The Tropical Fruit Forum

Has anyone else noticed a lot of surface roots on their sugar apple/annona plants?

This week I tested my soil and it tested deficient (near void) in phosphorus so I bought some triple superphosphate to remedy the deficiency. Today I was applying it to various fruit trees and when I raked back the mulch on this small sugar apple tree that's planted on a slight mound, I noticed lots of roots were growing right up on the level where the bottom of the mulch meets the soil surface; basically up through the mulch. Here are some pictures:

The tree before raking back the mulch





The surface roots I found after raking back the mulch







The white spots near my hoe in the below picture are patches of fungi colonizing the mulch.
 


Curiously this was mostly happening only on the cypress mulch instead of the generic red mulch, even though cypress mulch is supposed to break down slower. Unfortunately I couldn't mix the triple superphosphate into the first few inches of soil without chopping up a lot of the surface roots so I abstained, however I did rake the mulch back over the surface roots after applying the granules and watered everything in thoroughly.

Reference picture of the leaves



It's been exactly one month since I laid this mulch down, and I've started using various fertilizers like fish emulsion. Despite the leaves being so nice and green, this tree has actually been growing very slowly and barely put out any flowers this season and hasn't set any fruit, so it was a bit cathartic to find out there was an actual deficiency behind the lack of performance.

There is also a much more established sugar apple tree planted a few feet away in a mound containing the same type of soil, and it has been displaying the same slow growth and lack of blooms/fruit set, so I also applied the triple superphosphate under its drip line.

Here's that tree last October and today after its mulch was raked back. All the defoliation in the recent picture has been there for some time prior to the very recent pruning as I've only clipped the marginal branch ends to get started on a shaping framework for the tree. You can see the wood coloration difference between the older tree branches on the lower left and a water sprout that became the dominant leader shoot.





How long does triple superphosphate usually require to take effect?

Hello, was wondering if anyone thought this looks like a decent Jackfruit tree to start with? It's at a local nursery for $60, and they very rarely have them so I don't necessarily want to let the chance go to grow one if I don't have to. I love the fruit, first had some in Jamaica and even though we're also tropical here I haven't seen anyone growing any. Did some research and found out they're pretty precocious so my gardening bone is itching.

Any general cultivation advice and growing tips also welcome. Hopefully this picture posts properly:

Hi all,

I recently obtained a few citrus trees (an unidentified Lemon? as an air layer in January, a Meyer Lemon on Carrizo a couple weeks ago, a Persian Lime airlayer in early August and a White Grapefruit on Volkamer Lemon, as well as one or two seedlings). All my citrus trees are in containers as our soil sits on a large layer of hard oolithic limestone bedrock. Since the city water is pumped from aquifers in this bedrock it is also considerably alkaline  (tested 8.3+ on my dad's pH kit).

Has anyone any experience with acidification for their water for container plants? I realize growing ground is a bit different from growing in containers. I have some battery acid on hand, but do my have a pH tester that goes under 7 to see how much I need to lower the pH to around 6 (and 5 for my blueberry). One teaspoon of 3.3% concentration battery acid drops it to just above 7, but I'm not sure that 1 teaspoon always causes 1 unit drop in pH. Any advice appreciated!

Also, I read that Volkamer Lemon is more tolerant of alkaline conditions that Carrizo. If so perhaps I could try growing it in ground if I can figure out the irrigation situation? My soil is very sandy and low organic matter, basically a mirror of south Florida. I would probably have to mulch for moisture conservation. Thanks in advance! I have questions about fertilizing as well but those can wait.

Dan