Ok, I have ordered some fruit trees to grow near the front of my office in pots.

I'd like to know the most ideal way to set them up in potted scenarios since I'm accustomed to putting my plants in the ground.  I plan to keep them under 12'.

I have a Mango NDM, Avocado mex, indian almond, and a carambola k.

I would like to know the best size and type of pots, soil mixtures and fertilizers that should be used here.  As well as when ferts should be applied.

I need the pots to be lightweight as possible since these will get moved in and out of the office everyday.

The trees will be destined to stay in the pots permanently and I already grow the varieties in my orchard (except gor the indian almond--which ive never grown), so I'm not concerned with future in ground needs.  Just the perfect, ongoing potted arrangement.

Thanks!

I got mine from Willis Orchards.  He carries both pollinators.  I think they are every bit worth 2 spots in the yard.  It's a pretty tree.

Definitely keep them in mostly shade.  I keep mine under the shadow of my bananas so the west sun is mostly blocked.

Failed to mention my Suruga also.  I forget about it since it is very late season.  It is also nonastringent.  It stays much smaller and slower growing than the others.

Perfect.  My loquat stands about 16' at the moment.  Since it is a seedling, it probably wont produce for another 5+ years.

Let me know what scions you have available, what the costs are, and I'll probably take some of each.

Quote from: Viking Guy on February 24, 2015, 06:23:31 PM

I was told you are the guy to go to for loquat scions.

I purchased a supposed Wolfe, but turns out it is a seedling.  I'd like to take advantage of the beautiful tree though, and add varieties to it.

What do you recommend?

out of my collection I'd say go for Avri, Tori, Novak, Xmas, and Aiden.

also have Puppelo (white flesh variety, excellent acid sweet balance, medium size fruit)

vista white (white flesh, very sweet)

still waiting on my Peluche to fruit...ive sold scions and now the scions are flowering, but my mother tree hasn't flowered...the leaves are very large, deeply serrated, and the fruit is supposed to be a beast...bigger than any other loquat i've seen...but I have yet to see for myself...scions are available though.

Aiden has been highly requested, I need to gather scions...my only tree is too small to get scions from.  I'm hoping to get some scions asap..and pics of the mother tree with fruits...its holding a nice crop now..it's the largest fruited cultivar i've seen to date in person.

I was told you are the guy to go to for loquat scions.

I purchased a supposed Wolfe, but turns out it is a seedling.  I'd like to take advantage of the beautiful tree though, and add varieties to it.

What do you recommend?

Looks like it was Jan 8, 2015.  Temp dropped to 20.7°F.  Of course, 4 days later our temp was 73.8°F on Jan 12, 2015.

Although, I never personally saw the thermometer near my house dip below 25, but I was also sleeping at the coldest hour.  lol

I feel the same way, although think it is due to their position with the house.  They are located on the SE corner and surrounded by giant closed canopy citrus.  I only insulated the trunks, as it wasn't expected to get the cold blast like we did.

The citrus varieties which lost their leaves are out in the open and younger.  The one that didn't was my rio red grapefruit.  I thought grapefruit were supposed to be very cold sensitive, but this one didn't even drop a leaf--on the contrary, pushed out additional new growth.   Yeah, that confused me.

I find this very hard to believe. Low 20s for 12 hours and no damage? 

Quote from: Viking Guy on February 23, 2015, 05:57:00 AM

Bailey's Marvel and Nam Doc Mai are tough.  Mine saw a 12hr snap of 20-22F that went back to 30s right after for a couple days.  Not even a burned leaf.  The Irwin did well also.

My more sensitive citrus varieties dropped their leaves and a few branch tips browned on them.

The loser out of the bunch seems to be my key lime.  Looks like all of its smaller branches browned and it quite possibly died.  My Kari carambola looks stressed also.

Early Peaches and Nectarines were in full bloom and apparently didn't care.  Their fruit even set, and I didn't see a single bug making pollenation attempts.

What a crazy winter this was.  Hot and random cold snaps.  My pears and apples seemed to love the cold, though.  I have a ton more fruiting spurs than normal. 

Called the nursery supplier to get some more detailed info.  He said he thinks the the ones they sold then came from Century South Nursery and it is possible they were all seedlings.  He mentioned they may have shut down, and the ones they have now came from somewhere else.

Well, I bet I know why they shut down--selling inappropriately labelled trees.

Looks like I am in the market for some mount scions. 

I'm open for suggestions.  I like Wolfe, and not as recently familiar with other varieties.

Quote from: Viking Guy on February 23, 2015, 02:31:51 PM

I just left the nursery where I bought it from shortly ago to check their baby loquats, and they all appear to be grafted.  Going to take a photo as soon as I get home of mine's trunk and post it up for your review.  I didn't think this was normal.  I will definitely be interested in some scions if this turns out to be a seedling.

What do you feed it and how often?

I fed it 666 every couple of months after I planted it for about the first 18 months.  I've done very little to it since.

The monster seems vigorous and happily vegetative :/

I'm tempted to cut off his head to thicken the trunk.  He's growing very tall with wide branches--but it stays windy here and it feel pretty solid.

I just left the nursery where I bought it from shortly ago to check their baby loquats, and they all appear to be grafted.  Going to take a photo as soon as I get home of mine's trunk and post it up for your review.  I didn't think this was normal.  I will definitely be interested in some scions if this turns out to be a seedling.

Bailey's Marvel and Nam Doc Mai are tough.  Mine saw a 12hr snap of 20-22F that went back to 30s right after for a couple days.  Not even a burned leaf.  The Irwin did well also.

My more sensitive citrus varieties dropped their leaves and a few branch tips browned on them.

The loser out of the bunch seems to be my key lime.  Looks like all of its smaller branches browned and it quite possibly died.  My Kari carambola looks stressed also.

Early Peaches and Nectarines were in full bloom and apparently didn't care.  Their fruit even set, and I didn't see a single bug making pollenation attempts.

What a crazy winter this was.  Hot and random cold snaps.  My pears and apples seemed to love the cold, though.  I have a ton more fruiting spurs than normal. 

I grow a variety that tastes better than any I've tried, and got it from seeds from a grocery store.

You just never know with papayas.  I obtained a Red Lady to grow this year and will see how it handles our conditions.

We are in very hot and humid weather, and lots of rainfall and sandy soil.  I've placed mine on mounds and added some rock into the soil.  The ones grown at ground level all died during the extended wet winter.  The mounded ones did fine.

Papayas do not transplant well, so make sure to grow them in MUCH larger pots than normal if you plan to transplant them so the roots are not disturbed.

Since I don't know what variety my seedlings came from, I will call them the "Viking."  lol.

It is all about where you live with weather conditions and the type of tree and soil.

For me, we get floods and very heavy rainfall constantly.  Our battle is keeping the feet of our trees from getting too wet.

We build 6" -12" mounds and use thin to medium cut cypress mulch a foot away from the trunk to about 6 inches or more beyond the drip line, because it is great for drawing out and repelling moisture when conditions are rough.  Not only doesn't mulch provide those many benefits above, such as soil temperatures and moisture with beneficial microorganisms, it also keeps the top soil in place when floods wash everything away.

Then we grow some native fruit trees which grow with the grass, flat to the ground and the only mulch they get is their dropped leaves or the leaves from our magnolias (which is highly nutrient).

Everything else goes in raised beds or pots and still gets mulched.

Also for non fruiting trees, aromatic cedar mulch works well repelling tons of insects.  Use it cautiously around fruiting plants and trees, though, as it can also repel pollinators.

Unless you are growing native local fruit trees, I recommend mulching--but how much and what type depends on your overall conditions.

Mulch a citrus?  Well, I have done both and saw no difference other than when using mulch I had less tree drownings and better survival rates in colder weather, as well as in hot humid weather.  Only benefit I got from not mulching was I saved time, money and effort.  When it comes to my plants, I'm a glutton for punishment.