The Tropical Fruit Forum

I picked up a Dream Cherimoya tree a few weeks ago.  It was just grafted, so I left the tape on until yesterday.  When I did, i noticed it had a small hole on the trunk under the grafting tape.  It looked like it's a small rotten spot.  There were a few small white mite-looking bugs crawling around that area.  Did I leave the tape on too long?  What caused this?  And what should I do now? 

Looking for ideas here...

I have a 7 gal ponderosa lemon tree that I picked up on sale a few months ago.  Wondering if it's worth keeping as ponderosa or should I just graft New Zealand Lemonade on to it?

Anything you can do with Ponderosa that you can't do with NZL?

Just picked up a 'Sweet Song' Lychee from Wayne Clinton's place along with a bunch of other cool plants.  He was super nice and talked plants with me for longer than he should have. 

Anyone else growing this one or tried it?  I can't find anything online. 

My Meyer lemon was in a pot and grew roots into the soil.  When I moved the pot to a new area, the root that stayed in the ground came up as a new plant.  The new plant is now about 12" tall.  Just noticed it is probably Meyer lemon as well, since the original plant doesn't look grafted.

My question is - how long does a plant from root cutting take to mature?

Anyone know where I could find trees or cuttings of Blacktwig lime, Merdeka lime, and/or better cultivars for finger limes?  Seems like, for Australian FLs, I can only find generic "green finger limes".

Checked CCPP, but didn't see any of these for sale.

Mango trees can be induced to flower with Potassium Nitrate sprays to produce off-season fruits.  Pineapples can be induced with Calcium carbide or other sources of ethylene.

Are their any other fruit plants that can be induced to flower/fruit?

Most of my trees are planted in my yard and grass is creeping in on them.  What's the best way to get rid of the grass around them without hurting my expensive citrus trees?

Are there any passion fruit that produce all-year? 

I've been enjoying my first crop of Possum Purple more than I thought I would.  Pretty sure it only fruits once a year (in the fall), so I'd like to add other varieties to fill in throughout the year.

Any suggestions? 

I bought a passionfruit vine from Lara in Homestead last Summer.  It wasn't labeled and my Spanish is not great.  I thought they said it was "yellow" passionfruit, but it recently fruited and the fruits are turning purple.  They are slightly larger than ping-pong balls.  Any ideas what variety they carry?  The flowers looked like flavicarpa to me, but I don't have much experience with passiflora.

I'm trying to figure out how to improve drainage at my new house, so I can plant a bunch of fruit trees.  There is a small stream nearby and the water table is only 2 1/2 to 3 feet down.  When it rains, the water just sits in puddles on the surface for a few days.  I thought the soil would improve by adding a lot of compost, but it still drains poorly. 

I read adding gypsum would help with clay soils, but I'm not sure.  Any suggestions before I build raised beds?

My Valencia orange is covered in fruitlets just dropping the flower petals.  I've read that I need to thin the fruitlets about now to prevent alternate bearing.  But how much to thin?  50%?  75%?  More?

Do you pick off the smaller ones or the larger ones that are a little older?

What do you guys do to prevent alternate bearing?

Genetically modified trees symptom free after 3 years surrounded by infected trees.  They used genes from a mustard plant.

http://news.ufl.edu/articles/2015/11/uf-creates-trees-with-enhanced-resistance-to-greening.php

Is anybody using grow lights on their container citrus over the winter? 

How do you know what size lights to use?  Or what type?  It seems like there are a dizzying array of sizes, types, and prices.  I can apparently spend $5 on a LED screw-in light bulb all the way up to $1,500 on a big LED lamp that hangs from the ceiling.  There are also Metal Halide (MH) bulbs and High Pressure Sodium (HPS) bulbs.  Is there a good source of info on this for use on citrus plants? 

Instead of putting my plants in the ground this Fall, I am thinking about keeping them potted and indoors at my shop near the windows with grow lights (and heaters) over the Winter.  Would this would help them add some size before the Spring?  My new plants from Harris and Four Winds are really tiny.