The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: RS on April 23, 2022, 01:39:25 PM
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Hello, I have a 2 year old ~12 ft tall pink wampee that's defoliated everywhere except the very top. Is this normal for post-winter in Central FL? We had a freeze in January. Should I prune it back? It used to provide a nice green screen to help block the neighboring house in backyard. Thanks in advance for any help.
(https://i.postimg.cc/QHXM9vFS/Pink-wampee.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/QHXM9vFS)
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I don't know about pink wampee, but I have a about 10 old yellow variety that I grow from seed. It is normal for wampee to defoliated like that. I normally cutted the tip of the tree when it is about 3 ft tall to encourage branches. Wampee is better with multi branches and cut back when harvest the fruits. Here is a picture of my tree.
(https://i.ibb.co/WGr1zCb/20220423-135849-HDR.jpg) (https://ibb.co/WGr1zCb)
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hello RS, I have a 6 ft wampee in a 3 gal pot which lost all of i'ts leaves from the januray freeze
it is now coming back all over with leaves. i woud give it some more time.
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Pink turtle- is yours fruiting, what age did it start?
-Joe
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I have a Pink Wampee. Last summer it was about 8ft tall and wind snapped the trunk about 6in from the soil line However the tiny (1/2in or so) strip of bark remained attached and the whole top-broken tree still looked fine all summer, laying horizontally in my kids sandbox. It put out new growth near the break and I selected some nicely spaced branches, put small spreaders on them, and now my Pink Wampee is a beautiful bush about 2/3 its original height but twice as wide.
What I'm getting at is... I think it will be fine even if you decide to give it a severe pruning. They appear quite resilient.
I don't have a current picture but trust me it made a full recovery :)
(https://i.postimg.cc/3ycMKmW5/wampeebroke1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/3ycMKmW5)
(https://i.postimg.cc/kV433fJv/wampeebroke2.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/kV433fJv)
I am also curious how long to fruit for these... after I bought it I read some reports that the fruit isn't very good tasting and so I have been thinking about ditching it... but if it is likely to fruit soon I will hold out to try it.
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Pink turtle- is yours fruiting, what age did it start?
-Joe
Between 5 - 7 years. My at 5 years and my family members are 6 and 7 years. The seeds were germinated the same time.
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This is very helpful, thank you all for your replies. That's reassuring to know that defoliating is normal. I wasn't sure about pruning to promote branching or leave the central leader, I'll probably clip back, especially with hurricane season approaching.
Pinkturtle does yours fruit on new growth, or do you clip back after fruiting so it's easier to harvest?
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Yes, it fruits on new growth.
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I really want a Wampee but only a sweet variety. I don't like sour fruit. That's why I really don't like most kumquats.