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Messages - pineislander

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76
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Leaf Color
« on: February 25, 2018, 06:17:57 PM »
I believe the color flush is a natural temporary sunscreen till leaves make chlorophyll.

77
Hmm so concrete pillars seem to be the way to go. They look about three feet high? How deep into the ground do they need to go?

Thank you for your help!

The dragonfruit stems hang down ~3 feet so you should set post tops about 5-6 feet above ground. In sandy soil set posts about 2 feet deep, in clay maybe shallower, so total about 8 feet.
Line post forms with plastic sheeting and cure covered for 1-2 weeks. Mix concrete dry as possible to gain strength, sloppy concrete is weaker. Keeping concrete wet and moist after casting promotes concrete strength.
You could cast posts in a trench dug in soil and lined with plastic, no wooden form needed. Use rebar in concrete.

78
I made concrete posts.   They work very well. The roots adhere to the concrete very well. No burlap needed.   I tried to make my posts not have something on top but realized that they needed something on top for support as the plants cascaded down. So I put a long piece of rebar inside the concrete as I made it and had that rebar protrude up through the top middle of the concrete which gave me an attachment point for  A pressure-treated wooden post which I drove rebar through and put hog wire on the rebar.
Brad
When casting concrete, you can provide a hole in the concrete for inserting rebars by embedding pieces of pvc pipe with an inner diameter large enough to later pass the rebar through. Before putting the pipes into the wet concrete, just run some tape over the ends to exclude concrete.


79
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Homemade foliar spray
« on: February 23, 2018, 06:30:57 PM »
I am trying to keep our farm in compliance with Demeter organic farm standard. Which means at least 85% of all inputs/fertilizers, etc. need to be generated onsite.  I am making a foliar spray from fresh mulched Albizia leaves and fresh cut clover, placing in cheesecloth and filling with water and let ferment for six weeks. You then mix with water 15 parts water to 1 part Albizia water.  I plan on using this in combination with a homemade em1 and a fermented alfalfa foliar spray.  Does anyone have any recipes they use?
Is this 85% by weight, volume, or what metric?

80
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Using weights on young mango trees
« on: February 23, 2018, 06:15:47 PM »
I'm training six young Soursops in ground using small logs as weights and twine to tie it off. I have gotten the first scaffold branches to behave. Those trees tend naturally towards upright growth making the fruit hard to harvest or hand pollinate. It is working so far, along with some selective pruning of upright growing shoots. The video maker is a friend, I asked for the update.

81
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sugar Cane and Sorghum Cane juicing.
« on: February 23, 2018, 07:07:08 AM »
This is an interesting home made small scale device which seems to work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHVy7EigDjU

83
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: EM-1
« on: February 20, 2018, 06:48:52 AM »
pineislander  why do your fish bones and scales not dissolve ??
Scales are made of enamel and bones of hard tissue with calcium phosphate. I assume the bacteria cannot disintegrate those as well as the fleshy parts. I do see some flashy bits of scale in the settled water residue of the diluted mix, and have kept the leftover scale/bones in a drum to see if they dissolve some over time. I have read that the solution gets acidic as the lactic acid bacteria produce acid (like yogurt is acid) but that may not be strong enough to dissolve bone/scale.

84
Carlos from Miami recommended these rotor sprays, I put them on 18" risers one on each side of trees. It is very easy to see if they clog, usually it is ants or spiders coming in from outside, the orifices are large enough to not clog. With low pressure they still cover 4 ft. diameter, with max pressure they cover +10 ft diameter. I interplant smaller plants heavily around trees and this pattern covers the entire root zone. I feel that keeping the entire root zone moist helps maintain soil life and encourage roots across a larger area than drip or microsprays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtn1_wfgqA4
This is the specific rotor I am using, but the variable valve is probably not necessary, I usually just adjust pressure to change spray diameter. These screw into an 18" riser which plugs into tubing. I support the riser using a 2 ft length of 1/8" heavy galvanized fence wire and tyrap.



85
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 5+ must have for SW Florida??
« on: February 19, 2018, 08:26:19 PM »
Sapodilla is relatively trouble free in our area. Sugar apple, guava and papaya will yield quickly. I've sent you a PM since we are near neighbors.

86
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: EM-1
« on: February 19, 2018, 08:21:09 PM »
I am using a home made version of fish hydrolysate produced by first culturing a liquid EM and using that to ferment saltwater fish waste with added sugar. The result contains both the bacteria, sea minerals from fish and the usual NPK found in fish hydrolysate, approx 3-2-1. It took about 3-4 months using 200 lbs sugar, whey from 5 gallons milk, an EM starter culture, and 200 lbs fish guts/heads/etc from the local market (traded for mangoes).
Smell is fishy but sweet/sour, not the smell of rotten fish you might expect, there is some fish oil.
Yield was 40 gallons strained emulsion plus 20 gallons leftover bones and scales.
Cost was low and has been working well as soil drench and foliar, one cup with 5 gallons water.
I am considering adding ground papaya as a pre-digestion stage in my next batch.

87
Carlos from Miami recommended these rotor sprays, I put them on 18" risers one on each side of trees. It is very easy to see if they clog, usually it is ants or spiders coming in from outside, the orifices are large enough to not clog. With low pressure they still cover 4 ft. diameter, with max pressure they cover +10 ft diameter. I interplant smaller plants heavily around trees and this pattern covers the entire root zone. I feel that keeping the entire root zone moist helps maintain soil life and encourage roots across a larger area than drip or microsprays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtn1_wfgqA4

88
At 17.5 x 20 you would have years of plenty of room between trees. Space like that could be used for intercrops of shorter term plants or trees like banana, papaya, guava, etc. Some even try planting close and removing every other mango tree but others I've seen try that became attached and couldn't bear to cut out 1/2 their trees. There is a lot of work involved in preparing land, setting up irrigation and all to put in small trees so widely spaced, it seems like using that space for something beneficial would make sense.


90
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: February 15, 2018, 07:05:11 AM »
Yes, I made 10 of these posts and so here is a side-by-side of 24 hours growth.



91
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: February 14, 2018, 06:20:47 AM »
24 hours before this photo was taken the dragon fruit stem was one inch below the disc, so it is 'flying' upwards at more than 1" per day! That was yesterday morning I expect it to be above the 2" thick disk by this morning.



92
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: what to do with a stunted mango tree
« on: February 13, 2018, 08:19:50 PM »
I am leaning toward removing the tree and plant a new one (likely raised bed/pot approach and maybe also amend the soil below it too).

If you remove it be sure to check root area for problems, lots of trees get potbound circling roots, etc.

93
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pantin Mamey Height Reduction.
« on: February 13, 2018, 06:04:25 PM »
So, would you folks say if a branch gets 18" long and doesn't fork it should be tipped?
If not, to what length would you restrict branch length?

94
What chemical do the posts have on the label? If CCA the plant roots will be in contact with Chromium, copper and arsenic.
Marine piling tags may have a figure of 2.5 lbs of this chemical per cubic foot.
http://www.woodpreservers.com/marine-construction-piling-lumber.php



96
Surprised to see my mamey flowering too. Less than 1 year in ground grafted Pantin.



97
Citrus General Discussion / ID this citrus, please
« on: February 11, 2018, 08:17:51 PM »
Looking to find more info on this variety, tastes like lime, seedless, from Assam Northwest India.



98
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: OK to start fertilizing in South Florida?
« on: February 10, 2018, 10:06:54 PM »
I never stopped fertilizing my one year old trees and most of them are flushing. SW Florida, zone 10a/b

99
Outside of zone you folks who want to fruit bananas might consider making a deal with a large shopping mall, hospital or office building to overwinter your tree. many of them pay interior landscapers to bring plants in, have plenty of space, warm temps and light.

You might get in touch with one of those landscapers about loaning them a well-grown tree for the winter, and just pick it up up and continue in springtime.

100
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: White jack fruit
« on: February 07, 2018, 08:41:17 PM »
There are many many Thai fruit videos, almost anything and everyone has a cell phone but no one can show a white Jackfruit being opened. Maybe there is a reason why? If you really had such a thing, wouldn't you advertise by video?

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