The Tropical Fruit Forum

@zwanif- ok you convinced me. I ordered some cuttings of that and a few other oddballs I saw available.

Some trees are especially vulnerable like fig trees and there is NOTHING in Central eastern Florida grey sand that can be done to prevent them. Even resistant varieties will only last slightly longer. Blackberry Jam trees are also vulnerable, not quite as badly as figs but noticably so. In my yard which is loaded with nematodes, I have not noticed any real effect on mango, avocado, citrus, etc. I havent looked but a mention above of grapes has me wondering if thats why my grapes never taken off.

Maybe after 20 years of constant mulching it might make a difference but less than 10 years of mulching and mulch breakdown and you will not notice a difference with nematode pressure. I have tried buying nematode predators and did not see a difference. You can solarize the soil and sure, wipe out everything in it but give it a year and they will be right back.

Havent tried the mustard seed thing. Might be worth a try since it grows pretty well here.

I grow figs in pots on concrete tiles to prevent errant roots from contacting the soil. 

Lucas Nursery is worth visiting if just for wandering around. Its fruit tree prices are horrible, but its a huge nursery with tons of ornamentals including lots of weird stuff, several indoor/shade areas and a butterfly garden experience(never went on it myself).

Wouldnt having plastic dishes under them eventually rot the bottoms of the bags?

I would like to experiment with growing some trees in grow bags. I have heard good things especially on growing mango and other trees that dont like to be water logged. What are some good bags in the 20-30 gallon range that have a stated 5 year or so lifespan?

In Central FL I went from 9b to 10a. Guess I will toss all my heat lamps and tree blankets since I dont need to protect my mangos anymore and will start collecting ultra-tropicals to put in the ground. Woo-hoo! Will Durian grow in 10a? Maybe my Royal Poinciana wont freeze back to the roots every year now.

There are no true "dwarf" mangoes. There's vigorous growers and non-vigorous growers. All will grow large if not pruned and controlled. Pickering is a slow grower and is easy to maintain in a small form, thus "dwarf." I doubt a pruning back in 2022 is having an effect now. Mangoes are weird trees when it comes to weather. Maybe it thinks that brief cold spell we had a few weeks ago was winter and this new warm weather is spring? Combined with not having fruited since 2022 and wanting to get it out.

Not sure why you used lychee as an example. It actually requires chill hours that would kill a cocoa plant, its why they grow fairly well here in Southern Central Florida 9B where we get freezes every year. Cocoa is incredibly fragile and I think even in zone 10 it would require a greenhouse or to be brought indoors on the regular.

Pecans might be interesting to try. Arent there some avocados that survive that low in temp? Paw Paws. There are lots of apples, peaches and plums that will work for you. In my opinion you are in a much more ideal temp zone than I am in 9b Florida where we have the worst of all conditions, too cold for tropicals, too hot for sub tropicals, and all the disease and bugs of both.

I started two from seeds back in 2013 or so. One is about 4 foot and the other is 7 feet tall, they are about four feet from each other. In my experience, it doesnt care about cold in Florida 9b. But it neither of mine have flowered either. I would have pulled them long ago but they are in a corner of my yard I dont really care about so I let them do their slow thing.

Nicks Edibles over in St Cloud has some at very good prices.

What can be used to control CLM? In FL Neem and other oils are a No-Go since we tend to hit 85 in early spring and doesnt cool down until late November.