The Tropical Fruit Forum

I just updated the Pinkerton Avocado and  a video. Go to the page and find the entry for July 10, 2017

http://www.myavocadotrees.com/pinkerton-avocado.html

Since this 24 hour a day, 7 day rain spell started in So. Florida all my American Beauty Dragon Fruit I had in the ground got infected and I had to pull them out. I had to do some clean up on others but the American Beauty is the worst, the 3 I had in the ground are gone. 

I found this tree in the Chapman Field USDA collection. I was looking for a B flower that would open around November-December in So. Florida.  This does it with the added bonus that this tree starts flowering in November and does not stop until the summer. Keeps getting waves of flowers during those 7-8 months and holds fruit different sizes.
 As you can see in the picture taken today it has a large fruit and also flowers at the same time. This will pollinate all A flower trees during the flowering season in So. Florida.
Is 100 % Mexican so should be cold hardy. The fruit is small, big seed, turns black in the tree. Taste reminds me of Mexicola  which I don't like, specially because the many other choices we have.
But if you have a lot of A flower trees that flower at different times and have the room, this is it.

 
Seminar: Using DRONES for early detection of laurel wilt affected
trees and early intervention
 
Date: April 18th, 2017
Time: 2PM-4PM
Location: Miami-Dade County Extension Service
18905 SW 280 St.
Homestead, FL 33031
 
RSVPs are requested, but not required. Please RSVP to Jeff Wasielewski,
jwasielewski@ufl.edu or 305-248-3311, ext. 227.

Seminar program agenda
Time  Speaker/title  Title of presentation
2:00PM-2:05PM Jeff Wasielewski, Commercial Tropical Fruit Crops Agent, Miami-Dade Co. Extension
Welcome and introduction
2:05PM-2:15PM

Jonathan Crane, Tropical Fruit Crop
Specialist, UF/IFAS/TREC
Purpose, uses, and potential
benefits of drone detection of laurel
wilt

2:15PM-2:45PM
Amanda Quevedo, Aviation Safety Technician, FAA UAS 101

2:45PM-3:10PM
Daniel Rodriguez, Owner, ALIVE LLC
The use of drones in avocado groves to detect laurel wilt

3:10PM-3:40PM
Carlos de la Torre, Grove Owner-Operator Example of scouting for laurel wilt with a drone

3:40PM-4:00PM
John Mills, Owner, iDC
Our experience with the use of drone detection of laurel wilt

I decided to open a tread on the subject because I think there is room for the home owner as well for the commercial grower. I like to start the dialog by posting a video of my grove from the air. You can see my two neighbors and how many trees they have lost. One of the differences is that I have been doing inoculations with various products. As a surprice bonus,  my fertilizer application has been reduced by 20% and the trees tissue test is just as good,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWCmssCJRnY

Also the population of borers has decrease in my grove compared with my neighbor. Not evaluated by me but by a USDA researcher that has traps in my grove and in the surrounding area. I do not use insecticides either. My trees are not attractive to these borer.

There is a lot of activity in the world on this subject see this conference coming in Europe at the end of the year: www.micrope.org

There may be a  misconception that this is only for organic growers, nothing is farther from the truth,  hybrid growers like me probably can take the most advance creating a synergy between both cultures. 

This whole new way of agriculture is in its infancy but more and more companies are getting into it.

When we do canopy change the avocado we decapitate the tree and the trunk is exposed to the sun. I have tried white wash with no so good results.  Also new small trees get cooked in the field

Also dragon fruit specially at this time of the year do get sun burn and the fungal issues come right after the sun burn.

Has any one tried these products? Purshade and Surround by Nova Source http://novasource.com/  or any other produts to prevent UV damage?

Presented by University of Florida, USDA, Miami Dade County, National institute of Food and Agriculture.

Laurel Wilt is killing thousand of avocado trees is Southern Florida. Is a bad disease. One bite of these beetle can kill a trees in less than 10 days. The disease is moving west and eventually will get to California and Mexico. If you grow avocados you need to know how to manage this disease.

This link will take you to a PDF file with the complete program
http://www.myavocadotrees.com/laurel-wilt-summit-2016.html

looking for
David Bowit
Natural Mistic
Physical Grafitti
Giant yellow peruvian
Dark Star
Purble Haze
Giant vietnamese white pulp
Will buy and if Florida can trade for avocado bud wood in my collection

Beetles are becoming a problems in tropical fruit trees. Some carry devastating illness for trees. Avocados now have multiple beetles killing trees (Laurel Wilt )and the tee hole shot borer is  here killing healthy branches and likes any tree, specially Donie avocado and some report from friends its in their mango trees.

Check this web site from UF, A great way for all to contribute
http://www.backyardbarkbeetles.org/

The beetles we collect, called bark and ambrosia beetles, are important to the environment because some species help clean up dead wood. Unfortunately, other species are pests that can wipe out entire populations of some tree species. These beetles are also economically important as some can attack fruit trees. The beetles are so small that they are easy to transport yet hard to find and are now becoming a growing threat to our forests and crops! Learn more.

The smallest seed I have seen for a 26 oz avocado. Only 2 oz. This one has possibilities for Florida. Will know more in the next few days

http://www.myavocadotrees.com/murashige-avocado.html

This is what happens when you leave the Doni Avocado until August on a well feed tree. 4 lbs

This is from an articled titled Farming the CO2 factor.  That has always been my argument there has to be a way that a farmer can use organic and inorganic fertilizers with wisdom to improve the soil and plant life.
I'm inclined to believe that increasing the soil fertility will help with a lot of plant issues we have today caused by over fertilization and pesticides. I think in the last year I have proven to myself that it can be achieved. the fertility level of my soil is as high as it can be and I use inorganic fertilizers  (also use some organic materials) and also use inorganic pesticides and fungicides.
The is no doubt in my mind that some of this can be applied to backyard fruit tree culture.

Lundegårdh was not opposed to
inorganic nutrients. He pointed out
that in some circumstances increasing
inorganic fertilizers also increased soil
biology and CO2 respiration due to
greater root mass and more crop residues.

Here is the whole article:
http://solvita.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Acres_April_2015_CO2_Farming.pdf

I,m not an organic grower but I think there is room for what I called a"Bridge Grower"  one that uses the best of both. There is no way I could grow 100% organic. Now there are some things one can do to allied with the soil micro organism to help the plants grow better. I have been adding Kelp, molasses, humic acid and some organic soil inoculations and the result can be seen on this video:
https://youtu.be/6EjmHbX3PbI

Now my trees have never looked better than today, color, growth, fruit color are really incredible.
I want to add to the soil diversity.
I need to create a strong compost tea recipe and have come up with this formulation:
I would like some opinions from the people that brew on a regular basis

Compost Tea recipe  UNTESTED
15 gal    water
2 cups   worm castings with some oats, alfalfa  and blue berries for 3 days
2 cups   worm castings
2 oz       oats chopped up
6 oz      Fish  Hydrolysate
2 OZ      Humic acid
1 OZ      unsulfured molasses
 4 oz      Bohaski
4 oz      alfalfa
3 OZ      Dry Kelp powder
2 oz      Chopped oats
EM-1   2 oz
4 OZ      Powdered azomite