lan × West Indian avocado cultivars. Although the ‘Kampong’ Literature Cited has not attained commercial importance, it is possible that in the future it might be adaptable to a changing agriculture in Campbell C. W. 1979. Characteristics of Florida avocado cultivars. Univ. Flor- ida-IFAS. Homestead AREC Res. Rept. SB 79-5. which specialty crops would have importance. Certainly the Krome, W. H. 1983. Avocado cultivars for the home garden. Rare Fruit Coun- ‘Kampong’ avocado has proved to be a good home garden cil Intl. Inc. Newsletter 17:8-9. cultivar in Florida, and it can be recommended for that with- Popenoe, J. 1963. Spring avocado varieties for South Florida. Proc. Carib. out reservation. Reg. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 7:80-83. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115:93-93. 2002. THE ‘ARKIN’ CARAMBOLA IN FLORIDA ROBERT J. KNIGHT, JR. AND JONATHAN H. CRANE Description University of Florida Tropical Research and Education Center The ‘Arkin’ tree has an intermediate to moderately up- Homestead, FL 33031 right growth habit, reaching 6 to 7 m height in 10 yr, with a spread of approximately 5 m. Fruit are well distributed along the limbs throughout the tree and not clumped, as is true of Additional index words. Averrhoa carambola, cultivar improve- some carambolas. Two crops a year are the norm in Florida, ment, tropical pomology with a third crop possible when the winter is mild. First flow- ering occurs in April or May, and fruit ripen from July to Sep- Abstract. ‘Arkin’ carambola (Averrhoa carambola L.) grew from tember and on into autumn. The second flowering occurs seed collected in Malaysia in 1973 that were planted in Miami, Florida where it was selected. ‘Arkin’ is the most successful from October to November, with fruit ripening from January cultivar in commerce to date because it resists stresses of to March. Man-made windscreens with or without hail-cloth picking, packing and shipping, and has fruit quality that is ac- roofs, erected to surround plantings, make it profitable to ceptable in the market. The fruit is low in acid, and thus is con- prolong the harvest into February-March. sidered a sweet carambola even though its sugar content is The fruit of ‘Arkin’ are cylindrically pointed, with five in- lower than that of some other cultivars. Of others tested in dentations separating each locule into a distinct rib as is char- Florida, ‘Kary’, from Hawaii, and ‘B-10’, from Malaysia, are acteristic of all carambola fruit, and forming star-shaped grown on a small commercial scale. Members of a group that segments when cut into cross-sections. The external color is includes ‘Demak’, ‘Fwang Tung’ and ‘Hew-1’ do not appear to deep yellow, with a shiny gloss that adds eye appeal. The pulp have as much commercial potential although each has various is yellow, crisp, juicy, and pleasantly sweet, with a mild aroma traits of value. that suggests the fragrance of tea roses. Analysis of field-run fruit of ‘Arkin’ grown at the USDA ‘Arkin’ is a sweet carambola of superior commercial poten- Subtropical Horticulture Research Station and Clonal Repos- tial because the fruit’s firmness and compact structure help it itory, Miami, showed total soluble solids (TSS) content of withstand packing and shipping stress more successfully than 7.2%, with fruit acids of 0.212% (expressed as citric acid). De- other cultivars tested in Florida. The fruit’s low acidity and ap- tailed sugar and acids analysis of ‘Arkin’ found glucose and pealing flavor also make it more popular with the consumer fructose to be the primary sugars with small amounts of su- than other carambolas currently available in quantity here. crose present; the primary acids in ‘Arkin’ were oxalic and malic acids (Campbell and Koch, 1989). Origin Total soluble solids content from subsequent analyses found the range in TSS from July-harvested fruit to be 4 to 8% ‘Arkin’ originated from seed collected in 1973 during a (mean 6.8%) and that from November-harvested fruit to be 6 plant exploration trip to Malaysia and Thailand (Knight, to 8% (mean 7.1%) (Crane et al., 1998). Fruit firmness of ‘Ar- 1989). The seed was planted by S. W. Younghans, who gave kin’ is superior to that of most other carambola cultivars. The one of the resultant seedling plants to M. Arkin, of Coral Ga- ribs are unusually thick and resistant to bruising during har- bles, who raised the seedling on his property and selected the vest and handling, a problem that causes a high rate of rejec- tree when it first fruited, in 1976. Grafted trees from the orig- tion of carambola fruit between the field and packing house, inal selection were then tested by private growers and public and contributes to disease development during storage and experiment stations in southern Florida, and grafted plants of shipping. this cultivar were first sold by M. Arkin in 1978. Carambolas normally are self-incompatible and distylous, requiring cross-pollination for fruit production. Earlier inves- This research was supported by the Florida Agricultural Experiment Sta- tigation of ‘Golden Star’, a tart-fruited cultivar with long- tion, and approved for publication as Journal Series No. N-02302. styled flowers, demonstrated that a partial loss of self-incom- 1Corresponding author. patibility enables ‘Golden Star’ to bear full crops when set in 92 Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115: 2002. solid block plantings, away from other clones of carambola in the U.S. market, and the related difficulty of packing it into (Knight, 1982). Although no similar investigation has been the containers currently used for carambola. ‘Fwang Tung’, a made of ‘Arkin’, which also has long-styled flowers, this culti- cultivar recommended for home landscape planting, had the var has demonstrated its ability to crop well in block plantings third highest TSS, but was ranked seventh overall due to its away from other cultivars, which suggests that it too has lost pale yellow color and narrow, wavy ribs. self-incompatibility to a significant degree. Availability Comparison with Other Cultivars ‘Arkin’ is propagated and sold by several nurseries in A recent quality comparison of carambola cultivars in south Florida. Young grafted trees are offered by D’Martinez which TSS, fruit size, rib thickness and flavor were rated, Nursery, 12350 S.W. Krome Avenue, Miami, FL 33196; Hop- placed ‘Arkin’ second overall, after ‘Kary’ (Crane et al., 1998). kins Nursery, 5200 S.W. 60th Avenue, Ft. Lauderdale, FL Interestingly, ‘Arkin’ had the eighth lowest TSS (6.8-7.1%) 33331; Tree House Nursery, P.O. Box 124, Bokeelia, FL compared to 11 other cultivars, demonstrating the impor- 33922; Zill High Performance Plants, 6801 107th Place, Boyn- tance of the balance of sugars and acids in overall fruit quali- ton Beach, FL 33437; Pine Island Nursery, 16300 S.W. 184th ty. In that comparison, ‘B-10’ had the highest TSS (8.9-9.3%) Street, Miami, FL 33187; and Lara Farm and Nursery, 18660 but was ranked fifth overall, whereas ‘Kary’ had the second S.W. 200th Street, Homestead, FL 33187. (July harvest, TSS 8.8%) and fourth (November harvest, TSS 8.1%) highest; not the highest TSS but the highest overall rat- Literature Cited ing of any carambola tested. Other cultivars had TSS values intermediate between those of ‘B-10’ and ‘Arkin’, such as Campbell, C. A. and K. E. Koch. 1989. Sugar/acid composition and develop- ment of sweet and tart carambola fruit. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 114:455- ‘Fwang Tung’ (8.3-8.5%) ‘Kajang’ (7.8-8.3%), ‘Sri Kemban- 457. gan’ (7.7-8.2%), ‘Miss’ (7.9-8.1%), and ‘Lara’ (7.7-8.7%). The Crane, J. H., R. J. Knight, Jr., O. Rodriguez, and L. C. Crane. 1998. Cultivar TSS values for ‘Cheng Chui’ (6.0-6.3%), ‘Erlin’ (5.4-6.6%), tree growth and fruit quality evaluation of young carambola (Averrhoa car- ‘Pasi’ (5.6-6.9%) and ‘Wubentou’ (5.3-6.9%) were below ambola L.) trees. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 111:299-302. Knight, R. J., Jr. 1982. Partial loss of self-incompatibility in ‘Golden Star’ car- those of ‘Arkin’. ambola. HortScience 17:72. The major drawback to increased production and mar- Knight, R. J., Jr. 1989. Carambola cultivars and improvement programs. Proc. keting of ‘Kary’ is the fruit’s large size, currently not in favor Interamer. Soc. Trop. Hort. 33:72-78. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 115:93-96. 2002. ACQUIRING WEATHER INFORMATION FOR FROST CONTROL DECISIONS J. DAVID MARTSOLF1 Abstract. An experience with acquisition of weather information University of Florida on the World Wide Web (WWW) is described. Comparison of Horticultural Sciences Department the verifications from two automated weather stations with the P.O. Box 110690 forecasts are included, with a recommendation that data from privately owned weather stations be made available on line for Gainesville, FL 32611-0690 it permits the observations to be utilized in real time from more than one location. Temperature forecasts were acquired from C. TERRY MORROW several sources on the WWW on the morning of 26 Feb., 2002. University of Florida Tables revealed what seemed to be an error of 1 d, but, in real- Office of Academic Technology ity it was a difference in the manner in which the forecasts Gainesville, FL 32611 were displayed. Additional index words. weather forecasts, climate prediction, This paper describes experiences in the search for frost frost control, cold protection, FAWN, DISC warnings on the World Wide Web (WWW). The presenta- tions on the WWW are in a rapid state of change. So are the methods which bring such information to a decision making process.