Dragon Fruit Pitaya Zomovanao Trial

Pitaya Dragon Fruit Zamovano

New Trial: This is the Dragon Fruit Pitaya Zamovanao that we have been trialling in our nursery. Purpose is we want to make sure that it crops well, Can produce fruit in isolation ( Please note we did hand pollinate from the same pitaya plant ).

Once we get fruit it was my job to taste it today.

My subjective Taste Analysis: 2x more flavour than white pearl with soft seeds which often need a lime to bring out the flavour. On a hot day like today it was very refreshing and juicy.

Look: From the photo on the inside you can see it is quite spectacular translucent purple flesh with dark crunchy seeds inside.

When will it be available: Sorry not for another year. We will use this plant to reproduce it exactly the same so you know you are getting the same plant that we trialled in our nursery.

When it is ready it will appear on our Dragon Fruit Pitaya Fruit Tree Page

Buy Fruit Fly Lures and baits to control this pest

Control Fruit Fly with Lures

You can control and reduce the number of fruit flys in your orchard using Fruit Fly lures,

Some good Lures and bait are
Eco naturalure Male Fruit Fly Trap
Eco Naturalure - Organic Fruit Fly Control
Wild May Fruit Fly Attractant
Wild May Fruit Fly Trap

Video Transcript

So fruit fly is an example of a bad bug

they will just crucify your fruit they

infect it with maggots they make it go

off they ruin a beautiful crop so we

actually use lures so we're not spraying

our trees we're not using toxic poison

we're just putting out a tiny pheromone

bait and what that does is that attracts

the fruit fly into this trap and we trap

the fruit fly in there so one way you

can control your fruit fly is to net

your trees so you actually eliminate the

fruit fly from getting to your fruit

which is a great organic way of doing it

and another way is to use lure bait so

get some pheromone lures there are

different products on the market

you can make your own trap just plastic

bottle with some holes in it put a bit

of that lure in there and attract those

fruit fly to your bait and you'll help

to reduce the numbers in your orchard

But Acerola Cherry Fruit Trees - Cherry of the Subtropics

Your Answer to a Cherry Tree when you live in the subtropics is the Acerola Cherry Fruit Tree. It's a great cropper with off the chart levels of vitamin C. A more diverse flavour with tang and sweet than run of the mill cherries. We show you a very well established tree. And show how it can suit many Australian Backyards.

Acerola Cherry Trees are for Sale at Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery
Buy Acerola Cherry Trees here

Botanical Name | Scientific Name
Malpighia emarginata

Video Transcript

It's late Spring and we're just
starting to pick Acerolas
and these are these beautiful red little
fruits and they're packed in vitamin C
so one of these is like eating an apple
and they're really delicious they're
quite juicy and they've got a lovely mix
of sweet and sour so if you like things
with a little bit of tang you're going
to love the Acerola they also grow in
quite a beautiful shrub so you can see
behind me it's very dense and it can be
quite heavy so if you want to grow one
in your garden it's a good idea to put a
nice sturdy stake to it to keep it
strong in the ground they can have a
tendency to pull themselves over with the
weight of the plant if the soil gets very
wet so during wet weather that we get
here in the subtropics they can topple
unless you have them well staked the
other thing you can do to avoid that is
keep it prune so keep it well maintained
cut it back once it gets to about this
size so when it finishes fruiting take
about a third or half off it and that'll
keep it nice and vigorous and keep it
small and compact but when you're
pruning it's a good idea to wear long
sleeve shirt and gloves cause the
foliage is covered with tiny irritating
hairs so if your wear a short sleeve
shirt you'll find yourself quite itchy afterwards they're like stinging
nettles but not as severe so they give
you tiny little stings they're quite
irritating on the skin and so it'll make
you very itchy. So if you're working
with this plant make sure you do protect
your skin with a long-sleeve shirt you
can see it's quite a beautiful plant
when it's got the fruit on it and also
in flower it has lovely pastel pink
blossoms that make it look beautiful
when it's in flower early spring so this
is the Acerola we love it.
and you're going to enjoy those beautiful little
tasty fruits
mmm lovely mix of sweet and sour
I adore these that's the Acerola
you

Planting a Coconut Plant in a Pot or Bonsai Bag

Coconut care (Some hints on establishing your palms)

These nuts have been struck in filtered sunlight so will handle full sun but need at least 50% sun for as much of the day as possible.
The nuts are the most advanced that packaging or State requirements allow. They will gain nutritional benefit from attachment to the nut for about 18months and even longer in sub optimal conditions. Coconuts have a fibrous root system. Each root will develop with equal importance both feeding the plant and anchoring it. No tap root develops. The sprouted nuts have roots but in most cases most of the roots are removed to improve health and quarantine issues.

In tropical locations the sprouted nut could be planted in its site or potted. In cooler locations it is recommended to plant the nut in a large container 10 to100 litre container. Before sending, the nut has been watered, root pruned and cleaned. New roots are already growing through the nuts husk.

It will help if you soak the nut in diluted liquid fertilizer mix for a few hours or overnight before potting. In any case newly transplanted nuts will suffer some set back which will be evident in the next two fronds being less vigorous than current fronds. It is important to nurse these new plants to reduce this set back as much as possible.

Coconut palms like;

• Warm soil – above 20 degrees celcius
• Warm air – between 20 and 30 degrees celcius
• High humidity – above 70
• High light levels especially when temperatures are warm
• Free draining soil – no water ponding on surface and good pot drainage
• Regular watering with potable or near potable quality water
• Surface mulching with wood chip or stone
• No weed competition especially grassy weeds
• Freedom of pests like ants (ants farm mealy bug and scale insects) and leaf eating insects
• Adequate levels of fertilizer, particularly nitrogen and trace elements

By meeting these requirements your plants should thrive.

Youtube Transcript

So bare root coconuts this is how we get our coconuts and

they send them down from

Far North Queensland just loose within a bit of coconut fiber just a bit of

this around the roots and this is how we

receive them so they travel really well

like this so this is how we also send

them out but they like a very humid

tropical environment so this is our fog

machine which creates a very fine moist

humid environment and this is where we

keep our coconuts while they're here at

Daley's so it's a perfect environment for

strengthening up plants that have come

out of tissue cultured flasks that are

very tender and fragile so this is a

really fabulous and exciting new

addition to Daley's nursery what do you

do with your plant on arrival so the

first thing is just check the roots and

if you feel they're I can feel that that

root there is actually broken so it's

not going to hurt my plant if I cut that

root off

so this coconut has got all its energy

stored in this nut to make all its roots

and to make all its shoots so it uses

the energy from the nut for about the

first two years so it's really important

that under no circumstances do you take

the nut off but don't be concerned about

cutting the roots off so any roots that

are old and damaged cut them off

anything like this this is great and you

need to cut these ones off so don't be

concerned if it doesn't have any roots

at all it's quite normal for your

coconut to come without any roots so

that's perfect

I'm just going to leave those two fresh

shoots that's all we want and that is

absolutely perfect for planting what you

want to do is rehydrate your plant so

you can actually soak the nut in a

bucket of seaweed solution and what

that's going to do is it's just going to

strengthen up the nuts so seaweed is

really good for preventing pests and

diseases and it actually makes your plant

Hardy so it's also a great thing to have

in your garden shed and soak it for at

least an hour you can soak it for up

to a day don't leave it in the bucket

don't forget it and go to work for a

week but just

rehydrate it and get it ready to plant

So where do coconuts grow coconuts are

tropical they're what we call a strictly

tropical plant they're tropical and they

grow on the beach so you don't see them

in the mountains you don't see them in Melbourne they are really

perfectly suited to growing in a

tropical coastal climate now if you are

outside of that area and you want to

grow a coconut what you need to

know is that they ideally like

temperatures that are 20 to 30 degrees

centigrade they don't like it when it

drops below that although they can

handle a little bit of cold in the

winter they will not tolerate any frost

they also like a very humid environment

so they ideally like 70% humidity

throughout the year so if your tropical

you'll find coconuts grow easily if

you're not tropical you're going to find

them difficult so don't be surprised if

you try one and you don't succeed but it

really it's because tropical plants love

really hot humid conditions if you can

offer them that you you're going to have

success if you can't you might be better

growing something suited to your climate

so planting out your coconut in all

areas outside of the tropics it's a

really good idea to start your coconut

in a big pot or a bag so we're going to

start ours in a bonsai bag and what you

need is a pot that's big enough to fit

the nut and the palm so that's nice and

comfortable that's a really good sized

pot and because all the roots are going

to come from this part of the nut you

want to bury that plant down to there so

I've just put some in there because we

haven't got any roots to worry about

spreading out so you can just part fill

your bag and then fill it around it so

this is just coconut fiber this is our

Coir which is fabulous stuff it has

really good drainage it's not going to

water log my coconuts it's not going to

give you any problems with drainage and

I can add slowly less nutrients to this

mix

which is all my coconuts gonna need for

the first couple of years so what you

want to do is get it growing really well

in its bag get it established so you

want it about like that

so your coconuts part buried your palms

coming up from just above the ground

level so you don't want to bury that too

deep and this nut is going to provide

all the roots you need to keep this

really well watered so they like

constant moisture and perfect drainage

put it in the shade until it's

established so don't put it out in the

full Sun where it's going to get cooked

until it starts to show nice new growth

and don't be concerned if it looks a

little bit stressed for a little while

so the first couple of leaves might be

weak growing leaves once it starts to

make vigorous new growth its well

established and it's ready to thinking

about putting in its final home so once

your palm is a couple of metres tall

it's ready to plant in the ground so

what you need is a well-prepared site

and your coconuts going to love very

good drainage so build a mound a bit

like an avocado lots of compost and

organic matter and you can add Coco

fiber and husks all that sort of stuff

to

your well composted mound you can

start doing it when you put you put your

coconut in the bag so it's got two years

to mature you can keep adding to that

composted mound once you're ready to

plant it put it in the ground if your

nut comes off after two years it's

nothing to worry about

but don't plant it any deeper than

you've had it in your bag that's a

general rule with plants so make sure

you keep it at the same line on your

palm when you plant it into the ground

and keep the moisture up to it so it's

going to love that tropical climate and

if you can provide it with that you're

going to be picking coconuts in five

years maybe 6 years

ten years it is going to vary you need to

be patient

you

Video: How to Plant a Blueberry Plant in a pot ( Coir Potting Mix )

Planting Blueberry Plants Video Transcript

Blueberry Season! Don't we all love
blueberries
Packed with antioxidants
kids love them adults love them and we
all want to grow a blueberry in our backyard
so if you've ever tried to grow them in
the ground you'll know that they're a
little bit fussy they're like really
good drainage and they like an acidic
soil so getting the right conditions can
be a little bit tricky in your garden so
if you want to grow a blueberry growing
them in a bag is a really great way to
grow blueberry they're easy
Greg's growing them in bags here for
years he's had ten year old blueberries
in bags and they're as good as when he
planted them so this one here is about
three years old and you can see it's
really just starting to flourish we're
just getting a nice pick of fruit off it
that's going to be ready in a few weeks
we need to be patient
So if you want to grow a blueberry in
apart this is your potting mix that
you're going to need so this is your
block of coconut Coir so it's just
coconut fiber there's nothing else in
that completely organic and it's a
really lightweight fibrous mix so you
can see how loose that is and it's
perfect for growing blueberries in
because it's really well aerated so it
gives them ideal drainage and you can
add a little bit of slow release
fertilizer to it and that's all you need
you can actually use it as a basis for
all sorts of other potting mixes you can
also use it as a mulch so it's a
fabulous product to have in your shed
you're going to need something to plant
your blueberry in so we love these bags
these are what we call bonsai bags and
they come in different sizes so at 35
litre bags perfect if you want about a 2
meter plant a 20 litre bag which is what
we have this plant hearing it's going to
grow you something a meter to a meter
and a half and these are absolutely
ideal for blueberries they make your
plant very easy to move around you can
insert that into a nice ornamental pot
if you wanted to look a bit more showy
So you're going to start with something
like this this is the wonderful
blueberry burst which is a new selection
of blueberry and it's perfect for
growing in bags
it's a lovely compact
plant that grows to about a meter and it's
really going to love a nice aerated Coir Mix
So how many blueberry plants are you
going to need to plant well I would
recommend you start with about five
selections and make sure you check what
your climate is and choose the ones that
are right for your area so there are low
chill selections for warm climates and
there are high chill selections for
cooler areas and choose a variety of the
different varieties for your area that
ill give you cross-pollination and give
you a better crop on each bush and about
five plants is going to give you a
really good fresh pick for fresh berries
straight off the plant and you can also
going to have bowls that you can take
into the kitchen turn into jams make
into sauces and use creatively in your kitchen

Dwarf Red Shahtoot Mulberry Fruit Tree Espalier

Buy Dwarf Red Shahtoot Mulberry Tree

We grew our Red Shahtoot Mulberry tree along 3 lengths of wire. This technique is known as espalier. It gets more Sun into a smaller space producing more mulberries that are easier to pick. Here is an old video from 3 years ago of this exact same mulberry tree in the early stages. https://youtu.be/qyQreB8qd4k

Why Paint Avocado Plants - Sunscreen for your Avocados

Avocado Trees will get sunburnt and die in Australian Summers. If you don't do this when they are young and prepare an adequate shelter it is very likely it will not survive until it has produced and adequate canopy.

We demonstrate how we paint our avocado Trees and set up a shelter for them.

Avocado Fruit Trees are for sale at Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery
Buy Avocado Fruit Trees

Video Transcript
so today we're painting Avocado trees
and the reason that we're doing this is
we are protecting our trees from sunburn
so this is basically sunscreen for your
Avocado. Now if you look at this stem of
your avocado tree you can see it has
this beautiful green stem and this is a
really healthy looking plant and it's
very susceptible to sunburn when it's
this age because you can see it's quite
sparsely leafed it doesn't have a full
canopy and it's not going to have a full
canopy of life to protect it until it's
well established and about 2 or 3 years
old so young trees like this it is
really important to protect them from
hot Summer Sun so as the weather is
warming up here in the spring we're
going to paint our avocado trees we're
going to give them a coat of sun
sunscreen to protect them from the hot
Summer Sun the other thing you need to
do at this time of the year is if you
see any flowers just pick them out you
don't want a tree this size making fruit
I know it's heartbreaking but you do
need to leave it until it's well
established to let it fruit so just note
that as well so the first thing you need
to do is you need to locate the graft on
your trunk of your tree and the reason
you need to do this is because anything
that shoots below the graft you need to
remove that's desuckering so this is
the Scion this is the grafted part of
your tree it's the variety which has the
good quality for it you want and in this
case it's a Sheppard avocado this is a
seedling avocado so anything that shoots
from below this point you need to remove
so when you paint your tree and I've
done one here you can see it's quite
difficult to see the graft Union so it's
really important before you start locate
the graft make a note where it is and if
necessary you can just put a little bit
of different coloured paint on that part
of the tree so you know exactly where it
is this is our Sun screen this is the
paint that we're going to put on our
tree the trunk of our tree to protect it
and it's just house emulsion so if
you've got some acrylic wall paint that
is perfect but you're going to dilute it
about one part paint to three parts
water and what you get is a very liquid
mix of
paint that goes on very easily it's
going to be a bit messy so just be careful
where you get it try not to get it all
over yourselves
and we're just going to paint the trunk of the tree
So even once you've painted the stem on your Avocado Tree.
you're still going to need to protect it
from the very hot summer weather that we
get here in Australia and this is a
great thing to do it with this is a
sock made out of shade cloth and it's
just been sewed together in a double
width so it's basically a tube of double
shade cloth and it's the height of the
tree once you plant it in the ground so
you just put three star pickets in the
ground and put that over your avocado
tree and it's going to protect it during
very hot weather on very hot days when
it's going to be 35 40 or more make sure
you put an additional cover over the top
of that just to protect that tree during
the very hot part of the day you can
take that cover off in the morning and
late in the afternoon once the weather's
cooled off but that's going to protect
your tree during summer and get it well
established which is a really important
thing to do with our Avocado trees make
sure they don't get sunburned because it
is a very damaging thing and you will risk
losing your graft Rodney has generously
offered to hammer in the star pickets
for me to show you how to do this
and it lets the air flow through but it
protects your tree from the sunshine and
then once you've got your shade cloth
over bang in your other star pickets to
make a nice tight triangle
so if you've got your avocado planted
and you don't have the gear on hand to
make your little shade house you can do a
quick cheap fix just to protect it while
you get everything organized so you just
need to cut some nice bushy foliage off
an existing tree from your garden
Callistemons are great melaleucas are
great this is Nandina it's just going to
work as a temporary shade wall and
you're going to pop it in on the western
side so if I can just push these in it's
a little bit hard in our demonstration
spot here so the idea is that you just
want to create a shade wall that's going
to protect your tree while you actually
get your shade house establish so you
can then go off and build your little
shade shade cloth house and get your
star pickets and you're ready to protect
it on a more permanent basis so this is
just a temporary fix that works quite
well just to save it from a hot day in
the meantime

Welcome to Spring 2017

Welcome to Spring

🌻Welcome to Spring Everyone 🌷. We are enjoying some lovely weather at the nursery today.

Our Spring Fruit Tree Catalogue is ready.
It includes plants that will be ready in Oct/Nov ( Yellow ) as well as plants that are ready to send to you right now so you can combine them to get them all in one go to save on freight. Or place separate orders to get the ones in stock now if you wish.

Jucara Fruiting Palm Tree for Sale (Euterpe edulis)

Buy Jucara Palm Tree

The Jucara Palm (Euterpe edulis) is a very close relative of the Acai Palm which everybody knows about thanks to these Acai bowls. The Acai palm is quite tropical so often dismissed as a plant to grow by many Australians but the Jucara Palm is a close relative that can be grown into the subtropics and the fruit is quite similar and can be used to make the pulp for these lovely smoothie bowls or juiced. Jucara is also preferred for harvesting a high quality "Palm Heart" which is used as an ingredient in steamed vegetables.

Top Grafting Citrus Fruit Trees

Top Grafting Citrus Fruit Trees

Rick Daley in an action shot here is demonstrating how to top graft citrus trees with Phil Dudman

Preparing Dragon Fruit Pitaya Plants for Spring

Preparing Dragon Fruit Plants

Paning from Daley's is busy preparing lots of Dragon Fruit plants for Spring. In the last few years they have become a very popular addition to Australian backyards.

Packaging Bare Root Fruit Trees

Dave Packaging Bare Root Fruit Trees

Dave just packaged up these bare root fruit trees while they are dormant. This one order will make a lovely fruit orchard providing fruit and nuts for the next 50+ years and will arrive ready to plant at our very lovely customers front door shortly.

2x Hazelnut Nut Tree

2x Grape Vines

Cherry

3 way Apple ( Gala, Fuji, Pink Lady)

4x Asparagus

2x Raspberry Plants

Flowering Cherry

Black currant

Apricot Tree

2x Gooseberry

#daleysfruit #fruittrees #bareroot

Buddhas Hand Fruit Tree for Sale

The Buddhas hand Fruit Tree or Citron is easily the most weird and unusual looking fruit we know of. We share uses and show you the quite small plant growing in our orchard.

Buddhas Hand Fruit Tree is for sale at Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery

Transcript from Buddhas Hand Video:

This really unusual looking citrus is
called a Buddha's hand and it's named
for these very unusual fruits that have
multi fingers and just really strange
shapes and protrusions. Now Citron
or the Buddha's hand is commonly used in
mixed peel so when you have a fruitcake
and you put mixed peel in it it's quite
often citron that's used in that it's a
very fragrant and aromatic fruit and you
can actually use them as a room
fragrance so if you just sit them in
your kitchen you'll get this beautiful
aroma that fills the room it's a very
clean citrusy smell and they're just
delightful and they're going to attract
the attention of anyone who comes into
your room and says what's that it's just
a really lovely thing to have so good
reason to grow them is just for the
unusual fruit to have them sitting
around to create interest so this is the
citron buddha's-hand a very unusual and
interesting citrus to have in your
garden

Buy: Dwarf RedLove Apple Fruit Tree for sale (Red Love)

**New** Dwarf RedLove Apple Tree has a STUNNING red coloured flesh. The tree is ready to be mail ordered to your door now while it is dormant. (bare root: It is sent with no soil and no leaves ).

Tree features include: Blackspot and powdery mildew resistant. In terms of pollination it will be fine with a Granny Smith Apple Tree or Pink lady Apple Tree. Usually only grows between 1 and 2 meters. The climate requirements are Cool Temperate to Warm Temperate. So only the colder parts of QLD & NSW and many places throughout VIC and SA.

What is more this apple has been developed using all natural cross-pollination techniques just like all the apples we have been enjoying for hundreds of years. Basically you choose certain apple trees to grow close together and pollinate each other. You then take these seeds and grow an apple tree in the hope of finding something very special. In this case the RedLove Apple Tree.

Learn/Buy here: https://www.daleysfruit.com.au/Dwarf-Apple-Redlove-Malus-domestica.htm

Pruning Fruit Trees in Winter (Timelapse

Video Transcript of Pruning Fruit Trees in Winter

It's the start of winter it's a

beautiful sunny day it's a great time to

be in the garden.

so firstly it warms up

your body and you feel great and it just

makes the day feel better if you're

outside doing something it's also a

really good time to get on top of all

those jobs that have been neglected

through the year so I always say here in

the subtropics we have two seasons we

have an in control season which is

autumn and winter when you get things

under control and we have an out of

control season which is spring and

summer which is the growing season when

we get a lot of rain and it's very hard

to keep up on the maintenance so here's

a pretty good example of something

that's got out of control this is a

citron citrus and you can see the

rootstock are just taking over the tree

and if we leave this like this these

root stock are actually going to

dominate the plant and we risk losing

our graft and our Citron tree dying and

what we're going to get left with is a

Trifoliata so this is the Trifoliata

which is the root stock that our Citron

is grafted onto and it's a very thorny

plant we choose this as a root stock

because it's Hardy to heavy wet soils

it's cold hardy so it does better in

cooler conditions and it's a really

vigorous plant so it's perfect to graft

citrus onto but we do need to make sure

we cut off all the suckers and as you

can see in that out-of-control season

this has been neglected so we're going

to get it back under control today so

what we need is some tools good pair of

gardening gloves to protect my hands

I've got a pruning saw and I've got some

cutters and I've got my secretaries

which are always on my hip so you can't

go wrong maintain your tools keep them nice and sharp

we're ready to tackle this job

so here we have our same Citron or

Buddhas Hand tree as it's also called

after we've taken the red stock out and

you can see what a completely different

looking plant it is so I've got my pile

of rootstock behind me and it was nearly

the same volume as that tree but the

easiest way to do it is cut the top off

and that way it gets all the deadly

spikes from your head height and it

makes them easier to actually take from

the bottom or weave your way out of the

existing tree because you don't want to

damage your plant so what we can do now

is we can do a bit of pruning a bit of

shaping to this plant and then in a

couple of weeks time once the weather

starts to warm up we're going to

fertilize it so you're not going to

fertilize it in the dead of winter but

as soon as spring starts to show you're

going to give this tree a good complete

fertilizer so balanced NPK fertilizer

they're heavy feeders and they love it

so that's how to deal with your rootstock

starting get your trees back under

control

in the winter when you have some time

and you want to be outside getting warm

in the garden

Seedless Cocktail Avocado Fruit Trees (Fuerte)

Seedless Cocktail Avocados often come from a partially pollinated Fuerte Avocado

Transcript of Seedless Cocktail Avocado Video 

oh look at that there's a whole bunch of them

I'm often asked if we sell a cocktail
avocado tree and these little finger

sized avocados are cocktail avocados but
they're off the same tree as this

particular avocado which is a fuerte so
these are furte avocados that haven't

got complete pollination so what happens
is we get seedless some shaped fruits so

that these beautiful seedless creamy
fleshed avocados just like the Fuerte but

they're not as large and they don't have
the seed in the middle and this is what

a cocktail avocado is so if you want to
grow these cocktail avocados if you grow

a Fuerte avocado on its own so without a
companion plant so it doesn't get

cross-pollination there's a good chance
that you'll get cocktail avocados on

your tree as well as full-sized fruits
so this tree here we're in the exclusion

orchard and this is the only avocado we
have in here so it's pollinated by

native bees and honey bees but they
don't completely pollinate all the

flowers and they don't cross pollinate
so they don't introduce the pollen from

another variety so what we get is a
really good crop of full-sized avocado

and a small crop of cocktail avocados
and these are just great they're little

bite-size delights

so what's the appeal of the cocktail
avocado so firstly they're a little bit

unusual a seedless avocado it's very
appealing you don't waste anything can

use it all at once you don't have
that problem of half an avocado in the

fridge that you often have because you
don't want to eat a whole fruit and

they're really appealing to
restauranteurs and chefs who use them

all in all sorts of interesting ways so
you're limited by your imagination in

how you can use an avocado but the
cocktail avocado is quite an exciting

thing to have in your kitchen and you
can present them beautifully on a plate

for your friends when they come round
for dinner

Slow Food: Brandied Kumquats - 6 Months from Winter Solstice to Summer Solstice

Kumquat Brandied Fruit

Our "slow food" task today uses the timing of the Winter Solstice to create Brandied Kumquats.

They're easy to make, look great and make nice little gifts. Here's how: Sterilise jars with hot water, fill with pierced kumquats, add spices, I used cinnamon, vanilla, cardamons and star anise, add some sugar, depending on the size of your jar, these small jars have a tablespoon or so and fill the jar to the top with brandy. 

Now for the hard bit, they will not be ready until the Summer Solstice. So keep in a cool dark spot and shake regularly to dissolve the sugar. 

They will make great little Christmas gifts and can be used in deserts. 

Soursop Fruit Drink and Frozen Soursop Pulp

We often get asked where can I get soursop the fruit from? @daleysfruit we only sell the plants which isn't helpful to those who want the fruit asap so we often say best to try Tropical Fruit World where their amazing shop sells them at the right time of year. Today while visiting a Greek/South American, Italian grocer I found a soursop fruit nectar fruit drink $2.25 and 500g of frozen soursop flesh for $8.90 in their freezer and fridge sections. Fruit Drink was very thick with #passionfruit #mango and slight milky flavours. So worth asking your local specialty supermarkets if you can't visit tropical fruit world for the real thing. Frozen Fruit: Cheeky Foods 500g Fruit Drink Dona Paula Nectar Soursop

The Frozen fruit from a Soursop Fruit Tree and Soursop Fruit Drink Nector

Jackfruit Curry for Dinner Tonight? Fruit and 3 veg anyone?

Jackfruit turned into a Curry

This is our staff member Andre's Jackfruit Curry. It was cooked up only last night using a green Jackfruit. Fancy that hey, Fruit being cooked up as the main dish :) Appetising Smell, firm pleasant texture and a full flavour.

Jackfruit Fruit Trees are for sale

Wood Apple Fruit Trees

Wood Apple Fruit Tree vs Avocado

Wood Apples are everywhere In Sri Lanka and the fruit is often made into juices. Tasting sweet yet with a citrus acidic flavour and a very fragrant smell when ripe. Not very pretty to look at but then again either are black sapotes. Looks aren't everything when it comes to fruit. We do not grow wood apples at Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery​ but maybe...one day. We are getting much more adventurous in Australia aren't we :)

Persimmon Fruit Trees - Choose Astringent or Non Astringent?

Persimmon Fruit Trees - Astringent or Non Astringent

Can you write in the comments "Astringent" or "Non Astringent"  so we can see which ones you like best?

If i had to choose I enjoy Astringent Persimmons. The Fruit must be perfectly ripe and almost like Jelly before you can eat it. If you get the timing wrong you will be spitting it out for 1 minute and the sandpaper taste lingers for 5 minutes. But when they are perfectly ripe they are amazing, will stop you from thinking about everything else and just enjoy the moment. Granted eating them is impractical they can fall apart and are sticky and gooey and there is only a very small window where you can eat them but the taste is amazing. Transporting them when they are ready to eat this can be difficult. When growing your own you can control some of these problems. 

Non Astringent persimmons however are practical, easy to transport and can be eaten like an apple and even when hard they still taste good.

Blueberry Plant Pollination Chart - Which Blueberry variety is right for my climate?

Blueberry Plants Pollination Chart

How many Blueberries Plants do I need? Answer: 2 or more is going to maximise pollination and give you more berries. Many varieties can pollinate themselves ( See the yellow star in the picture for these varieties ) but a fruit this tasty yet expensive in shops is well worth growing in pots or in the ground and can be very rewarding. 2 or more will give better fruit set just as long as they can pollinate each other or have a green tick in this chart.

Which varieties will suit? Are you A) Subtropical, B) Warm Temperate - Subtropical or C) Cool Temperate? After you put yourself in one of these categories use the chart to narrow down the varieties to choose from. For example are you in Sunny Coastal NSW and therefore Subtropical. Then Temperate varieties like Blue Rose or Denise are not for you but Sharpblue and Biloxi are.
Blueberry Fruit Tree Pack

Eating Slowly the Monstera Fruit Salad Tree

Fruit Salad Tree Monstera

Do you eat your food too fast? The Monstera nicknamed "Fruit Salad Tree" can help you slow down. It can take 2 weeks just to eat one. It has flavours like pineapple and banana but unlike a banana where the entire banana ripens at once. The Monstera will only ripen about 10% of the fruit at a time. You eat 10% (the ripe bits falling off the stem) wrap it back up in newspaper and wait a few more days for your next delicious chance. Meanwhile your whole house will smell beautiful as it ripens. Lots of us have some places in our backyards that don't get full sun and a Monstera will thrive in partial shade. It grows in a wide range of climates one person saying "Who said it was tropical? I live in Hobart and have one outside the front door"

2017 Nursery Job Application at Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery

At Daleys Fruit Tree Nursery we are looking for a full time experienced Nursery Person to start work in August this year.

Applicant needs to be honest with an enthusiastic work ethic that is motivated and genuinely interested in establishing a long term career as part of a friendly team.

Applicant will genuinely need to enjoy and have the capacity for physical outdoor work.- Experience or willingness to learn production, propagation and dispatch procedures, plant protection and weed control.

Willingness to contribute to a positive team environment.- Preferred Knowledge of fruit trees ( varieties, climatic suitability, orchard planning )

Profit sharing incentives after first year.

If this opportunity is right for you send in your resume and expression of interest to order@daleysfruit.com.au

Growing Cashew Nut Fruit Trees in the Subtropicas ( For Sale )

Buy Cashew Nut Fruit Trees

Cashew Nut Trees fruiting at John Picones exotic fruit orchard. The Juice is delicious. Recovering the Nut from shell is a bit tedious. This is being grown in the subtropics inland from Byron Bay even though they are recommended for the tropics but with the heat perhaps it will be much easier to grow more tropical plants further south. Has anybody had success fruiting cashews further south in Australia?

Dwarf Plum Gulf Gold Fruit Tree for Sale

Dwarf Plum - Gulf Gold Fruit Tree is our favourite of all the stone fruit. Yes we know it's a big call. It is Low Chill, (350 Chill Hours) excellent juicy flavour and doesn't seem to attract as many fruit fly as other varieties and fills the branches when it crops. Dwarf Gulf Golds can fruit by themselves but to get a better crop you can match them with a Gulf Ruby Plum Tree. We can't say enough good things about this variety and have done lots of videos on it over the years.