The Tropical Fruit Forum

Darn it.  I don't need a giant tree in my yard.  Guess the P-22 gets evicted.  I appreciate the help.  Better to find this out before the tree becomes a Goliath.   I'm now in the market for an M-4.

Thanks so much.  I've been given a lot to consider thanks to your kindness in answering my question.  I'm down to Maha, P-22 and M4.  Sadly, I just have a normal sized 1/4 acre residential yard so space is at an ultra premium.  How is the production for P-22 and M4?  Are those trees fairly disease resistant?  I know Maha ticks the boxes for a lot of things (including disease resistance), but I haven't known anyone to rave about the flavor of that mango.   Am I wrong?  I know it's a good mango, but no-one says it's a top ten from what I've seen.  Anyway, I'm headed out to a nursery in Tampa to pick up my new tree for the recently cleared 'prime spot.'   

Any other votes?

I picked a Glenn drop from the ground twice yesterday and found two small holes in the skin of each fruit.  There was also a fairly long worm inside each of the holes using it for breathing.  It wasn't a Caribbean fruit fly larva.  Has anyone else had long white worms in their ripe mangos before in Florida outside of Caribbean fruit fly?  I've been growing mangos in Orlando for over ten years and never have seen anything like it.  I'm just asking in case it might be something new and invasive. I should have taken a photo, but I was just disgusted at the time and threw the offending piece away.  In hindsight, I realize I should have documented it.

The weird thing was the visible hole and the fairly large maggot directly inside of it (about three times the size of a Caribbean fruit fly maggot).


Any mango experts out there get anything in their fruit like this before?  By the way, I live in Orlando and have about 30 trees.

Help! 

I have these black spots on the limbs of my mulberry tree here in Orlando Florida.  I've had them about a year now.  The tree seems fine, but the fruit is subpar -- it might be affected. Any ideas what this is and if it needs treatment? 

Thanks, Chrobrego

Hi,

I have a formerly healthy Lula avocado tree here in Florida.  Every year the fruit was beautiful, but last year the fruit started to scab.   I thought it was because of a cold spell, but it's happening again this year.  What could this be? Secondly, how do I fix it?   

Could this be thrips damage? I'm not an avocado expert, so I'm guessing.  If so, would a systematic insecticide like Bayer Fruit knock the little #$%# out? 

Any avocado experts out there?

Thanks,

Shawn

Lemondrop mangosteen -- small fruit and often infested with small worms
Cattley guava -- Caribbean fruitfly magnet
Papaya -- smells like feet when good and usually infested with Papaya fruitfly maggots when not. Might try again and bag sooner.
Cherry of the Rio Grande -- small worms in dark fruit. Nope....
Peaches of all varieties -- had a small orchard of glorious Florida peaches for a couple of years before the Caribbean fruit fly found it.  Couldn't protect them and every peach infested with maggots.
Grumichama -- some infested with small worms
Passionfruit -- too hard to control
Dwarf everbearing mulberry -- fruit too small to be worth the effort
Citrus except for Sugar belle and Persian limes -- citrus greening killed the rest
White Sapote (Suebelle) -- if in fact a real Suebelle, this fruit had a real nasty aftertaste. Attracted fruit fly as well.
Jujube (Sugar Cane) -- Never fruited in Central Florida; was told it needed more chill hours by the nursery. It also had too many spiny suckers popping up.
Wax jambu -- small fruit, tasteless and attacked by fruit fly
Pitangatuba -- small bombs of pure acid; perhaps good mixed with a drink, but not fresh eating
Low chill pears -- nice tree but no fruit in six years in Central Florida
Feijoa -- small flowers but never any fruit in 7 years
Various Guava -- not once attacked by Caribbean fruit fly (amazingly), but not a fresh eating fruit for me
Rollinia -- die back and no fruit
June Plum -- fruit was hard to eat and seed had spikes
Ice cream bean -- need two to pollinate and die back every winter
Figs -- a few varieties were ok, but not worth the space and the constant battle with rust

I kept my Sue Belle white sapote at 10 feet. It was very vigorous though so I needed to prune about every six months.  It took a good prune though with no problems.

Does anyone know if Rose Apple is hit by Caribbean fruit fly?  Does anyone grow this fruit in Florida?  What are the results? Any maggots?  Thanks.

I was at Truly Tropical so I picked one up. I actually found a less than ideal spot for it, but still a spot. I'll let you know how it goes in the 3 years or so it'll take to get a fruit.

Here are a few pics of my residential yard. Every tree/shrub produces fruit. I don't think you'd notice that the front yard has: white Himalayan mulberry, five different jaboticaba, five varieties of feijoa, macadamia, avocado, atemoya, Barbados cherry, loquat, pitangatuba, achacha, dwarf mango and persimmon. They all are very ornamental and don't look out of place in the neighborhood. The backyard is a different story (even more tropical fruit trees): looks like a jungle.

It's grafted so the graft isn't aware that it's a very small plant. It will sometimes flower and try to push a fruit. Don't let it fruit at this size or you can risk killing your tree.  Remove all fruit for the first 3 years (maybe two) to allow the tree to build up a strong trunk and deep roots.

Har lists Pram Kai Meu as supremely delicious. Does anyone have this tree? What is the consensus on it?