I don't remember seeing a lot written at the other forum about growing organically, these subtropical fruits we all talk about and grow (I puruesed the "Topic" section and couldn't seem to come up with anything directly related to actual methods, or I perhaps didn't search correctly).  Anyway, I've decided to try that route as of the beginning of this year.  I've purchased a tumbling composter, 1000 red wigglers and some kelp powder to get me started.

Besides the fertilization process - although I'm thinking with compost being added at regular intervals and worms scattered everywhere that perhaps one does not NEED additional NPK (?) - there is the other art of organic insect protection/treatment for those trees that do become infected.

Better bring in some outside horse or cow manure or you will be lacking in nitrogen. This is exactly why NPK is brought in. It an external input same as the animal manure. Organic schemes work a lot better when manure generating animals (could be chickens, goats, etc) are on your property. But then you would have to buy chickenfeed so this would be your external input. Even if you can manage without bring in NPK you still might need the minor elements that high grade NPK fertilizers incorporate today.

Thanks and nice to see you here pugsy

oh wow, very nice looking tree, G!  Blooming all over, congrats 
can't argue with that result!

Thanks much Tim! It's a cute little tree. It is planted by the road where fruit might get stolen. But my Fairchild mangoes ripen to yellow. No flashy reds or purples. It is growing outward too much instead of upward so I can see myself propping up branches (especially when fruit laden) to train them into upward growth. Plus will eventually get the fruits out of reach of thieves

Please explain and describe "pugging." On which fruit trees is it practiced?

Two types of pugging. One on a new from the nursery tree in a pot. Other is on a mango tree that you planted and has been growing for a while, which lets put aside for now. If I have to pug it is usually at 3ft high. I prefer not to pug. I prefer to let the tree grow and branch out naturally. But in the real world many of the mango saplings you buy are too tall and spindly looking and not enough branching out. Now I can be all wet here but.....

If I buy a spindly mango I feel compelled to decapitate it (pug it) at about 30-36 inches high from the soil level (not from the bottom of the grow pot) to get it to branch out and assume the classical shape for a fruit tree. More wide and low, not a spindly beanstalk.

The mango trees you buy might be too tall and spindly because at the nursery they have been bunched together with the edges of grow pots touching. So the young mango (or other fruit tree) invests resources in climbing unnaturally high and skinny because it is seeking sunlight this way. Because being shaded too much by the other young mangoes it feels sunlight deprived. So up and upward it grows instead of growing outward via branching. Why would it send out more nice branches if they are going to end up shaded by the other mango saplings?
Like I said...this is my theory

Now pugglver is a woman on gardenWeb (with pug dogs) who did lots of drastic pugging to her planted mangoes at different heights. 20" might be her usual. She did it due to freezes. She lives a bit north in Florida where (IRRC) mango trees used to flourish but now has more cold winter weather in recent years. Her mango tree leaves and branches would be killed by the cold and she posted photos of this. She would pug these trees with nice thick 3-4" diameter trunks, this way she got rid of the dead wood. The tree would bounce back due to the extensive root system and the nice thick trunk. She would post these photos too.

I once pugged (at 20 inches) a planted Fairchild mango tree that had been planted for 18-24 months. It was growing way too skinny mostly because it was like that when I bought it. I should have pugged it before planting but..... Anyways I pugged it last April and got great results. `

Here are pugged Fairchild photos from two days ago. Yardstick is there to gauge the height. A wooden stick is pushing upward a branch that was growing too outward
Below you can see where it was pugged. It now has 6 very nice branches coming out. Not all 6 are visible

With all due respect>>> Get  real, the place is a sky high priced tourist trap.  So Florida visitors please go there and drop some green FRNs cash into the Florida economy some of it may filter down to me sideways you never can tell

Keeps getting better and better. I thought gardenWeb was perfectly OK and good enough but I was wrong. You and PJ have kicked it up seven notches. Keep tweaking away this is your baby.....

It's tough to get such good specimens in California...so I hear. Way to go and good luck with them, are in great shape

zands, thanks for the link!  I had forgotten about that article. 

Jack

Glad you liked Jack! What I really like, this is a snapshot (from the Palm Beach Post) of David Sturrock and his vast mango accomplishments on August 2 1969 just 13 days after we landed on the moon..."United State's Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon on 20 July 1969"

He was better than us and the US was better back then in that we can not get a lunar landing organized today even if we poured 10 or 100 billion dollars into it. Plus as everyone knows the computing power that NASA used back then is equal to your average laptop today.....just saying

Citrus Trees that Require Cross-Pollination
for Fruit Production

Stephen H. Brown
Lee County Extension

Most citrus cultivars are self-fertile they set fruit through self-pollination. Self-fertile tangerine cultivars include
Dancy, Ponkan, Satsuma, Temple, Fallglo and Murcott. However, some tangerine hybrid cultivars are not self-
fertile and require cross pollination to produce a good crop. Pollenizer cultivars must have four qualities to be
potentially successful cross-pollenizer including a bloom period that overlaps with the main cultivar; consistent
annual production of a good crop of flowers; the same cold hardiness as the main cultivar; and the capacity to
be self-fruitful. No sweet orange or grapefruit cultivar is considered a satisfactory pollenizer for tangerine
hybrids, even though some seedy cultivars of oranges are slightly effective.


chart is in PDF format over here-->>> http://lee.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/GardenPubsAZ/CitrusTree_Pollenizer_modified_Mongi.pdf

and shows that best pollinators for Honeybell (Mineola) are Sunburst and Temple Tangor AKA Temple Orange

The best pollenizers for a Minneola are the Sunburst tangerine and Temple tangor.

Great idea.
I think I know where to get a Sunburst (a particular HD) and will go there today. Dancy is too chancy as far as blooming the same time for pollination purposes. Do you have any take on the Satsuma blooming at the same time as Honeybell and being a good pollinator?

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Fruit-718/2009/4/honey-bell-orange-tree.htm

With your lack of cold weather I'd be curious to see how they far against an Indian River (Vero Beach, Florida area) Minneola.  Its the cold spells here in Florida that really brings out the sweetness and flavor of our citrus.

Absolutely true. Later citrus is more sweet than early citrus. Indian River is a better place for prime citrus than South Florida. California citrus pales in comparison.  At least the Cali citrus that gets deported to the East Coast maybe the good ones are kept at home......

Some of my favorite books to add to list are:

1) Mango Studies--A Compilation of Papers Presented at the Florida Mango Forum from 1941 thru 1951

2) Tropical Fruits For Southern Florida and Cuba and Their Uses--by David Sturrock

3) Fruits For Southern Florida, A Handbook for the Homeowner--by David Sturrock

4) Notes on The Mango--by David Sturrock

AboutDavid Sturrock for the ages
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1964&dat=19690802&id=UXwyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=k7UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1926,777744

I would make that tree into an experiment. I would put it in intensive care the way pj1881 got accelerated results>>>>
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg1222445314042.html

Worst case.....Let it grow and get rooted this year (give it nice fertilizer and mulch) then pug it early next year February.  I pugged a Fairchild mango (at 20 inches) that was growing ugly and got great results. I pugged it April of last year after all panicles and little fruits fell off, I got pissed off and disgusted so I took drastic pugging action. But it had been rooting 18-24 months. Ask for a photo and I'll post it.