The Tropical Fruit Forum

I planted what I believe were AP (African Pride) seeds a few years ago.
One in particular was very different.  The leaves were a little different from the others and its growth was vigorous.  I kept it and fruited it.  The fruit looks like AP.  When I picked it and brought it indoors it cracked and softened in a few days.  I really liked the taste, preferred it to Birula which ripened at the same time.

I will be able to share scions next year.  I have some seeds this year and am happy to send some to anyone who wants a few (10 or 12).  You pay shipping, the seeds are free.
 
By the way I have a few seeds from the Birula ask if you want a few added to the order.  I will add till I run out.

A friend of mine appears to be allergic to mango.  He got some sap on his arm and broke out in a rash.  Do you know a home remedy that may relieve the itchiness?

I have tried to manage my lychees this past year plus with the mite.  Cut back the tree spayed sulfur repeatedly when there was new growth but fell off the wagon a few months ago.  A friend was visiting a month or so ago and spotted a branch with the tell tale signs.  I removed it and resumes spraying.  While checking the tree today I saw several branches with the tell tale bumps.   I intend to take down the entire canopy and am contemplating just removing the two trees that have the mite.  I have a couple more trees some distance away, I am watching them carefully and hope they stay mite free.

Are there any developments in the search for a good way of managing this pest?  or will I have to keep spraying sulfur every time I see new growth?

As you all know mango season in Florida in many areas is looking to be a huge success.  I have many trees holding fruit that had not held much in the past and some of my regular producers are holding more fruit than I have seen in past seasons.  Great blessings, yes?

I was out this morning and heard a loud crack.  I didn't know where it came from but was within minutes, informed by the spouse that a branch just fell off one of my mango trees.

I checked and and it wasn't one, but two, and they were small branches but major trunks; laden with mango.  Both had failed at the exact same point and were laying on the ground (though still attached to the tree.  I will cut them off later today. 

I have paid attention to several branches, watching them, and gaging if they could hold the weight, these two were not on my radar.  They were thick branches that should not break under the weight,  What I didn't factor was torque.  Both branches came off the main leader at the same location (it was a single branch that had split into two branches a long time ago and both had grown well) and were being twisted away from each other (not pulled down).  Well, they split.  For the engineers in the room, you might want to think in terms of tensile strength, compressive strength, bending, stiffness, modulus of rupture and elasticity and so on.  For the rest of us , think a force applied across the grain or along the grain.  Had this been the weight pulling down (bending - force perpendicular to the grain), I bet these branches laugh all the way through the season holing on to all the mango.  This force unfortunately was applied along the grain, this is how you split wood because it is easier once you get it started.  The torque essentially pulled the branches apart, starting from where they had split to two branches back in the day. 

So I seem to not be distraught, I am not.  It is a lot of mango to loose but think, perhaps nature was doing what I should have done, pruned the tree and thinned the fruit, so the rest of the fruits will be better.   Now I just need to clean the wound and take care of the rest of the tree, I just wasn't planning to remove about a quarter of the canopy on that one tree..




         

I planted some annona seeds (mixed) that included some AP from a forum member.

I intended on using them for rootstock but one in particular was glorious in how it grew and I set it aside to grow it out.  Nice healthy large leaves, rapid growth, I was curious to see if it would fruit. 

It did this past year.  It was the first fruit, it was relatively decent size for a first fruit and looked somewhat like an African Pride in look but in my opinion tasted better.  I have no clue if the first year performance will be replicated and don't want to wait to find out how this will perform under different conditions.

I will like to get some scions out there so people can join this experiment.

If you are interested, I will send you 4 scions, different thickness (pencil thickness or less).  I want to limit this to Continental US (preferably FL and CA).  The scions are free to you (pay shipping if you want to but you don't have to,) only requirement is that you keep an eye on how the plant does and you post update to this thread. 

Oh yes, please don't name it, we can call it LB1 for now if you need a moniker.

I have cut and prepped the scions and will be ready to ship as soon as tomorrow.

Hope you are all doing OK

Is this atmospheric river a drought buster?  Looking for a silver lining.

Jupiter Florida in northern Palm Beach County, is supposed to see low in the 30s and 40s.  A cold start to the winter and the coldest Christmas in a while.

What are you expecting and what are your plans for protecting your plants (or not)

Anyone read the farmer's almanac?

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/extended-forecast#:~:text=The%20Farmers'%20Almanac%202022%2D2023%20Extended%20Weather%20Forecast%3A&text=It's%20time%20to%20stock%20up,%2C%20shiver%2C%20and%20shovel!%E2%80%9C


Thoughts on our upcoming winter prognostication?

I have a few scions of K3 that I will be happy to ship to you on Monday but you pay shipping.
Shipping and handling (by USPS priority mail) is $10 only to US destinations please.

If you are interested PM me. 

These scions are thick (sharpie size on average) so consider your root stock before asking.

You will get 4 or 6 scions (depending on how many requests I get)

This was my initial post, look at the new (next post) one below.

====================================
What should I call this?

My Beverly mango has been totally confused this year.  It flowered and set very few fruits but that was not totally unexpected because it did well last year and tends to take a year off (at least in my assessment).
What has been strange is that every month this year I have found one or two flower panicles on this tree. 

I cut off some branches that were low hanging and some that were shading out a graft I put on a part of the tree and when I moved the branches to the road side, guess what, either a late flower or and early flower. 

Any suggestions on how to make it calm down until January or February when it can flower all it wants and try to set fruit?


 

Very limited time offer.  Ends Tuesday 6th.

I will be removing wood from a vigorous Kathy and Pim Sen Mun.  Some of the branches are just beginning to flush so I expect there will be some with swollen buds and some that may be likely to flush soon.

If you are interested (only these two varieties please) let me know.

It will set you back $4 each, no more than 10 of each per person and $10 in shipping.





 

Can I start annona seeds in Florida in early summer without a humidity dome?
Also, in your experience must I start them under shade?

I ask because some of my successful seeds starts were from seeds I had given up because they seemed to fail to germinate and stopped caring for.  I later found that unprotected and on their own, they had sprouted, competed with weeds in the pot and were holding on.

Will a humidity dome improve my chances? or is it best only in our dry season?

I am putting out shade cloth today but don't want to adversely impact some of my germinating seeds which are pushing without shade but are about ready to be hit by our summer sunshine (without the the daily rain yet)

The last two days have been terrible for my already poor mango season.

Yesterday we had hail stones and moderate winds, dropped a few fruits.  Not too bad.
Today heavy rain with vicious winds, somewhat localized, broke a branch of my Choc Anon loaded with fruits.  So a poor year even poorer.

I will take the rain though it has been dry the last several months.