Suggest trees

[humanure]

I would like to know if anyone, from experience, can suggest any fruit trees that A. Grow quickly. B. Provide large fruit.

If I can get the trees or plants already grown, please tell from where?

If you can suggest at least 5 trees that meet this criteria, appreciated.

Thank you.

[shave_ice]

Lilikoi, poha, bananas, papayas, and dragonfruit should all fruit in two years or less.

[Rene Siracusa]

Shave Ice's suggestions are all fruit-bearing, but none are real trees. To provide the most accurage answers to your question, we need to know where your lot is and the elevation. Many fruit trees are picky about elevation. My neighbor, at 1,200 ft., has a mango more than 35 years old that has never, and will never, bear fruit; too high up. And that's just one example.

[Iju]

Jakfruit and pommelo are the two I can think of that provide big fruits the following year after planting. Saw them both at PlantitHawaii semi-annual sale when I was there yesterday.

[Carey]

Plant It Hawaii in Kurtistown is having their semi-annual sale (ending today...you would have to fly there) for the best selection of fruit trees - & there are Arbor Day sales around the island this weekend (and Maku'u market is always good to check out)

Fruit Lovers in Pahoa has some of the more unusual fruiting plants...

But most any fruit will begin bearing here anywhere from 1/2 year to 3 years, as long as your site has all of the things that the plant needs... The most important thing is first to look at YOUR site...as there are sooo many variables in just Puna district (litttle things like temperature, soil (oor what soil?) rainfall, sun humidity for the plants can vary sooo widely here... We have a lot that seems to be able to grow just about anything, quickly, but the lot is the limiting factor....and we are forever trimming back extremely happy fruiting plants... so there is also that to consider.

So for your list of plants, I will have you consider:
ones that your neighbors, friends, co-worker do not have (as you probably will get those in season)
ones you will want in a treefull, or are willing to process for later
ones that bear multiple time a year, or throughout the year

note, I am not giving plant names, as we have continued to revised our lists of things we MUST have as we have learned more about what grows here, what wants to take over here, what we want to deal with, and what we can get easily/cheaply in season -after all, why do the work, if the fruit is practically (or really) free...

[steve1]

You might want to try googling something like" tropical fruit trees with big fruit" or perform a similar search here: http://www.google.com
Once you have found some fruit trees you are interested in then you might ask people on the forum if anyone has experience with those particular species near the location/ elevation/ climactic conditions where you might want to plant them. Alternately, you could search Google.com for "Big Island Hawaii retail nurseries" and ask them what kinds of fruit trees they have available.

The State also has taxpayer funded agricultural assistance at the CTAHR agricultural extension agency including thousands of documents, many of which are online.
You can "ask the experts" here:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ate/
or read documents in the "farmers bookshelf" here:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/fb/

[kalakoa]

To which I would add: some things are just better fresh-picked without handling/storage/transportation. Bananas are cheap and readily available, but the ones from my yard are always tastier. (That, and I like some of the "interesting" varieties that are harder to find...)

Mango doesn't have an "altitude limit" so much as "needs to stay dry when flowering", so much of upper Puna just doesn't work.

Note that some species (especially avocado, citrus) aren't "true-to-seed" so you will need grafted trees to get the specific flavor. Related note: some species aren't self-fruitful, so you need more than one.

In any case, keeping a beehive will increase the fruit output by something like 2-5x, which can really offset the "smallness" of an orchard.

Lillikoi can be invasive; I manage mine with a string trimmer.

[rainyjim]

I think you should look at bananas, breadfruit, jackfruit, soursop, ice cream bean tree, starfruit, abiu, and many citrus varieties.

Also cherimoya, durian, cupuacu, blowfish fruit, star apple, egg fruit, cacao, green sapote, papaya, mango, noni, pineapple, pomegrante, santol, persimmon, sweetsop.

[humanure]

Thank you for the data.