The Tropical Fruit Forum

I have this Reed tree since 2013. In the last few years never paid much attention to it because by the end of December all the fruit was in the ground and before December the fruit was small and not reach it best maturity.
This year seems to be different. The tree has 40-50 fruit, it is holding them well, the fruit is continuing to grow. I picked one in early January and allow it to ripen in the counter. These are the attached pictures. Very clean an acceptable taste.
The only explanation I have is that we had a cooler November, allowing the tree to make a transition without dropping the fruit.
I wonder if anyone else is growing it in Florida?

I read a lot of different choices. Some people germinate in bags using different media, some say they allow the seeds to dry, then hydrate, stratify seeds etc. etc. etc.

What is what works for you on a consistent basis?

Your input is appreciated

I stopped  to see a friend today to see if he had any green Annona squamosa,  to get a few to get them ready for grafting in the spring.  He pointed to an area and said "there is the runt of the litter" he had planted over 1000+ green anon,  sold them all and a group of about 15 were left that no one wanted.  Then among the group I saw this guy holding fruit in a 1/4 gal pot .  The plant is about 14" high
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The question is,  that instead of grafting it,  I think may be I should  plant it to see if this propensity to set fruit translates into the adult plant.  I  wonder if any one has experience with this?

Locally if possible. Can use a few seedlings as well.  I have some waldin seedlings and Toro Cayon avocado to trade
PM please

This season I have seen a couple of Kensington Pride  Mango trees,  full of fruit and very very clean clean,   I wonder if anyone one has any experience with it as root stock in Florida. I know is used in Australia as a root stock but would be nice to use here since the fruit is nice and taste decent.

I have been trying to determine if these mangos are grown from seed or grafted. Is Azucar and Hilacha polyembrionic?  Are they used as rootstocks for other mangos. They look like some turpentines I have seen and even look like 13-1.

Avocado Laurel Wilt-Ambrosia Beetle (LW-AB) Workshop  Hosted by University of Florida
Date: Feb. 11, 2021 (Thursday) Time: 10:00AM-3:00PM (Eastern Standard Time)

Venue: Zoom; attendance limited so register early.  You must register in advance for this meeting:

https://ufl.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwrde-uqjgoGtGqRC8dBHoNJ7In5vXvS75N

 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Purpose and target audience:

To offer updates of both basic and applied research on LW-AB to avocado producers, scientists, and other interested parties.
To offer Florida avocado producers and others the opportunity to attend an on-line meeting focused on laurel wilt and ambrosia beetle vectors affecting avocado production.

See attached Flyer:

The reason I ask is because it seem to me that is probably the best "Hass" that can be grown in Florida with some minor cultural adaptations.  We have been eating them for a couple of weeks with excellent quality. We did have to change the timing for eating away from out traditional "soft to the touch" More to a color change. In addition to other sanitation practices to reduce post harvest disease.

I just update my web page on the subject:
​ September 7, 2020: I have not been keeping up on Catalina. The tree at home and the top worked tree in the grove both lost to the hurricane Irma in 2017. The only survivor is the Catalina on Catalina shown in the picture of September 2015. A small tree that was planted between two vigorous trees, as result growing very slowly. Finally this year set 10 fruits. To my amazement I find that the fruit taste very different from the tree at home, actually better. The tree at home produced a very oily fruit with a canistel like taste that I really did not preferred. The fruit from the grove, is much better, creamy, lighter in a way. I measure my preference to where I go to get fruit to eat at home. Every day I'm, going by this tree to take one fruit for home.  eat 1/2 with the meal and save the other 1/2 for avocado toast in the morning. Even the shape of the fruit is different. Is less round, bigger seed. That has always been my theory, the terroir imparts a lot of the fruit taste and character.  My home is probably the only house in Dade County that is not on rock. I have clay soil, heavily compacted and deep. Last time we dug at 15 feet we still had clay. Probably I'm on an ancient waterhole.
The tree at home was probably grafted on a Waldin seedling and this one on a Catalina.  That's another story for another time.

https://www.myavocadotrees.com/catalina-avocado.html

There are several brand of these cloning machines. I think they are oriented for weed growers.  I wonder if anyone has tred them for Mango, Avocado etc.

Open Letter to Avocado Producers: 

I grow tropical avocados commercially in Homestead, Florida. That's been my passion for the last 16  years, The last five years have been a frustrating nightmare caused by Laurel Wilt. This morning I marked three more trees for extraction in addition to the 10 trees I marked three days ago.  I lose about 20-25  a month and it's on the rise.
The largest avocado-producing areas are free of the problem at the moment. In South Florida, tropical avocado is a very small industry with little economic and political influence,  as a result not much attention is paid to this crises.  In the Homestead, Florida avocado region the pathogen and vectors are everywhere. There are orchards that disappear from one year to the next. Unfortunately, we have been on the front lines of this disease.

This creates an opportunity for the rest of the avocado producing areas,  so far free of this disease to do  research in this area. There is a lot of research to be done and as time goes on we gain more experience. Here, there is access to adult trees in the field for testing and research. This is not the case for areas in which  the disease has not made its appearance.

I only mention some investigations that could be pending:

Some trees die in a week, however there are trees that look resistant to Laurel Wilt,  they have tested positive from root to canopy, proven on multiple occasions and methodologies, yet they are still alive and show no symptoms of the wilt.  I know of two, one in particular I call 9-7, is positive since January 2019 and continues alive and recovering. Personally I think this tree is talking to us, however there are no funds to see what it tells us.

Early detection in the process is vital to early removal of diseased trees,  before other trees acquire the disease.  It is essential to determine whether the tree is contaminated with little pathogen, to extract it before it contaminates adjacent trees.  There is no data on the time between when a tree is contaminated and when the first sign of "sadness" becomes visible.  Less than a week ago I detected a little sadness in a branch. When cutting it, it looked positive for wilt, I continued to check three  more trees on the same row and  all three  tested positive at various levels without  visible symptoms. Root contamination moves unnoticed for weeks or months.   This type of root contagion remains an observable presumption of farmers and  has not  been investigated.

Some producers believe that there are two or more strains of the fungus that causes the disease,  (Raffaelea Lauricola),  one  much more aggressive than others. A full DNA study is complicated and costly. As I understand it, it hasn't been done and there are no plans.

Other producers began doing thermal treatments on infected and stumped  trees. I tried on 8 of my trees. All are alive and doing well, the two oldest are 17 months old and continue to grow. On the other hand, the eight have tested positive for Laurel Wilt, post-treatment. There is no scientific data to understand what is going on and what opportunities this offers.

What attracts vectors and what can farmers do? Many growers are gaining experience of their own. I stopped injecting phosphorous acid to treat Phytophthora because I have noticed that these trees have a higher frequency of vector inoculation than others not injected. I suspect why, but we don't have a scientific foundation to know what's going on.

Can trees be vaccinated with some form of vaccine to increase resistance or defense against the pathogen?

And so on, I could mention a lot more.

Looking back we knew it was coming, but we didn't prepare enough, partly because it wasn't always easy to test in the field and there were a lot of restrictions on conducting test  in greenhouses and we just didn't believe it or wanted to invest funds in research. Some thought it would never come.

We all see these bark beetles moving around the world with little or no restriction. One day any area can wake up to the bad news.

I can tell you this: you can imagine this disease in your grove, more or less we know what it does, you can read articles, watch YouTube videos, after you finish your imagination exercise, I can tell you as a grower dealing with this every day, MULTIPLY IT BY 10 !

Please, support research in the area where  it can  best be done. Get ahead of it.

Carlos de la Torre

I have a Daisy Avocado. I know some are growing it here in Florida can you tell me when you would normally pick the fruit?
Thanks

Looking for Doni avocado trees