The Tropical Fruit Forum

How big do you all let your trees grow to before you let then hold fruit? This is for both in ground and potted plants. I'm mainly interested in mango, avocado, and citrus tress. If you have a pic with tree age, it would be awesome.

This is a 3 year old NDM mango. I just reported it into this 25 gal pot (I think it's a 25 gal).

These are the bugs I'm talking about. They are everywhere. Plants are healthy so I don't knew if they are good it bad.

Revive!!!

Instead of re-posting this question. I have revived this thread. I'm looking for something to treat my fruit plants with before I put them in the garage for the winter. My plants seem to be doing well however, there are lots of bugs crawling in the pots. I specifically have a butt load (lots!! o them!!) of these little white bugs crawling about under the mulch in my pots. I don't want these bugs moving into my house from the garage or invite something like termites or other home invading insect to my home.

What do you guys/gals use to treat insects in or on your fruit plants?

Thanks

First I will say hello.  This is my first post after lurking for a couple of years.  Also thanks for all the useful information you folks post on here it has been of great help.

I have used a huge T5 unit 4 foot 12 bulb for the last couple of years as a primary light source in winter.I had considered traditional 1000 watt and even cmh 315 watt options but they would have been within inches of wooden support beams so I decided it wasn't worth the risk.  My experience with T5 has been that it will keep the trees alive but they will not thrive under them especially when used as a primary source.  Replacement bulbs are pricey with the risk of breakage in transport.  When I purchased this unit Led lights were expensive and I didn't care for the options.  I need a new light for a single Tangerine tree which will be by itself in front of the patio door.  I have found two options that appear to be good options but I cannot vouch for them at this point.  The first is Quantum boards from Horticulture lighting group.  I have no affiliation with them and will probably avoid them due to high shipping cost to Canada.  If you are in America they ship for free so it might be a good option for lighting. 

The alternative is to build my own Led light using Samsung F strips which ends up being cheaper.  I will be building a light using either 4 or 5 two foot F strips for my Tangerine.  If it works well I will build a unit using 4 foot strips for my trees that receive no sun.  I have not seen either this type of build or a Quantum board build used for Citrus so I cannot vouch for them yet.  Marijuana growers seem to really like both of these types of lights for efficiency and heat reduction as well as good penetration.  I will update on the lights once I see some results.

This link below talks about 3 different Samsung strip leds and a bridgelux.  It also shows grow light configurations that can be built using the strips.  It's a nice little guide.

http://ledgardener.com/diy-led-strip-build-designs-samsung-bridgelux/

Ah, very good info. I forgot about DIY kits. Again, in reference to feeding, we call them retrofit kits. They are simply the wires, ballast and endcaps or sockets to connect the bulbs. It's a bare bone diy option if all you want is a light system.

Good post North.

I'm new to plant growing but I understand a decent amount on lighting due to my old hobby, reef keeping (I use to grow coral in my living room). Here is a simple breakdown of LED and metal halide.

LED:
Pro: better at producing specific wave length, strong par/watt ratio, less heat (but still produces a decent amount of heat), bulbs are more durable (harder to break and last longer), directional light so it shines on whatever area you want it to

Cons: initial cost although prices are significantly less than what they were years ago, because they are so directional, you will need more to cover a larger area, not as powerful as MH,

MH:
Pro: strong light that can pack lots of punch, can be purchase at big box stores, produces heat so it can provide frost protection, not directional so 1 bulb can cover a lot of area (I plan to use 1 250 or 400 watt bulb to light my whole garage up. This will keep it frost free and give adequate lighting for all 30 or so plants.),

Cons: you need to replace the bulb every few years because the bulb wave length will change as the bulb burns and gets older/used, easier to break as they are made of glass, not as precise in color spectrum (but I think it's healthy for plants to have a arrays of colors vs a few specific light colors),

I personally think it's a toss up on cost. LED cost more to buy initially vs MH. However, 1 MH can cover a lot of area. I had used 2 LED grow fixtures to cover my plants last winter. This year, the plants are bigger than last year. this same area would easily be covered by a single MH. The cost to purchase 2 units vs 1 is a consideration. Also, the cost of running LED bank vs 1 MH cancels that price point out too. The MH bulbs in the aquarium hobby are good from 8mo to 14 mo running around 8 hours a day. After that, they don't produce the wave lengths and algae will start growing.

From my aquarium reefing days, I observe way better growth with MH than LED. The MH just had more punch to the light. This is why I will be digging out my old MH system and will be lighting my plants in the garage with a single bulb.

ThangBom

Amazon says 8lbs/$19.87 for me. Still $2 cheaper than the local store. Not worth stocking for $2 for me. Thanks for the head up though.

Thanks everyone. Now I have 2 bars to compare other mangos to. I read and have watched lots of vids on different mango, but I have no bases to compare them to other than store bought ones. Now that I know the name and flavor of the two, I can somewhat paint a better picture. Thanks all

Last weekend I was able to get back to the homestead and put some more work into the build. I marked out the 4 corners first. After the corners were marked, I tied up some string so that I could mark out where to drill down the line. I splurged a little and will be putting post every 3' instead of the standard 4'. Why? Because the cost for the two extra hoops or so is minimal and I get a structure that is extremely strong. The post are 8' x 1 5/8'' fence post. We used a post hole drill attached to the trusty tractor and went on with drilling. This saves a lot of time and effort. Even with an extension on the auger, we could not get the ground post in deep enough so I had to hammer then down a good 18''. It was tough work as there is a lot of clay down there. We will end up cutting 12'' off the post before we continue with putting the rest of the post in the ground. The structure will be higher than what I would like, but my pops wants it higher so he can have bigger plants inside. The ground post will be 7' long and 3.5' of it sticking above ground. We will then attach the hoops to these post once that are cemented or concreted whichever one is cheaper. That's all for now.

That's what I'm planning. We really don't get too cold. It's only a freek occasion that it happens but with global warming and erratic storms that we get now-a-days, you never know. I was thinking I plan to leave my tropical plants (whatever they may be) potted. That way, I can move them closer to the thermo-mass rocket heater I plan to build. They will have some decent cold protection from it.

Thangbom

I sure will. I plan to somewhat itemize everything rounding up. I plan to build it sometime in March also.

Thangbom

I have started putting together and purchasing parts of my hoop house. I'm building this hoop house at my parents' homestead on the outskirts of Houston. They have 2 acres and are always fiddling out in the yard. Winter is their boring season as they basically huddle inside the majority of the time. Our winters are generally not that cold as I am able to run around in shorts and t-shirts through the majority of it. However, snow and cold ice freezes have been more common lately. These oddball events occur a day or two at a time and only once or twice a year. They don't occur every year either. However, I would like to stop bagging, dragging, and carrying lots and lots of pots to a makeshift greenhouse that we raise each year. It's just too much work!! The plants take a beating and it takes a good amount of work putting up the makeshift shelter each winter.

I have decided to take the leap and make a simple hoop house. They can get a jump start on and prolong their growing season with a nice hoop house. The hoop house will about 72' or 73' by 20' wide. I am undecided on the height of the structure but I'm thinking 11' tall. This will allow easier access to the two ends and they will have a short vertical ground post sides. The height will also allow trees to be grown a little taller before they have to be pruned.

So far, I have only purchased the hoop bender and the 1 3/8' x 10.5' top rails. I am currently in the process of bending those hoops. It's a decent amount of work given the fact that I plan to space those hoops at about 3' apart. Why you may ask? Because 1, they occasionally get strong winds; 2, more ribs = less flopping of the covering which in turn will reduce wear and tear; 3, it's only a difference of about $150 to significantly strengthen the structure.

I'll keep this first post up to date with prices (rounded up) on the material spent.

-hoop benders (I bought 3 sizes in case I felt like raising a smaller one (10' or 12' wide) at my house in the subburbs)= $130
-1 3/8' galvanized top rail ($12.48/each or bulk price if bought 30+ $10.24/each)= $700 thus far. I will need more as I need to but stiffening and perlins

I have bent about 45 of them. I still have more to do.


Thangbom

Wow, I'm tired! My GF are new gardeners and have been bit by the bug pretty hard. I hope we do okay since we spent so much $$ and time on these plants. Anyhow, I made some planter boxes and some herb boxes for our house. Herb boxes are about 23''W x 12''D x 5'' tall. The planter boxes are 3'W x 6'D X 14'' tall and one that is only 12'' tall.

I bought 1 cu. yard of garden dirt and 1 cu. compost mix. It took lots of sweat and work but I got it done. The planter boxes only needed about 1.5 cu yards to fill. I spread some of the left over on the yard to patch the holes and dips.














These are my trees. I have Owari satsuma, Moro blood orange, Lychee, Joey avocado, Lila avocado, Valentine pomelo, Fuyu persimmon, Hachiya persimmon, loquat, pineapple, miracle fruit, Meyor lemon, pomegranate, and newly planted bare root Ozark strawberries.




My GF has pretty much the same plants  but she put the in the front yard.

Thangbom