Author Topic: Planning to topwork Ugly Betty...suggestions?  (Read 1743 times)

mangokothiyan

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Planning to topwork Ugly Betty...suggestions?
« on: February 18, 2019, 08:10:36 PM »

I love the taste of Ugly Betty and it is the first to flower in my yard, season after season, but the tree has been a poor producer in my yard. This year was the worst; a tree covered in flowers and not even one fruit has set. The tree, I have noticed, is susceptible to powdery mildew. Has Zills stopped propagating it?

I am planning to maybe let a branch stay and graft a couple of new varieties onto the tree. I have Sugarloaf in mind; I like the taste and have heard that the tree is very productive. What other variety is productive and really good, taste-wise?  Suggestions welcome.

PurpleAlligator

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Re: Planning to topwork Ugly Betty...suggestions?
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2019, 02:32:35 PM »
Following. My ugly Betty has not even flowered in its 4th season

mangomongo

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Re: Planning to topwork Ugly Betty...suggestions?
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2019, 07:39:47 AM »
What about Guava mango?

Squam256

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Re: Planning to topwork Ugly Betty...suggestions?
« Reply #3 on: May 17, 2019, 08:24:45 AM »
Ugly Betty has been a big disappointment for us as well. Gary Zill’s ugly Betty trees, which are much older of course, have seemed to produce well

starch

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Re: Planning to topwork Ugly Betty...suggestions?
« Reply #4 on: May 17, 2019, 09:48:26 AM »
I have a small Ugly Betty Tree (like 3 ft tall) that I have had for over a year now. It flowered like crazy this spring and set half a dozen fruits. I let them get to grape size and then culled them (tree is too small to hold fruits anyway). But in our desert climate Ugly Betty seems to be a very happy camper.
- Mark

JulianoGS

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Re: Planning to topwork Ugly Betty...suggestions?
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2019, 03:31:13 PM »

I love the taste of Ugly Betty and it is the first to flower in my yard, season after season, but the tree has been a poor producer in my yard. This year was the worst; a tree covered in flowers and not even one fruit has set. The tree, I have noticed, is susceptible to powdery mildew. Has Zills stopped propagating it?

I am planning to maybe let a branch stay and graft a couple of new varieties onto the tree. I have Sugarloaf in mind; I like the taste and have heard that the tree is very productive. What other variety is productive and really good, taste-wise?  Suggestions welcome.

Sugar loaf has an amazing flavor, do you know for sure about it's productivity?
Be very careful and mindful of what you sow, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

pineislander

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Re: Planning to topwork Ugly Betty...suggestions?
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2019, 04:57:51 PM »
I'm thinking if you have the space it probably takes 10 years to evaluate a variety's productivity since so many factors play into it.
-pruning
-age
-spacing
-soil
-weather-wind-temp-rain-dry-fog-hail-
-fertility
-wind
-disease prevalence
-biennial habit
-insects
-microclimate

For instance, this year almost all mango trees in my area had a bad year, but a very few were outstanding. Certainly that wasn't variety and almost as certain it was weather related. Most had good flowering. I noticed much higher fruit load on trees on the east side, but others noticed good fruiting on the north. However, some varieties with low exposure did just fine. We had a norther wind storm not too cold but wind to 50 mph who knows what that did it shredded bananas. Very tough decisions to make with so many variables....