Just harvested another round of ASPJ ammunition from the old Bih Jolokia bush.




DEATH TO SQUIRRELS!

Banana Bashing.  DISGRACEFUL!!!  I'm Dan the Bananaman and I love my naners.    Here is a pic of one my favorite cultivars, FHIA-01, the Goldfinger.  The taste is wonderful, it's cold resistant and fruits every year with high finger count and no disease issues.  FHIA-01 is one of several tetraploids developed by FUNDACIÓN HONDUREÑA DE INVESTIGACIÓN AGRÍCOLA.  If you ate a few Goldfingers you would want a corm to grow your own.  They don't come from Publix.  And naner bashing would be replaced with a bottle of Captain Morgans Spiced Rum to make the best Bananas Foster - ever.



As far as nematodes are concerned --- I use composted cow manure heavily --- in the hole fill at first planting to include a 3 ft diameter topdress 3" deep.  Two more topdessings the first year and 2 annually from then on.  Have dug out over 200 pups for folks that drop by and shipped some by mail.   Never saw root knots or pseudostem decline due to nematodes.  Poop is the scoop!

Dan the B'mal

I have a small Tropic Beauty and a 2.5" caliper unknown Florida peach.  Both in-ground.  The TB had 6 fruit and the taste is very good.   The big unknown had 4 dozen and the fruit are good but different from TB.  Have leaves turning pale now and have to either adjust the lawn station times or erect something to block the spray - peaches don't like too much water.

As far as decline and early croak ---- and I hate to say this about nurserymen in general - Florida peaches that die off early in south Fla  have usually not been grafted onto Flordaguard rootstock.   Those guys that know this, and sell them anyway, are in the minority -- I think -- I hope.   So don't buy unless the seller knows about Flordaguard rtstk and can assure you he has verified this.

I checked with a grower in Ft Pierce that runs 300 acres of peaches.  He verified that peach trees are out there for sale to the gen'l public that are not grafted on Flordaguard.

Outstanding trap!    What would be an effective bait for armadillos?  They are constantly tearing up my planting beds --  not to mention the lawn.

Been going nuts reading about the Pickering mango, so Friday dropped everything and ran down to Palm City.  The Martin hwy has a bunch of nurseries and the 2nd one had PM's.  I got a Pickering planted in a 15 gal Jackpot.  There were 2 more available.  Thanks to guys like Anikulapo for getting me all riled up.  Enthusiasm on this forum is high.  And infectious! 

Greetings Fellow Tropical Fruit Nuts,

Have been growing bananas and tropical fruit here in Port St Lucie, Florida for 7 years with some success.   The plant obsession began 40 years ago back in New Jersey with orchids, tomatoes and bananas.  They followed me to Charlotte, NC and growing stuff was much easier .  Then came the figs, bunch grapes, full blown vegetable garden and more bananas, but the cold always brought a halt in Oct.

Came to south Florida to take care of family in 2005 and the darn things found me again.  Also thought I’d finally be free of the cold but it still bites me a bit.   This is the first year most bananas made it thru winter with fruit hanging.

Current plant list:

Bananas in ground  ---- FHIA1 Golfinger, 2 Ae Ae, Pisang Klotek, Dwarf Brazilian, Belle, SH 3640,  Raja Puri, Datil la Lima, Dwarf Namwah, Dwarf Puerto Rican Super plantain, Grand Nain x Sumatrana, Manzano (the real deal variety)

Bananas potted – Kru, Pitogo. Red Iholene, Baloy, Chini Champa, Grand Nain, Dwarf Orinoco, Logee’s ladyfinger,  Maricongo plantain, ensette Maurelii, Saba, Hua Moa

Fruit trees -- -Minnie Royal and Royal Lee low chill cherries,  Lula avocado, Eureka lemon, unknown Florida low chill peach, Tropic Beauty peach, Key Lime, Guanabana,  Fuyu Persimmon,  Spanish lime (genip) m/f grafted, Carrie, Nam Doc Mai and Duncan mangos, Jaboticaba

Muscadine grapes --- Black Noble, Black Southland, Southern Dixie, Blanc du Bois

Veggies --- Imperial Star artichoke, grafted heirloom tomatoes, Cachucha peppers (PR and Venezolano), Bih Jolokia peppers, Black Jungle butter beans, Blue Lake pole beans, Culantro, Italian parsley, basil, rosemary, onions, dozen pineapples unknown
Orchids --- Shomburkia, Cattleya, Phalenopsis, Blc’s – a dozen unknowns

New this year --- Vanilla planifolia, Cattleya Dowiana alba, Passifloras incense and incarnata , Monstera, Concord grape seeded and seedless,  Emerald, Windsor, Primadonna, Sharps Blue blueberries, Lemon grass (for the bugs)

Anyone interested in a banana sucker let me know.  Have some rare --- hard to get --- cold tolerant varieties.