The Tropical Fruit Forum

Just curious
are you using these ?
Do you find they work ?

i grow lots of stuff,, often from seed
including papaya which is actually an herb
i know these stimulants are big in the marijuana growing community
but, they also spend tons of $ on that stuff
i have to be much more frugal.

What i would like is  a stimulant for small growing plants and roots.
Stronger plants when small are critical for papaya.

Also, something to induce, or speed flowering would be nice as well.

i am looking at Atonic and IBA-K (water soluble)

http://massspectrumbotanicals.com/category/horticulture-aids/plant-growth-regulators/

any ideas ?

OK
so forgive the name of the post
maybe " frost protection ideas for sensitive and subtropical plants" ?

Anyway,
i grow and LOVE papaya , and, in New Orleans, they often get killed by freezes
before i can get fruit.
in milder winters they pull through with just leaf loss.

i came up with a couple of tricks though.
perhaps some of you know these
but it was a learning experience for me.

First, i started planting the ones i really wanted on the South facing wall of my house
since i had to be a few feet away from the wall, i decided to start watering
ONLY on that side of the plant.
NOT watering near the trunk, and NOT watering on the side away from the house.

This made the roots grow toward the house where it is warmer.
I also have a hibiscus on one side,, and a evergreen boxwood on the other
they provide a lot of protection from the wind.
Wind is something i didnt realize was so important.
it not only dries out the plant, increasing water stress,
but, it takes away the heat around the plant.
minimizing ANY air movement around the plant is essential.
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27F degrees a week before the photo.
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Next, i added mulch.
Im sure most of you know this, but i underestimated how important it is.
The area between the plant and the house now has 2ft of mulch
and i am working on more !!
since the house keeps the ground warm for a few feet around it
adding 2ft of mulch makes a world of difference.
With the plants on each side, it creates a micro-environment which is quite warm.
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i have several other papaya
on this one, i had built up an area of the yard a few inches.
this part of my yard is low, and not really the best area for papaya
but, i am limited on higher ground that gets sun.
i should have built up the soil level a bit more
 - project for next time, when i have to re-plant.

a neighbor was throwing away a banana tree he had chopped down.
i added other yard waste and mulch on top
of a plastic tarp.
When i know the weather will be warm for a week
i stick a hose under the tarp and water it.
but, now, it seems fairly moist, and it hasnt got water in a month.
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chopping the top off makes the plant grow shorter
(ive got dwarf seedlings growing now)
which reduces the heat loss from the wind.

I was torn  to do this on the other plant near the house
i didnt want to loose all my fruit.

questions ?
Ideas ?

Hi all
i have had a satsuma in my yard for about 20 years.
I rarely do anything to it, inluding fertilize, it always seemed healthy.
For a few years i did throw a lot of water hyacinth underneath it.
sometimes some other mulch, thats about it.

It normally produces LOTS of fruit, sometimes taking a year off

Last winter was abnormally cold, very cold.
3 freeze snaps about 25F, 2 of them lasting for days
(it would warm into the upper 30s in the day)

the tree looked bad in the spring.
i gave it a little fertilizer NPK
(it may have been high N, i think thats all i had at the time)
and it just looked worse.
it produced small, thin, yellowish shoots.
it also seemed to get a host of bugs
i know another plant i had, had white fly
i think the satsuma had it also.
i now have "soot" on the leaves.
but, also had what someone said was "leaf miners"
AND...
it had some yellowing of the leaves in between the veins (veins stayed green)

Im not sure if the cold killed some roots ?
or, what to do to help it ?
i have now put lots of compost under it
i foliar sprayed it
with urine and micronutes several times
and gave it some worm tea with humic acid.

it is giving me lots of nice fruit this year

the chlorosis seems to be improving
but, i still have soot and white-fly.

any suggestions ?

thanks
Brad

Have: Papaya, guava, lychee (1yr), black sapote seedlings
Mulberry rooted cutting, or regular cuttings
+Guava + Satsuma cuttings

and 4 variety of papaya seeds

guava is Mex Cream. very aromatic and very productive


-WANT
Inga ice cream bean
mango
Goumi
Autumn olive
Elderberry
blackberry

other tropical fruit

Brad
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I am wondering what size container i need for this Jackfruit

The grey container on the left is a 5-gallon bucket
the black one on the right is a mop bucket.
The empty black one is the largest container i have.

Are jackfruit roots deep, or, are the long-lateral ?
Which container is best, or do i need to buy a much larger one ?

Will it inhibit the growth of the plant if i let the taproot hit the bottom of the container ?
( i thought i read that somewhere about a different fruit tree)

So i did some reading, but it seems a lot of people have different opinions
on what to use as far as soil and amendments in containers

I bought some glacial rock dust, but its pretty early to see what difference it may make.
Also, im not sure if i should add it to everything ?
like Caci and

I am also bought Mycorrhizae last year and added it to the soil on my papaya trees.
We had a much colder year than normal, and i lost all my big trees, but some of the roots still seemed OK
(the tops turned to mush at about 27F)
which is incredible, since the year before i had lost 1 tree, and the roots were mush.

As for the stuff in pots, it was hard to tell if the fungi helped or not,
i didnt do any experiments to really test it.

diatomaceous earth ?

i just planted several papaya seeds in sand, sand with DE, sand with rock dust,
peat, peat with DE, and MG potting soil.
a little mini test i have going with extra seeds i had.

What amendments do you use ?
and in pots, do you go soil-less ?

Thanks, i heard about the TR Hovey, i may have to try and grow it one day.
how does it taste compared to Maradol, Red Lady etc... ?

I have seeds from someone in Malaysia who said they had 2 types.
One was a giant fruit,and the other was very sweet.
He didnt know the variety, but ive got both type seeds
i will be growing in early spring.

Do you know if Marang or jackfruit is cold hardy compared to Papaya ?
Since i know i can grow Papaya, i wanted a Marang (or Cheena or Jack) , but i am hearing
it may not work