One misconception I have understood about Brassinolide is that the effectiveness is based on multiple sprays of plants starting well before any anticipated freeze.
I jumped in trying it with both feet last winter but did not know about starting early that time. I also put incandescent lights and had frames and frost cloth last winter. I live in a colder microclimate in South Lakeland and last year the temperatures hit and stayed for hours at a time in the mid 20's. I also had issues with the wind and maintaining the covers intact. At my age I just no longer have the ability to accomplish things like when I was younger.
Out of 13 trees that had been in the ground from one to two years, I completely lost an Ugly Betty about 5 ft tall, and a Lancitilla also about 5 ft tall. I also lost a really nice Peach Cobbler almost to the ground but it did come back slightly above the graft but will take another year or two to be large enough to fruit. I also had a Chocanon, Glenn, Keitt and Ice Cream that were significantly damaged but came back.
This year I started spraying earlier but because we were going out of town and just not having the energy to try to cover the trees. I sprayed the Brassinolide about a month before the cold, again about two weeks before and each of three days before leaving which was five days before the start of the cold front. We had three days of cold here during that event. Two of the nights we were at or below freezing from one in the morning until after eight and a significant portion of the time was in the 20's and as low as 27 for hours. The first night was windy but no frost, the second and third nights included frost.
A week later many of the trees had some leaf burn showing but that was it. I have continued spraying Brassinolide every two weeks and this past weekend, we had two nights below freezing for several hours and a low of 29 degrees one of the days. While I am seeing significant damage on the two grafted seedlings that replaced the two trees that were lost, they still look like they will make it and the larger trees, as large as about eight feet, are showing no more damage than from the first front.
Also of note, my Ice Cream Mango was showing panicles prior to the first front. Those did die but more panicles have been developing and with this cold, they seem to be surviving.
In fairness, this was totally unscientific and the trees are more established this year but the colder microclimate here is confirmed by nearby weather stations that are consistent with mine which averages as much as eight to ten degrees colder than the reported Lakeland Airport temps.
Again just my personal experiences.
Topic: Does anyone growing mangoes think this is feasible I'm skeptical (Read 978 times)