Inducing flowering and fruiting

[SonnyCrockett]

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?

[Brev Grower]

Potassium Nitrate will only work on mangoes in ultra tropical or tropical zones. Has no effect on mangoes in the subtropics. Cold and dry weather is a much more powerful flower inducer.

[skhan]

Longan - Potassium Chlorate

[TheDom]

Annonas - leaf stripping and pruning can induce flowering.

[simon_grow]

Girdling will work on many trees.

Simon

[TonyinCC]

Scott's Super Bloom 12-55-6  worked great on Starfruit and Miracle fruit for me last year. Wish I could get 50 lb bags of it instead of 2 pounds for about 12 bucks at Lowes.
I got an offseason bloom on a Mahachanok  mango tree last fall after giving it some, and it set fruit. I also gave that tree potassium sulfate.
 Super bloom works every time for sure on miracle fruit for me so far. I think I will try to time it and give my 3 bushes doses a couple weeks apart so I always have one fruiting.
 Starfruit is starting to push bloom buds now 2 weeks after a dose.
   Soluble kelp powder (1-3-14) from North American Kelp is also a good generalized bloom stimulator, I used that on lemons as a foliar spray 20 years ago.I had a potted Eureka lemon that would bloom after foliar kelp sprays. I plan on getting a drum of that and trying it on everything. If I only had one supplement to use on everything,it would be soluble kelp powder. 200 bucks for a 25 gal drum of it though but worth every penny. I would guess it has 10 times the nitrogen by the way it makes everything grow.It greens plants up in a similar way to Ironite.  Unlike Ironite, it can be used as a foliar spray . I also used it a tablespoon in a watering can as a general fertilizer. Wonder if it would work on Lychees to force them to bloom?
 North American kelp also sells a liquid plant growth regulator that is supposed to promote flowering. I have not tried it though.

[Tropicdude]

I believe an  old technique was to make fires near trees, and have the smoke hit them.   not sure if its something in the smoke that gets them to flower, or the stress of  "holy smack we are going to die, lets make fruit now " situation. 

[Kiet]

Girdling will work on many trees.

Simon

I'm trying to understand. with girdling, do you girdle down to the cambium layer?

[simon_grow]

With girdling, you remove the cambium. It's like marcotting or taking an air layer but you allow the cambium to re connect in the case of girdling. Someone on this forum mentioned that a tie such as a paperclip can be used on Jaboticabas to induce flowering.

You basically want to block photosynthates from going back down the tree.

Simon

[merce3]

Good article on girdling:
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/girdle-fruit-trees-23598.html

[SonnyCrockett]

Now that you mention it, I used Superbloom on my P. Edulis that refused to flower and it was covered in buds just a few days later.  Not sure if it was a coincidence, but seemed to do the trick.  It was a Possum Purple that had grown 10' in each direction on a fence, but didn't bloom all Summer.  After using the Superbloom, I ended up with at least 100 flowers and fruit.

[TonyinCC]

I used Superbloom on a Jaboticaba under 3 feet tall a few weeks ago and I noticed it is pushing bloom buds while transplanting
  it into the ground today, it lost some roots so I hope it holds fruit.

[gnappi]

I believe an  old technique was to make fires near trees, and have the smoke hit them.   not sure if its something in the smoke that gets them to flower, or the stress of  "holy smack we are going to die, lets make fruit now " situation. 

Funny you should say that, this and last year my Gold Nugget jackfruit and Fairchild #2 canistel have gotten a serious dose of smoke from my firepit, and this year I had my best canistel year, while the jackfruit has some 25+ fruits from 2' up to all the way up into the canopy.

[Tropicdude]

I believe an  old technique was to make fires near trees, and have the smoke hit them.   not sure if its something in the smoke that gets them to flower, or the stress of  "holy smack we are going to die, lets make fruit now " situation. 

Funny you should say that, this and last year my Gold Nugget jackfruit and Fairchild #2 canistel have gotten a serious dose of smoke from my firepit, and this year I had my best canistel year, while the jackfruit has some 25+ fruits from 2' up to all the way up into the canopy.

That is interesting, indeed.    here is a link about smudging,  says its ethylene in smoke that does the actual stimulation.
https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/HITAHR_04-06-93_54-60.pdf

I did some wiki searching, and seems they are on to something.

" Pyrolysis of burning material, especially incomplete combustion or smoldering without adequate oxygen supply, also results in production of a large amount of hydrocarbons, both aliphatic (methane, ethane, ethylene, acetylene) and aromatic (benzene and its derivates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; e.g. benzo[a]pyrene"

I was never sure if it was some chemical in smoke,  or that the tree sensed danger. and was motivated to spread its seed.  science seems to lean in the direction of chemicals in the smoke.

[Charlie23]

any way to induce blooming on guava and sugar apple trees?

[TheDom]

any way to induce blooming on guava and sugar apple trees?

Pruning and stripping leaves helps sugar apple. No clue on guava.

[Mike T]

If trees have good supplies of all necessary nutrients and are getting the environmental cues there isn't much extra to do.To make sure of flowering if you cant hold yourself back withhold N in the lead up to flowering, ensure the trees have plenty of K before hand and potassium sulphate is best for this, ensure you have enough Calcium and a bit of Bo which helps plants take up Calcium and use it.

[gnappi]

The smoke flower inducing theory may not be far off the mark. The three trees in close proximity to my fire pit are... my Fairchild #2 Canistel is now in bloom like I've never seen before, and my tropic beauty peach had erupted like a volcano... fruit galore!!! Triple Yikes!

As mentioned above my Gold nugget has over 25 fruits on it of various sizes from egg size to bowling ball size, with I found out today many more on the way! I'm stunned. For a supposedly stingy cultivar it sure is outperforming my expectations.

MOST of the fruits are Waaayyyy up in the canopy (where much of the smoke goes) , the largest (the bowling ball) 12 feet plus up there. I get up on a ladder to squeeze the ones I can and catch a scent for ripeness but some are just too high.

I may just wind up going by sight alone and venture up there to take the highest ones hoping they are ripe enough or will ripen on the table.

So much for the GN being stingy with giving fruit.

[gnappi]

any way to induce blooming on guava and sugar apple trees?

Pruning and stripping leaves helps sugar apple. No clue on guava.

I have two sugar apples side by side, both around 10-11' tall. I stripped the leaves off both up to 6' or so last year and the lower branches did flower more. I did the same this year, leaving the upper branches alone again and this year the two trees are flowering the same on both lower (leaves stripped) and upper (not stripped) branches.

I'm wondering if observations of leaf stripping efficacy is more related to branch maturity than leaf removal. I'm one for anecdotal evidence if nothing else is available but based on my trees I'm starting to lean toward branch maturity as the most likely factor in density / amount of flowering. In either case, I'll continue to remove the leaves from my sugar apples and see what happens over the years.

[fisherking73]

any way to induce blooming on guava and sugar apple trees?

Pruning and stripping leaves helps sugar apple. No clue on guava.

How much stripping and pruning? and when? is it too late if they have already flowered a bit and set a few small fruit?