Anyone growing Sea Grape?

[happ]

Purchased coccoloba tiliaceae/"mountain" sea grape today & would like to plant it among some young palms.  Is tiliaceae more vine-like rather than a bush?  Always admire sea grape on the beach in Miami   :cool:

[junglegalfla]

Florida, NO! Cali, perhaps.

Happ,

Search this forum, we had a great thread a few months back.  

[Peter]

C. tillacea is a tree; they have several large ones at the LA Arboretum that are approx. 35' tall.  They initially get huge, round leaves, but these shrink as the tree gets larger.  It eventually becomes a very dense canopied, fairly messy tree.  They seem to be quite cold hardy as well.  You might be able to train it as a shrub if you whack it back every year.

[epicure3]

Happ....I almost regret planting the 2 coccoloba uviferas where I did. They are getting waaaay out of control. The largest branch is now about 10 feet tall. I was expecting this thing to behave more like a shrub. I have 2 of them and they are both going berserk with dozens of strings of grapes which are quite beautiful. They attract a lot of aphids but they are easily washed away. I'll try and post s recent pic in the next couple of days. The seagrape is beautiful....just make sure that you have lots of room for it.

[epicure3]

I am also growing coccoloba pubescens. It is a small plant right now with 4 gigantic leaves. I put out the 4th leaf about a month ago.

[happ]

I think I'm convinced.     Sea grape will stay in a pot but will it produce fruit?

[redant]

Probably will not fruit in a pot. These actually make interesting small trees if pruned properly.

[northcountyguy]

Epicure3:

What does your pubescens look like after Winter? Has it ever seen 32 or below?

[Dave-Vero]

I didn't spot much Web info on Coccoloba tiliacea.  Here's an image of an isotype specimen at the New York Botanical Garden.  It does look a bit like a vine.

[epicure3]

(northcountyguy @ Sep. 10 2007,19:38)

QUOTE

Epicure3:

What does your pubescens look like after Winter? Has it ever seen 32 or below?

I just put it in in March.

[epicure3]

Here's a couple of pics of the seagrape

[epicure3]

Here's the pubescens. Just the new leaf. My hand for scale.

[spockvr6]

Seagrapes are very fast growers around here and very hard to get rid of.

I planted a 3 gallon a little over 2 years ago in a location that I ended up having second thoughts about.  It was overtaking the area completely and I was having to cut it back every couple of weeks (and it was still about 10 ft tall and 10 ft wide with all the cutbacks).  If left unchecked, it would have probably been 15' x 15' in just 2 years.

In any case, I decided earlier this summer to chop it down.  Since I didnt dig out all the roots, Ive had to go back every week or two since and keep trimming out the new growth coming from the ground.  No matter how many times I chop this thing back down to the ground, it just keeps growing back.  I actually admire its tenacity.

[spockvr6]

(epicure3 @ Sep. 11 2007,12:42)

QUOTE

Here's the pubescens. Just the new leaf. My hand for scale.

That is a beautiful plant!

[happ]

Thanks for the feedback & epicure, your sea grapes are quite attractive.  Perhaps I could plant coccoloba tiliaceae in some open land in mostly shade.  Does sea grape need sun?

[bubba]

Sea Grape in California as compared to Florida is probably similar to the California experience with Maleleuca versus the Florida experience with Maleleuca.In Florida it becomes a ubiquitous somewhat nasty specimen. The plants can become miles long and are usually rat infested. The fruit is worthless and stains everything it touches.I would guess that it would do best in the sun.

[epicure3]

(bubba @ Sep. 12 2007,17:20)

QUOTE

Sea Grape in California as compared to Florida is probably similar to the California experience with Maleleuca versus the Florida experience with Maleleuca.In Florida it becomes a ubiquitous somewhat nasty specimen. The plants can become miles long and are usually rat infested. The fruit is worthless and stains everything it touches.I would guess that it would do best in the sun.

I'm going to out on a limb and say that you are not a fan.

[Peter]

Remember we're talking about 2 completely different plants here. C. tillaceae is not C uvifera-it is a tree from the mountains of South America.  I have no trouble growing it here in Inland Socal, while I gave up on trying to grow seagrape after barely keeping it alive for 2 winters.  To answer your question, I believe C. tillaceae will do fine in shade, but keep in mind it will turn into a large tree with time, much larger than C. uvifera, so it will probably outgrow any shade you have it in.

[bubba]

Epicure, You are right! I have never been known to mince words about my positions and find that it usually works better than weasiling up to people in hopes of completing a sale. Please do not take that offensively inasmuch as your plants are beautiful and your Sea Grapes will likely not become the monstosity that it does in Florida.

[epicure3]

(bubba @ Sep. 13 2007,11:54)

QUOTE

Epicure, You are right! I have never been known to mince words about my positions and find that it usually works better than weasiling up to people in hopes of completing a sale. Please do not take that offensively inasmuch as your plants are beautiful and your Sea Grapes will likely not become the monstosity that it does in Florida.

I'll have to keep an eye out for mice and rats. Mine seem to grow out, rather than up, which is what I was hoping.

[happ]

(epicure3 @ Sep. 11 2007,12:41)

QUOTE

Here's a couple of pics of the seagrape

epicure

Think I'll pick up coccoloba uviferas before any kind of sea grape goes into the ground.   :laugh:

[Peter]

Here's my Coccoloba tillaceae.  I've got it trained as a shrub since I have no room for a big tree:

[DavePoole]

After years of trying to track a uvifera down on this side of the ocean, I've finally got a small one in a container growing here.  Plants are almost unobtainable in the trade in the UK and seeds that I bought proved unviable (maybe they have a short 'life' and need to be sown quickly?).  Anyway, I received a nice stocky, 18 month old plant in the spring that was grown under very warm, humid  greenhouse conditions and has been gradually acclimatised to being out of doors.

We've had an especially cool summer and growth has not been particularly fast, but I'm quite pleased with its progress.  It will be brought under cover and kept frost free during winter for the next year or so and then planted out.  I very much doubt whether it will make anything like the unruly growth that you folks report over there, so at best I'm hoping for plenty of those wonderful leathery leaves on a neat rounded, fairly low growing shrub.  

Odd how something so relatively common and 'hum-drum' over there can be so uncommon and rather exciting here.  I expect it works both ways