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Messages - Johnny Eat Fruit

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Fruit trees for 25 gal pots long term
« on: March 08, 2024, 07:49:48 PM »
#25 pots are inadequate long term for most sub-tropical fruit trees. The #25 is only 24” wide witch is very limiting to the Spreading feeder roots of fruit trees. A 30” tree box is better with an equivalent of 45-50 Gallon container. Even better and more ideal is a 36” tree wood box which is equivalent to a 75-80 gallon pot. The feeder roots do better with a wider container with more depth. Healthier roots equate to a healthier tree overall in my opinion.

Johnny

2
I have a two year old PPK Seedling tree in a #7 pot. I am going to harvest some scions this summer from that tree and graft it onto my Lemon zest so It will still be a few years until I can determine production and disease issues. So far though my PPK has no Mildew and looks very healthy. I will soon move this up to a #15 pot. (See photo)

I would also say Guava does well at my location. Good growth and good Production.

My Pina Colada mango seeling tree is doing well in a #15 pot. Its putting out a flush right now in my greenhouse. It will soon be too large and I will have to move it ouside. Will likely move this to a 30-36" wood box long term.

My Zill P-22 is staring to flower now and have already grafted scions of this to several other mango trees in the ground. Really looking to try this fruit if it produces this year.

This might be the first year I will get some fruit from my 0-15 mango tree (See photo). It is aslo starting to flower now. My Cotton Candy in a #25 pot is also flowering. Looking foward to more Seacrest and Coconut cream. I have both varieties on one tree and they are flowering like crazy now. (See photo)

Hopefully 2024 will be a productive year. In 2023 we had a late start due to the extended cold weather so everything was delayed 6-8 weeks. Kind of a drag.

Johnny



PPK Mango Seedling Tree (2-25-24)




0-15 Mango Tree in Ground (2-24-24)




Coco Cream-Seacrest Mango Tree Flowering (2-24-24)

3
There are many great tasting mangos that grow well in Florida but are they suited for Southern California?

Here is my new criteria for selection in SoCal.

1.  Vigor - Preferably at least medium vigor but high vigor is best. Seacrest, Coconut Cream, Cac, Guava, Lemon Zest, Orange Essence, Peach Cobbler and 0-15 are examples of vigorous grower.

2.  Disease resistance - Based on what I am seeing at my location Orange Sherbet is better than Lemon Zest. OS flowers later and has fewer disease issues relative to Lemon Zest. This is just one example based on my observation at my location.

3.  Earlier ripening varieties of mango are better than late ripening in general in California and I would also add smaller mangoes are better than larger mangoes as the larger ones take longer to grow and ripen in general.  Kiett is a example of a mango that is not well suited in California due to it’s large size and late ripening except for the warmer inland desert areas. I love the “Angie” mango grown in SoCal. It is not a high vigor mango but it ripens early and produces consistency and if you like the Carrie (Alfonso)  flavor class you will really love this mango. It also has no major disease issues in my area. Between Seacrest and Peach Cobbler I would choose the Seacreast mango.  It ripens earlier. Peach Cobbler ripens late and in 2023 my PC never fully ripened. My Seacrest did and they were delicious.

4.  Early Production – Coconut cream is a great mango but based on my experience it takes seven years to start producing consistently. In contrast Angie starts to produce after three years. Peach Cobbler, Val-Carrie and Seacrest also appear to produce early at my location. My Son-Pari is a modest grower but I have high hopes my young tree will produce early based on the experience of others.

5.  Unknown factors – this is a interesting variable. Sweet Tart is a great tasting mango but has a major problem at my location with fruit split. My ST is seven years old and I lost over 50% of the fruit in 2023 due to this issue.  I am hoping with more age (10 years) this issue will be less of a problem. Lemon Zest has Powdery Mildew problems in a wet winter and spring and many mango trees flower too early resulting in lost flowers and production.  So many potential problems many of which you will soon discover if you grow in this area.

It is best to pick mangoes that have the fewest problems. This will give you the highest probability of success in California.

Johnny

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: P-22 mango Growth habit and production.
« on: December 18, 2023, 05:51:16 PM »
A year ago my Zill P-22 mango tree was very small but this year (2023) it grew very well and now is in a #15 pot. (See photo)

I grafted this tree in 2021 to a Ataulfo mango root-Stock I grew from seed.  Looking foward to grafting this variety onto more trees in 2024 and trying the fruit three years later.

Johnny



Zill P-22 Mango Tree in #15 Pot

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Happy Thanksgiving !!!
« on: November 23, 2023, 01:56:09 PM »
Happy Thanksgiving Kaz.

I appreicate all you have done.

God Bless.

Johnny

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How Long Do Macadamia Nuts Remain Edible?
« on: November 19, 2023, 07:00:50 PM »
In September I harvest my nuts, dehusk them and then air dry them in the garage for 60 days. My macadamia nuts stay good for about one year. I have tasted some nuts after two years and some of them are still quite good but if perfer them under one year old. 

Johnny

7
I would top work it and use the existing root-stock to grow more desirable varieties. You can cut it down to about 6' leaving 3-4 of the strongest branches in place. When new growth sprouts appear next year use these to graft onto.

Some vigorous selections I would include would be Seacrest, Orange Essence, 0-15 and peach Cobbler.

Good Luck.

Johnny

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee Thread
« on: November 18, 2023, 11:22:58 AM »
I thought I would post some photos of my Mauritius lychee tree I planted in August 2020 along with a recent photo for compairson. I am really pleased so far with the impressive growth of this tree which requires little care. The only thing I do is give it plenty of water (lychees love water), apply some azomite from time to time and give it some organic fertlizer every few months. I wish all of my sub tropical fruit trees grew this well.

The first two photos show the root ball of the Mauritius prior to planting in the ground. Even though this tree was in a #15 pot the roots did not fill the bottom half. The root ball looks closer to something you would see in a #7 container. The third photo shows the tree just after planting three years ago. The last photo was taken a few days ago. I love growing lychee trees.

Johnny



Mauritius lower Rootball (8-20-2020)


Mauritius lower Rootball #2 (8-20-2020)



Mauritius Lychee Tree after planting (8-20-2020)




Mauritius Lychee Tree (11-16-2023)

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mangos in san diego
« on: November 03, 2023, 06:08:00 PM »
Hi Simon,

Interesting you had no issues with Pineapple Pleasure at your house. At my location it is a poor performer but it could have been a rootstock issuue as well as the bark was pealing and it appeared to have disease issues.

My Pina Colada mango tree inside my greenhouse is doing very well and I finally did get my Coconut cream to fruit. Hopefully next year I will get more.

Good Luck

Johnny

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mangos in san diego
« on: November 02, 2023, 02:53:49 PM »
Based on my experience I would Not recommend growing the Pineapple Pleasure mango tree in SoCal. I planted one in the ground in 2022 from a #15 pot and it grew poorly this year and is highly suspectable to powdery mildew. All of my other mango trees except for Lemon Zest did not have this issue. After doing some additional research I removed the Pineapple Pleasure and planted a Parfianka pomegranate tree Instead.

There are too many other mango trees that are far more vigorous and much more disease resistant than PP.  Seacrest, Peach Cobbler, Guava, Orange Essence, Val-Carrie and Fruit Punch are all doing well at my location and don’t have the problems of PP or LZ.

Johnny

11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mangos in san diego
« on: November 02, 2023, 01:31:51 PM »
Yep, Seacrest and TripleSec are one and the same.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mangos in san diego
« on: November 02, 2023, 11:33:44 AM »
In the last 2-3 weeks I have been eating Seacrest, Guava, Angie and one Coconut Cream witch was excellent.

I just started picking my Peach Cobbler mangos which tend to ripen last. Looking foward to trying those late this week into early November. So far the standouts for me were Seacrest and Angie. Both are awesome mangoes if picked at the proper ripeness. I was so impressed with Seacreast I will be grafting this variety onto several other trees in 2024. It grows fast, has no diesese issues, produces well and has a intense wonderfully rich flavor. A winner for sure.  I really love Angie too as it is similar Carrie in flavor. The only downside to Angie is that is slower growing but it does appear to produce well relative to its smaller size.

Enclosed are a few photos of some Peach Cobblers and Seacrest hanging on my tree from October. These were from three year old grafts. I already ate most of the Seacrests.

Johnny



Peach Cobbler Fruit Hanging (10-9-2023)



Seacrest Mangoes (10-9-2023)

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee Thread
« on: October 20, 2023, 06:27:18 PM »
My three year old Mauritius lychee tree is putting on a late fall growth flush. Hopefully it will produce a few fruits in 2024. The Brewster is not currently flushing. I planted both of these trees in 2020 but the Mauritius is now noticeably larger in size.

My experience with growing lychee trees thus far is postive. They are much easier to grow than mangoes and look nicer.

Johnny



Mauritius Lychee Tree (10-19-23)

14
My Beaumont Macadamia Nut tree is having a fall growth flush. Already harvested (4) boxes of nuts in early October and letting them dry out now.

I like the Red growth from the new flush. Most other Mac trees do not have this. This is the only nut tree that looks nice and produces well in my area.

Johnny


Beaumont Mac Tree (10-19-2023)

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Peach Cobbler Mangoes & Sharwil Avocado Graft
« on: September 24, 2023, 07:39:50 PM »
Thought I would post a few interesting photos from a few of my fruit trees.

The First photo show a multi grafted mango tree but the right branch is a Peach Cobbler graft from 2020 with is holding a number of fruit. I also have PC grafted onto another tree with adddational fruit developing. This variety apears to be well suited to California.

The second photo shows my (3) year old Carmen avocado tree with a recent Sharwil Graft. The 3rd photo shows the Sharwil graft Close-Up which was grafted in July 2023 and growing very well. Very happy how this graft turned out. It's nice to have a type "B" avocado grafted onto a type "A".

Johnny



Multi Grafted Mango with Hanging Peach Cobbler fruit



Carmen Avocado Tree planted in 2020



July 2023 Sharwil Avocado Graft to Carmen

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Thief Caught
« on: September 13, 2023, 10:06:55 PM »
Eastern Fox Squirrel eating my Beaumont Macadamia Nuts. Not native to California they have become quite agressive in eating fruit and nuts  in this area.

Take them out if you can. Traps exct. These are Rodents. Kill them.

Johnny



Eastern Fox Squirrel (8-19-2023)

17
Water everyday during the summer with a automated Drip irrigation system.

Johnny

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee harvest
« on: September 04, 2023, 06:56:03 PM »
Iron is not a problem as I apply Azomite at least twice a year for all of the essencial trace ellements for all of my fruit trees.

Johnny

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lychee harvest
« on: September 04, 2023, 06:39:58 PM »
The Bruster lychee fruit I recieved from Kaz near Fullerton about a week a go were delicious and very juicy. About 30-40% of the fruit had a chicken seed or a very small seed. 40-45% of the fruit had the standard large seed. The remainder were somewhere inbetween with a medium seed.

I also noticed the smaller the fruit size was the more likely the chicken tongue was present. The smaller fruit were better with more flesh.

My three yeard old Brewster tree is flushing now so looking foward to more fruit in a few years. Lychee trees love water so I water mine frequently.

Johnny

20
I just recieved some Brewster fruit from Kaz and they were delicious. Fresh, sweet and with excellent texture. So much better than the store bought fruit. Recomended.

Johnny


21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Tropical Storm Watch
« on: August 21, 2023, 11:54:40 AM »
My final rain measurement this Monday at 8 AM was 1.9" of rain in the last 24 hours.

We did have some 20-25 mph winds last night but no damage to anything at my location. This was a slow soaker so very little flooding.

This rain will really help with vegetative growth in the next month or two.

Johnny

22
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Mango scions/budwood
« on: August 21, 2023, 11:25:48 AM »
The mango bud-wood orders I have placed recently with TAF have been fine.

Orders mailed out Monday and arrived Wednesday. I always cut the bottom of the scions off and place them in a cup of distilled water overnight prior to grafting for better hydration.

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Tropical Storm Watch
« on: August 20, 2023, 09:11:50 PM »
1.3" of rain so far according to my rain guage at 6 PM PST.

Seems like another overhyped and media exerbated event.

Just a moderate rain event so far. Light winds.

LA Unitifed Schools just anounced they are closing all schools for Monday August 21, 2023. They recieved 1.5-2" of rain in a 24 hour periord. Oh so Terrible. We must close our schools for such a catasthophric event.

Johnny

24
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Mango scions/budwood
« on: August 20, 2023, 07:49:10 PM »
San Jose is really marginal for growing mangoes. Very low take rate due to lack of heat. Best to assemble a greenhouse purchase seeds and seleect the most vigorous for growth for root stock. Grafts scions in the greenhouse for more sucess.

Good Luck

Johnny 

25
I love Macadamia Nuts as well. So much better than the store nuts by a factor of 2 to 3 at least. Enclosed is a photo of my (10) year old Beaumont Macadamia nut tree with ripening fruit. The tree is orentimantal as well.

I also love mangoes but they are much more of a challance to grow. Not for the faint of heart.

Avocado and citrus are California stapes that every grower in this area should have. 

Johnny


Beaumont Macadamia Nut Tree (8-10-2023)

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