The Tropical Fruit Forum

Shading the pots helps. Micro Life fert has a bunch of different endo and ecto beneficial fungi. I can't see where a pot cooking in the sun could be good for microbial life in a container. I can't confirm that but just a hunch! I've never put my lychee in any kind of shade. I give it full sun all summer long just have to water it every day.

This is my sweetheart last year before root prune and up potting. Bought as a container plant 3 years ago and it was close to 3 years old when bought. Now it's estimated at 6-8 years old. I've never sprayed it with anything. Only used rain water and Micro Life 6-2-4 fertilizer on it. Its never produced lots of fruit but ive got several handfuls of fruit each year except this current year. After root prune, up pot and cutting the canopy back to form and equalize because of root prune it didn't flush in cool enough weather to form flowers this spring. It's just now showing signs of new foliage and it's way too hot for flower formation. I'm in South Houston, Seabrook to be exact. Wanting to put it in ground but not sure that's good longterm here. Theres another sweetheart in ground in my neighborhood. I need to drive buy and see if it made it through our one and only 27 degree night we had this past winter. I lost 3 Mangos that night!!! If your in Htown, find Micro Life 6-2-4. My Lychee seems to thrive on it!

A big thank you to Mr. Texas! I emailed Mark and waiting on his response.

Hello fellow F4F/ourfigs member. Nice to see you here. I'm blueboy1977 on there. I too got the mango bug a couple months ago. I purchased Pickering, Nam Doc Mia and Maha. I'm growing mine in 15 gallon pots for now but will up pot to 30 in the future. I saw Ice Cream mentioned but from what I've read it's very prone to anthracnose and mildew issues. The others mentioned above are suppost to at least have some resistance and the size can be controlled for pot culture. Completely different zones though as I'm in 9A/B where the two meet. Good luck and keep us posted!

Rob

So I just up potted them. Should I wait to pug them until the spring or do it now? I will be moving them in and out of the garage as temps threaten 40 degrees.

I got a couple bags of orchid bark for each plant and going to the hydro store to pick up some quality soil to mix it with. Can y'all see any reason little pieces of charcoal would hurt anything? The orchid bark mix has fir bark, large perlite and charcoal pieces in it.

Finally pulled the trigger and ordered some mangos from Top Tropical. Now I need to pot them up and pray there what they say they are. Suppost to be Maha Chanok, Nam Doc Mai & Pickering. Had my heart set on Imman Pasand but that one seems a little hard to come buy. Gonna pot them up into 25 gallon pots for now. Will check the root system in 2 years and probably move on up to 35 gallon pot.  Going to mix up a big batch of Pine bark mulch and perilite for potting medium. Wish me luck!!!!

If it helps at all I have a potted lychee in a 20 gallon pot. I believe I will eventually run into the same issues a mango tree would.  My plan of attack is every 2 years root prune and top prune the tree right after harvest. This tree was a 2 year old when I bought it in a 10 gallon pot. I potted up to 20 gallon right after I bought it. That was 2 years ago so this coming season will actually be the 3rd year in a 20 gallon pot. I pruned it hard after last fruiting season and it really responded well with new growth. I think the main thing is to balance the top and roots when doing this and water water water! My lychee gets watered daily except for winter.

Now I think the biggest question is how long will one be willing to take on this task while realizing that all this effort will only yield a handful of fruit each season? Will the tree live to a ripe old age? Probably not but if you love to grow stuff, a good 6-10 year run of exceptional fruit and fun growing is all worth it. The trick is to have enough plants and resources to make it worth your while. By resources I mean automatic watering systems, good quality water like rain water, a strong back and the will. All that effort can be for not if something happens and those 5 year old mangos don't get watered for a few days in the heat of summer. We've all done it.

Ive been a member at F4F for a couple years now and have managed to collect several of the top tier varieties. The standouts for me this past season were Malta Black and Improved Celeste. The other varieties I tried ripened during some wet weather and were a little washed out but still vary tasty, LSU Scotts Black and Smith. I was not impressed with LSU Purple at all and its a 3rd year fig for me. Ive read it takes several years for it to start putting out the good fruit but Im currently trying to get rid of it. This next season I will get to try a bunch of 2nd season plants. Black Maderia, MBvs, RDB, VDB, Salce, Strawberry Verte, CDDN, Atreano, JH Adratic, and a unknown Celeste strain. I cant wait!!! I worked out a trade with a fellow forum member on here to swap a RDB for a Angie Mango. Im also looking to trade some others for young mango trees if anyone is interested?

Thanks for info guys! Just sold off a few of my mature blueberry plants to make room for Mango! I can only get 5 at the most but I cant decide on the final 5! I want at least 8 but can't see how I will make room for them. Thanks again!!!!

Been looking at Ebay for mangos to buy and saw these two varieties. Ive read alittle bit about Peach Cobbler but never herd of Juicy Peach. Can anyone comment on these two?

I was thinking the same thing. Enough nitrogen to put on some good growth the first couple years as you want some size before you let it fruit. After it sizes up some then cut out the nitrogen and focus on fruiting.

LOL, Ive been hanging out at the Figs4fun forum for a couple years now, funny to see figs mentioned here on the tropical forum. I have many varieties but most are only a year old. I have several 3 year old plants and the best tasting fig for me last season was Malta Black. LSU Improved Celeste was excellent as well. Smith and Scotts Black were good but ripened during a heavy rain spell and got kinda watery.  This next season I will get to try RDB, Black Maderia, CDDN, TX BA-1, JH Adriatic, Salce, Strawberry Verte.  LSU Purple has been on the bottom of the for 2 seasons now. To me it just doesnt even compair to most other varieties. Trying to get rid of it now but cant get any takers on Craigslist. I would love to trade some Mango scions for fig cuttings in the future if anyone is interested??? Plan on buying 4 mango trees this spring and keep them in 30 gallon pots as we usually get 3-4 freezes a year.