For the gardener on your gift list, a partridge in a pear tree might be the perfect gift. However, pear trees are hard to grow in Hawaii and only the chukar partridge can be found here. Fruit trees, with or without the bird, do make great gifts though and many interesting varieties grow well here. With gift buying time growing short, here are some ideas.
Standard pears, apples, apricots and most stone fruits can only be grown here at upper elevations, where the winter nighttime temperature falls to or below 40 degrees for several weeks. The winter chill is what promotes fruiting for these trees. Several “low chill” varieties of apples, pears, peaches and blueberries are now on the market. If you want to gift these plants, look for them at area nurseries.
Many gardeners already have papayas trees but if they don’t, they should. Look for papaya trees that are grown from non-genetically modified seeds if your giftee is an organic gardener. This is not always easy to determine, however. The University of Hawaii sells non-GMO papaya seeds, though test results have shown about 1 percent to be GMO contaminated. If you buy fresh organic papayas and save the seed, you may avoid contamination. Offer a photo of a papaya tree this holiday and give the tree when you’ve grown it out. Plant a few seeds and gift the trees that are hermaphrodites. They will have the best fruit. You can tell the sex of a papaya tree by close inspection of its flowers. Photos of the different flowers are on the Internet and in UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources document you can download at www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-5.pdf. You’ll have fruit around this time next year.
Any garden with the space to grow bananas should have a mat of four or five trees going. Though hundreds of banana varieties grow in Hawaii, the most popular and easily available is the apple banana. It is also one of the tastiest bananas. Dwarf apple banana varieties are available at several nurseries. Young trees will produce fruit in their first year and then die. A few young shoots will grow from the roots once you cut down the mature tree. That’s how to get a mat started.
Another thought for gifting edible trees is selecting a dwarf citrus. All of these grow well here and most are readily available. Ka‘u orange, tangerine, tangelo, ruby grapefruit and Meyer lemon are great trees to add beauty to a garden as well as tasty, vitamin-rich fruit for the gardener. If you want to get a little more exotic, look for blood oranges, kumquats, keffir limes, pink lemons or Buddha’s hand citron. All can be ordered from area nurseries if they are not on hand.
Many varieties of avocado and mango are available. These trees can get large so they are best gifted to someone who has lots of room or loves to prune. Though the Sharwil avocado is the best known variety others including Kahaluu and Yamagata have wonderful flavors. The only small mango tree locally available is the Julie. This dwarf tree will determine at less than 20 feet but, like the larger varieties, it can be pruned annually to control its size.
If you want to venture into exotic fruit trees as gifts, consider several large trees that have interesting produce. The breadfruit was a staple in the ancient Hawaiian diet and is experiencing a comeback in popularity to use in place of potatoes, rice or taro. The controversial durian has a distinctive odor that outlaws it from public transportation in many tropical countries. Its odiferous flesh has a sweet, custardy flavor that many people love, however. Lychee and its cousins longon and rambutan also have great flavor and are easy to grow. Loquats are about as close to apricots as we can grow in the tropics. Several members of the Annonaceae, or custard apple, family are delicious and easy to grow as well. Consider, sour sop, cherimoya, atemoya or rollinia for tropical exotics with a custardy texture and wonderful flavor.
For smaller gardens you might want to consider exotics like the Surinam cherry, star fruit or jaboticaba as edible tree gifts that can delight gardeners who thought they had everything. Information on all of these trees and their fruit is available in books on tropical fruit and online.
Whatever gift you choose, a tree that produces food will likely please most gardeners and continue giving many times over.
Tropical gardening helpline
Jason asks: My mamaki tree has some jelly-like white growths on the stems. Is this a natural occurrence or is it a disease or a pest? Whatever it is, what should I do about it?
Answer: The short answer is don’t do anything. The pulpy growths you describe are actually the fruit of the mamaki tree. They will appear all along the stems of the tree after flowering. These soft fruits contain many tiny seeds that can be used to propagate the plant.
If you decide you would like to grow more mamaki trees, you can gather the fruits when they soft and mature. Store them in a sealed plastic bag to keep them moist until you are ready to prepare the seeds for planting.
Try to separate the seeds while the fruit is still soft. Using a screen strainer and a bowl, place the fruit in the strainer and the strainer in a bowl of water. Rub the fruit into the strainer so the seeds separate out and drop to the bottom of the water bowl. Clean the strainer and place a paper towel in it. Get rid of any pulp that is floating in the bowl of water then pour the water and the seeds over the paper towel-lined strainer. Let the seeds dry on the paper towel for a day before planting on top of a mix of three parts small (No. 1) perlite and one part potting soil. Water the seeds in and water the mix every other day.
The seeds may take a month or more to germinate. Once they do, you can move them to a larger pot once they have four to six true leaves growing. Up pot again in a few months and let the seedlings get stronger before planting them out into your garden.
Email plant questions to konamg@ctahr.hawaii.edu for answers by certified master gardeners. Some questions will be chosen for inclusion in this column.
Diana Duff is a plant adviser, educator and consultant living on an organic farm in Captain Cook.
Farmersmarkets
Wednesday: Hooulu Farmers Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sheraton Kona Resort and Spa at Keauhou Bay
Wednesday: Sunset Farmers Market, 2 p.m. to sunset at the north makai corner of the Kmart parking lot
Saturday: Keauhou Farmers Market, 8 a.m. to noon at Keauhou Shopping Center
Saturday: Kamuela Farmers Market, from 7 a.m. to noon at Pukalani Stables in Waimea
Sunday: South Kona Green Market, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Amy B. H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook
MondaytoSaturday: U-Pick greens and produce, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tropical Edibles Nursery in Captain Cook
Plantadvicelines
Anytime: konamg@ctahr.hawaii.edu
Thursday: 9 a.m. to noon at the University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service in Kainaliu, 322-4892.
Monday,TuesdayandFriday: 9 a.m. to noon at UH CES at Komohana in Hilo, 981-5199 or himga@hawaii.edu.
