Experiences In The Wet Tropics - Lat 15

[BananaBender]

Hi Everyone

This is going to be my thread on applying permaculture practices in the wet tropics. Im currently growing different tropical veges in both the dry season and also in the upcoming wet season to see what survives and what doesnt. Im also growing alot of exotic fruits and spices, bamboos etc.
My family has a great interest in self sufficency and thats what the future goals are food wise.
Its all been a interesting path so far, always learning and observing especially from the rainforest around me. Ive lurked on the forums for quite a while so guess its time i put a bit of input back.

Im not good with intros so i will leave it at that for now and add stuff as it happens.

Cheeers,
BB

[Ive Fargottin]

Hi,
I'm probably not qualified to welcome ya, as I've only been here a short while.
But.........welcome,welcome anyway.
Seeing as though your just up a bit from me, I share your joy and pain in growing stuff in the wild, wild north.
Albeit you get a lot more wet stuff than me!

Im also growing alot of exotic fruits and spices, bamboos etc.

Man, that is my passion.......well, I'd like to get some interesting bamboo though.

What sort of exotic fruit and spices do you grow?

[BananaBender]

Time flies dont it?
Well it was a odd wet season and this month has been wet too not to mention a few cold days. Having to actually put on a shirt has been a strange feeling.
Been a busy time outdoors but things have been growing lush. Don't think i have really stopped in the last 4 months.
Recently removed about a acre worth of native raspberry by hand. Its hard work getting rid off that stuff. It just forms these impenetrable stands. Had good success by chopping it down with the brushcutter with a good cutting blade. Piling up the canes burning it. You could possibily solarise them with some black plastic but its quite persistant this stuff and i dont like to take chances with it.
I then for any hidden stumps to reshoot then digging them out then repeat.
The great thing is the soil that was underneath was very nice.
Sweet potato, tumeric, peanut, ginger and pink asian shallots and a few bananas are being planted to "mind" it for a while until i plan out how im going to utilise the space.
The to-do list just keeps growing longer and longer.

What sort of exotic fruit and spices do you grow?

A bit of everything fruit wise, All the usual suspects like sapodilla, purple mangosteens, rambutan, lychee, theobroma cocoa & bicolor, abui, canistel, black, yellow, white sapote, jackfruit, breadfruit, camilito, mamey, durian, carambola, coffee, yerba mate, mango, icecream beans, brazilian cherrys, dwarf coconuts, citrus, lots of bannana etc etc and lots more that i just cant recall right now.
Most of the plants are grafted myself from neighbours and friends plants and seed grown ones to.
One day i will do a proper list but for now that can go on that other list the "todo" list

Spice wise would be zanzibar clove, nutmeg (M.fragrans) from seed and a few grafted ones i did to M.glubosa root stock. Cinnamon, pepper, true cardamon, ginger, galangal, allspice, bay, cumin, tumeric, pink asian shallots. All have been thriving.

Well thats it for now, I will try and remember to post in this forum. Don't worry its on the to-do list aswell

Happy gardening to all.

[adiantum]

One thing a lot of people going to the tropics from more temperate zones miss is salad greens...leafy vegetables that can be eaten raw. The tropics and subtropics are replete with cooking greens (sweet potato greens foremost among them, in case you don't know!) but scarce in salad greens. Here are my top contenders:
kangkong (Ipomoea aquatica), Malabar or Indian spinach (Basella alba/rubra), and Surinam spinach or Florida lettuce (Talinum triangulare). Of these the Surinam spinach may be the hardest to find....being usually propagated by cuttings. Seed is short-lived and difficult to germinate, needing a temperature of 30C or so to germinate. Some people I know who tolerate more bitter salads can add a couple more players....Okinawa spinach (Gynura sp.) and Indian lettuce (Lactuca indica).

[Grahame]

I'd miss my stone fruit and apples and berries. But each climate has it's benefits.

[BananaBender]

To be honest i prefer the tropical greens to the cold climate types. Easier to grow, Multipurpose and plenty of it.

[BananaBender]

Well not much has been happening apart from the usual slave to the tropics labor. Its been unusually cold and dry for the last couple of months. I went for a walk around the prop house and took a few pics of random stuff.

Heres some clove from zanzibar and true cardamon.

The true cardamon is from Kerala and is a rhizome division. I am still waiting for them to flower and the parents are around 3 years + from seed so shouldn't be to long now. Out of all the spices i find the smell of cardamon the best. Even topping vanilla.



Peppercorns from Piper Nigrum - like all spices fresh is best and the ones you grow yourself and process have a real mouth numbing zing.



Random fruit seedlings used for grafting and planting.

Vanilla, Icecream beans, Abiu, Rambutan, lychee, jackfruits, mangosteens and a few others I cant recall.
The jackfruit on the bottom right is showing a interesting leaf formation.



Ginger and Tumeric ready to use.






Ilex paraguariensis - Yerba Mate fruiting. I love yerba, especially my own yerba thats cured myself without any smoking in the process. Helps to keep you going and another must have plant in the tropics.




Few different fruits growing together. Annatto, Galangal, Coffee, Soursop, Abui, Carambola etc





"Zone 5" Is rainforest. I get many many species of birds, frogs, snakes, lizards, insects etc here. Its always a few degrees cooler in here in the hottest summer day and a great place to put up the hammock to escape the humidity for a siesta around after lunch.
Its looking a bit dry in these photos. But not long until we get a few meters of rain and the fungi will be out in force and the frogs.





So thats it for now.

[S.O.P]

Awesome. Great photos.

[chook-in-eire]

Oh, those photos make my mouth water. Sigh. I can't deny envying you for all the wonderful stuff you can grow in your climate. I have only once been to the tropics - to Borneo last October with the WWF to look at a peatland rainforest regeneration project - and I felt like Alice in Wonderland with all those weird and wonderful fruits and spices.

[BananaBender]

Well it was a cold winter up here. Probably summer weather for you southerners but for me it was cold

Alot of the rainforest trees are going into flower and the vege gardens are picking up.

Heres a pananma berry / cherry showcasing natures ability to mimic off:



Few rainforest fruits, The first one is a crater aspen and is edible. Has a unique lemon zest flavour to it. The purple is a Syzygium johnsonii or Rose Satinash. The others i havnt gotten around to ID'ing yet.











The luffas and gourd's, both edible and non edible.




This dry season task is the establishment of support trees for vanilla, pepper and the propagation of more cardamon. The vanilla is to be grown under the canopy traditionally.

Support trees being used are Commersonia bartramia. While these are pioneer species they also grow great under the canopy and can be trained nicely into T supports. Typically jatropha is used but i wanted to use a native species.

Biggest problem faced is roo's eating vines and native mice eating the growing tips. Living in the oldest rainforest in the world has some challenges but im confident these can be overcome. A red cattle dog will be joining the family next week to address the roo issue.

Now i just need to think of how to deal with the mice. A cat isnt a option because of the large amount of wildlife found on my land.

Anyway better get back to it.