It kinda bugs me when people grow an inedible or poor-tasting plant in lieu of an edible one for which there is almost no difference.  In your case, bad tasting natal plums.  Up here in Iceland the one that always gets me are the  Ribes sp. hedge rows some people plant, both on public and private property.  The bushes look just like redcurrants, the berries look just like redcurrants, it's a sister species to the redcurrant, redcurrants grow just as well up here.... except that the version that they plant tastes vile and disgusting.  Why, I mean, why?  If it makes no difference, why not have something that actually *tastes good*, even if you don't plan to pick it yourself?

I've had to learn to recognize the small difference in the leaves on the vile tasting ones when picking berries on public property.  :Þ

Quote from: shaneatwell on August 22, 2013, 05:35:51 PM

In the male vs. female identification, or male vs. female/hermaphrodite, how big do they have to be to tell the difference? Do all the male flowers show up as buds at the same time, or do they split latter? All my flowers look the same, mostly single buds with bumps near the base of the petals that could grow into other flowers...or not.

We are talking about 3 different flowers,  Female, Hermaphrodite, and Male, male trees are easy to identify, the flowers grow on small branching stems, and are much smaller.   Hermie trees flowers will have both male and female parts. in the same flower, not both types of flowers like a watermelon.   in other words, a hermie flower can pollinate itself.  Female trees will need a male or a hermie nearby.  frankly I would cut down any male trees and only keep hermies as pollinators for your female trees, this will prevent the seeds you plant from your fruit from coming up male.

I've mostly seen it done to mangoes. Basically just means pruning the tree closer to the base of the trunk than normal (though obviously not below the graft), maybe at about 2 feet or so, to encourage a lower/earlier branching habit. Can probably be done with 'most' other tropical fruit trees as well. Seems to be ideal for growing a tree in a pot but perhaps not necessary for an in ground tree; might actually be counterproductive in some instances as you might not want branches occurring that low to the ground. Named after the poster puglvr1, who practiced/s it plenty.

They have California grown Keitt mangos at the Trader Joe's in Mira Mesa for 1.99 each.  They are good size, mostly green with some yellow and still very hard.  I purchased one to try but it will not be ready for several days.  Cheers,

Simon

Luisport, a lot of great mangos have come from seedlings just like that. I once planted a seedling mango and after a few short years, it produced fruit. But, because the quality of the fruit and the fruit production wasn't good, I ended up destroying it. I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to seedlings, the chances of getting a quality fruit and tree, increase when more than one seedling is planted. By the way, it seems you've perfected the technique of removing the hard exterior seed and sprouting the almond, nice.

Wauchula is on the avocado map! I'm glad to hear that the 'Golden' avocado was developed there. I lived in Wauchula, FL, USA, when I was a young boy.
I'm very tempted to say that I threw a lot of avocado seeds in the ground, so the Golden avocado variety is probably mine. 

Quote from: shaneatwell on August 13, 2013, 10:47:02 AM

I would also love some seeds.

How does candolleana compare to the surinam cherry (ugenia uniflora)?

They taste quite different. The candolleana has more of a plum-like taste, and no resiny tones, as does surinam.

If broken memory is slightly accurate, I remember reading the until you have 6+ trees, don't worry about type, greater than and you want to start mixing them.  Even then there is a formula for optimum production.

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