The Tropical Fruit Forum

Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: Patrick on January 09, 2013, 11:43:18 AM

Title: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Patrick on January 09, 2013, 11:43:18 AM
I figured we could start of list of things that are common mistakes we all make that could be possibly avoided by learning from others...

Things like

1. Removing plastic bags from plants that are still not able to root hydrate from grafting or bareroot recovery (usually a month), and finding out that full seal is better for the first weeks followed by gradual humidity reduction by slowly adding holes prior to total removal. 

2. Premature removal of grafting bands, tape, wax for inspection.  This usually ends up in being the cause of graft failure.  That stuff can remain for a couple months or more without the need of removal. 

3. Digging in pots to see if seeds are sprouting only to kill the seed.

4. Carelessly removing plants by pulling them out of pots instead of tipping the pot over and allowing them to gently slide out of the pot and into your hand.

5. Pruning at inappropriate times (before or during Winter, during Fruiting).

6. Not properly marking and separating Round-Up containers and sprayers (this is a fun one!)

7. Not dating pots, grafts, and seeds so you have no real idea of how long its been.

8. Marking pots "Later" and then losing the variety (also during repotting).

9. Being careless with shipping info and causing plants to spend more time on the road then necessary..


Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Mr. Clean on January 09, 2013, 12:06:42 PM

6. Not properly marking and separating Round-Up containers and sprayers (this is a fun one!)


OMG!  That's why I re-use the store Roundup sprayer when mixing up new batches of Roundup.

Planting avocado at ground level (instead of on a mound), only to have them get flooded when a hurricane came by.

I planted some Avocado seeds in pots on the ground.  My dog dug up the seeds out of the pots and chewed on them apparently thinking they were a ball.

Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Cookie Monster on January 09, 2013, 12:07:02 PM
Pruning larger branches that open up shaded section of tree canopy to sun without painting, then having large sections of cambium die off months later.
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: jez251 on January 09, 2013, 12:14:04 PM
Not labeling plants immediately after repotting, or mislabeling them, as I have done numerous times in the past.

Jaime
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: natsgarden123 on January 09, 2013, 01:55:34 PM
planting a bunch of different banana varieties near each other and not taking note of which is which...



Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: FlyingFoxFruits on January 09, 2013, 03:14:25 PM
purchasing 3 mislabeled cherapu ($100 total cost) from Murray Corman, of Garden of Delights...only to be have my emails and phone call avoided, when trying to get a real cherapu, or a refund.

so I learned how to differentiate G. subelliptica from G. prainiana, the hard way.
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: jez251 on January 09, 2013, 03:32:18 PM
purchasing 3 mislabeled cherapu ($100 total cost) from Murray Corman, of Garden of Delights...only to be have my emails and phone call avoided, when trying to get a real cherapu, or a refund.

so I learned how to differentiate G. subelliptica from G. prainiana, the hard way.
Ouch!
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Bob407 on January 09, 2013, 04:34:23 PM
No matter how much you fertilize and water florida sand, some plants will not prosper! Amend your soil!! Amend your soil!! Amend your soil!!
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Bob407 on January 09, 2013, 04:38:50 PM
No matter how much you fertilize and water florida sand, some plants will not prosper! Amend your soil!! Amend your soil!! Amend your soil!!
Or in some cases, Amend your sand!!
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Cookie Monster on January 09, 2013, 05:26:39 PM
hehe looks like you're not alone: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/151/ (http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/151/)

bummer cause Murray seems like a reasonably nice guy in person

purchasing 3 mislabeled cherapu ($100 total cost) from Murray Corman, of Garden of Delights...only to be have my emails and phone call avoided, when trying to get a real cherapu, or a refund.

so I learned how to differentiate G. subelliptica from G. prainiana, the hard way.
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: bsbullie on January 09, 2013, 05:36:18 PM
Sorry, gonna have to disagree with you about amending your soil/sand...many fruit trees thrive in the south florida "soil".
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Mr. Clean on January 09, 2013, 05:39:40 PM
I thought there was a thread like this about six months ago.
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: FlyingFoxFruits on January 09, 2013, 06:10:10 PM
I thought there was a thread like this about six months ago.

the one i started, about stupid mistakes?

bummer cause Murray seems like a reasonably nice guy in person


I disagree

Sorry, gonna have to disagree with you about amending your soil/sand...many fruit trees thrive in the south florida "soil".

agreed
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Bob407 on January 09, 2013, 06:40:33 PM
Sorry, gonna have to disagree with you about amending your soil/sand...many fruit trees thrive in the south florida "soil".
I agree with your post "many fruit trees" do thrive in sandy soil, but I also agree with my original post that "some plants" do not. e.g. My bananas are now 18' tall after adding spent mushroom compost to the sandy area they are growing in, while my other clump of the exact same type of bananas are only 7' in the original sandy soil without amendment. Also I am in Orlando not south Florida.
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: johnb51 on January 09, 2013, 06:46:57 PM
Sorry, gonna have to disagree with you about amending your soil/sand...many fruit trees thrive in the south florida "soil".

Still...adding organic matter and trace minerals can only help the soil and the trees, right? ???
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Bob407 on January 09, 2013, 06:51:46 PM
Sorry, gonna have to disagree with you about amending your soil/sand...many fruit trees thrive in the south florida "soil".
I agree with your post "many fruit trees" do thrive in sandy soil, but I also agree with my original post that "some plants" do not. e.g. My bananas are now 18' tall after adding spent mushroom compost to the sandy area they are growing in, while my other clump of the exact same type of bananas are only 7' in the original sandy soil without amendment. Also I am in Orlando not south Florida.
I have also noticed exceptional growth with my papayas utilizing the same method as I described with my bananas. I consider both bananas and papayas tropical fruits.
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: bangkok on January 09, 2013, 08:44:56 PM
Grafting scions that are not thick enough or have big buds that does not work.

Also grafting scions which are black from some disease will not work because the funghi will grow all over them in the plastic bag.

Approach grafting and leaving all the leaves on the scion when cutting off the motherplant is not working every time, better cut many leaves of.

Grafting when the host is not in growing mode is not working.

Don't forget to stop the ants climbing in the tree, i wished i could buy tanglefeet here.

Grafting mahachanok mango takes much more time then other species.

Bark grafting never works (in my case) so don't even try if you are not experienced.

Watering a fruiting ndm4 will make fruits collapse.

Grafting thick branches by approach-grafting is very hard, better take fresh branches who are not that old.

Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Mr. Clean on January 10, 2013, 03:26:33 PM
Watering a fruiting ndm4 will make fruits collapse.


In south Florida, I believe they used a different root stock to minimize this problem.
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Patrick on January 10, 2013, 04:23:08 PM
Did someone post info on an alternate NDM4 rootstock?
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: bsbullie on January 10, 2013, 04:40:12 PM
Did someone post info on an alternate NDM4 rootstock?
See my post above...

I have a NDM on dwarfing rootstock though I am not sure if it is NDM4 or not.  Growth habit is excellent but it does not bloom much so I am thinking it may be an original NDM...
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: ScottR on January 10, 2013, 08:01:36 PM
Untie a graft to early and try to stake plant  and have graft fall off!! I hate when that happens :'(!
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: bangkok on January 10, 2013, 10:42:47 PM
Did someone post info on an alternate NDM4 rootstock?

I have 2 big ndm4 tree's and they are both grafted on some unknown rootstock.

Some people wrote that the fruits collapse dued by irregular watering. Maybe that is true maybe not, i am still thinking wheter i make an underground soakerhose around this tree or not. Then i have regular watering, my tree has more then 10 species of mango and next year i hope to have different fruits so i would like to know if those grafted species also will collapse or not. I m thinking of using KNO3 next year to make a multigrafted tree flower, then i should get 10 different mango's on it if all goes right.
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: Bob407 on January 11, 2013, 12:55:14 AM
"There's a tear in my beer..."     Hank Williams Sr.
(http://s1.postimage.org/q879sr1x7/Hank_Williams_Promotional_Photo.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/q879sr1x7/)
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: forumfool on January 11, 2013, 11:22:59 AM
I would say I wish I had taken stakes off a few plants sooner, so they had a chance to strengthen on their own
Title: Re: Helpful tips you wish you knew without having to learn the hard way..
Post by: JeffDM on January 14, 2013, 01:15:14 PM
I wish I had realized how much it would cost to try and heat a small portable greenhouse with an electric heater.