The Tropical Fruit Forum

True, while not everything is blooming, a lot are up in Jupiter (just a little further north of Palm Beach).
Unfortunately some varieties are showing a whole lot of mixed bloom especially those just opening bud now.  PPK for example is only just pushing and it appears it will new vegetative growth.  M4 appears finally ready to push and I am optimistic it will flower, it has been warm for some time though so who knows.  Son Pari has not bloomed in my yard (still a small tree).

I believe the excitement is because many varieties responded well to the Christmas day and January cold snaps, more than we would have expected given both were not sustained chills and temperatures rose quickly after.   

I believe I read in some paper and on the forum that the recommended product was super fine (3 micron) and perhaps easier to apply.

Read the two threads below.  Folks on the forum have talked about this some.


https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=48492.msg468551#msg468551

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=47532.msg461299#msg461299

Beverly is delicious and best flavor of all those to me but it has tendency for seed to sprout out while still ripening. Also has tendency to alternate bare After heavy crop in my neighborhood.

True on both counts.

I would recommend Beverly.
It is a very nice fruit.  You may be correct about disease susceptibility but I will take what I can get of that variety.

Rollinia are like a weed tree that produces a nice fruit.  Very fast grower that will get away from you easily if you don’t control it.  As Ben said they won’t last long.  They’re kind of invasive on my farm.  Birds get to the fruit easily and I get lots of volunteers.
Peter

Peter, get away in what way?
Grow super big and wild or the invasive angle, start growing in other parts of your yard.

New to Rollinia.  Planted seed last year, they have started well but will be waiting many years before I can join the conversation on fruiting.

I have lots of flowering plants that attract lots of bees.  In my experience from previous seasons, the bees ignore the mango instead busy themselves with the other plants.  I was surprised and pleased to see some bees in the mango canopy this morning.
Flies in past seasons have done most of my mango pollination.  You can expect to find them all over the mango panicles, exclusively visiting mango to the exclusion of everything else.

OK, I take it back.  I should have said I had not seen one fly yet!

I was out this morning and it appeared nature was saying "not true, my friend, not true"
Not only did I see flies (not in large numbers yet) but I also saw bees up in the mango canopy instead on the flowers below the tree.  There was even a pair of love bugs.

So I believe I was just a bit early and should wait for the flowers to open before I declare a paucity of pollinators.  The new mantra should be when the flowers open, they will come.


A lingering thought, maybe I don't need dead fish, or perhaps I should hedge my bets. 

So the chill from late December and this past week has started the mango flowering in my yard, Yay!.  There is only one problem, I can't find one fly in my yard.  This would usually be a very pleasing condition but I could use some good mango pollinators right now (or perhaps in two weeks).

I am starting to think I have to go get some fish carcass to strategically place in my yard (so I wont smell it unless the wind blows in the wrong direction).

I expect I will just wait and see if they arrive with the mature panicles.

For those of you in south Florida, what pollinator(s) are you seeing?  Is the temperature right to have decent pollination?  Any strategies or hints on attracting mango pollinators?

By the way, I do have some bees buzzing around and one or two may stray on to a mango but the flies in the past are the major mango pollinators in my yard.
 

Coldest I saw was 39 degrees but this was after some warming this morning.  May have been 36 or 37 at the coldest.
Better than I expected based on the forecasts.  Now we start a slow climb up,  .... for now.

I envy your 39, I am looking at 35 or a tad lower.  Brrrrr.
Most potted plants are in.
Not sure there is anything I can do for my Soursops which are in the ground.
All but one of them defoliated over Christmas.  The one that showed some tolerance is very exposed now and will likely take a hit tonight.
.

Several trees are breaking bud and flowering already.  I will wait until this current cold spell passes before making an assessment on what the season may be like.

I expect one maybe two more deep drops before spring (after this weekend).  Depending on the timing of those cold spells, it could be boom or bust.

Indeed, here we go again.  The last cold spell got a couple of varieties going.  The flowers are just beginning to form.
This one should push most over the ledge.
With temperatures potentially dropping into the mid 30s, I have to move potted delicate plants into the garage again.