The Tropical Fruit Forum

Hi folks. You all helped me get off and running and I’ve managed to keep my trees alive in central FL.

My brogdon avocado is now about 12’ tall and we got 6 fruit off it last year. My Pickering mango is about 4’ wide and tall but dense, and we let it keep one fruit last year. Since then it has doubled or more in size.

Now that the trees are about established, do I still need to worry about not letting the trees hold too much fruit? Can I let the avocado hold as many as it wants to? I’m also thinking I’ll let the Pickering hold about 5 this year. If both trees can self thin from here out that would be ideal.

I see lots of discussion about mature tree yields or not letting young trees fruit at all, but not much advice on the first small crops and if they should be limited.

Thanks much

Hey folks. I put a barbados cherry in the ground last september and it immediately put out about 50 fruit. When it warmed up this year it put out about 10 blooms with its first flush, but none turned into fruit and the blooming has ceased.

I feel like my first crop may have been a fluke with it just being planted. When do you all normally see your plants fruiting in 9b?

Thanks much.

Edit: While I'm at it, what time of year does starfruit or cherry of the rio grande normally fruit?

Hi Everyone, I searched and didn't have very much luck finding anything similar to what I'm experiencing. Both my avocado trees have this brown rust on their leaves, originating from the center vein it seems. It doesn't rub off. Doesn't look to be doing a ton of damage but it is progressing and wondered if I should be worrying. The trees are just about to flower and seem healthy otherwise. I did see similar leaf markings on a avocado at a nursery down the street as well.

Howdy. I planted my avocados about a month back and they get pretty much full sun. They've each defoliated about 30-50% and haven't grown since planting. I attribute much of this to transplant shock, but keep seeing where full sun on young trees can be rough on them.

Several questions:
1.) What does sunscald on avocados look like? The leaves are yellowing before falling off but the trunk looks pretty normal even on the north side.
2.) Do I even need to worry about sunscald?
3.) What can I do to prevent sunscald besides painting it white? I am not too big a fan of the ghost tree look. Will brown or green paint suffice?
4.) How long until you guys normally expect a tree to start growing?

Thanks much. The cherry of rio grande, mango, and avocados are all still sitting putfor now but my loquat and muscadine are looking great.

I spent all winter researching plants to buy come spring for Florida 9B and feel like I settled on a good set of plants. I bought them this weekend.

They include:
2 avocados (lula and brogdon)
Pickering Mango
Cherry of Rio Grande
Loquat
Dwarf Everbearing Mulberry

I am now realizing that I put way more effort into selecting my plants than I did planning on how to plant them and I am a bit overwhelmed with the huge variety of advices given and wanted to run my thoughts by you all since you've been such a big help so far.

Please critique my plans at will. My first big question is, how long can I keep them in their nursery pots before they are in trouble? Some of them are decently big. Loquat is ~3/4" stem with a 1.5 gallon pot.

Avocados- I will plant them in ground in native soil(sand). I have heard building mounds is beneficial, but I do not have a good source of more native soil nearby or a truck. I figure if the trees have trouble I can replant them on mounds later.

Mango- I will repot the mango into a 15" pot until it gets older. I am having trouble finding much information on a good potting soil. Nobody sells Fafard 3B near me. Does a mixture of 1 parts each perlite, vermiculite, peat moss, and sand sound good? I saw someone else say a 1:1 good quality potting soil(example anyone?) and perlite is a good mix as well.

Mulberry, loquat, cherry: These guys are supposed to be pretty forgiving. I'll put them straight in the ground.

As for watering, I am pretty stumped. I don't have an irrigation system. Should I plan on setting up 6 soaker hoses and using each for 30 minutes once or twice a week?

I bought a few bags of shredded fir for mulch.

I realize there is a good amount of information already on the forums but I keep seeing conflicting accounts and am in analysis paralysis at this point. Thanks much.