Nature can roar at any time, in any place. And John, good idea to remind people to have their kits ready. Here, we kinda joke about it... but everyone knows where their evacuation station is, what to take, and what to have in the house. I say "kinda joke" cuz we are so small, that anything really major will take us out completely. But we have been through some tropical storms that made us glad we were prepared, so John, you just keep passing the word.

As far as the forum goes, I don't understand either. None of the Uber's or DG Admin's have been here in quite a while, I guess they figure its really just a few of us talkin here, so not enough Garden-wide interest. I will be more active in the other forums after I finish reading all the back pages. Some have LOTS to read.

Good evening folks....

did i read a post somewhere here that DG's was thinking of going international?

I am not the brightest bulb in the harbour but it seems to me by all the threads I watch that it already has....

ok, i'll shut up

j

j,

Dave's is on the www, www is world wide web. When I read that a couple/three months ago all I could say was - Who was asleep at the keyboard when they typed that in?

Too right!!

as soon as the domain name was approved, it was international....no turning back now...Dave's! we know where you are and how to find you!!! don't even think of hiding....you can't grow tall enough hedges to hide behind!!! even the small island folk are talking....the marle road is long but word travels with the wind...Dave's Garden, you have created this and there is nothing you can do, well, almost nothing, you can do to stop the international invasion of your threads!!! I am so happy for this opportunity!!!

I have met so many new friends and have received so much good advise and support that I hope someday I can return the favor....

j

*pulls out a whistle and tries to summon Dave*

There's a "Cool Climate Gardening" Forum - why not a "Tropical Climate Gardening" one? Both are more international in flavour where folks could share tips and techniques. And just as in the "Cool" Forum, the climates will vary greatly depending on existence/location of mountains and wind currents and soil composition. As mentioned before me, with more and more folks across the globe making DG their home, I imagine a "Tropical" version would do well. :)

Why my interest?

I spent many delightful weeks throughout the 90s on scuba diving trips in the Caribbean. While that was before I discovered the joy of gardening, I'd likely follow the Forum just out of curiosity just as I have this thread... and to possibly pick up a few recipes on the side.

Now, if only I could find breadfruit in my local grocery store... hehehe

Donna

I have been following this also and still am waiting. I love to hear about the tropics since it is different from here though sometimes I do steal some ideas to try out here. lol

TuttiFrutti

We tropical folk are used to visitors. We don't fear you, just bring lots of money for your vacations.

We will feed exotic fruits and allow you to burn you skin on the beach>

LOL

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Donna, Pepper23, and any others that want to chime in here! The more the merrier!!!! Literally!!!! I have been doing a lot of reading in the Gingers Forum and the Hibiscus Forum, and so much of what I see is how to overwinter, and what to do when plants go dormant and stuff like that. Now, I grant you that is all very interesting (if not I wouldn't be spending so !@##$%#%%^ much time reading it - ha ha) , but problems that John, Carol and I (and many others in tropical areas) have are different. What to do when plants get too much rain, salt spray, wind, do plants suffer when they DON'T get a dormant period.....AND....not all of our problems are the same, but solutions for one problem may lead to a solution for a different problem for someone else. Microclimates differ even within zones, as we all know, and sometimes all one can do is vent. This is an excellent venting area....I always feel better after a DG session! Okay, I'm done now.....thanks again!

LOL. You're welcome. It's always kinda funny to read a person's vents.

Come on in, the water's fine! We promise not to let Dale throw that thing at anyone, and John will give us wonderful recipes. Beside's, think of all the people you can come visit while on those tropical vacations! Dale - think we should offer Dave a percentage ?

Oh, Shari, long day in the garden??

They say blue will cool you off>

I do believe tropical forum will benifit a wide range of readers all around the States, as well as the tropics. Can we vote? Can we pertition DG's adm. to open a voting poll? Let's it rolls!

Rolling...rolling....rolling

Yes, the sun must be getting to me. I've been out dumping all the excess water out of my pots. Weirdness this am.....bright sunshine and a deluge! DD came back from taking GD to school (two blocks mind you) and was soaked through! Came down in buckets! Sun never stopped! Now you can practically see the steam rising from the garden (oh wait, maybe that's just a large cloud of mosquitos!) Ya know, except for the tiny flowers on my sage, I have no blue in my garden. Have some purple on my thunbergia, but no real blue......hmmmmm, what's that gorgeous blue hibiscus called? Guess I'll have to get one. Dale, are those snaps? I can't tell. Beautiful, and yes very calming.

Shari...I have been adding blue to my garden too!!! Agapanthus (want some seeds?), they grow very well here and something called "Blue Hibiscus' but it is really a Mallow and is growing like a weed!!! DH and I both commented blue is hard to find. I also have a Clerodendron ugandensis...blue flowers. I can start some for you, too!

I put A NEW post on DG asking why we couldn't have our own forum for Zone 10b +. There have been some favorable responses...but no Ubers.

Keep pushing..