At the Jackfruit Jubilee, I spoke with Richard Cambell and learned some of the new Fairchild jackfruit varieties are able to survive frost.  If I remember correctly, it includes Fairchild First, Papi Fairchild, and Hardy Fairchild.  Any others?

Some rainfall and a third of my LZ crop splits.   

I was optimistic when I planted my Pina Colada mango tree.  It has been in the ground for about two years.  It had a full bloom this year and zero fruit set.  In comparison other trees of the same age have produced over 30 mangos.  I plan on giving Pina Colada another year, but I am doubtful of the tree's ability to be productive in my yard.  In preparation to say farewell, I grafted two scions of a Carrie mango to the trunk of the Pina Colada. 

I have heard that mulch can be bad for fruit trees in at least two instances:  1)  mulch in contact with trunk and causes truck to rot, and 2) if soil is saturated with nitrogen, the additional nitrogen added by mulch can be unhealthy for fruit trees.  Thoughts?

This is probably the rarest Sapodilla's in South Florida, from a seedling Sapodilla tree in West Palm Beach.  I am waiting for the fruit to soften a little more before eating.  These fruits are only available through Squam. 



Dollar bill is for size purposes only.

This sexy lady has 36 mangos.  She was planted as a 3 gallon on 7/22/2012.  When visiting, Squam commented that he has never seen such a small Rosigold tree with so many mangos.  I only sprayed copper once this year.

My Most Productive Young Mango Trees.  Some newcomers to fruit tree growing may wish to have fruit within 2 years.  These ratings are for those newcomers. 

My scale on fruit set goes from 1) awesome, 2) good, 3) fair, 4) poor, and 5) zero. 

Pickering:  awesome
Florigon:  awesome
Rosigold:  awesome

Glenn:  good
Nam Doc Mai:  good
Carrie:  poor this year; 1st year good
Sweet Tart:  good (partial tree)
Graham:  good
Fairchild:  good
Neelam:  good

Harvest moon:  fair
Spirit of 76:  fair

Lemonzest:  poor
Mahachanok:  poor
Coconut Cream:  poor
Pineapple Pleasure:  poor
Harvest moon:  poor

Sunrise:  zero
Pina Colada:  zero

Too small to tell:
Angie
Peach Cobbler
Ugly Betty
Duncan
Dupois Saigon
Valencia Pride
Cogshall
Mallika

If you want a tree that MIGHT bear mangos in two years, select a mango with awesome rating.  This is representative of my trees in my yard under my growing conditions.  My soil conditions are primarily sugar sand; using 8-3-9 fertilizer and time release fertilizer; micro irrigation on most trees, located about 10 miles inland (high humidity).  Some members choose to gauge productivity of a fruit tree at 5 or 10 years, that’s fine.  These ratings reflect a shorter time period. 

Honey Bees are an important pollinator of fruit trees.  There will be a Honey Bee Symposium in Palm Beach County this "winter".  It is open to the public.  The State of Florida reserved exclusive jurisdiction to regulate honey bees, so inconsistent City, County and HOA rules are voided by the state law.   

http://www.palmbeachbeekeepers.com/page/2014-fsba-conference

You have to register the beehives with the state.  We have members with beehives in Boca Raton. 

Registered beekeepers can sell honey without any special testing or additional license under the cottage industry exception.

http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/24010/486807/CottageFoodAdvisoryWithFormNumber.pdf

What fruit trees are safe to plant near a septic drain field 1)  without substantial risk of the roots clogging the drain field and 2) with sufficient filtration to ensure the fruit are sanitary to eat? 

In general, trees should NOT be planted over a septic drain field because the roots can clog the drain field.  For those unfamiliar with drain fields, drain fields are part of a septic tank system, where the sewage goes into the septic tank.  The solids settle to the bottom of the septic tank and decompose.  The remaining fluid (primarily water) then flows into a drain field to percolate into the soil. 

http://www.ehow.com/how_7498941_plant-trees-near-septic-lines.html

I currently have planted in-ground:

Borneo Red
Bangkok Lemon
Mai 2 (I heard about productivity issues after I bought it)
J-31
NS-1 (seedling)

I was thinking of adding:

NS-1 (grafted) - 34% edible flesh, 5% seeds
J-30  38% edible flesh, 9% seeds
Mai-1
Mai-3

Thoughts?  I am looking for productivity, high edible flesh percentage, edible rag, no splitting issues, and ease of growth.  Cold hardiness would be nice too.  Thoughts?

I asked  a friend very knowledgeable in fruit trees, which is the "Pickering" of bananas?  Meaning a disease resistant, productive (decent size), and reasonable tasting banana.  He suggested the FHIA 17 banana.  Thoughts?

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I stopped by Fairchild Botanical Gardens for National Bee Day... ironically bee people weren't interested in buying fruit...so I bought a bunch of fruit...

They didn't have a scale, so I got this Black Gold Jackfruit for $15


Most mangos were $1 per mango; these Springfel's were $2 per mango.