The Tropical Fruit Forum

After speaking and seeking out advice from many people "in the know" it seems that I'm eating many of my mangos before their prime.
I've been primarily using the feel test to determine if a mango was ready to eat.
Can you guys give me some pointer

Here's what i have on my counter ripening, Dupuis, Glenn, Cogshall, Florigon


Is yellowness the best indicator?

Anyone have advise on what mango variety would do good on Cac/Coc?

The tree seems to be doing a lot better this year after mulching but the leaves look a bit deficient.
It had scale infestation a few months back.

So it seems like everyone from Caribbean comes to Florida and a "Julie" mango seed happens to be in their pocket.  (Same thing with other nationalities but replace Julie with that nations favorite mango)
As we all know a Julie mango seedling is not a Julie. Even in the Caribbean itself people plant Julie seedlings claiming they are Julies.
If i had to guess between South Florida and the Caribbean there is probably around 100,000 unique "Julie"s.

How does one go about deciding which Julie is THE Julie?
I guess this is a mango history question. But i'm even more interested in the process of determining which tree's scion to bring back, propagated and call Julie.

Feel free to post histories of other mangos and their selection process here.

This house will probably be sold soon so I thought i share some pictures of the tree.
My first introduction to custard apple is through the mother of this tree, which is a 30 ft monster in boca.

I had one of the first fruits of the season and it is delicious. I think there was around 40 fruits on it.

In previous years i remember it being a bit sweeter but we might have picked it to early.

I have to mention my only experience with Custard is from this tree, its mother and the ones from Truly Tropical. I find them all delicious and i like them better then most sugar apples I've eaten (waiting to taste a big red).

What makes this one different is that its very creamy. Reminds me of cheese cake. The added creaminess gives it a more filling feeling.
The only slight down side is the layer below the skin is slightly gritty, but if you like sapodilla and other annonas it wouldn't be a problem.
Fruit:



Tree:

Hello everyone,
I've been trying to document the growth of the trees I planted around the yard.The plan is to take photos of each tree every January.
Hopefully others can benefit from seeing the growth rate of the trees. At least how they grow in my yard.

So far i have 2015 and now 2016. I'll try to update the post every year.


Mango - Valencia Pride
 


Mango - Nam Doc Mai
 


Ice Cream Bean
 
I cut it back summer 2015 because the wind was blowing it over.


Starapple - Purple
 

Mango - Keitt
 

Malay Apple 1
 

Malay Apple 2
 

Mango - Glenn
 

Mango - Carrie
 

Mango - Lancetilla
 

Lemon - Meyer
 

Mango - Neelam
 
Was throwing all my kitchen scraps underneath for the good part of a year and had my potted plants nearby so it was constantly getting watered.

Guava - Thai
 

Mango - Fairchild
 
It started dropping leaves late 2014 i think because of a lack of water, slowly bouncing back.

Mango - Rosigold
 

Atemoya - Gefner 1 (Formally Lisa)


Atemoya - Gefner 2
 

Soursop
 

Abiu
 
Seemed like it suffered from drought stress in late 2014 like the Fairchild Mango, very slow to come back

Jackfruit - J31
 

Jackfruit - Golden Pillow
 

I have a few more plants and will post here whenever i have another picture to compare it to.

flickr albums:
2015 Yard - https://flic.kr/s/aHsksDRyLD
2016 Yard - https://flic.kr/s/aHsksd4pZS

I found one more spot in my yard and I want to plant a mango there.
Its going to be in my front yard so i plan on having to deal with theft.

Here are my requirements:
Mid-Season
Not attractive (no red)
Manageable size (I would like to keep it around 15x15 maybe a bit bigger)
Tart component in taste.

So far I've been thinking Lemon Zest or Fruit Punch but if i can get Taralay that will trump everything I previously mentioned.
Or should i wait for new varieties?
What do you think?

I'm selling a blood orange tree that i bought from home depot around 2 years ago. Seems to be doing fine just not growing that fast (at least compared to mangos).
I'm getting rid of it because i would rather grow a avocado or another tropical instead.

Its planted in the ground so you have to come dig it up, I'll dig a trench around and water it this weekend (I read this is the best way to help trees in the transplant process).

I bought it as a 5 gallon for $35-40 IIRC. I would say now its around the size of a 7 gallon.
I'm looking for something in the $50 range or best offer.

Worst case scenario if it dies you can always bring it back to homedepot and get $35ish in credit.

Sorry for the fuzzy pics, I was in a rush this morning

The area on the North side of my house has an AC unit that the city requires to cover. Right now there is a trellis that is falling over and I want to replace it with something useful. I want either a Eugenia or Black Sapote.  Any suggestion would helpful.

My requirements are:
1. The fruit be sort of big (I'm not going to be on that side of the house a lot so one fruit to pick instead of a bunch of small ones would be great)
2. Can do with a bit of shade (I don't mind if the tree is not prolific)
3. Compact (Block the AC unit from sight, and be able to keep at around <12 ft with trimming)
4. Can eat out of hand (not too sour)
5. Easy to grow

I saw that the starcherry or uvalha might work be from what I've been reading is they might be a bit to tart.
It doesn't seem like there is much in terms of differences in variety. The black sapote tree from Truly Tropical was sort of hedge looking IIRC.

I planted a Lisa tree two years ago from a 15 gallon pot. This is the first year I'm letting it hold fruit. It had a fruit on it in spring but then it dropped in late summer (I guess because of the drought).
In summer it set a few new fruits, I would say the July-August time frame.  The fruit with the mesh is a little of the size of a golf ball.


Here is the tree




When should they be ready? I don't know the typical season, but I assume its not much longer.

I know mango season is over (at least here in florida) so this maybe a bit late.
I had a few Taralay mangos from Zills mango in July. I really liked it. Taste very similar to Black/Buxton spice, only better IMO.
Anyone have any info on this variety. Growth habits, production, season, size? Is it even available to the public?
Thanks

I know before finding this forum the annonas seemed to be a mystery because of thepollination requirement. (nitidulid beetle)

Looking around the forum I haven't seen a thread for a list of self-pollinating/self-fruiting annonas. Basically annonas that don't require hand pollination. I realize that this may be change from region to region, so if you nominate a variety let us know where you had experience growing it.

Sugar Apple (A.Squamosa)
Big Red
Peruvian Red
Giant Boca Chewy
Orlando Chewy
Na Dai
No Split (Maurice Kong Selection)

Atemoya (A.Squamosa X A.Cherimola)
Geffner
Dream
Calostro (Super African Pride)
Birula (Super Lisa)
Phet Pakchong

Cherimoya (A.Cherimola)
Santa Rosa

Ilama (A. Diversifolia)
?

Custard Apple (A. Reticulata)
San Pablo
Fernandez

Soursop (A. Muricata)
?

I know i'm missing some species and the genus rollinias, if you have information on them I'll be happy to add it.

Here is the compiled list. I'll be updating it from time to time.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Fdx3kcjceO64Y8MDx7Gkj-6Tw1oY4eyEl4hbtYbPN-A/edit?usp=sharing