Friday, September 16, 2016

Biriba seeds and planting coconuts.

I've now been married to a fruit enthusiast for more than 40% of of my life.

I remember the days when eating fruit only came with a few questions. Am I hungry for this? What apple or other fruit do I want to eat? 

Now days questions can complicate this simple act in life. Right now we have biriba fruit, a new favorite of Anna's and ours. 

Shhhhh..trying to keep them a secrete from the local kids as Cory wants a good evaluation of which trees taste best and a good supply of seeds to plant, including for other nurseries.  

When first introducing a new fruit that is the most important time to plant the best varieties and not the so so or poor tasting fruits. 

Once enough trees are planted then we can freely share with children and adults, as the need for seeds will be less.
So Cory and Anna go out quietly in the late afternoons to climb and pick the ripe fruits.

Before and after eating, questions abound.
  • Can I eat this fruit or is Cory saving it to share with people?
  • Is this fruit from the good tree?
  • Which fruit tastes better? 
  • Do you need these seeds?
  • Do we need to eat all the fruit from this tree so we can collect the seeds?
  • Did you mix up the seeds from a good fruit and mediocre fruit?!?!
  • Did you forget and throw the seeds in the compost pail?
  • What happened to my seeds?
Newly planted on left. 
Cory and I also planted a few hybrid coconuts this week from Cap Haitian, or at least coconuts from a tree that appears to be Malaysian Dwarf x Panama Tall or 'Maypan' which is Lethal Yellows resistant. Most of the big-type coconut palms in our area have died during the past few years from Lethal Yellows.

 Not sure 'planted' really conveys the right picture. First step the same as with other seeds...fill the bag or pot with dirt. 

In this case fill a large bag or pot all the way close to the top.
Decide where you would like the tree to sprout from the coconut- out the side or out where the stem was once attached and make sure this part is highest when 'planted'.

Unlike some seeds where the roots exit on one side and sprout the other [like mangos-plant concave side down] coconut sprouts can tell which way is up and come out heading toward the sun. 
Put the coconut about half way in the dirt. Done! 

Or you can leave the coconuts in a shady spot, partly in damp ground until they sprout and then plant. 


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Is that the same as "cashiman"? I'd never had it before and we had some at Nan Cafe this time. It was delicious! Our friends served them to us in a big bowl and the children taught us how to eat them. Tasted almost like vanilla ice cream. Mmmm. We also got to have my other favorite, "korsol" juice. That one tastes like an Orange Julius. I'm not sure of the spelling of either of those. Yummy, tho!

Kris Thede said...

Alison 'cashiman' or sugar apple is different but related to briiba. LaGonave to dry and or salty to grow biriba. Glad you got to try more of the tropical fruits. Maybe some day you can come visit us in the north!