Need help getting started in San Diego County

[spaugh]

Hello, I just found this forum while trying to find info on growing mangos and other tropical fruit trees for my area.  I have a 10 acre property with well water that is on the east end of Poway.  We have planted 18 avocado trees and they are doing awesome.  We also put in 3 guavas, 2 cherimoyas, loquat, and 1 manilla mango tree.  We want to put in more mango trees but need help with what veriety will grow here and where to find them.  Can anyone make any suggestions on mango types.  Or anything else I should be growing?  We are on a large hill at 1200 ft and the soil is all DG.

Thank you!

[AnnonaMangoLord45]

Well hello new member, I am a fellow Californian ready to help you through your gardening adventures.
Since your soil is dg, you would have no problem growing things like papayas and other tropicals, though I would recommend partially amending the soil to hold in the nutrients for any sort of water loving tree that is resistant to root rot. Some varieties of mangoes I would recommend are lemon zest, Maha Chanok, sweet tart, And Pickering. Remember to graft all of these onto Manila seedlings! To get to know what you can grow in your area, I need to know your historical lows and highs in the local area, to make sure that the things you start with are safe or viable in your area. My recommendations for other trees go as following: dragon fruit, passion fruit, longan, Mauritius lychee, jaboticaba, atemoya, white Sapote, among the starter things I would say so myself.

[Jct]

Spaugh,
Best of luck with your trees.  I'm just west of you along the 56. Here's a couple of links that might help you:

California Rare Fruit Growers - Tons of information here plus links to a lot of local nurseries
Ong Nursery - This is a good nursery with a good selection, but a bit pricey.

Annona was correct, the Manila rootstock works well here.  Simon and a few others are also from the area and have had good luck with this type.
Jason

[simon_grow]

Welcome to the forum! That's a lot of land you have. I highly recommend you come up with a well thought out plan on where your plants are going and also putting down weed barrier prior to planting.

I highly recommend planting Lavern Manilla Mango seedlings which you can purchase at Home Depot and many other locations. Ataulfo as well as most seedling mangos also work well here. Simply buy mango fruit and plant the seeds in a hot bed for quick germination. Right now is not the best time to plant unsprouted seeds directly into the ground although if the weather stays warm, you may get lucky. It is ok to plant Lavern Manilla Mangos directly into the ground this time of year to let the tree establish. You can then graft the tree with various top tier selections once your tree has fully established and reached the appropriate size.

As far as taste goes, I like DOT, J12, Lemon Zest, Sweet Tart, Kesar, Fruit Punch and many more I can't remember at the moment. If you don't know how to graft, join the CRFG or go on YouTube and watch some cleft grafting videos, it gets easier with practice.

With that much land, you need to have an idea of what you are going to do with all the fruit? Is it for selling, friends and family? You also should think about how to keep pests away from ripening fruit. A little planning goes a long way.

This is a great forum and you can find a lot of information by performing searches in the proper sub forums.

Simon

[spaugh]

Thanks for the replys.  So, it sounds like just buying the manilla trees they have at walter andersons/home depot or visiting ONG nursery are the way to get started.  Can I have many types on one tree after grafting or is it better to do the main truck with one type?

I am not planning on planting the entire property, a lot of it is very steep hillside.  I have about half an acre or acre that I can use for some new trees.  We have about 30 various fruit trees already but want to try mango and anything else that will grow.

The high temp was 108 or 109 for a day in August.  100s happen often during summer and it's dry and very windy on the hill.  I think it may have gotten to the mid 30s for a day a few years ago. 

 I already have 2 seeds sprouted from these big Green mangoes we got at sprouts a month ago.  They were very sweet and no pulp.  Very delicious, that's what made me want to grow the mangos.  And I planted a Manilla tree from walter andersons.  Does anyone know what the big Green slight yellow mangoes are from Mexico? 

[simon_grow]

This late in the year, I have seen Keitt and Kent from Mexico. If it's really big, it was probably a Keitt. Kents will also ripen with various shades of orange and red where as the Keitts I've had have stayed mostly green with some yellow.

You can multigraft your mango trees in order to maximize space but some of the weaker or slower growing varieties can die out on you. I have one genetic repository tree where I graft all my favorite varieties. This tree is just for fun and I don't care if a vigorous variety becomes dominant. Some of my grafts have died back and I probably have 12 varieties left on this specific tree.

Simon

[spaugh]

The mangos from the store were big and mostly green, nonpulp, slightly chalky taste near the peel but mostly extremely sweet and juicy.  How long would it take to get fruit if I just grow the seeds?  If it's a 8 or 10 year deal, I will just find some trees at a nursery already grafted and ready to plant.  I just want enough for family and friends.  Maybe 6 mango trees?  Of course this could become like the avocados and well you can never have too many right?  May as well plant 20.  Should stop before I get started here, it's an addiction.

[Jct]

It is an addiction!  I just bought two more citrus trees and have half a dozen papaya seedlings that I'm trying to grow.  Papaya is one of the few 'trees' that you can plant from seed and get fruit within 18 months.  Early next year I want to get down to Encanto Farms and pick up another fig tree and a banana or two, but I need to figure out where they will go first!

[AnnonaMangoLord45]

But papaya is extremely hard to keep through a winter in California

[NewGen]

But papaya is extremely hard to keep through a winter in California

Super easy in OC, they grow big there. In central CA where I am it is very hard. I've killed a few, lol. Interestingly, I have relatives in New Orleans who have huge papaya plants, no problem in winter.

[shaneatwell]

Fun! Welcome to the forum. I have my plant list in my profile. Exotica is a good place to try out fruit, as are the asian and indian grocery stores. And fellow forum members yards

[simon_grow]

It can take anywhere from several years to 20+ years for a seedling to fruit but I'm guessing it will probably be closer to 5-10 years if you water and fertilize properly. Our cold weather can induce blooms on very young trees.

Simon

[spaugh]

I took some photos of my avocados.  All the trees are 6-18mo old.  Some of the 5 gal plants that are 18mo old have big fruits.  I've got hass, lamb hass, sir prize, fuete, bacon, mexicola, stewart, reed, pinkerton, holiday trees.

[spaugh]

It can take anywhere from several years to 20+ years for a seedling to fruit but I'm guessing it will probably be closer to 5-10 years if you water and fertilize properly. Our cold weather can induce blooms on very young trees.

Simon

So it's best to get them going then graft them?   Is it possible to find any of the recommended varieties already grafted anywhere other than ONG in SD county? 

[shaneatwell]

It can take anywhere from several years to 20+ years for a seedling to fruit but I'm guessing it will probably be closer to 5-10 years if you water and fertilize properly. Our cold weather can induce blooms on very young trees.

Simon

So it's best to get them going then graft them?   Is it possible to find any of the recommended varieties already grafted anywhere other than ONG in SD county?

Exotica actually has a big selection right now, but they're approaching Ong's prices. Still they are mostly on CA appropriate rootstocks.

[Jct]

But papaya is extremely hard to keep through a winter in California

I've seen a few papaya plants in my neighborhood and a couple with fruit, so I've my fingers crossed.  I've a 12" plant in a pot that sprouted despite some neglect and 5 more 2" seedlings inside.

[spaugh]

One of my neighbors has some massive banana trees with huge clusters of bananas bigger than store ones.  And they have coffee growing. 

[spaugh]

Would any of you guys be interested in coming out to scope out my plot and gI've opinion in where to put different trees? 

[spaugh]

Well I went to exotica and got a few trees.  $$$  There were so many it was impossible to chose so I had the helper guy pick 2 for me.  He said diamond and ugly Betty were good so that's what I got.  And I got a white cherimoya and some dragon fruits.  That place was a real jungle, I kept getting lost and disoriented.

I will post up some photos once I find a good spot to plant them. 

[Jct]

For the Dragon Fruit, do some reading before you plant them, they do require a pretty sturdy trellis of some sort to support them and the plant does get pretty heavy.  The DF thread on the forum has some good examples. I also see them draped over various fences in my neighborhood.

I can't help you too much on tree spacing as I'm really only familiar with the trees that I have.

[boxturtle]

Thanks for the replys.  So, it sounds like just buying the manilla trees they have at walter andersons/home depot or visiting ONG nursery are the way to get started.  Can I have many types on one tree after grafting or is it better to do the main truck with one type?

I am not planning on planting the entire property, a lot of it is very steep hillside.  I have about half an acre or acre that I can use for some new trees.  We have about 30 various fruit trees already but want to try mango and anything else that will grow.

The high temp was 108 or 109 for a day in August.  100s happen often during summer and it's dry and very windy on the hill.  I think it may have gotten to the mid 30s for a day a few years ago. 

 I already have 2 seeds sprouted from these big Green mangoes we got at sprouts a month ago.  They were very sweet and no pulp.  Very delicious, that's what made me want to grow the mangos.  And I planted a Manilla tree from walter andersons.  Does anyone know what the big Green slight yellow mangoes are from Mexico?

If I'm not mistaken mango does well on slopes

[fyliu]

Wow spaugh, you know/care about varieties of fruit. You're one of us already!
You should attend some local CRFG meetings and ask them for suggestions. Do some gopher planning or look up how to deal with them when they show up. Many places in SD have them.

[pschill444@aol.com]

what part of town are you in??

[spaugh]

Wow spaugh, you know/care about varieties of fruit. You're one of us already!
You should attend some local CRFG meetings and ask them for suggestions. Do some gopher planning or look up how to deal with them when they show up. Many places in SD have them.

I will look into the meetings.  Gophers already run wild here.  There are literally hundred of holes.  I've been using the poison and traps with little success. 

[spaugh]

what part of town are you in??

East Poway, sycamore canyon area off 67 and scripps poway pkwy.  Whole bunch of nothing back here.  My property backs up to the wilderness preserve.