The Tropical Fruit Forum

For those of us where space matters and who have only a city lot to grow our tropical fruit on, which would be some ideally recommended mango cultivars that are dwarf, semi-dwarf, or Condo options? 

This would be for zone 9b and let's estimate that only three or four smaller mango trees would be the max that could fit on the lot (along with all the other stuff).

Ideally cultivars which are precocious, have decent flavor, and aren't prima donnas about culture and are not prone to disease would be ideal. Also it would be helpful to have cultivars which have their ripening times spread out over the season.

Suggestions?

TIA

Paul M.
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Yesterday I discovered that my three mango cultivars are all initiating flowerspikes for the first time.

I have 'Beverly', 'Ice Cream', and 'Irwin' and all are in 7-gal. pots.  Each was chosen because it is either a dwarf or semi-dwarf tree.  'Beverly' is about 5 to 6 feet tall and ther other two are about four feet tall. 

I have not given them any fertilizer containing nitrogen, except one time in July or August and then it was a VERY SCANT application.

But with me still being a 'mango novice' and now that they are each pushing inflorescences, should these three mango cultivars be fertilized at all?  If so, with what?  And how much?  And when?

So, help please.

TIA

Paul M.
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My 'Gefner' has finally dropped all its leaves and with all the recent cool weather –and now lots of rain, too here in Tampa– it is just beginning to push/swell new leaves at all its nodes.

My tree is in a five gal. pot and is itself about 4 feet tall.  It has about 8 or so lateral/horizontal branches that are about 1 to 2 feet long and all of them are about 1/4-inch in diameter, or smaller.

I'm told that it is important to prune these side branches back to create sturdier growth for the coming season –but, trim off  about how much??  I'm thinking about leaving 6 to 8 inches after pruning all the side branches.

Does this sound about right to all our Annona fans out there?

TIA

Paul M.
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PS - Should I prune my biribá, sugar apples, and my Ilama the same way once their leaf buds start swelling?
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Here in Tampa (9b) we are forecast to have a low of 37ºF on SAT morning after Xmas.

Wondering who has had experience with low temps with the following several tropical fruit trees:

~ Meiogyne cylindrgcarpa (Fingersop)  -  1 ft tall n 1 gal pot
~ Murraya koenigii (Curryleaf)  - 14" tall in 1 gal pot
~ Rollinia deliciosa (Biribá)  -  1 in 7-gal pot @ 5 ft tall w/ 1-1/2 dia trunk; 2 others in 1 gal pots 18" tall w/ 3/16" stems
~ Pouteria viridis (Green sapote) - 4 of 'em in 1 gal pots about 10" to 12" in tall

Not real sure about the above so am asking, in Y'all's experience should these make it thru 37ºF without any damage or should they be brought inside?

Will move the abius and P. tomentosa inside as well as my Eugenia stipatata which all have withstood as low as 41ºF and 45º, too, several times.

All the citrus and mangos will stay outside this time 'round, including Eugenias candolleana, calycina, selloi, plus one large fruiting sized Pitangtuba.  Not so sure about the Pitombas, which are still small 8" to 10" tall-but-sturdy seedlings.

How about an ilama, a 'Gefner' and sugar apple  (all in 5 gal.)?  Stay out or go inside at 37º?

This is my first year of really testing for cold tolerances in a number of things which I did not have last year at this time.

Fingers X-ed!

Paul M.
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Here in Tampa I have up-'til-now left all my tropical fruit outside.  A few are in the ground but most things are in pots, and not yet large enough to plant out. The temperature in my yard this season so far has dropped overnight on several occasions into the 50s, and the upper-40s but finally dropped to the low-40s on Nov 30th. This has served as a cold-tolerance test for me and I'm sharing it with folks on here.

Up 'til Nov 30th's very chilly drop, everything was fine out-of-doors without evidencing any effects from the overnight temperatures. But there was some reaction from a few things on Nov 30th when overnight my thermometer registered a low of 40 or 41ºF.  Here's a rundown of the things that were affected in some way or other:

Showing some damage was a seedling Musa 'Kokopo' with a new leaf just expanding which got 'burnt' just along the edges of its newly unrolling leaf's margins.  (A seedling Musa 'Veinte Cohol' right next to it was unfazed.)  They were both sitting under a pergola covered with Petrea volubilis (sandpaper vine) providing decent protection over the top of the pergola.  (BTW the Petrea is starting to cover itself with dozens of spikes of its purple flowers, which normally it does in March.)

A Dwarf Ylang-Ylang and an Ylang-Ylang Vine (= 2 different species) both got a little wilty at 41ºF. but have now recovered.  They were under the canopy provided by a Blood Banana (Red) leaf, which itself was unaffected.

One Annona salzmannii (Beach Sugar Apple) seedling lost an expanding new leaf and it, and a second one, showed some stress and spots of partial leaf death. They both had droopy, stressed-looking leaves but now seem to be recovering.  I'll definitely move them in next time it turns this cold.

Eugenia stipitata (Araça-boi) in a 7 gallon pot had a flush of new, bronzy leaves all over it and several flower buds.  It has been fine up 'til Monday's 41ºF. when the whole plant looked wilty.  But in the following two days it seems to have recovered and its leaves are turgid again.  I'll protect this one if it's going to get down near 41ºF. again.

A number of Abiu seedlings (5) were under the pergola and seemed to be OK, being surrounded by other vegetation plus with the pergola's Petrea vine covering.  But three Abius that I recently sprouted from seed (from another TFF Member six weeks ago) were on my front porch which faces north. Those wound up with slightly flaccid leaves.  Their leaves have recovered since Monday.  They will get moved in if it is to get any colder than 45F. again here.

A number of Garcinia livingstonei (Imbu) seedlings about 10-inches tall were fine except one or two which had small, newly-expanding leaves which got 'burnt' by the cold.  Otherwise they were unfazed.

Other Annonaceæ (A. squamosa, A. diversifolia), a Rollinia deliciosa, and an Atemoya 'Gefner' are all showing some yellowing of their leaves and some leaf drop, but that is expected at this time of year.  The Rollinia and Atemoya leaves are all looking somewhat droopy.  Guess they are now starting their seasonal shutdown for this cool time.  And Meiogyne clindrocarpa (Fingersop) sat exposed in a one gallon pot, showed no ill-effects and remained looking as happy as ever, which is great to know!

Three mangoes in 7 gallon pots at about 4 to 5 feet tall were completely unaffected, as was everything else that was left outside, including among others, Achiote, Canistel, Guava, CotRG, Grumichama, Jaboticaba 'Sabará'; several each Pitangatubas, Pitombas, E. calycinas, and Rainforest Plums; Pouteria  viridis and P. lucuma, several White Sapotes, and of course various citrus.

Passiflora eduliis fma. flavicarpa and P. edulis v. edulis, both climbing exposed along a chainlink fence, remained unaffected at 41ºF., Halla-Loo!

I share this narrative about my collection and how various things reacted to or remained unfazed by the recent coldsnap, hoping that it might be useful to some newer TFF Members who may be trying to decide what will grow and survive the cold weather that we experience here in Tampa, zone 9b.  BTW, I'm located in Seminole Heights on top of a broad hill about three miles north of Tampa Bay which seems to avoid being a colder spot. 

My intention in creating a food/fruit forest has been to choose primarily semi-tropical species which can take the amount of cold that we normally expect in zone 9b but of course we all know that there are certain things that we just cannot seem to live without but which are a bit less cold-tolerant, so some of those get added to our collections anyway.  (Hey, don't blame me for zone pushing a little!)

OK — HTH

Cheers!

Paul M.
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I've been reading about the self-incompatibility of Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa and am unclear about an aspect of this taxon's pollination requirements.

Does it require pollnation by a different species of passiflora or would pollination by different individuals of Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa  be successful?

If Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa does require a different species for pollination success are there limits to which species it is compatible with?  For instance, I have vines of volunteers of Florida's native P. suberosa in my yard which has very small flowers.  Would pollen from that native species be compatible with Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa to produce fruit?  Or will a larger flowered passiflora be necessary?  (I'm assuming that the bees in my yard will visit both species.)

I've searched for a couple hours but did not find anything particularly illuminating online!  [ sigh ]

Any advice appreciated.

Paul M.
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This is one aggressive Passiflora species!  Was purchased on Feb 2 in a 2-inch pot that had three small seedlngs in it.

In April they were big enough that they needed to go into a larger pot so the three vines went together into a 3 gallon pot.

When they started makng tendrils in June they were plunged, with them still in the pot, a third of the way into the soil next to an eight-foot long section of chainlink fence.  Earth was built up  four inches deep around the exposed bottom part of the plunged pot and held in place with a circular concrete  border.  The vines were threaded thru the chainilnk of the fence section. Once the vines had grabbed onto the fencing they were pinched back so they would branch.  They were watered enough to keep them from wilting but not fertilized. And they took off growing!

By the middle of October the vines had grown to the length of the fencing with several terminal ends hanging loose in the air looking for more fence.  Now I'm kinda glad I isolated these vines on a free standing section of fencing.

Then by November 6th there were buds all over the vines and yesterday (11/10) there were eight or more flowers open.  Now let's see if it will set any fruit, which if it does may not be ripe before the cooler weather sets in here.

So I am wondering if I should expect these vines to even set any fruit so soon after their first flowering.  There are three of them together from seed to offer cross-pollnation.  Should that do it?

Cheers!

Paul M.
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Sterilizing seeds using H₂O₂

What concentration of H₂O₂ should be used in water to sterilize tropical fruit seeds before planting them?

Usually we don't need a great amount of water for soaking seeds, so is it drops per cup?  How many?

Is it a different amount (less or more) of peroxide recommended for seeds of different tropical fruits?

And also, how long should/can the seeds stay in the solution?

As a partial example, I have the following seeds that I will be wanting to plant soon: abiu; bael fruit; ilama; sugar apple & a couple other annona species; etc.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

TIA

Paul M.
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. . . . most of the so called cold hardy avocados are not really that good.

CTMIAMI,

You got me to wondering with your remark above.

If, as you say, cold hardy avocados are not the tastiest, which of the cold hardy cultivars would you recommend as being the more tasty selections.

BTW the one I have is a 'Mexicola Grande' and it is about twelve feet tall now after being close to three years in the ground.

It bloomed profusely last year and set one fruit which fell off after it got ripe and we did not notice it 'til it was on the ground too long.  This season it bloomed well again but set no fruit.  I have read that this is a type A avocado and thus self-fertile, so where was the fruit?

Maybe it needs a vecino to encourage it to set more fruit.  Anyway, still curious to know y'all's thoughts on cold hardy avocado cultivars.

TIA

Paul M.
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Anyone on here know who maybe has got this cultivar for sale right now?

Would like to find something maybe 2 to 3 years old.

Would hope for a seller in the west central Florida area, but not limited to there.

TIA

Paul M.
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Hello. 

Sorry for all the QQs but please bear with me; I'm just now starting with a few mangoes.

So... Just got to wondering if it would be unproductive (or not) to start prunng/shaping my 3 mangoes which are all in 7 galllon pots right now.

I have 'Irwin', 'IceCream', and 'Beverly' and the first two are about four to five feet tall in their pots.  The 'Beverly' just arrived (in a 3 gal pot) and was potted up into a 7 gal just this week, but it is about six feet tall without any branching.

The 'Ice Cream' was already pruned when received and had made four or five branches from the top which are now about 10 inches long.  Those side branches could/should prolly be thinned to 3 or 4  and clipped soon to promote further branching.

But how to treat the other two is my question.  Should the 'Beverly' be cut back to three or four feet tall once it has a few weeks to establish in its new 7 gal pot?  Or would cutting it back now help to encourage new root growth?

The 'Irwin' has made one 'branch' from where it had already been pruned when received.  That single branch is about one foot tall now.  Should that be cut back to that previous pruning to try to get the main axis to make more than one branch?

Sorry for all the questions but, as I said, I'm new with mangoes and just learning the ropes with them.  I understand that if they are going to be kept dwarfed (or 'condoed', as it were) then they need to be pruned and shaped to be wider than tall, for the most part.

And how long should they stay in the 7 gal pots?  Would they be better in 10 gals, eventually?

Looking forward to suggestions or advice for how/when to proceed.

TIA!

Paul M.
Tampa, FL
Zone 9b
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I am wondering if there's anyone in this group might be growing and successfully fruiting Feijoa in Zone 9b.

I've now started to hear that the feijoa (pineapple guava) Acca sellowiana actually needs a few chiliing hours to be able to successfully set fruit, but am not sure how many hours would be required nor how cold. 

It also may be possible that there are some particular cultivars of this species which require no chilling hours to fruit.  So, have any of the members in Zone 9b had regular success fruiting this species?  Any particular cultivar(s) of it?

I have wanted to grow this species here in Tampa but if it going to need more chilling hours than we get in Tampa then I will choose something else. 

Fingers X-ed!

Paul M.
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