Hey Forum,

I have this problem with my jackfruit, where when it blooms shortly after the flowers get covered in a mold called Rhizopus, then turn black wither and fall off. It seems this can be caused by excessive moisture. I am going to check my sprinkler system to see if the tree is in a direct path, and also prune the tree to thin out the canopy to allow for better air circulation and evaporation. Does anyone else have this annoying problem? and How do you manage it?

Thanks,
-Joep450 

That makes 3 now : (

-joep450

Sad to report that my second favorite mango of all time has came down with mango malformation disease. It seems like the infection is primarily on this one branch though it may be systemic I'm not completely sure of the pathophysiology of MMD and how fusarium operates. There is not much information readily available on the Internet and it seems like the remedies consist of total plant removal, harsh fungicide applications and or possible management by removal of infected branches.

The first pic is of the whole tree and the infected branch is on the bottom left. Fortunately away from the rest of the tree. I certainly don't want to remove the tree or play around with fungicide so I cut the branch off at the base and am hoping this may work. I will definitely be reporting on the progress of this method in the future.






-joep450

Pretty stoked to report that my seedling Ivory mango is pushing flowers for the first time. I attended the Fairchild gardens mango fest in July of 2011, that year they were featuring the mangos of Hawaii. Though the ivory mango did not originate in Hawaii, I brought a bunch home after purchasing them from a fruit stand at the fest. I thought it was a fantastic mango and one of the most memorable flavors I have tried, meanwhile not many nurseries propagate it. I decided to plant it out and make it my goal to fruit it. Honestly, looking back I am surprised it has stuck with me this far in its 3rd pot, and with me at my third residence (first home). It's been neglected and probably root bound, as I haven't found the right place for it, but today while walking my dog I noticed it flushing with some flowers.






Even though it is a ways off from holding its first fruit, I hope this post serves others a sense to persevere onto fruiting your seedling mangos!

-joep450

Today I went by Lychee Tree nursery in stuart fl for this 7 gallon sweetheart lychee, very large and at 60$ a fair price I think. Also went by Excalibur today and picked up a 7 gallon tropic snow peach for 65$ I am really excited about this peach from what I have read, I personally prefer white fleshed over yellowish so pretty stoked to be able to grow this. The peach has lost its leaves and is dormant but there are two small pink flowers on it.






-joep450

Hey Forum,

Question came up about shipping mangos and I would just like to elaborate on my method. First, I chose mangos that were not ripe to ship by choosing mangos that were still firm though not overly hard and also mangos which were mostly green but with some small yellow patches. Shipping fruit is not an easy task and I am under the belief that if you pick a mango too green during its maturation process the mango will not i fact ripen correctly. Luckily I explained to Walter that I was shipping the mangos to Cali and he helped me select mangos which would arrive in optimum condition. I spent a good amount of time picking the mangos , placing some back on shelf, putting them back into the bag and deliberating on which to select. To some extent it is cultivar specific when to pick a mango ie malika but for the most part it's a balancing act when shipping fruit. The factors involved in shipping are time, temperature, packaging, and price.

Time: the faster the better. In this case for Frank I overnighted the mangos, a major benefit is they arrive next day also with a tracking id# number and free insurance up to 100$.

Temperature: temperature plays a part in the ripening process, I believe that higher temperatures will speed up ripening while lower may decrease so in theory neutral to lower temps would probably be best for shipping. I had thought about sending the mangos with accompanying ice packs but determined that in fact they may damage the mangos due to excess weight in the box slamming against the mangos during shipping and also increase the cost of shipping due to added weight. So what I did was wrap the mangos individually in newspaper, then in tin foil (cushion and insulation) then placed the mangos in a styrofoam lined cardboard box with lid (think extra insulation) and crumbled newspaper balls in between each mango for extra cushion and support. I'm not sure what temperatures packages are subject to during the shipping process by they could be extreme and my guess the more insulation the better. The box I used was one I saved from the pharmacy which very expensive and delicate refrigerated medications are shipped in, a substitute may be a styrofoam cooler placed inside a cardboard box.

Price: shipping gets pricy. The more insulation, the more weight which costs more to ship, the faster the shipping the more expensive. This shipment shown cost ~102$ Was it worth it, IMO yes.

At the time I was debating wheather or not to expend money on jet fuel and hop in my private jet and just hand deliver them to frank and enjoy a few mangos together maybe with a bottle of cristal I have just lying around my house, but I'm saving the fuel for the trip in December ; )





-joep450

 
Took this picture today of a queen palm off my driveway, it's swarming with honey bees. Funny I've seen this occurrence so many times with queen palms but never questioned whether they would be good attractants for honeybees to come and pollinate other fruit trees or garden vegetables in the yard? or weather they would just prefer the palm pollen? The honey bees are obsessed with the pollen.


In other news, stoked for mango season!

-JoeP450

Last year I ate a ton of mangos, and documented them in the thread "mango reviews." What I also did was sprout many of the seeds soon after eating them between June-August 2013. I did this to watch them grow as well as for rootstock for future grafting attempts this year. All in all I have close to 30 different mango babies and it has been quite fun noticing the slight differences in leaf shape, and vigor between different cultivars as they grow. In the next few pictures I would like to detail the differences between a seedling florigon and seedling lemon zest. Notice the size of the leaves as well as the amazing difference in vigor. Also note these were planted around the same time possibly varying by 1 month. It's too early to jump to conclusions, but I think the future holds something special for this seedling florigon as it looks radically different from the rest of the seedlings I have.

Vigor


Leaf size and shape

By itself


-joep450

Almost three years ago I ordered what was purported to be sugar apples from a exotic fruit of the month club.....what was sent to me was this (see pic below).  Could this be an el bumpo cherimoya? Or atemoya? To me this looks nothing like the sugar apples I have ever seen. I recall the flesh as being very seedy with a banana like flavor. Since then I have planted the seed and it is growing very nicely as an attractive plant and flowered this year with no fruit set. I have tried looking for that fruit of the month club since then but can't find it, not sure it they are even in business anymore.



-JoeP450

Thought this leaf was kinda interesting on my honey kiss mango seedling, probably more common but I have never seen this happen before.

-joep450

Today I took a trip up to ensy's mango grove in Merritt island fl, about 70 miles from where I live. It was  a drive but michael and angie definitely made it worth it. I had a chance to tour the grove and also purchase a basket of many mangos i never tried, super stoked! Here are a few pictures I took including some mangos from the haul. All of these mangos I will be reviewing in the thread "mango-reviews" stay tuned.



Here are some banana mangos hanging and look at that beautiful sun induced blush!



Another banana mango though with less sun exposure, noted the extremes in color and just how much the sun can play in coloration.





Forgot which mango this was but nice picture.





In this pic; from my mothers tree: lemon zest; truly tropical: nam doc Mai, ice creams, Haden, florigon; ensy's: orange dream, sunsets, royal purples, springfell, jd ensey, Irwins, Kent's, Edward, tylers, bananas, osteens, austins, carries, and cannonball.

I'm looking for a late season mango what are your favorites? I've tried kent and enjoy it but there is some debate that it is not truly a late season mango and I'm not too crazy about keit. Any suggestions?

-joep450