The Tropical Fruit Forum

How often should 2-year-old, in-ground avos be watered? During summer, I hardly had to water because of regular and often heavy rain. When there was a long-ish dry spell, I watered once in 5 days and the plants were thriving. Now that it's cooler months are here, what should the frequency be? I continued the every 5 days routine, but some leaves seem to be going a bit brown. Not sure if this is normal in fall weather, or I need to cut back watering to once in 7-8 days.

The mango trees I planted in Jan-Feb 2013 should start bearing some fruit this year. All were 3 gallons except for the Graham, which came in a 7 gallon pot. If anyone's looking at these varieties, this will give you an idea of their growth rate. Or at least these particular varieties, with their rootstocks, in my yard, under the climatic conditions prevailing therein, and the tipping, mulching, watering, spraying, fertilizing regimen I follow. (Did I cover all the variables?!)

Mallika


NDM


Neelam


Pickering


Graham

Please help me select 3 avocado trees. If forum members in Florida have these trees, or grow others they found to be good, some description of their growth habits would be greatly appreciated.

Basically looking to have a long-ish season. Have been reading up on this site, Carlos' website myavocadotrees.com, and in general online.

Extreme cold-hardiness is not a major issue. I'm a mile or so from Tampa Bay on 3 sides, and the lowest temp in my area in the past 12 years has been about 36F.

Early season: ? Simmonds?
Mid-season (late summer-early fall): Catalina - any info on growth habits? Would Brogdan be a an alternative? It is locally available, Catalina is not.
Late-season: Monroe? Carlos mentions it as a good pairing with Catalina. He mentioned in one of the threads that it is possible to keep it at about 15 feet high (and wide?). Lula seems to be a possible alternative to Monroe, except that it, like Catalina, is a type A flowering tree.

An Oro Negro tree I planted in Feb is about dead - fertilizer burn, or too much rain. It poured 8 days in a row in mid-June, though it has been try the last 8-9 days. The ground is not low-lying, but the new trees will go on a 1-2 foot high mound, just to be on the safe side.

Also, if someone can identify this avocado? I picked up a couple at a small grocery, and want to rule it out as an early season option; too watery and bland (language barrier with store owner, so not sure what variety it is).

Suggestions/experiences welcome.

I planted an Emperor lychee in Feb. 2013, and so far have tasted zilch. It started four fruits last year; two fell off in early stages, two grew bigger before one fell and some critter got the remaining one.
So, it's been a frustrating two years.
Considering a lychee needs some chill hours and may still be a moody producer, does it make sense to remove it from the ground (yeah, that might kill it) and pot it?
Could use that space for an avocado, something we eat regularly. Planted an Oro Negro and a Fantastic in Feb. Those two should provide fruit November-March, so an avocado that gets the season going in May/June would be nice. Ideally a small-ish tree, or Duke Energy will send work crews over with chain saws in a few years.
Holiday? Lila? Gwen? Wertz?

The mango trees I planted recently are doing well. They -- Angie, Fairchild, Honey Kiss, Providence and Maha Chanok - are from Excalibur, came in 3 gallon pots and were planted late Feb. Fairchild was the only one that took a top cut because it was one long stick with no lateral branches. Angie already had panicles. Once planted, Honey Kiss seems quickest to take off; it's sent out panicles and several tiny fruits have developed.  Angie's panicles have produced fruits too. The Fairchild has sprouted branches. Providence and Maha look to be the slowest.
Advice/shared experiences would be appreciated:
1) At what stage should I remove the panicles/fruits on the newbies?
2) Does Fairchild have big leaves? The new ones on mine are the biggest I've seen on a mango tree.

Here are some pics I took today while fertilizing (Excalibur's 8-3-9, 2 teaspoons each) and watering them.

Angie


Honey Kiss


Fairchild


I also planted a pair of avocados -- Oro Negro and Fantastic , both in 3 gallon pots. The latter is developing fruits. When should I remove them?
Fantastic:

Oro Negro, planted Feb. 22, has some leaves that are yellowing. Overall, it looks quite healthy and is pushing some new growth. Fantastic, planted the same day (photo at right) is doing well and has no yellowing leaves. Is the yellowing a normal process of older leaves dying and falling? Or is it a sign of nutritional issues? All trees were planted Feb. 22 and had a tablespoon of 8-3-9 fertilizer scattered around a 5-6 foot radius. Watered every 3 days, but the not the past 3 because it rained the last 2 nights.

Picked up five nice specimens Saturday at Excalibur (thanks, Rob!).
A 425-mile round trip is a bit of a pain, though.
Plan to plant them sometime in March. Before I do, have to re-route sprinklers, get a couple of trees trimmed, get a load of city mulch. Also picked up some 8-3-9 fertilizer; will try it on the new ones after they're in-ground to see if they grow quicker/better than the earlier lot that got just lots of mulch.
Here are the ones I got:
Left to right: Fairchild, Providence and Honey Kiss



Angie (left) and Mahachanok

Some of the photos posted on this forum show fruit trees planted in the middle of lawns/grassy areas. Some have a bit of mulch. A few have lots of mulch, the way I've done my yard. But after seeing pictures of perfectly healthy trees in the middle of lawns and with barely any mulch, I'm wondering if I should have saved myself the bother. Since I planted my trees - 5 mangoes and a lychee (and a Ponkan mandarin which gets no mulch), I have added mulch 3 times: first time soon after planting in Feb/March 2013, at the end of that year and again in Nov. 2014. Also, the mulch extends far beyond the trees' drip line, and is about 8 inches deep now. The plan was to top up the mulch each year in Nov/Dec, when it is cooler and less time is needed for yard work. Takes about 10-12 cubic yards each time. The soil under the mulch looks fine; slightly damp, lots of earthworms. The lowest level of mulch is disintegrating.
The picture is of my NDM taken in late November. Looks like it is planted below ground level, but that's just the mulch, which is more than a foot away from the trunk.
Stay with the program, or rethink?

Need some help, folks.
I've got the itch to plant a few more, and would appreciate tips/suggestions from those on this forum who have these varieties. Interested in input on taste, resistance to disease, size of tree. I have a roughly 12 x 12 foot space for each tree. A height of around 10-15 feet would be okay if it didn't require brutal pruning, so a smaller growth habit would be nice.
Also: If you have these trees, where did you get them?
I already have the following: Mallika, Neelam, NDM #4, Cogshall, Pickering and Graham.

I'm trying to choose three from among the following:
Indian: Benishan (Alampur Baneshan, as it is often referred to on this forum)
Indian: Imam Pasand (also known, I think, as the Himayath in and around Hyderabad, India)
Thai/Singaporean: Mahachanok
Florida-developed: Angie and Carrie
Open to alternatives

Was looking through old posts and Zands, I think, had said the benishan was prone to splitting.
I grew up eating the benishan (mostly Banganapally/Baiganpally) in India, and considered it superior to the Alphonso; then came the Mulgoba/Malgoba). But that was in the dry, hot environment in which it was developed, and in Florida's more humid climate it may not do as well. Neelam was scoffed at back in the day (I'm talking 1970s) as somewhat inferior, but I'm grateful for the one I have.

There are many benishan varieties: Alampur benishan, Banganpally benishan, Calcutta Benishan, Lal benishan (lal=red; the top of the fruit has a pinkish tinge) , Kaala benishan (kaala=dark; darkish hue), but those may be hard to come by, if not impossible.

Some etymology, if that's okay: It is "benishan" or "benishaan" (pronounced bay-nee-shaan); "be" ("bay") means "without" and "nishan" means "mark" or "blemish." So benishan is without mark or blemish. Pronouncing it "baa" nishan would be the exact opposite. "Baa" is "has."

Most of the space I have will be reclaimed from the lawn area, fenced off and heavily mulched. Have space for 5 trees there; in addition to the 3 mango trees, probably a guava and one other I haven't thought of. A Meyer lemon in a side yard is about dead and has to be cut down. That gives me space for the 6th; a dragon fruit is a possibility, or a couple of lime trees/bushes.