The Tropical Fruit Forum

It's clear that deciduous and evergreen do and do not go dormant.  But what terminology describes species that replace their leaves annually versus others that seem to keep their leaves forever?  I have mangos with leaves still there at the base of a 4" dia. trunk tthat were there when the plant was 1 foot tall!  Grumichama also seems to keep all leaves forever.  But avocados clearly replace all their leaves annually.  What do we call these two types of plants?  Keepers and replacers?

I want to extend the fruiting season of my Sugar Apple (Annona Squamosa). If A.) I pick off half of the early flowers, or B.) I neglect to hand pollinate them, will it produce more late flowers/fruits?  I have a couple of late fruits and I want more fruits to be late fruits.  Thanks!

We have a planting spot in which four young trees (1 Mamey Sapote, 2 Canistels, 1 Jamaica Cherry), planted there successively, died from root rot within a year.  So we replaced the soil there and planted a young Rollinia.  We think we should do more and remove a gallon volume of soil around the root crown for a couple of weeks, so it can dry out real good, then add it back in, twice a year for a few years.  Does anyone's experience suggest that this strategy could be helpful?

I'm seeing persistent yellow of all leaves on one of two young jackfruit plants, and same thing with acerola plants.  The one jackfruit and the one acerola with the yellow leaves may have roots of large oak trees strangling their roots.  When the soil dries around their trunks, it is very hard, and I'm mostly sure this is due to a very dense root mass surrounding the trunk.  I cut the soil vertically down one foot with a saw in a diameter of 1.5 feet around the trees to sever the trunks of this possible oak root mass, and two weeks later I don't see any changes in the plants with yellow leaves.  Other plants have had root rot in this area of the yard but the root rot symptoms are immediate death, not persistently yellow leaves.  Has anyone seen this symptom? 

I want to extend the length of my muscadine grape cordons, the main vines that extend horizonally.  How do I choose between two options:1) a larger, longer new shoot some 16" - 20" before the end of the current cordon, or a smaller, shorter new shoot some 2" - 3" before the end of the current cordon?  Seems both choices have trade-offs so I imagine maybe whichever one gives the longest total length at mid-season?  This question arises every time we want to extend our cordon length, so it's important.

My grafted Nam Doc Mai mango I planted May 2018 from 1 gallon pot is only 10 inches tall and both winters flowered big, but it doesn't want to leaf out.  It's healthy obviously to flower like that.  So are there defective scions sometimes that will never grow vegetatively and only want to flower?  Do I need to replace this tree?

I have a young White Sapote seedling in the ground and expect another year or more before first flowering.  It's about 15 ft tall already (trunk diameter 5 inches), and it wants to grow even taller, but I've been topping it at 15 ft because I want to limit height for fruit harvesting.  Is limiting height with regular toppings going to delay/deny flowering?  An alternative is to let it grow as tall as it wants, so to reach flowering/fruiting size faster, and then cut it back to 15ft.  Which strategy is best?

I have rollinia seedlings 6 to 10 inches long, in 2 inch pots that are struggling.  Defoliating.  Temperature range is 60 to 75F, humidity range is probably 50% to 70%.  Adequate sunlight, not too much.  Regular potting soil.  What is it that these plants need?