The Tropical Fruit Forum

Help! 

I have these black spots on the limbs of my mulberry tree here in Orlando Florida.  I've had them about a year now.  The tree seems fine, but the fruit is subpar -- it might be affected. Any ideas what this is and if it needs treatment? 

Thanks, Chrobrego

Hi,

I have a formerly healthy Lula avocado tree here in Florida.  Every year the fruit was beautiful, but last year the fruit started to scab.   I thought it was because of a cold spell, but it's happening again this year.  What could this be? Secondly, how do I fix it?   

Could this be thrips damage? I'm not an avocado expert, so I'm guessing.  If so, would a systematic insecticide like Bayer Fruit knock the little #$%# out? 

Any avocado experts out there?

Thanks,

Shawn

Anyone have any experience using rubber mulch around the base of their fruit trees as a slow release zinc fertilizer?  I put a bunch of rubber tire mulch around my trees about ten years ago because I was lazy having to remulch with cypress. I then read recently that rubber does break down in the environment despite the claims from the Vigaro rubber mulch bag. The leachates are rendered nontoxic during the rotting process (I read the research done on children's playgrounds), but some heavy metals are released, namely zinc with some trace aluminum. I'm not worried about lead as car tires typically don't have much and lead isn't taken up into fruit tree tissues anyway. The main warnings online from garden people are about zinc toxicity, but nobody provides any evidence.  I did see some evidence from a soil test on a playground that had tire mulch that was 15 years old and piled 4 inches high.  The soil tested at 20ppm while toxicity usually occurs around 200ppm.   The amount of zinc leaching also slows down as the tire is broken down in the environment.

Anyway, I read a study done in India that suggested using tire crumb as a low cost slow release zinc fertilizer for tropical fruit trees -- namely because high PH sandy soils are usually deficient in zinc. In fact, the leaves on my tropical fruit trees couldn't be any bigger or greener.

I'm in the process of deciding whether to remove the tire crumb mulch or keep it.  What would you do?

I just had a Cushman. I'm adding it to the list of nastiest mangos -- great looking fruit, but weird nasty undertones to the taste profile in my opinion. The fruit tends to not ripen evenly as well, so you can be gnoshing on a wedge and occasional get a taste of overripe fermented vomit taste in the middle of your bite. I wouldn't eat another one. To be fair, there has been a lot of rain, so maybe that has something to do with it.

What are some other varieties to avoid?

I've got one PRIME spot in my yard left for a mango tree -- chopped a Sue Belle white sapote that turned out to be a bitter flavored seedling.

Anyway, I've got Glenn, Pickering, Lemon Meringue, Coconut cream, Fruit Punch, Carrie, Pina Colada, Cogshall, NDM, Rosigold, Fairchild, Ice cream, Honey kiss, Mallika, Orange Sherbert, and a Carrie.


What new variety would you choose?

Thanks.

I planted some Brazilian spinach in pots and they are adequately watered and get full sun here in Florida. Growth appears at first to be good. However, some of the plants are rapidly dying from what looks like a white fungus infection. They stems just get this white mass on them and the plant dies. What could this be?  How is this treated?   Anyone else have experience with this?

Thanks,

Shawn

Hi,

I'm very short on space and was wondering if it's worth it to have a black sapote tree?  I know it's a matter of opinion, but I would like to eat the fruit and not just 'collect.'   Do people with this fruit actually use it enough to warrant having a tree?   

Thanks,

Caribbean fruit fly is the bane of my existence in Central Florida. I was hoping to get your comments for your area regarding Caribbean or other fruit fly infestations. If possible, I'm just hoping to grow fruit that are resistant to these pests -- I don't have the time to net or bag. I've been experimenting and just ripping out the fruit trees that get maggots.  Here are my results so far:

INFESTED:

Peach (heavily -- the worst)
Plum
Lemon Drop Mangosteen
Black surinam cherry (heavily -- the worst)
Surinam cherry (heavily -- the worst)
Grumichama
Fig (infested when ripe)
Cherry of the Rio Grande
Guava
Papaya (infested with papaya fruit fly)


NOT INFESTED:

Blueberries
Mangos
Lychee
Loquat
Star Fruit / Carambola
Barbados Cherry
Persimmons
Jamaica Cherry (Muntingia)
Peanut Butter Fruit
Mulberry
Atemotoya
Sugar Apple
Avocado
Pineapple
Sapodilla
Ice Cream Bean
Pitangatuba
Lemon
Lime
Orange
Blackberry


NOT DETERMINED YET:

White Sapote (had some ripe fruit infested but trying to pick earlier this year)
Jaboticaba (haven't had any yet)
Cabelluda (haven't had any yet)
Achacha (Achairu) (haven't had any yet)
Dragon Fruit (haven't had any yet)
Pitanga (haven't had fruit yet)

Does anyone else have experience with Emperor lychees?  I have a tree that started producing about 4 years ago and has produced loads of fruit every single year since.  I live in Central Florida (Orlando area.).   When I got the tree from a fella in south Florida, I was told this variety hardly produced at all for him. All I can guess is that this tree requires a bit more cold than south Florida typically provides.  Anyway, big nice tasting lychees.  Loads of them.  Does anyone else have this tree, and what is your experience with it?  As an example, my Brewster and Hak Ip produce every other year.  Mauritius is about the same (nothing special) and Sweetheart produces every year as well. Weird to have such random fruit production.

Part of my winter freeze protection is to fill a 5 gallon black colored bucket with water, cover it with a top and leave it at the base of the fruit tress for nighttime warmth. Well, I just noticed I left a bucket still out under my hak-ip tree. The water was pretty hot since our spring Florida heat is here, but I didn't think about it and dumped the water close to the base of the tree. Two days later I noticed that the leaves were all dried out. It isn't lacking irrigation, so I'm at a loss.  Do you think that bucket of water killed the tree?  Man, I hope it flushes back out. What a stupid mistake on my part.

Concerning this bout of cold we just had in Florida, in my area of Orlando we bottomed out at 32.4 degrees -- was hovering close to 32 for about 3 to 4 hours. I was dead sure that my mango blossoms were all going to die (I have about 40 trees), but surprisingly they are all fine. No damage whatsoever. Insects are happily buzzing around the flowers a couple of days after as if nothing happened. I'm writing this because common wisdom on the internet says that mango blossoms are damaged or will die when the temp drops below 40F -- I've read this in a lot of places; not true in my case by a long shot. I really think the blossoms need to go below freezing to actually get ruined.

Anyone else with similar experience?

Chrobrego

Hi,

I'm thinking of wiping out my low chill peaches here in Orlando -- too much trouble with Caribbean fruit fly.  I'd like to perhaps replace them with Tropic Sweet and Anna low chill apple trees.   Does anyone have any experience growing apples in 9b (particularly around Orlando Florida.)  I'm wondering if they are relatively easy to grow and will produce apples in abundance. Any fungus issues?

THanks,

Shawn

I have three mango trees in-ground that were damaged in a weird cold front here in Orlando. Two have sprouted back out like champs in the last few weeks -- I'll have robust trees again in no time. However, I have a 2 year old Carrie that isn't sprouting back at all yet. It does have some green nodes on the trunk nnow but they don't seem to be in a hurry with turning into leaves. Is the tree a goner do you think or do some varieties just take longer to recover?  If there is extensive bark damage and a few patches of living tissue, is it worth it to continue with this tree or just start over?  THanks.