The Tropical Fruit Forum

Good summary Brad.  That all tracks with what I'm getting here, except the Sir Prize seems to be dropping the 7-8 month timeframe rather than the 10-12 -- last one (of five) fell yesterday.  I'll keep notes on the remaining trees: LH, Holiday, and Pinkerton.  I'm most excited about the Pinkerton, 2nd most the Lamb-Hass.  Its so interesting to see the difference in behavior between these five young tress.

So far, I have to say this Expandable Container for Side-Yard Avocado Project has been a success.  Plenty of bumps along the way, but it's unequivocally been successful.  Expert advice from folks like you and Mark has certainly been a great help.

Thanks, Naysen

Yeah, just double-checked my sanity and all this fruit did set earlier this year in the late-April early May timeframe.  So I guess that's record pace to get from fruit set to ripe and dropping -- for an Avocado.  There has to be a price to pay for that expediency.

Heres a pic of the avocados in season here.  Mexicola grande on top and lamb hass on bottom.  The lambs are done and the mexicolas are coming in.  All the full mexican avocados ripen too fast and drop off the tree here.  These do it too.  They crack at the top like other Mexican avocados too.  Taste is OK.  Nothing spectacular, the lambs are better but take 9 months longer to get ripe.



Nice size at least compared to regular mexicola and stewart.  These are way larger.  I haven't noticed any off flavor in them either.  It seems like the best Mexican avocado I've tried.



We also ate the last reed of the year the other day.  Was an oil bomb

Hi Brad, this is really good info for reference.  On the Stewart front, I just got fruit drop (all 3 of 3 fruit) on the tree I am documenting in my Expandable container side-yard project blog here:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=27629.msg411045#msg411045

The fruit had a problem, and I'd be interested in your assessment.  If you have a chance, could you read the post and let me know what you think?  It's also interesting that my Stewart fruit is dropping 1-2 months after yours here in Sacramento valley.  Maybe the in ground vs. container?  Maturity?  My more mature in ground Mexicola dropped fruit in Sept/Oct.

Thanks,
Naysen

I'm just starting to get fruit drop on a couple of the side-yard project Avocado trees.  I wanted to share it.  First we have the Stewart that ended up with three large fruit to mature (and one runt).  Two fruit dropped yesterday, 11/22/20, and then the 3rd today a day later.  I've cut into one of the fruit and it had this woody inner-layer that was inedible and kind of surrounded the flesh like an interstitial, half-developed shell or inner-peel/skin.  Bummer.  I'm hoping the others aren't the same.  Anyone know why this fruit came out this way and what it could mean; what I can do to fight it next year?  I ended up squeezing out maybe 40% of the avocado using finger and thumbs to make some OK guac.  The taste was ok -- and better I think than the Mexicola from my more mature trees that dropped a couple months back.






These three avocados dropped today, 11/23/20, and are from a Sir Prize tree.  The tree has just 2 more fruit on it, which I expect will drop any time now.  The remaining trees include a fairly well loaded Lamb-Hass with a lot of small-ish fruit, a Holiday with a singular Large fruit, and then the Pinkerton that is loaded with over 25 medium size, elongated fruit.  No idea when these three remaining trees will start to drop fruit, but all still seem hard and green in color.  Any input/insight will be appreciated, as these trees are now fruiting and harvesting for the first time.


I hope all of you are seeing great harvests this season.

Containerman, my Kishu are just about there.  Maybe another 2-weeks they'll be ready.

My citrus are all blushing orange what feels like earlier than usual this year (9B Sacramento area).  How's everyone else's crops progressing this season?

Ah, gotcha. 

Looks like a winner.  Wishing a delicious treat with that one.

Brad, what do you think?  Did I do a good job prepping that banana tree for success going forward?  Would you recommend removing all but a single shoot, or leave the two (with a baby for backup) as I Have it now?
Thanks man!

Screw the make work.  Spray leaves and all.

https://www.novasource.com/en/products/surround

Mark, I purchased like $100 or more of surround and gave it a try last year.  Frankly, it took the joy of growing out of the process for me.  What I mean is that irritating white dust covering all the foliage turned my trees into something out of post-fallout Cormac McCarthy novel.  Even touching the stuff was annoying.  So, I've taken to methodically "painting" the stuff on the exposed tree branches and trunks and leaving the foliage alone.  What's the point in growing anything if I take no joy out of being among the plants.  At least, that's where I've landed for the time-being.

Good point.  It's not an easy proposition. I'll try to see what I can do.  But then that wind causes trouble.  Shade cloth often causes more trouble than its worth with my half-a**ed application/effort.  Thanks.

This past couple days here in Sac Valley have been scorching hot.  The trees are starting to burn.  The Lamb Hass has shown the worst of the bunch.  It's dropped several half mature size avocado fruit as a result.  I guess it's not well adapted to the intense heat, or maybe its proximity to our air conditioning unit's exhaust has something to do with the increased burning of new leaves.

Here are some pics...

Intense heat spikes:


Lamb-Hass now under a shade cloth (after taking damage):




Some damage on Sir Prize:


So far, Pinkerton is doing well, and holding on to the most and best looking fruit:



Pom's not happy:


Chickens aren't happy:


Tomatoes et al. are crispy too: