Tropical Fruit Forum - International Tropical Fruit Growers



Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - TonyinCC

Pages: 1 [2] 3
26
Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: Mayhaw Trees
« on: March 31, 2017, 10:06:33 PM »
Mayhaws make one of the very best jams you will ever taste. I have a bearing age tree at my farm in South Carolina. I will get you some fruit to start seeds from if the last frost didn't wipe out the crop. Worth a try I just don't have room at my place in Cape Coral to grow one.

27
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Inducing flowering and fruiting
« on: March 27, 2017, 07:27:30 PM »
I used Superbloom on a Jaboticaba under 3 feet tall a few weeks ago and I noticed it is pushing bloom buds while transplanting
  it into the ground today, it lost some roots so I hope it holds fruit.

28
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Chelated Iron EDDHA
« on: March 27, 2017, 06:06:59 PM »
What product is it? Sprint 138? I am in Cape Coral and need something better than Ironite for the crummy high pH canal fill "soil" in my yard...

29
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Inducing flowering and fruiting
« on: March 24, 2017, 10:32:23 PM »
Scott's Super Bloom 12-55-6  worked great on Starfruit and Miracle fruit for me last year. Wish I could get 50 lb bags of it instead of 2 pounds for about 12 bucks at Lowes.
I got an offseason bloom on a Mahachanok  mango tree last fall after giving it some, and it set fruit. I also gave that tree potassium sulfate.
 Super bloom works every time for sure on miracle fruit for me so far. I think I will try to time it and give my 3 bushes doses a couple weeks apart so I always have one fruiting.
 Starfruit is starting to push bloom buds now 2 weeks after a dose.
   Soluble kelp powder (1-3-14) from North American Kelp is also a good generalized bloom stimulator, I used that on lemons as a foliar spray 20 years ago.I had a potted Eureka lemon that would bloom after foliar kelp sprays. I plan on getting a drum of that and trying it on everything. If I only had one supplement to use on everything,it would be soluble kelp powder. 200 bucks for a 25 gal drum of it though but worth every penny. I would guess it has 10 times the nitrogen by the way it makes everything grow.It greens plants up in a similar way to Ironite.  Unlike Ironite, it can be used as a foliar spray . I also used it a tablespoon in a watering can as a general fertilizer. Wonder if it would work on Lychees to force them to bloom?
 North American kelp also sells a liquid plant growth regulator that is supposed to promote flowering. I have not tried it though.

30
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What to grow next?
« on: March 24, 2017, 06:15:11 PM »
Carambola AKA Starfruit should be number one on your list. I planted a 15 gal out last year and within months had harvested over a bushel of fruit at a size of about 6 feet tall. A seedling would take about 1-2 years to get to that point.
It makes a Summer and Winter crop in Florida, maybe it can carry one indoors in a pot in Winter. It can make a few fruit off partial blooms aside from the main crops, I have seen trees holding some fruit during most months of the year here. Tree is fast growing and comes back well after pruning.  A tree that size can be pruned back to get it indoors to a sunny window or sunroom yearly. Bell is the best tasting variety by far. Grocery store starfruit are terrible,not worth eating. I have tasted a half dozen varieties and Bell is the only one I would classify as a good tasting fruit and worth spending money on. Search google with the search words "Carambola growing in the Florida home landscape" I have a Place in SC halfway between Charleston and Columbia,could pick up almost anything on your list in Florida and bring it back, I make 2 round trips a month. I second the suggestions of pitangatuba and miracle fruit. I could ship a few starfruit or miracle fruit for shipping cost when available.

31
If you are pushing things on cold hardiness and are expecting a catastrophic freeze, temporarily mulching several feet deep around each tree can be a huge help. I have seen people get bananas to fruit in the Charleston, SC area with that trick. They built a cage with wire fencing several feet in diameter around the plant and mulched a foot above where the leaves come out of the trunk. That way only the top of plants gets frozen back. Lift the cage and spread the mulch after the immediate danger is past. Trees will die if buried for weeks, so cages have to be removed. It would be a fair amount of work doing this 10 times a Winter, once or twice is well worth it to save the plant. Foam pipe insulation around smaller scaffold limbs can help too if the trees are still small. Pruning back to main scaffolds just before the freeze might help too.
  If you had a rural property with a tractor and loader, you could bury trees to save grafts and main scaffolds and dig them out carefully after the freeze.
 Get a couple big bales of hay or a pile of wood chips to keep on hand during the winter months, it probably would have saved all the trees lost in New Orleans. A big enough pile of wood chips that has been sitting a while and kick started with some compost starter and water will actually generate its own heat from starting to decompose. If the warm pile is a few feet from the trees, that can help too... Carambola/Starfruit would seem a good candidate for zone pushing since the tree fruits heavily at a small size. Bell is my favorite variety. You might need to bury the whole tree with mulch during freezes for a winter crop of fruit though.
 These tips might make a difference of a few degrees to hopefully save some trees... Same basic principles people use to protect tea roses and small ornamentals in REALLY cold areas....

32
I have some and am passing by both Sarasota tomorrow before 8AM and St Augustine about 3 hours later, or could stick a few in the mail.  It produces fruit the first year.
 I have a plant I set out last year that I am planning on removing soon to make room for another mango tree. Unpruned it went from a 1 gal size to a 5 foot tall 14 foot wide lanky bush in a year. Fruit is similar to a blueberry but closest to an amelanchier. Flesh to seed ratio is about 50-50  Seeds are hard and about like the largest blackberry seeds. You would probably need a hundred foot hedge to get a usable amount of fruit as they seem to ripen a few at a time, unless you want it to feed local wildlife.
 I drive past both places every other week and could dig it up and have it pruned way back and in a pot 2 weeks from now too....Or available for you to come and dig it in Cape Coral...

33
You will have hogs sooner or later. Last fall I saw a huge hairy black one freshly road-killed on the causeway. I was tempted to pick it up but it was gone 2 hours later... They are infesting the western part of Cape Coral already, as are coyotes.

34
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How early does the "Zill" mango ripen?
« on: February 14, 2017, 05:47:47 PM »
In the area around Pine Island and the Ft. Myers area near the water it seems the earliest local mangos I have found go up for sale about the last 10 days of May. In 2016 everything was later, the first I found were about June 10. I think my Dad picked his first mangos the first week of June, but the 2 years before that it was about May 15-20 for the first fruit,his were Carries picked a bit early.He is close to the river in North Ft. Myers.
 I don't know of any DuPuis trees in the area to even graft from.Good to know Lara at least has DuPuis,does anyone further North have them? Now that this thread is up the only Zill in my area is probably gone already, I might need to find one of those too. Duncan trees are scarce here too,the only ones I can find have been in their pots way too long.

35
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: How early does the "Zill" mango ripen?
« on: February 14, 2017, 03:07:12 PM »
I agree that Glenn is very pleasant in a dry year. Last year neither it nor Valencia pride were really worth eating around here if you had to buy them. They were slightly better than a store bought Tommy...  I remember hearing DuPuis Saigon has some disease issues in wet humid areas but maybe I can get away with it being in a breezy area near the Gulf coast.No nursery near me carries it.
 Zill's issue with needing to be picked early might actually be a virtue in this situation. Zill could be perfect, considering that I want the fruit off the tree by the time other stuff comes in, assuming I can start eating them by mid May even if not quite at their peak (I prefer tart and slightly under ripe to washed out), and done by about the end of the first week of June. How early can Zill be picked in an average year? I don't mind spraying at times but I don't want to be a slave to it either.Maybe I can plant Zill AND Du Puis Saigon. Keitt and Cogshall ripen fruit without spraying near here,I can live with surface blemishes if a spray or two per tree can make the tree hold and keep the fruit edible.

36
Tropical Fruit Discussion / How early does the "Zill" mango ripen?
« on: February 14, 2017, 01:25:36 PM »
I am still undecided about an early season "workhorse" mango. I have recently planted an Edward, 2 Pickerings, a Cogshall , a Mun Kun Si, Fruit Punch, 2 Maha Chanoks , and have Peach Cobbler, Venus, Beverly, and Keitt as later season trees. I had a pot-bound Duncan that did not survive transplanting that needs to be replaced. I have a Lemon Meringue that has mostly just sat for 2 years in the ground that has one more year to at least flush some growth before I get rid of it. I will save a spot for Guava and one for Frances Hargrave. I will probably plant a Glenn as the early season workhorse unless Zill is a good alternative.If Glenn wasn't so washed out with all the rain last year, (Valencia Pride was a disappointment too last Summer) I would probably have planted one already.
I will probably get some fruit most years before June from my other trees, but I would like a tree that would flood me with mangos while the others are starting to trickle in.
 From the descriptions, Zill seems to be a decent enough mango if it can be done by mid June when the better stuff ripens in quantity.
 From scattered bits of information I gather that it produces well ,has a bit of pineapple flavor, and can ripen in May,June and possibly into July. Another source said it has a tendency to ripen all of its fruit within about a 3 week period.If it is freestone as one source says that would be a plus. It would be great if it could be all harvested by mid June.
 By then, some of the others I know we like will be producing enough to keep my ravenous family happy.
  Zill doesn't seem to be propagated much now with all the hype around the newer varieties but I found one tree available nearby. Some of the sweetest and best women aren't in the fanciest wrappers....Same with mangoes.Some of the best of both species don't get the love they deserve.. It is Valentine's day after all! Make your ladies happy today.... ;D
 Should I get a Glenn or the Zill? Or Florigon? My first Florigon died but I will try again if  advised to. It took 3 Keitt trees to get one well established...  I am on the Western edge of Cape Coral on the water less than a mile as the crow flies from Matlacha.

37
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Training my mulberry
« on: February 05, 2017, 06:53:59 AM »
As a practical matter in the average yard, I think the best course of action is not planting a mulberry tree... If you really like them, try to bonsai it into a multi stemmed bush no higher than you can harvest fruit from, unless you don't mind it taking up a 30-40 foot circle as a low, spreading tree. I guess you could bonsai a smaller spreading tree somewhere in between those sizes too.
 I would use a general strategy of making pruning cuts a half inch above buds facing the direction you want the branches to grow, which will usually be downward or outward, unless you need to replace a branch and want it to grow up. Take out vertical shoots and head back others to horizontal buds or bend them downwards.
Making pruning cuts just above a downward facing bud in order to force horizontal or downward growth decreases vigor and promotes fruiting in almost all fruit trees, as does taking out the central vertical leader and giving the tree several spreading trunks rather than one tall one. Many fruit trees in general will bear fruit a couple years earlier too and bear heavier crops once mature if pruned this way.  No worries about mulberries, they fruit quickly.
 
  You could successfully keep it at ladder reachable harvesting height of about 12-15 feet or so but it will then be a low spreading tree that makes a mess on a wider area. Mulberry trees get big and a picking pole wont help like with some other fruits. You will need to prune often. Training a mulberry tree can be almost as much work as training a cat.... Well at least you can train a mulberry tree IF you are determined. I have a 15 year old mulberry tree at my farm in South Carolina that has been successfully kept at about 12-15 feet height and 40 foot spread. In recent years I have pruned it to a somewhat more compact spread.

38
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Strange Mushroom ID wanted
« on: January 29, 2017, 12:47:49 AM »
Looks like a yellow bridal veil stinkhorn mushroom...
http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/phallus-multicolor.php

39
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: Satsuma cuttings
« on: January 15, 2017, 11:56:31 PM »
About 18 years ago, I rooted Owari Satsuma cuttings in peat/perlite with sterilized water/miracle grow in 3 liter plastic drink bottles cut apart and taped back together. One cutting per bottle. Just enough liquid to maintain humidity. Softwood cuttings with 2 mature leaves each.  Dipped cuttings in diluted bleach, then sprayed  with Wilt-pruf, dipped in Hormodin rooting powder. Put on a sunny windowsill,  Not ideal since I didn't have proper equipment. 2 out of 4 didn't rot and eventually rooted but it took a FULL YEAR before ready to transplant. Most stubborn plant I ever had any success rooting. Not sure how they did afterwards, I gave them away since by then I had bought additional trees to fill all the spaces in my yard..... Sold that house in 1999.

40
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Carambola varietys
« on: January 10, 2017, 07:53:14 PM »
My Dad in North Ft. Myers has Kari, Fwang tung, and Sri Kembangan. I can get you some fruit to taste if you like.
  Kari(orange) is decent and so is Fwang Tung (lighter yellow), but neither are anything special.
Sri Kembangan is sweeter and bigger with a bit of a floral aroma,I would rank it highest out of those but I would just barely call it good.
  I have heard good things about Arkin but not tasted it yet. It is supposed to be one of the better varieties with firm fruit.Most other starfruit get overly soft when ripe. I have a young tree ,but no fruit yet.
  There is a tree on Stringfellow road near you in the parking lot of the old Red's restaurant that some nurseries are propagating and calling Island gold, sounds like it is probably a Fwang Tung seedling better than the parent. I tasted one a few years ago but wasn't that impressed,maybe it wasn't ripe enough.
  I really like Bell(orange) , it has the best flavor and sugar acid balance,still crispy when ripe, the only starfruit I have tasted that would actually be worth buying at a stand or store. My kids do not consider it tart at all,it is just not bland and insipid like some of the other varieties. I have a few ripe ones if you want to try them. My internal refractometer would guess they are pushing 20 brix if not higher with the dry weather we have been having.  I am in Cape Coral close to Matlacha.

41
Cold Hardy Citrus / Re: The best tasting orange for coolder climate?
« on: January 07, 2017, 03:24:05 PM »
The trifoliate bitterness in US119 is mostly in the pith and the sheaths around each segment,if you individually peel each segment or gently juice it, it is of acceptable quality with just a very slight astringency. I enjoyed it, but it takes more time to eat one.
 Morton has too much trifoliate bitterness even if segments are peeled.
  I would suggest Owari satsuma or Ambersweet if you can find them. Ambersweet is almost as cold hardy as satsuma,it is actually a tangelo.
Ambersweet is to all appearances a high quality orange,but failed commercially due to low yield. I grew all of those except US119  and Morton, hundreds of miles north of Florida near Charleston,SC. All survived a hard freeze of -9.4 C
Ambersweet lost all leaves and wood smaller than a finger diameter at those temperatures but ripened early before the freezes. Satsuma lost leaves at -6.6 C and branches smaller than a pencil at -7.8 C.
  Changsha tangerine will take -10C or colder with little damage and has good flavor and juice but the fruit is 30-50% seeds. Meiwa kumquats are wonderful and are about as hardy as satsuma but grow very slowly so are slow to recover from damage. Meiwa is a must have in any cold hardy citrus collection.
Ambersweet has much more vigor than satsuma so makes a larger tree even though it is  more susceptible to freeze damage. Orlando tangelo is slightly more cold hardy than an orange but of similar size and eating quality.

This website has some information about some other hardy citrus but does not ship overseas.

http://mckenzie-farms.com/photo.htm

42
I think Top Tropicals ships plants to all 50 states. I saw some nice smaller 3 gal plants of that variety there just before Christmas.They looked like 2016 grafted trees that I wouldn't expect to be root bound. They list Mango trees and some other plants as ship-able to California, which has very tight restrictions.
I would guess they ship Mango trees to Texas but call them to find out for sure. Not sure what type of cold temperatures they would go through in shipment this time of year,that might be a risk....

43
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Oro Negro fruit at Wal-Mart
« on: January 04, 2017, 06:55:26 AM »
Bought 2 more at the Del Prado Walmart in Cape Coral, they are still at 2 different stores, this store had about 50 in bin, very uniform shape and size,all looked alike with a few just starting to turn black. Maybe they are imported? Someone must have found a way to make the trees more productive,maybe a really good pollinator match? Rootstock,growth regulators? The price was 2 bucks a piece now. Anyone else see these at Wal-marts in Florida or elsewhere?

44
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Oro Negro fruit at Wal-Mart
« on: January 02, 2017, 05:07:18 AM »
I think a big part of my root rot problem was caused by removing 32 non fruiting trees of various types with stumps big enough to need grinding from a .37 acre overgrown lot soon after I bought my property.
 All of those roots reached into pretty much the whole yard area and started rotting the minute I started clearing the old trees. I even lost a few newly transplanted mango and jackfruit trees to root rot issues. I am stubborn enough that I will eventually have avocado trees in every spot I have set aside for them even if I have to screen hundreds of seedlings for resistance to root rot in my yard. Lula seedling rootstock is guaranteed to die in my yard at least...

45
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Oro Negro fruit at Wal-Mart
« on: January 02, 2017, 12:07:22 AM »
Maybe they experimented and found a clonal rootstock it produces well on?
 Doesn't seem productive or precocious on whatever root most people are growing it on, the variety might just not be a good match on commonly used rootstock.
 Maybe it is more productive and precocious on the right one, but I wouldn't expect Brooks to tell us what they use... 
 Fruit ripened evenly and was very nice even though it was picked fully green. I think rootstock is very important for many fruits but I don't hear much about avocado rootstock in Florida except Lula and Waldin seedlings. Carlos said he uses Catalina seedlings  sometimes. I saw an old article somewhere online that said it was one of the most resistant to root rots, along with Pollock seedlings. The same article said Lula is extremely susceptible to root rot, I have lost every avocado tree variety on Lula seedling rootstock in my yard to root rot. (Even on 2 foot mounds with perfect drainage.)

46
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Oro Negro fruit at Wal-Mart
« on: January 01, 2017, 09:48:01 PM »
The avocados were $2.50 each and every one in the bin looked like the same variety. all were green in the bin but ripened black.   Either Brooks has a rootstock that Oro Negro performs well on, or someone picked them from a tree thinking they were Monroe.
 I know with some fruits (apples), using the right rootstock with a given variety can make a huge difference in fruit quality and yield.


47
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Oro Negro fruit at Wal-Mart
« on: December 31, 2016, 10:18:50 AM »
I bought 2 avocados at one of the Cape Coral Florida stores on Dec23. They were labeled as Brooks slimcados with 4223 stickers but fruit was green and had right shape and size for Oro Negro. Sure enough they ripened black after a few days. I ate one this morning and it had the same buttery great taste. A very pleasant surprise. Worth a look at Florida Wal-Marts for a little while....

48
Thanks to all for your help. I wanted one tree of the earliest possible compact healthy mango variety that is NOT Rosigold, I have never seen a Rosigold at any nursery that didn't look weak and ragged, and I don't like sickly trees that are in constant need of spraying.
I figured by including Rosa in my request it would double my chances of finding a really early mango. Enjoyable but far from great is ok for one of the earliest fruit of the season... I think dwarf Hawaiian would suit me for an early fruit.
   I know Fruitscapes sells lot of locally sourced fruit from varieties of which they don't carry trees of for sale.(they charge a pretty penny for the fruit) Can't really blame them for selling fruit for the highest price they can get. I would go broke buying a dozen or more mangos a day all Summer from them, my family tears into them like starving wolves. I still buy some mangos from them to taste new varieties. Good nursery, and people I would trust not to switch tags, but not a HUGE selection of varieties on hand.
 Frances Hargrave just sounds too good to not have a tree of , since it is supposed to be a compact, fairly early season, healthy tree 

49
I have had it happen several times in the past in another state with temperate fruits. Odds are at LEAST one of the trees I already have in the ground is a Haden or a TOMMY LOL

50
Looking for 3 gal size grafted mango trees, anywhere south of Tampa in SW Florida. Might consider 7 gal trees. Varieties I am looking for are Frances Hargrave, Dwarf Hawaiian, and Rosa.  I know a few nurseries in SE Florida list them, I might drive out if I knew for sure that they are available. I just hesitate to ask for a specific variety when I call a nursery unless I have a level of personal trust that the trees are true to type and not tag switched just to make a sale. I also hesitate to drive 120 miles or more each way to find out what I want is unavailable. I am in Cape Coral.

Pages: 1 [2] 3
Copyright © Tropical Fruit Forum - International Tropical Fruit Growers