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Topics - PurpleAlligator

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Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Turpentine seeds for sale
« on: June 16, 2018, 10:21:23 AM »
$2 each

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Tripod Ladder
« on: May 15, 2018, 05:28:14 PM »
Does anyone know where is a good place to buy this stay of ladder?  Obviously tall enough to be used in a grove with mature trees. Preferably in the Miami area.

Thanks

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The cold weather had even my most stubborn trees flowering but the burst of warm since has resulted in about half of new growth coming as flowers and the rest as leaves. Anyone else seeing this?

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Fruit markets in Central Jakarta
« on: November 20, 2017, 09:34:25 AM »
I’ll be traveling to Jakarta and Bali soon. I was wondering if anyone can give tips on where to find fruit markets in Central Jakarta?

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Fairchild First Jakfruit Review
« on: July 30, 2017, 09:21:21 AM »
I bought a Fairchild First tree at the Fairchild jakfruit festival in 2014. This is the first year it fruited with 5 fruits forming at the base of the tree. The first one just ripened. It went from hard one day to a couple soft spots the next to being completely soft the next day. I should have picked it at the first sign of softness. It was just over 7 lbs and gave around 3lbs of fruit for a yield of around 40%. On the good side latex was low and the fruit separated easily, practically falling off. This made for a super easy and fast cleanup. The negative is that the flesh is super soft basically leaving me with jakfruit soup. This will be relegated to smoothie material. Speaking of soup I may try to make a jakfruit based gazpacho with this. The flavor reminds me of a monstera deliciosa fruit with a pineapple type flavor. I'm not a fan of mushy jakfruit so I may replace this tree. 










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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Fruit Punch Mango update
« on: July 07, 2017, 07:29:39 AM »
My two year old tree produced 3 mangos. The first two came off the tree a bit early and were so so. The last stayed on until ripe. After eating it I get the hype. It was a very good mango and I expect they will get better as the tree matures. Fruit was 1 lb. 5 oz. and very clean. Flesh was mostly fiber free though I did need to floss after eating it. It seemed to have a few different layers of flavor. The tree is clean and healthy as well.






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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Can anyone identify this mango?
« on: June 12, 2017, 09:21:18 AM »
It's from a friends tree and she has no idea what it is. Fruits are about 1 to 1.5 lbs deep orange flesh and fiber free. Y


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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Grafting tool
« on: May 06, 2017, 09:01:30 AM »
This is being advertised as the best grafting tool in the world. It looks pretty slick. Has anyone used it?

https://www.facebook.com/1772441813085030/videos/1779271615735383/

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Florida Lychee Season 2016
« on: May 25, 2016, 09:44:56 PM »
My Mauritius Lychees are now transitioning green to red. It won't be long now. I haven't seen any for sale yet in the area. How will production be this year? And pricing?

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There are lots of them.  Are they harmful?  What is a treatment?  Maybe snail bait?


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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Rapoza Mango Tree Flowering in September
« on: September 28, 2015, 05:41:25 AM »
Has anyone seen this before?  What are the chances it will give me mangoes in a few months?


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All suggestions welcome.  They should be clean and anthracnose free.  Thanks.

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We are offered many opportunities to learn as part of the volunteer program at FTBG.  Yesterday I went to the titled class given by Richard Campbell and thought I'd share my notes with the forum.  I learned a lot.  I had a work conflict a couple weeks ago and missed the Fairchild farm field trip.  The notes are as written and not organized in any particular order. 

I hope members find them as useful as I did.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that all fertilizers are salt and can kill trees.  Be conservative on the side of less.
Modern fertilizers will not make you a better grower.  They are recent developments of the petroleum industry.  Before the 1940’s there were no fertilizers and we were better horticulturists.
Pruning and fertilizes should be done yourself and not tasked away to 3rd parties.

Don’t store fertilizer near gas. 

Slow release fertilizer is good and helps you with a conservative application.

Fertilize a day before there is a 60% chance of rain in forecast.  Don’t do prior to a forecast heavy rainfall.  6 inches of rain will wash away all fertilizer before absorption.  Worse, it ends up in the ocean and causes algae blooms.

Organic sources are hard to find.  Chicken manure is good, but needs 6 months to compost.  Be careful with horse manure as it can have needles and be contaminated with fly pesticide.  Its high in boron/molybedenum.  Needs to compost at least 6 months.
Kitchen compost is excellent, but will not be available in sufficient quantities to be effective on any scale.
Dead leaves have little nitrogen as it’s been pulled out by the tree prior to leaf dropping.  Straight mulch is a good fertilizer.

About fish as fertilizer, he said that if you bury a dead fish in a hole while planting a tree, the tree will die.  Too much ammonia.

Slow release fertilizer is good and 10x more expensive.  There are different release times, up to 12 months.  FTBG uses 12 months to save on labor.  They use 8/4/11  Harrell’s.  When rainy season ends they add a 3 month application.

Soil temperature is key when applying fertilizer.  Less than 65-70 degrees means the tree will be dormant regardless of air temperature.

It’s better to use low analysis with more frequent applications, never higher than 11% nitrogen.

Organic sources will have almost no “K”.

For fruit 8/3/9 + minors is good.  In South Florida, the micro nutrients are the most important.  High PH soils render micronutrients unavailable.  They remain in the soil tied up by organic elements.  Micros must be applied via a chelate (expensive), the most expensive part of fertilization.  Southern Ag foliar is good but not as good as using a chelate.  Foliar gets the job done to a point, but there is better absorption via the roots. 

Iron is important for broadleafs.  For Palms manganese/zinc are most important. 

When applying chelates, it’s hard to overapply in S. Florida.  Applying is useless when soil is cold. 

Make sure to apply fertilizers to dripline area for maximum absorption, not near trunk.

The amount of fertilizer to apply depends on how much fruit you take away.  Fertilize heavy if you fruit heavy.
Mangos are an exception, they will not bloom if “fat and happy” being fed a lot of fertilizer.  More fertilizer = less fruit.  Starve them to get fruit.  “K” is important for flower production.  0/0/51 for mangos.  Will not hurt tree.  It gives mangoes better color, higher sugar, and firmer fruit.  N will negatively impact fruit taste.  Do not apply muriate of potash to mangoes.  It is full of chlorine.  Urea will kill a mango tree.

With avocados and jackfruit, it doesn’t matter.  The more you fertilize, the more they grow and fruit. 

N makes leaves green.  P – lots of phosphorus in ground in S Fla.  We don’t need it in the fertilizer.  Lotus is being planted to remove P and heavy metals/pollutants in areas of S Fla.

Cheap fertilizers should be avoided, they have high chlorine content.

Minors key for lychee/longan, not as much for mango.  It’s expensive and hard to apply.
General purpose – there is no slow release 6/6/6.

Palms should be high in “K” (8/2/12, 11/4/11, 9/4/12).  Keys are micronutrients

Fruits (8/3/9) good general purpose fertilizer.  Harrell’s slow release is good.

Pruning – Ran short of time for this topic as most of the 2 hours were consumed by the fertilizing discussion.
No right or wrong way to prune.  Prune for fruit production and hurricane protection.  The bigger they are the harder they fall.  Don’t let anyone else do your pruning.  Start early and prune the entire life of the tree.  A multiple hurricane year will make you glad you controlled size.

Palms – easy…only remove dead fronds.

Broadleaf – prune for aesthetics, size, shaping, effect.

Suggestions – take arborist classes, read books on arborist techniques.  Find old books as there is nothing new on the subject that wasn’t known a long time ago.

Tools – loppers, handsaw, clippers, machete.  Handsaw preferred over chainsaw as this gives you discipline on cuts.

Objectives for fruit tree are to produce fruit and keep small.  Mango trees, use clippers, make into bushes. 

If a tree falls over, it will never be a permanent tree again.  It will never develop a root system to support a top. 
From a 13 foot tree to a 15 foot tree, there is a 30% higher chance of it blowing over.

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Applying minor nutrient soil drench
« on: February 28, 2015, 11:10:48 AM »
I bought the minor nutrient mix sold by Pine Island Nursery (manganese, sulfate, chelated iron) and I'm applying it to my recently planted trees, 3 to 5 feet tall and planted from July '14 to October '14 (I'm not treating the ones planted in the last 4 months).  The label says to mix at 1 tbsp. per gallon, but doesn't indicate how many gallons to apply.  I've started applying at 1/2 gallon per tree.  I guess I should have asked here before starting.  Is that about right?  I'm applying it to Mango and Jakfruit.  Would it be good to apply to banana, avocado, and Jabo also?

Thanks,

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / What are your favorite ornamental fruit trees?
« on: September 08, 2014, 01:39:34 PM »
I'm going to be planting out the area in front of my house with an edible landscape. My objective is to plant the most visually appealing trees enhancing curb appeal of my home while also providing a fruit I'll love to eat. They will all be inside the primeter fence. I estimate 10 to 15 trees. I'm in the process of finishing planting 24 mango trees in the back of the longan grove and behind and beside my house.


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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Grove Security Questions
« on: August 26, 2014, 04:04:05 PM »
I border a busy gas station on Krome avenue that leads to many property encroachments.  I came home from a trip to find my mango tree emptied and today an avocado tree that had hundreds of avocadoes completely stripped.  Both trees are on the fence line to the gas station.

What legal options does one have to protect one's property from illegal entry such as razor wire, dogs, electric fence, other?  Obviously I'm also concerned about a trespasser suing me if he gets injured on my property.

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