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Messages - Mike T

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1
There are 2 genera of fruit flies with dozens of species with varying strategies, preferred fruits and levels of pestilence. Your mode of attack might need to be focussed. Attractant that gets only males might not help and they get fruit in mesh bags that touch the mesh. Guavas being a bag of live rice is not too appealing.
It takes effort but paper bags work. Big mesh bags that have plenty of fruit not touching the mesh can work also. If you are opting for chemical warfare a neonicotenoid can work like imidacloprid but there is a price to pay. Low vertebrate toxicity maybe but bees and any insects getting on flowers of even collateral trees can be killed.   

2
Correction russell sweet is the with 'shouldered' foliage. Early in 2023 or maybe a little my brother received a few potted and neglected specimens between 4 and 6 ft high, around 7 years old but sickly. One he gave one to a friend and it bommed when planted and now has fruit on without a male. My stupid grafted dysphoric tree changed from female to male and I get no fruit now.
I always believe the ground is better but once around 12 inches high.

3
Its almost like we are in different passionfruit universes with the dozens of edulis and flavicarpa types here with different names, Convention wisdom in these parts says all flavicarpa are self fertile and no pure edulis is. The red and purple flavicarpas that fruit at different times of the year and multiple season types have some edulis in their lineage. This is even when they are as sweet and rich as the best yellow flavicarpas, have orange rather than yellow pulp and are big.Lilikoi are used here as rootstock as they are more resistant to the corky disease but when you accidently eat a rootstock fruit it is a confronting experience.

4
The papaya funk is known as nasturtium and the cure is an axe. Some yellow lines especially when grown in cooler areas have this taint quite pronounced. Long reds and solo lines have little of the funk. If you grew up on these types it just seems normal and not so offensive and there a cultural dimension. A mango that I or a SE Asian might think has a hydrocarbon taint a Floridian may say has a pleasant complexity.

5
We have lots in December here and in fact in every month

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Marang on Jackfruit
« on: Today at 03:04:25 AM »
Jackfruit onto marang successful? I would not have expected that. I have seen a paper where philipine 'guns' grafted jack on jack, chempa on jack and marang on jack and if I recall right success rates were roughly 50%, 40% and 0% in the medium term for survival. A.elastacus might be a better match. You never know, when exploring the outer boundaries of compatibility you might stumble across something. There are 2 species known as marang in borneo according to the genetic work and this aligns with the indigenous view where separate names are given to the 2 forms. The big variation in them is therefore more than just wild and domesticated or philipines and borneo types.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pictures of some of my Annona fruits
« on: March 26, 2024, 06:06:59 AM »
That red gefner looked to have a reticulata vibe about it

8
BTW it is not dulcis which is closer to xanthochymus and cochinchinensis and does not have separate male and female trees or shouldered foliage.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Hunt for the best Surinam Cherry
« on: March 26, 2024, 05:59:03 AM »
My Zill black seedling turned out red and it was alright and better than most varieties. My lolita seedlings all turned out red and volunteered for mulch patrol. My brazilian orange seedling turned out kinda red and very ordinary. My grafted black beauty thankfully has dark fruit and is better than the rest in low resin taste, sweetness and flesh yield but still doesnt keep me awake at night in thankful awe.

10
They go slowly at first for a Garcinia and the distinctive 'shouldered' foliage doesnt take too long to develop.

11
It all depends where you are. Succession will take it back to native vegetation if you leave it long enough and succession isn't deflected by pest plants. In my area it doesn't take long for old orchards to be swallowed by rainforest.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Whats the "biggest" mango
« on: March 22, 2024, 06:38:35 AM »
Funny I posted a pic on the big mango on an old thread but was talking about KPs.

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: So much for chilling hours
« on: March 21, 2024, 09:25:01 AM »
Always measured by winter minimums and yes I imagine nowhere in Arizona would better suit the warm types.

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Whats the "biggest" mango
« on: March 21, 2024, 09:22:24 AM »
Bowens I have heard of occasional outsized ones but they average smaller. 2kg might be a stretch still. There is also a late hong kong one and the real name escapes me but golden queen is sometimes applied.

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Top working rambutan
« on: March 21, 2024, 09:19:17 AM »
Those friggin lorikeets. Never heard of a tree being topworked but no reason for it not to work. I suspect you will try R134, 167, 162 and 156 which is yellow. Yellow will have more flesh yield but also testa tenacity. You will never really be testa free completely unless you move to a higher plane and pulasans.

16
Plant an everbearer and have them 10 months a year like me.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Whats the "biggest" mango
« on: March 21, 2024, 05:27:39 AM »
A few can crack the 2kg mark like Keitt, R2E2 and rabaul but these are very occasional fruit.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: So much for chilling hours
« on: March 20, 2024, 04:10:39 PM »
Mauritius is really tai so or tai so mauritius, never heard of the second one and sweetheart could be anything as many names were changed in the US. Wai chee is an example of a cold loving variety with heat lovers including souey tung, sum yee hong and fai zee siu.

19
Every kangaroo depicted was an eastern grey. Australian stamps, modern coins and post 1966 notes do better with wildlife depictions but none get Queen Elisabeth right.

20
Below the flower actually. Some good examples there with decent acacias - wattles, the lion and kangaroo are britain and australia I presume. It occurs to me the vast array of animals called wallabies, the diversity of melaleucas and acacias even in my local area isnt appreciated and they are often referred to a single entity.
Depictions of cooktown orchids, sturts desert pea and NSW wattles were some I was thinking of.

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Florida Natural Farming?
« on: March 20, 2024, 06:16:44 AM »
Organic farming is a struggle for many with serious issues of plant nutrition and pest management to overcome. Inorganic fertilizers do increase productivity substantially. They do screw the soil also and soils worldwide are in serious decline in both health and their nutrient status. What I see is people getting more aware of mulching soil health and soil organisms and even mycorrhizae and doing what ever they can to get it all going. I think many people generally following good 'enriching' practices still spot spray for the worst insects and weeds when they are managing a smaller area. Messages can get lost when mixed up with new age terminology. I am a bit sceptical about soil biota and additives being able to release nutrients locked up in mineral form.

22
BTw on the lebonese coin I thought I saw fig, grapes artichoke, pomegranate, persimmon/quince, wheat and a waterlily.

23
True and I m sure Charles being a fine figure of a man will be captured with dignity. Speaking of mules and my brother has lots in his coin collection, errors or liberties taken with design are common. I took a picture of a Queensland tube nosed fruit bat and its exact likeness appeared on a central african stamp with the incorrect bat name, but I digress. The Queensland state emblem has a red deer and a european stork and there are no koalas, kookaburras or frill necked lizaeds to be seen.
In Australia the state floral emblems are frequently 'tarted up' in illustrations.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: So much for chilling hours
« on: March 20, 2024, 05:37:22 AM »
The number of chill hours or minimum temp to stimulate lychee flowering varies a lot between varieties. I have seen lists of well over 40 varieties trialled in my local area on the Tablelands from least to most chill hours needed in sequence. Some like Tai so which maritius is form and kwai mai pink can flower at times when temps don't fall below 50f.
.

25
I meant not quite hibiscus. Taking liberties with pics on stamps and coins is no revelation. Even the heads tend to be far more noble and gracious than the person in real life. Queen Elisabeth is portrayed as a rare beauty on legal tender.

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