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Topics - andrewq

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / emperor lychee annual growth patterns

« on: December 08, 2017, 11:05:35 PM »

anyone know of emperor lychees have unusual growth patterns?

i’ve got 3 emperor lychees which are behaving differently from the other lychees (sweetheart, mauritius, and brewster).

the emperor lychees have been giving out vegetative flushes (5 week flush, 5 weeks dormant) regularly starting in the spring this year and have continued even to now. i have them in a greenhouse and we’ve had our second cold front move through. the winter has been warmer than usual (average 75/45), but the other 3 lychees have gone dormant.

also, the emperor lychees usually drop the most proximal leaves during each vegetative growth, which leaves the interior of the canopy without any leaves. i’ve fertilized wth foliage pro and there is a little osmocote plus, so i doubt its nutrient deficiency.

anyone else know if this is typical for emperor lychees? hoping the winter vegetative growth won’t decrease flowering

Tropical Fruit Discussion / lychees trees stored in the garage

« on: September 02, 2017, 03:01:20 PM »

I have 3 emperor lychees in containers and only was able to move 1 into the garage before the hurricane hit. the two outside got slightly bent from the rain (not wind strangely) but no leaves dropped. the one in garage for 2-3 days dropped about 1/4 of its oldest leaves and all new growth.

had no idea a couple days without sunlight could mess a small lychee like that. I also put larger Mauritius and sweetheart which weren't flushing and they're fine. also have 3 small seedlings that only dropped new growth.

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mycostim expiration?

« on: June 15, 2017, 11:55:50 PM »

I recently purchased some mycostim from amazon for container lychees and planted guavas.

Has anyone had experience with figuring out when these things "expire"? Amazon sold me one that said "Exp 100513" and I asked for a replacement and got a second bag with exactly the same numbers on the sticker.

should i send them back?

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Container wax jambu growing too much?

« on: May 30, 2017, 01:04:17 AM »

My container wax jambus have grown maybe a little too well... The roots have reached the edge of the container and the soil is dry and hard between waterings (every 48h by automated timer; plus rain) - i suspect it is starting to get root bound

Do wax jambu tolerate being root bound or will it slowly suffocate itself?
I'm hesitant to repot it into anything larger (15g, 20g, or 25g) because i suspect it would outgrow that larger pot this season.

Background:
- zone 9b & humid; have to keep in manageable size containers to bring indoors during winter
- black diamond wax jambu
- purchased late winter in 3g container
- repotted to 10g container in early spring, 5-1-1 soil (pine bark fines, coarse perlite, peat moss)
- watered every 48h by automatic timer & whatever rain there is
- fertilized with Dyna Grow Foliage Pro (1 mL/gallon) 1-2 times/week. also monthly Neptune's harvest fish/kelp emulsion
- 6-10h sunlight outdoor

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Spot spitter irrigation system setup

« on: May 18, 2017, 01:45:12 AM »

Hello!

Recently set up an irrigation system because i was going on vacation. Used spot spitters after i noticed the local tropical nurseries use them in their greenhouses to mist/spray the leaves.

Now that i'm back, should I mount the spot spitters on a pole to spray the air/leaves, like the nursery greenhouse? or should i just stick the spitter in the container and have it directly spray the soil?

I'm growing container tropicals (15, 20, 25, 25, 45g lychees; 10g wax jambus), and have been using rainwater (or water from the dehumidifier) every 1-3 days.

Tropical Fruit Discussion / wax jambs flowering for containers

« on: April 06, 2017, 11:34:20 PM »

Anyone know much about the fruiting characteristics of wax jambu?

i've seen a couple someone say it forms on old wood, and other people say to defoliate before the spring.doesn't seem to be a lot of info out on the interwebs

anyone have experience/advice on what to do?
- should i let the trees put on some size this year and then try something next year? or do it this year since i want to keep the tree smaller
- should i prune back to old wood
- anyone know the fertilizer habits of wax jambus? heavy/medium/light fertilizing?

Background:
i recently purchased 3 black diamond wax jambu, and plan to keep them in 10g containers so i can move them indoors for the winter because they probably wouldn't survive the winter here without a ton of help.

the plants seem to be doing well; initially purchased as 3g containers, the main stem were about 1.5cm, and trees were 2ft tall with fairly good canopy. they are now growing very well in 5-1-1 soil, putting a lot of new growth, one even has 5 flowers.

Citrus General Discussion / kumquat leaf yellowing

« on: March 30, 2017, 01:28:26 AM »

hi!

my kumquat leaves have started to yellow since the weather started warming up. is this a sign of disease or vitamin deficiency or sunburn (~8-10h full sunlight, picture taken standing south of the container)? this tree has been extremely reliable and proliferator the past 2 years, giving two harvests each year.

the kumquat is a couple years old and currently in a 20g container. the "soil" is basically 100% cow manure from Home Depot and was fertilized last year with some generic fertilizers and Npetunes Harvest 2-3-1 kelp/fish emulsion. I'm debating either putting it into the ground or reporting it with 5-1-1.

Tropical Fruit Discussion / container lychee wintering

« on: November 04, 2016, 05:47:17 PM »

growing a container lychee in the Houston area. the last one died after I gave a foliage spray before complete hardening.

this one was purchased at 5 gallons and has been growing this summer in a 10 gallon planter. it's had 3 good flushes, the most recent one was very productive and hardened in September.

it's currently potted in a 10 gallon planter with organic Scott's potting soil with pine bark mulch and xtreme mykos. been fertilizing with neptunes harvest fish and kelp emulsion, about 1 tbsp/2 gallons every 2-4 weeks during the summer. soil pH is 7 and city water pH 7.5

I wanted to get advise on wintering the plan:
1. should I keep the plant in a sunny spot (less wind protection) or in a less sunny place with better wind protection
2. when should I up pot it? I've got a 25 gallon planter. I'm planning to use 1/3 home made compost, 1/3 sphagnum peat moss, 1/3 commercial organic potting soil - is this mixture ok? also going to throw in 2 cups (is this too much) of azomite.
3. should I fertilize this fall/winter? I question if the tree is large enough to actually support fruit, or if it's even healthy enough (given the suboptimal soil ph)

Tropical Fruit Discussion / Lychee Fertlizers

« on: October 05, 2015, 05:17:48 PM »

First post.

Been reading through many of the posts about lychees here and on lycheesonline.com, and trying to come up with a fertilizing plan for my lychee. Some of the leaves look like they are becoming pale, and I plan on using a micronutrient foliar spray to hopefully fix that.
The main question is how I should be fertilizing with P/K.

Background/History:
Container lychee in Houston (tag says it's a Sweetheart from Pine Island Nursery). Gets direct morning sunlight for 2-3 hours. Mid-day is shaded by trees and gets another 6 hours of sunlight.
Purchased in a 7 gallon container in Spring 2013. It lost 80% of its leaves during transportation, and basically spent its first year recovering.
2014 Spring: flowered, but all fell off (due to cold? wind? not ready to fruit?). Potted to 15 gallon container, used Scotts potting mix, no additional fertilizer
2015 Spring: wintered inside a pop-up greenhouse. Flowered in Feb/March, but aphids cause blackening of the flowers and they all fell off. Potted to 20 gallon container with potting mix & 2 inches of compost
2015 Summer: used Espoma Citrus Tone (5-2-6) after June & July Flushes (Had vegetative flushes in 6/7, 7/26, 9/5), also built wind protection.
2015 Fall: plan to withhold Espoma fertilizer, watering. Hopefully enter period of dormancy now

Current plan:
- micronutrient foliar spray (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A51Y8ZM?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=AMRTYQ7JO1XB0]Southern Ag Chelated Citrus[/url]) this fall
- mycorrhizae (Earth Juice) in July 2016 when i prune branches, cut back root, and possibly upsize to 30 gallon container

Fertilizer questions:
1. What type of P/K soil fertilization should I apply in the fall? I'm considering Biopak Plus (3-0-20), Alaska Morbloom (0-10-10) or should i just use Potassium sulfate (0-0-50)?
2. Should Phyto-Fos (Plant Doctor Exel LG) foliar spray be used in the fall/winter?
3. Would fish emulsion or kelp fertilizer help in addition?

Pictures of the lychee