The Tropical Fruit Forum

Was the big leaf already on the scion when it was grafted? If it is not a new leaf, I would keep it bagged.  On my few successes, if the scion grows a normal sized leaf, it is ready.  I have been fooled into unbagging early twice, which quickly caused desiccation and death of the scion.

Thanks to all of you that ordered plants!

I still have 4 packs available to sell.

Pineapples are the Rodney Dangerfield of the fruit world, they get no respect!

I like growing them.  The are nice looking short plants so they are something that my wife will let me plant in the front yard.  And they produce fruit!!!  In the front yard!!! Where useless shrubs normally reside!!!  Oohh! OOooohh!! (Sam Kinison)

Maintenance is pretty simple.  Once a month, pour a cup of liquid fertilizer down the center.  That's it.

Just like mangos, home grown pineapple is much sweeter and better tasting.  My wife cannot eat a store bought pineapple due to allergies but she can eat the home grown without affect.

If they don't sell, that is just more for me!!! 

Its amazing you still have any left.. Where else can you get five pineapple plants w/ shipping for $20? I took a set to drop in pots and place around the yard.  I am currently babysitting thirty varieties of Sheehan's collection, plus some of my own.. They multiple very easily and require minimum maintenance.  Nothing compares to home grown!

5 plants for $20, includes UPSP priority shipping  (2-3days).  For larger quantities $3 each + shipping ($6 - $12 depending on qty). U.S. only.




Send me a PM if interested.

I planted one from a 3 gal a year and a half ago.  It has tripled in size, it is over 8ft tall.  It flowered early and set lots of fruit and currently has new flowers.   During the first flowering, we had a lot of rain so it handles the wet well.  There are 3 large mangos on the tree now, over a pound.  I was able to try the fruit at F&S Park last year and I thought it was great but did not make it into my top 5.

I took this picture 4/30

I have 1 I planted last year from the cheena tree at F&S park that is already almost that size, 1.5 meters.  Rip it out or plant some jaks seedlings next to it to approach graft to give it a better root system.

Quote from: cbss_daviefl on May 04, 2014, 10:28:51 PM

6 years!  Is the tree producing male flowers? Female flowers and not setting? How tall is it?  What is the truck diameter?

Trees is over 2 meters , no flowers at all so far trunk must be 3 cm diameter .

If it is just a recent thing, it is probably just the time of the year.  It is very dry and the tree will dump some of the leaves to conserve moisture.  I certainly cannot keep up with the watering needs of my trees. The tree has probably adjusted to the current watering schedule.  Hopefully the summer rains will be here soon. 

My understanding is that old leaves turn yellow when the tree puts them on the chopping block. The reusable nutrients in the old leaves are sucked back into the wood and are later fed to the future new growth. I think a tree that is fed more frequently with smaller fert doses will hold a larger canopy of leaves.

I have 30 jaks in the ground now.  I have some grafted trees that have really taken off.  I planted all my jaks from 3 gals.  A lemon gold hit 10ft in less than a year, a Mai1 that is 7ft, Excalibur Red 8ft, cheena 7ft, black gold 7ft, a small bangkok lemon is now 6ft.  I have around 10 seedling trees. They are around the same rate, maybe a little faster but they are spindly.  I do have a few grafted jaks that are not growing fast, cristella, gold nugget, borneo red, and crunchy Lemon.  I think the vigor of the rootstock and nutrient deficiency is holding these back.  I have a few seedlings that are stunted too. 

there must be a big difference between seedlings and grafted trees; My Mai-1 seedling is an easy and fast grower with almost no attention.

When I plant, I use a bag of top soil (1cf) to make a water basin around the tree about 30 inches in diameter, 3 inches tall. Then I spread 2 bags of 2 cubic foot cypress mulch over the basin.  The mulch is about 6 inches deep.  For the first month I water every day, about 2 - 3 gals. Month 2, I water every other day.  Month 3 to 6, twice a week.  After that I let nature do its thing.  However, watering every week seems to keep trees from defoliating during winter and at this time of year based on irrigated vs non irrigated experience. Where I have planted my jaks, my soil drains well and has light to medium water holding capacity.

PPK was in the top 5 mango varieties I ate last year.  Dot took #1.  I got a bunch from Pine Island and ate some at F & S Park.  Sadly, I still have not eaten a PPK from my own tree, maybe this year if I can get to them before the renters. 

My kent tree at my old house was the worst with disease.  Die back took it down to about 60% of its original size.  I would guess it had some type of circulatory infection.  It eventually stabilized itself.  I think it produced a few mangos last year.  It looked OK the last time I looked at it.

As gunnar has stated, probably normal and to worry about.  I bought 6 Fernandez and San Pablos from Bender's Grove and they are in all stages from 4 or 5 sorry looking old leaves to bare twigs to fully flushed out with new leaves.  They will drop whatever leaves they had and, in about two weeks after that, buds will pop.

No, I plan on being one of the unruly ones, pushing and shoving to get my galaxy tree!   

Quote from: cbss_daviefl on April 24, 2014, 08:53:33 PM

Mike, I hope you hired some muscle for crowd control.  I have seen some of these guys on this forum before. They looked a little shady. 

Brandon you volunteering to wear an orange vest for crowd control?