Tropical Fruit Forum - International Tropical Fruit Growers



Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - C24mccain

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 7
1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: La Niña in winter 2020/2021
« on: January 16, 2021, 06:07:38 AM »
Here in Lakeland Florida our winter since December has been colder than normal and plenty of rain with the frequent cold fronts hitting. I don't think I've seen more than one 80* degree day all winter. No freezes but continual cool nights. Looks like my lychees and peaches will do great because of it. Nearly a perfect winter so far though I'm ready for things to warm up. Mangoes are slowly pushing flowers as avocado.

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« on: November 28, 2020, 10:03:55 PM »
Quote from: Mike T on November 28, 2020, 05:00:31 PM
Looks good and in developing well. The grass looks like guinea grass. I think there is scope for putting extra Eugenia's. jabs, various sapotes, maprang, abiu, guavas, longan, citrus, Annonas and a few others in a way to ensure year round production and diversity of the best fruits. Did I say Garcinias? I guess spreading suphur strategically would be  bit expensive but as a water additive it could work. You can select the N fertilisers that are most acidifying also.

I forgot to mention that sulphur doesn't seem to expensive for me. I find it to be very effective when ground to a powder and distributed evenly. I don't use any nitrogen fertilizers or any commercial fertilizers except some micronutrient, especially manganese.

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« on: November 28, 2020, 09:54:19 PM »
Quote from: CowboyFig on November 28, 2020, 09:07:23 PM
Yeah, chickens scratching can be counterproductive depending on your situation. Goats love woody growth so they would stress the trees for sure and would likely leave a lot of the grass untouched. Hair sheep or geese (believe it or not) could manage some pasture, but that would likely be extra work you wouldn’t want. At any rate, your property is looking fantastic. Man building up your own place is soooo addicting. I’m rooting for that green sapote too. I wanna see that thing fruit!

Yeah the green sapote had one fruit on it most of the year and I applied a fungicide (foliar/bark) to it in to large a quantity and burnt many leaves. The leaves fell and the fruit dropped.  The ph around the tree was very high so I recently put down some sulphur. I've noticed that the trees I have which have suffered from root issues due to the extremely wet summer we had a few years ago are trees in spots where the ph is 7.5 or higher. I've pruned some of the tree, put down some sulphur and planted some cover crop seeds around the tree to see if it will turn things around. I really don't want to use the fungicide anymore.

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« on: November 28, 2020, 08:27:25 PM »
Quote from: CowboyFig on November 28, 2020, 05:10:29 PM
Great tour and the growth is phenomenal. You’ve got a beautiful property. Ever thought of adding animals into the system, such as chickens?

I actually got rid of the chickens in year one. I didn't like them scratching under the trees. A dog is good for us but I have considered having a goat or something as a lawn mower. Let grass grow wild and move goat around to trim it down. That's a possibility if the animal doesn't destroy trees and fruit.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« on: November 28, 2020, 08:23:54 PM »
Quote from: Mike T on November 28, 2020, 05:00:31 PM
Looks good and in developing well. The grass looks like guinea grass. I think there is scope for putting extra Eugenia's. jabs, various sapotes, maprang, abiu, guavas, longan, citrus, Annonas and a few others in a way to ensure year round production and diversity of the best fruits. Did I say Garcinias? I guess spreading suphur strategically would be  bit expensive but as a water additive it could work. You can select the N fertilisers that are most acidifying also.

Thanks for the ideas Mike. I'm always pondering things to plant. My wife gets a bit worried that I will never stop and we will have no space left on our 2.5 acres. I also have to contend with freezes. A few years ago we hit 25* F. As things get bigger I don't have to worry as much but wife sees me planting new things that will take more effort to freeze protect. I'm sure in time I will get more diversity. We both work full time jobs so we don't get a lot of time to maintain things. Maybe that will change eventually and we will have more time. Thanks.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« on: November 27, 2020, 07:08:54 PM »
Quote from: EddieF on November 27, 2020, 06:52:29 PM
Very nice.  pH is easy to test yourself with test strips for pool.

I have a good digital ph tester that works great. Was a good $120 investment for me.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Update video to our 4-5 year old food forest in lakeland Florida
« on: November 27, 2020, 05:34:03 PM »
 I did this update video today, November 27 2020. This is a full tour of our 5 year project.

https://youtu.be/s79XvnwL3cY

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Shower Freeze Protection for a Jackfruit Tree
« on: November 26, 2020, 05:25:45 AM »
Thanks for the ideas. I wasn't planning on protecting the tree this year as the tree has struggled for two years ever since I put down way to thick layer of mulch. I thinned the mulch out back then when I saw the symptoms but probably not enough. This year the tree never grew in height although it did get a little wider. Back in August I pruned about 6-8' of the height off to see if it would get a good flush response. It didn't grow but it did put out female flowers. There are four of them currently but I doubt they will hold through winter. It doesn't help that the area was where the previous home owner kept his horse and he put down a ton of sea shells in that spot. The ph of the native soil there is just over 8 from what I remember. The mulch helps but the tree has suffered ever since I put down too much mulch. I have since planted a jackfruit seed in a different area of the property. It's a few inches tall. Thus I was already getting a replacement started and planning on leaving this big Jack up to fate this winter. Last year it handled 31* with no issues. I didn't use the shower that night.

As for too much water, perhaps your right. I was trying to go that route to avoid ice build up. Wasn't sure if the Jack would like a bunch of ice on it from a mist. Maybe it would do fine now that I have seen it handle 31* well.

As for the wind, on the cold fronts we always have wind out of the north or northwest from what I have seen. I have an excellent wind break just to the north of the tree in a line of oak trees and a long industrial building that butts up to my property.

I'm not giving up on the tree completely but the above is why I don't plan on protecting it this year. Thanks for the ideas as they will be handy in the future.

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango tree and lychee flush growth concerns
« on: November 04, 2020, 07:24:52 PM »
Quote from: bovine421 on November 04, 2020, 02:59:30 PM
Thank you for your reassurance and information on timing of pruning. That is a beautiful tree you have what variety is it? I think mine must be an emperor by the size of the tree and the fruit.  It's been productive so it must have been air Layerd. I have my fingers crossed that everyone will have a good season for lychee

It's a Mauritius.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango tree and lychee flush growth concerns
« on: November 02, 2020, 05:04:29 PM »
I think you will be ok. Mine started flushing towards the end of September and I knew the timing was going to be bad from past experience. I knew it would flush again end of November early December which is to early so I tip pruned the whole tree to set it back a few weeks. It started flushing mid October so it's a little ahead of yours but I'm afraid mine might still be to early on the next flush. I need it to wait until January but I'm not sure if it will wait that long. If it doesn't work out I'll know I need to adjust the timing next year. Mine has been in ground for 5 years and is getting big.




11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Too Early/Late To Plant Mangoes?
« on: October 26, 2020, 07:30:19 PM »
I just planted a sugarloaf mango a couple of weeks ago here in Lakeland. I've never worried about time of year. I try and get it in ground asap to get established. When they are this small they are easy to protect.

12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Planting sapodilla and rollinia in September (orlando) stupid move or not?
« on: September 19, 2020, 08:15:18 AM »

Epicatt2
In the first video below you can just barely see the Hasya tree by a green ladder at the 4:45-4:50 mark. I didn't film the tree specifically that morning but just caught it from a distance as I was filming. In the second video I do an update where you get a close up of the Hasya at the 17:00 mark. You can see how small and skinny the trunk is. The first video there are a couple of shots of a digital thermometer showing the temperature.

https://youtu.be/EJ6-mF9z73Y

https://youtu.be/qJgvzYGTNkg

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Planting sapodilla and rollinia in September (orlando) stupid move or not?
« on: September 19, 2020, 08:04:37 AM »
Quote from: Iceman716238 on September 18, 2020, 10:44:16 PM
Quote from: C24mccain on September 18, 2020, 09:12:46 PM
I can't speak for Rollinia but I believe you are more than safe with the Sapodilla. I am the forum member mentioned above that had a young small Hasya Sapodilla make it through a 25* night here in Lakeland a few years ago. The tree was unprotected, in fact I left it to die that night and was shocked to see not even a single leaf was burnt on it. This can be verified by checking a video I have on YouTube that morning as well as checking historical records for my area to see the temperature that night and morning. I assume your tree is small so to be safe you can easily cover it on the possible few nights a year we might hit freezing. Add a heat lamp if you want and it won't be hurt. The risk of a couple cold nights is so low in my experience that I wouldn't waist any time getting the sap in the ground.

You are only 45 minutes west of me. I do want to plant the cherilata and rollinia at the same time and get it out of the way. I'm sure that you are right,  but I'll wait until march to do it.
Btw, I've read that hasya has an issue producing. Have you had those issues? Thanks

My Hasya has been slow growing compared to my alamo and makok. The Hasya has a couple of fruits on it now but nothing like the others which are loaded. The other two saps were protected during the freezes that year. I can't really say much about the fruit set because in my case it's been more of a growth issue although it's starting to grow better this year.

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Planting sapodilla and rollinia in September (orlando) stupid move or not?
« on: September 18, 2020, 09:12:46 PM »
I can't speak for Rollinia but I believe you are more than safe with the Sapodilla. I am the forum member mentioned above that had a young small Hasya Sapodilla make it through a 25* night here in Lakeland a few years ago. The tree was unprotected, in fact I left it to die that night and was shocked to see not even a single leaf was burnt on it. This can be verified by checking a video I have on YouTube that morning as well as checking historical records for my area to see the temperature that night and morning. I assume your tree is small so to be safe you can easily cover it on the possible few nights a year we might hit freezing. Add a heat lamp if you want and it won't be hurt. The risk of a couple cold nights is so low in my experience that I wouldn't waist any time getting the sap in the ground.

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dream Atemoya Seedling
« on: September 07, 2020, 01:05:43 PM »
Congrats, I have never ate any annona so I look forward to it someday.

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Dream Atemoya Seedling
« on: September 06, 2020, 02:36:04 PM »
Hello everyone, I have attached three pictures of a seedling from a Dream Atemoya seed that I planted around February of this year. It's about three foot tall already and is really picking up the growth pace over the last 6 weeks. My question is if anyone can tell me based on the pics if you think this seedling has more cherimoya or more sugar apple traits? Based on my limited understanding the leaves look more Cherimoya like but I could be wrong. I've heard Cherimoya won't do well in Florida so I'm wondering if this seedling will struggle to produce fruit if it's genes are more from the Cherimoya side. Either way time will tell.






17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Central Florida Mango Trees
« on: June 03, 2020, 07:12:57 PM »
I have seen some large ones throughout Lakeland. It seems I-4 is a boundary line as if I travel north  from here I haven't seen any decent sized mango trees. At least this seems to be the case here in the Lakeland area.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Barbados Cherry Bloom Time?
« on: April 04, 2020, 06:55:26 AM »
My Barbados cherry has been in ground three years here in Lakeland. It has a lot of flowers and fruit set on it right now but it has dropped a lot of fruit because of the dry weather. I have watered it some but not enough. It loves water. I pruned it heavily end of winter in order to keep branches from growing together. The bush is getting pretty big.

19
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Wanted: Indian jujube scions
« on: March 17, 2020, 08:09:42 AM »
This need has been filled. Thanks Mike.

20
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Wanted: Indian jujube scions
« on: March 15, 2020, 09:26:55 PM »
In 2018 the big freeze we had killed my Thai giant Indian jujube but it grew back from the root stock. Unfortunately the root stock is not self pollinating so I'm looking for Indian jujube scions that are self pollinating. Thanks

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Temp when mango flowers get ruined??? Internet lies.... :)
« on: January 23, 2020, 09:00:54 PM »
We had 31* here in Lakeland and my mango blooms look fine. However I thought the issue with blooms wasn't that they would be visibly damaged but rather internally made sterile thus appearance means nothing. I have pondered pruning off all my blooms (4 trees) and letting them rebloom but I think I'm going to leave them and see what happens for a learning experience.

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Florida Low Temperatures
« on: January 22, 2020, 03:42:47 PM »
The low on my property here in Lakeland was 31* and under 32* for about two hours. Was ready to turn the shower on over the Jackfruit tree but I didn't turn it on and the tree looks perfectly fine this evening. I don't see any issues on my property other than a few burnt banana leaves and sweet potato leaves which are mostly toast. Only thing I covered was passion fruit fence but even the exposed areas are fine. Hopefully this is it for the year :).

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cold temps in tampa
« on: January 19, 2020, 07:57:17 PM »
Calling for 33* here in Lakeland at this point for Wednesday morning. In January 2018 my mexicola avocado was blooming when we hit 25* and it didn't care still setting a lot of fruit. I have four mangos blooming right now so I may lose the bloom there. May prune it all off after and let it rebloom. We'll see what happens.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: cherimoya seeds black or brown?
« on: November 29, 2019, 02:26:15 PM »
Thanks everyone.. the seeds are certainly dry. I'll give them a go.

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / cherimoya seeds black or brown?
« on: November 29, 2019, 06:04:26 AM »
I just ordered some cherimoya seeds for rootstock and when they came in I saw they are brown. I thought they would be black based on what I have seen online. They did come from a source in Florida so it makes me wonder if they are sugar apple seeds.  Thoughts?

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 7
Copyright © Tropical Fruit Forum - International Tropical Fruit Growers