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Messages - gnappi

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Cold induced leaf drop in south Florida
« on: January 08, 2026, 03:42:52 AM »
I was surprised at the substantial leaf drop in my yard from the cold nights last week. The Guava, Caimito, Soursop were hit the worst and I'm hoping they do not take downturn later this month.

Has anyone else had the same issues?

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Odd papaya
« on: December 23, 2025, 04:57:17 PM »
I thought TR Hovey was a myth / scam because I only have seen them on Ebay listed outside the US. :-)


3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Odd papaya
« on: December 23, 2025, 01:52:36 PM »
I don't know how these papaya are suddenly appearing but I figure birds are dropping seeds? So far six have sprouted, one female, a male which I used to pollinate the female then pulled it and a herm with one fruit.

Funny the only papaya nearby has LONG interesting slim banana shaped fruit  and these in my yard have round. Weird.

Anyway one seedling (about 5' tall) is odd. Every leaf has a dark purple stem and purple leaf veins like a person.

 I've grown papaya a long time and never saw a banana fruit or one with purple stems, are these common?




4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: The Julie Mango in South Florida
« on: December 16, 2025, 06:42:30 PM »
My Julie seedling was from a parent that was in ground between a pool and a seawall with a brackish water.

I got her in a 1/2 wood barrel and had to break the taproot to get it home. my "soil" is typical Florida crushed fill, my shallow well has no iron and beside rain it's the only water it gets. I use Excaliburs fertilizer and my seedling is FULL of pointy nosed pink and orange fruit.

PS I have not had a single bout of disease on it.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Cold (actually cool) Air heading Our Way
« on: November 06, 2025, 02:08:45 PM »
No :-)

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Fruit Tree Horror Story
« on: November 06, 2025, 02:07:37 PM »
Since they asked I don't think they were being aholes, just uninformed. I would have  cut them myself and given what they wanted steering clear of trees that should not be cut explaining why.

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Jaboticaba is in full shade?
« on: October 10, 2025, 12:21:07 PM »
My little Red Jabo is in the shade against my house and while it's slow growing it always has fruit on it.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What is happening to my Sugar Apple plant
« on: September 20, 2025, 10:09:29 PM »
When I cannot water a container tree in summer for a while I put it in shade, flood the pot AND the tray it's in, and water heavily when I return.


Nothing else. What made you give it magnesium?


9
I bought one and I'll never buy another. Flavor from my home grown pineapple that are ripened on the plant beats the pinkglow, gads even store bought are as good or better.

Much hype over nothing.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Metal trellis cooking or freezing plants?
« on: September 01, 2025, 06:24:29 PM »
All of my muscadine grape vines are on steel trellises and they do well in full south florida sun.


11
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Scarlet Guava.
« on: August 26, 2025, 09:41:59 AM »
Update on my Scarlet

Two days ago one fell from the tree and I left it to ripen a bit more and it is the largest fruit so far at 8 1/2 ounces. The color is a very pale pink nothing like the deep pink the pic I took implies.

Anyway, this one has improved in flavor a bit and it's soft and creamy but not very sweet. It still could use assistance by juicing with sugar because out of hand it's underwhelming. I'm hoping that this flavor trend will continue as the tree matures but if not I'll keep it as a juice tree.








12
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: will people steal starfruit?
« on: August 26, 2025, 09:23:05 AM »
People will steal anything not locked up. Where you want to plant it I think you will get to enjoy fewer fruit than if you plant it somewhere protected and away from passersby.
 

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rabbit advice needed
« on: August 22, 2025, 06:02:11 PM »
My dad used dried blood. It kept all herbivores away from his garden.

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: I had my first white fleshed Guava
« on: August 20, 2025, 11:04:53 PM »
This one was white and no pink. My neighbor has a white Guava that's 20 or so years old that fruit looks like mine but it tastes terrible.

I guess I just have to wait for others to be ready and at minimum determine which of the "pink" types were incorrectly marked. Then I'll post pix here of the whole and sliced fruit and see if anyone can identify it or get in the ballpark.





15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Brogdon-Lula
« on: August 20, 2025, 08:06:50 PM »
Lula is the only avo I liked but I am planted out and have no space for one.

Happy to see someone loves it. Hope you have access to some.

The gal I dated let the Lula die a slow death :-(

16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / I had my first white fleshed Guava
« on: August 20, 2025, 08:05:31 PM »
Yup, it was really good too. The outside was a pale yellow and green and about the size of an 8 ball, it was very aromatic, white flesh soft not firm or mushy, mildly sweet and a bit tart, not too many seeds and I ate the skin and all!

The problem is not one of my guava trees are labeled as a white variety. This one fell off of the tree with the nylon bag and I have no idea which tree was mis-labeled.

I got two trees labeled as Ruby Supreme (RS) at Home Depot or Lowes but I do have an unlabeled variety that I saved from the compost bin as it was dehydrated and near death and the manager said they only received RS this year and claimed that it MUST be a RS! The kicker is that the unlabeled tree has not had fruit on it yet and the other RS in in my front yard many feet from where I found the fruit on the deck.

So which was the culprit? The Barbie pink (BP)? the RS? or the Scarlet (S)? Unknown because all those with labeled varieties had fruit on them and I did not keep a count.

This presents two problems.

1. I liked the white Guava and have no idea what it actually is so I cannot get another one if I wanted it.
2. If it was the BP, or S I do not know which to replace! I'm hoping the other RS are correctly labeled!

Caveat emptor? :-)

Oh well one thing for sure, after getting a few that were labeled as "Mexican cream" years ago that were terrible tasting I'm now having to admit that a white guava can be edible! :-)











 


17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Brogdon-Lula
« on: August 20, 2025, 03:51:29 PM »
Lula is the only avo I liked but I am planted out and have no space for one.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sapodilla flowers but no fruit
« on: August 18, 2025, 11:01:52 AM »
Mine (makok) took 5+ years to hold fruit now it's pretty much everbearing.

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Annona tree dropping fruits
« on: August 17, 2025, 07:12:13 AM »
@elouicious, yes, I do fertilize every other week.


Every other week seems pretty extreme to me.

20
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Prevalent pests this year
« on: August 16, 2025, 01:01:00 PM »
This morning while pruning my Guava I discovered a number of "pseudococcus" mealy bug. Out comes the 4 seasons horticultural oil.

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: I mowed the grass
« on: August 16, 2025, 12:58:43 PM »
I bought the original ego mower 14y ago, worked great (battery lasted pretty good) but this year part of the chassis broke. Now that my lawn has been reduced to about 1/4 of what is was due to my expanding garden I decided to go retro and bought this, only 200$)

On top of the added benifit of the excersize, I’ve now scared away all my fruit thieves and my daughters boyfriend.


:-)  My yard has been reduced to the front only due to fruit tree planting and with a 2 car driveway it's no chore.

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: I mowed the grass
« on: August 14, 2025, 05:05:45 PM »
Folks, this post should never have gotten to the "I got this" and here's why I do not have yours discussion. It's like I eat and grow mango and here's why you're selection can be wrong, it's just silly. But since it HAD to go sideways consider these issues:
 
IF you factor in NOT having a gas powered leaf blower, or chain saw, or mower, or a host of other things that run on gas which eventually need expensive repair or replacement and then compare to battery powered stuff it's a toss up and in your ball court.

When I ran out of mower gas, sure I "could" unsafely dump it from my trimmer, weed eater (if it they were 4 stroke) or other appliance OR jump in the car and buy gas, but if you like some of us have multiple battery powered devices we can just swap batteries and go forward. For us replacing gas with Electric is sensible AND I can mow at midnight and not disturb anyone :-) Like many others deciding on my sub $300 battery powered mower was a no brainer.

There's no doubt that for larger plots, acreage, commercial users, or power mongers that gas is and will be king for many years to come.

Lastly since Lithium Ion battery technology has pretty much become the De Facto standard for battery powered devices (including phones, EV's and tools, portable computers and more) I think expecting 10+ years service or replacement support is not unreasonable to expect. My 10+ year old 14v and 18v Hitachi tool sets are still going strong AND replacement batteries (or rebuilding one) are inexpensive and readily available.



 








23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: I mowed the grass
« on: August 14, 2025, 11:56:19 AM »
When my Honda mower gives up I will move to electric..I also have Ryobi tools

If like me you want additional batteries, be aware that the clone Ryobi batteries are a LOT less expensive than OEM batteries, but do NOT be deceived by their "claimed Amp hour" ratings.

Their 7.0 and 8.0 Ah batteries are the same physical size as the Ryobi 4.0 Ah model BUT lighter by 3.0 ounces (the weight of TWO 18650 cells) so I take a dim view of their actual performance. 

I bought TWO clone "7Ah" batteries @ $81 while a genuine 4.0 Ah Ryobi is $99 plus shipping.

PS the garage also stays cooler without the gas mower cooling down in it :-)


24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / I mowed the grass
« on: August 14, 2025, 10:20:00 AM »
After 50 years of mowing with a heavy steel gas mower and my trusty Honda mower needed work, I bought a 20" 40v Ryobi mower since I had other Ryobi tools.

Gads no start string pulling, no gas, no fumes in the garage and  no horrible loud noise.

The 7Ah battery was only depleted 1/4 (small yard) and I'm sorry it took me so long to go electric.

Add to that if needed I can even charge the battery with my solar system. Anyone else gone electric?
 


25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My first Ruby Supreme
« on: August 13, 2025, 07:52:51 PM »
I used one with the skin also , added a few ounces of water to thin it out and a bit of sugar.

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