The Tropical Fruit Forum

I did a little bit more research. Flying carp are already used in Florida  waterways for phytoplankton reduction. You can even apply for a permit to get sterilized fish. If carp breeds faster and is easier to breed, then they are invasive and pose as a competitor to our native ancient paddle  fish. We should stock lakes and rivers in the USA with native paddlefish not fish from Asia. Especially if they are threatened with habitat loss, Perhaps they lost access to rivers many thousands of years ago. We can order many hundreds of baby paddle fish for pond stocking.

I waited a bit to respond to this conversation just to gather my thoughts since I am a lover of all things plants and animals.

 I think we can all agree that we “mankind” are the biggest ecological disaster this world has and will ever face. Every time we clear a plot of land and build a house we cleared the native hammocks, grasses, birds and insects that occupy this space. Clearing yards to have one species of grass and a couple other trees that are not native does next to nothing for the native wildlife. Some native species are habitat specialist and will not thrive unless they have their native soils,plants, microclimate, etc. Invasive” plants and animals are just generalist species of plants and animals in their native range, and all they can be blamed for is being able to survive our influences on the terrain and are able to live around us or are better adapted for extreme weather conditions “droughts, floods, fires”.

For example here in south Florida almost every back yard has black racers. A native harmless thin black snake that is a generalist able to survive and establish itself were man has altered the habitat to the point of being a suburban community. Now take the eastern indigo snake the largest snakes in the United States. They have a huge range and cover multiple habitat types hammocks, parries, pinewoods, sand ridges and even barrier islands. But they are the first to go when we terraform the land, unable to survive alongside urban human habitation.

I used to work down in the Keys for the fire department and people think there is going to be a vast extinction of the endangered mammals and birds because they found Burmese pythons with key largo wood rats in their digestive tract. I can’t understand why they would think that. Is it because the news and social media told them? Roads as a whole kill far more animals off any kind, and when we look at cats a far more successful predator that must kill and eat way more than any python can just because they have a mammalian metabolism. Cats have a proven track record for causing extinction on islands and yet they allowed to run free and even have a spay/neuter release program?! I mean what the heck? Kill pythons onsite but catch and release cats. How equal

About snakeheads. This is just anecdotal but they are as thick as mud in the canal behind my house. And yet at the same time I can easily pull out just as many native bass on the right bait and bait fish with a cast net. A guy I work with runs a fishing charter in lake Ida ground zero for the invasive clown knifefish. Again just anecdotal but I did ask did the clowns decimate the baitfish or bass population? Not really any difference according to him. At fist he was worried the baitfish were going to be gone and the bass were going to decline or stay small from lack of food but nope the fishing is good and the bass eat the fry knife fish no problem.

In the end John my friend you should remove them if they are a disturbance to you. You can put minnow traps along the fence and side of your house. They will get caught just by walking in them. Then you can do what you must. I will not think any different of you. But are they infesting your area or just trying to survive and reproduce? The end goal for all things living. I believe they are just taking place of the six lined race runner a native lizard from a similar genus that faced oblivion when mass urbanization took hold of South Florida. You can go see those in the Sugar sand park.

Ammoun. I have never seen them available in the USA.

All the fruit I believe in your video what you have is Sfusato lemons. Bumpy with a “nipple”. They are used to make limoncello, which I highly recommend you have after every meal.

That huge on is most likely cedri.

Quote from: behlgarden on April 15, 2019, 03:42:24 PM

Quote from: roblack on April 13, 2019, 12:15:32 PM

My neighbor just told me that landscapers had heavily mulched her avocado tree (week or 2 ago?), and it quickly died. It was a large tree. The stump is at least 2 feet in diameter. Will try to get more info.

very fresh raw mulch can kill the tree when combined with water. The mulch gets hot, very hot if its fresh wood clippings as its trying to decompose, similar to how compost gets hot. that heat can literally kill plants and trees.

That makes sense. A few years ago, our yard went through a major transformation. We chopped down a bunch of trees (mostly hong kong orchid, 1 large avocado, etc.). The large piles of mulch/clippings smoked noticeably for a couple of days. Steady clouds emanating from the piles. A strange sight.

The landscapers eventually took all of the trimmings, and brought back aged mulch. They have a mini-mountain of mulch from all their jobs. The owner said old mulch was better, but don't recall him saying why. He also owns a private nursery (ornamentals and some fruit trees including rollinia) and seems to know plants well. Must know something is up with fresh mulch.   

One of my first fires was a mulch fire. I thought the guy had intended to burn it. Nope he just flicked a cigarette onto a steaming pile of mulch and it ignited and erased his eyebrows. I know fresh mulch heats up I know highly resinous mulch can be prone to spontaneous combustion. But that was a stars aligned moment for it flashover and produce such a explosive result.

I wonder why the Mrs Wilson would say that? I have watched so many videos of other gardeners organic and not. The consensus to me is that mulch is good no matter what type of gardner you are. I love mulching it adds to my poor sandy soil provides habitat to the insects, food for fungus, and insulates the roots during temp extremes.

Edit*. Also Bill Whitman and Adolf Grimal had truck loads of mulch dumped on there groves.  Those dudes did pretty good!

Dang just a bit late!

Has anyone had success growing elderberries Sambucus nigra in zone 10a or b? I have seen them growing out west in zone 9b and really want to give them a try.

Ouch! I would bite the bullet to just taste them though.

Thanks PI I made the mistake of running east to west.

Excellent system PI!! A couple questions since I have been copying you!

1. What direction are your rows facing?

2. What species is that timber bamboo and where did you get them?

3. Did you make mounds of strait mulch or did you mound sand a bit and then lay on the mulch?

Welcome to the forum! Biscayne park is a great little village in North Dade.  My mom works at the Montessori School right next to the north Miami police station.

Oscar what steps did you take to prevent shock?