Before my string bean plants finished for the season I pulled several dried specimens and removed the seeds. These beans are nearly 3 feet long and taste not at all like store bought beans. If anyone wants some (U.S. only) for next years season, PM me your address and I'll send you a half dozen which will be enough to have your family eating beans all spring into the summer. I have enough to send maybe 6-8 people 6 beans each

Just soak the beans overnight in the late winter, sow in a pot and transplant outside when fear of a frost is gone with LARGE trellis work as these run a good 10 feet+
 

Last year and for several years before, I had no local bees in my yard.

I decided to plant bee friendly blooming plants around my house. I went to a few local home depot and Lowes stores and watched their perennial flower and herb sections for what attracted bees. I wound up buying several Mexican heather, lantana, Penta, Petchoa, and (on recommendation from here) basil which I hoped would bring them to my lot.

This year has been a very good year for bee activity here. Anyone else in So Fla. have ideas for perennial flowering plants that would attract bees?

There are several vendors on EBAY in Europe, Hawaii and Asia selling seeds has anyone ordered out of the lower 48?

My house has rather large overhanging roof eaves as well as utility easements on three sides which I wanted to reclaim for planting stuff as my planting space is limited.

To that end I wound up using the eaves as raised gardens for bee habitat and shaded nursery space, and along the easements I planted inexpensive figs, guava, bananas, grumichama cherry and coffee.

So far the rainwater coming off the tiled roof has splashed harmlessly onto the stone borders pf the raised gardens providing water to the plants as well as having the necessity of gutters negated.

I figure if the easement is needed by utility workers they'll either use the path of least resistance (the neighbors yards) or at worst I'd lose easily replaced plants if they need to be pulled out.

Anyone else have ideas for reclaiming unused yard / public space? I know one reader of this forum has claimed the center green area of the cul-de-sac in front of their house :-)

I've grown a bunch of mango seedlings for fun and rootstock but NEVER had one come up totally maroon colored from the dirt up.The only mango I can think of that I planted that was one of a kind was a Champagne or Honey mango.   

Has anyone heard of this one? Better still own one?



mod edit: Title was in caps.

I'm looking to get a shredder, and the Earthquake 14626 has great reviews. Anyone have one, or better ideas in the $400-$500 range?

I'm sort of getting hooked on eating Loquat and I only have two. One just gave up its last fruit tonight, the other is slowly giving up ripe fruit. I expect it to be done with its harvest period in a couple of weeks. Are there any loquat cultivars known to be fruiting earlier in the fall or much later into May (or even later) in South Florida?

The one that just finished was a "supreme" and the fruit is FAR better than the Christmas, it's not even a close race :-).

I broke down and against my better judgement bought one of those digital PH meters. My trees are happy (except my white sapote) and I never gave it a thought. I figured if things were ding I'd have to remedy the soil but, as I said everything grows well and eventually fruits.

So I get this thing, I dig down into the soil (it's a black / silver sandy soil) to loosen it, made some mud per the directions slid it in and it comes up 7.3-7.4.

Geez should I lose sleep tonight? :-)

Now my guitar buddies are telling me I need humidity meters in my house... In south Florida?

A friend has an avo with an issue on the bark of the trunk, anyone have any ideas what it is and any remedy?

I've read a bunch and seen a lot of video on grafting, but not specifically much about rootstock selection for mango grafting.

Q1. Is there as "superhero" preferred cultivar to use as global rootstock?
Q2. Do any cultivars used as rootstock have dwarfing influence?
Q3. Do scions from a polyembryonic tree do best with a rootstock from a polyembryonic parent?
Q4. Same question for monoembryonic
Q5. Can you mix poly/mono scion rootstock with impunity?
Q6. Does disease resistance / susceptibility of a rootstock impart any good / bad qualities to the scion?
Q6. Are there any preferred rootstock(s) for soil types and or weather conditions eg. sandy, clay, soil moisture, salt resistance etc.?

There's a wealth of knowledge dedicated to the graft union and above, but little to none (that I found) on the Q's above.

Just when you think you have everything you need this guy in West Palm turns up with 15 gal loquats for $25! I went there and WOW he has ~ 100 mango trees which he sells the fruit from commercially. He also has many mango trees (and more stuff) for sale. I saw a most unusual little ~10' papaya tree with HUGE papaya (twice as big as any I've seen before) on it too! 

I picked up a nice loquat that has a good fruit set (large sweet fruits) on it that I plan on grafting other varieties onto. Nice guy, GR8 prices. Look Charlie up on Craig's list search Loquats (CL is VERY specific, loquat in a search won't find him)  If you don't find him, PM me.

I'm expecting a bumper crop of mango this year and I've been looking for a way other than dehydration and freezing to keep them. Being of Italian extraction many families used to let whole black cherries sit in a mason jar for many years (decades actually) and drink the now cherry flavored juice and eat the VERY, VERY alcohol soaked cherries.

So I found the following for those of you with a few mason (or others with a  lid) jars to try. Note I'm going to try grain alcohol (instead of rum) available in package stores in Florida. Has anyone here tried something like this?

"Peel the mango, cut them into chunks and put the chunks, pulp AND THE SEEDs on a sheet pan and into the oven at 275° F., for one hour.

Everything, including the seeds go into a big jar with enough liquor to cover and he uses one of the expandable steaming things to weight the fruit down.  Use one of the mid-range white rums (I know nothing about this subject) and the last batch used Havana Club

You can use vodka but for God's sake don't use cheap stuff as it is a waste, white Bacardi is okay and is popular but the Havana Club and Appleton are better. Also throw in half a dozen whole allspice which isn't enough to make it taste spicy but will enhance the mango and in some batches add a piece of dried chile pepper, not too hot.

Leave it undisturbed and tightly sealed for at least a week before you check it, patience is important. It should be well infused after three weeks. When finished fix a hot buttered rum with it - the flavor combination is amazing. "