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Topics - palmcity

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1
I see this search so often, especially by the "experts" looking for ways to decrease expense of trimming hundreds of trees after fruit harvest. The current way is by trimming part of the canopy after harvest. I will propose other ways for them to ponder:::

1. The relationship between canopy and root system. Instead of canopy reduction, focus your attention on root system reduction as there is a parallel relationship between the two.
One of the factors to consider is decreasing root size without causing root disease and some options will work better than others IMO but have not tried them, just imagined the outcomes.
A. Cutting roots with machinery like a ditch witch around the canopy; however this might be just as time consuming/expensive as just cutting part of the canopy.
B. Adding substances to the soil to stress the tree and decrease tree growth (this will probably increase the odds of fruit set and bloom the following year IMO).
     1. Borates/boric acid: already known to be needed in small amounts by the tree. However larger amounts should decrease root growth/canopy growth. It is just a matter of determining the dosage without killing the tree. It should be quicker/less expensive than canopy cutting reduction.
     2. Copper/various formulations: already known to be needed in small amounts by the tree. However larger amounts should decrease root growth/canopy growth.  Unknown dosage to stress the tree without killing the tree.
     3. Magnesium/chlorine: already known to be needed in small amounts by the tree. However larger amounts should decrease root growth/canopy growth. Unknown dosage to stress the tree without killing the tree.
     4. Calcium and all the other minerals: most minerals are known to be needed in small amounts by the tree. However larger amounts  of most should be able to decrease root growth/canopy growth.
     5. Soil Ph adjustments: once again root growth can be slowed by lowering/raising PH soil levels to unfavorable levels to decrease root and canopy growth.

Make the soil environment favorable to the tree when small and growing. Then change the soil environment to less favorable to growth once the tree is bearing fruit to your satisfaction and maturity size.

It is my belief that if you desire to save money/ time on tree trimming, these options should be explored more.

2
Unfortunately, regular customers often never experience end of variety mango tasting and leave depressed that the mangos were not as good as described. And they are often right.

Why? IMO mangos are seldom if ever as good at the beginning of that mango variety ripening season as at the end of the varieties season.

My wife says when a mango tastes like these taste, they are Honey Mangos... And that is how these end of variety season Maha Chanoks are tasting today. Super sweet, luscious, slick, slimy, dripping almost a honey lime hint. Just look at the pictures and you can see the richer yellow/lime colored flesh as we bite into it.

They were no where near as good a month ago. I did not like them as the flesh was mediocre sweetness and a mild yellow hint of color even when tree ripened to outer skin being a full yellow color. That was about a month ago and with only a few left, my wife, I, and a few others are feasting on these delicious mangos end of season.

Reason for posting::: If you do not grow your own mangos, you will be lucky to ever experience the best tasting mangos from any mango variety unless you go weekly to the grove, person's stand, etc. and ask questions like how sweet is this variety in it's normal mango ripening phase? Of course they may say "They have no idea" and unfortunately that is often the case unless they love to sample their harvest often.

And.... lol... Your odds of buying a grocery store processed mango at that varieties peak flavor? lol  IMO less than .1 percent...











3
After 2 years being planted in the soil or more:::
1.Especially people in Southwest Florida after hurricanes, did the planted air layered trees survive the winds/diseases/plant pathogens/etc. as well as traditional grafted rootstock mango trees?

2. Did the air layered mango trees bear as well?

3. Do you think the air layered  mango trees fruit tasted as good as similar aged traditional grafted trees?

4. Once planted in yard/field soil, did or do the air layered mango trees require special care with more water/nutrients/minerals/ etc.  vs. traditional grafted trees and for how long if any extra care required?

Thanks in advance for your opinions...

4
It is very unusual for me to see a google search with the wrong answer to a common question but IMO here is one:

Wood from trees, like stumps, branches, and limbs will take a very long time to decompose, upwards of 50-100 years if left whole.Oct 11, 2019

IN S. Fl the above is FALSE at least for laurel oaks (water oaks).


I'm not sure as to why anyone would say this long long period of time as I am sure 7 years ago I killed a tree and it rotted and fell over about 6 months ago.

Anyone believing it would take 50 to 100 years would probably hire someone to remove and haul off the tree... I believe in recycling wood back into the soil and thought all should know at least in South Florida expect 7 years for most trees to rot and fall over once dead IMO. (No need to have it removed unless codes require removal).

Dragon fruit enjoyed climbing it before it fell over and are still growing through the fallen pile of sawdust/wood.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Grumichama blooming in S.Fl.
« on: May 02, 2023, 03:53:12 PM »
After the rains, I have 3 Grumichama in partial bloom.

So, check yours and water if not in bloom yet.

Hopefully will be able to eat a few in a few weeks before the fruit fly, etc., lay worms in them.

Also Barbados Cherry started blooming again after the long dry spell in S. Fl.

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Papaya:::7-10day old refrigerated
« on: April 26, 2023, 04:46:48 PM »
I like my papaya matured.... in refrigerator 7 - 10 days.... Makes it sweeter, concentrated, better to me...

Of course, I'm the only one in the family willing to eat 7 to 10 day old papaya as it's wrinkled, dehyrated, old, gooey, and just not appealing to most... lol... But IMO it's better than fresh cut as it's sweeter.

Oh... Now's the time for the non squeamish to try picking up some tree dropped sweet tarts as they are often pretty good ripening on the ground...












7
My Choice is definitely Mulberries. They started being ripe about March 15 and will bear till May in zone 10

Every time I pass one of the big trees, I grab a few hands of fresh juicy sweet berries. Nothing better in March & April for me.

My close second is Sapodilla aka Chico aka Nispero etc. but they are not as plentiful or as easy to pick at the perfect stage without them falling and smashing to a degree.
Sapodilla take some time to pick ripe or pick almost ripe with green skin and gently place in bag or box to let it slowly ripen at room temp. or slightly warmer .... Mulberries are eat on the go... lol ... like fast food but better tasting and so sweet. I have Tice but most of the varieties I've tried are all good.

8
I prefer not using traditional rat poisons that might harm birds/dogs/etc. if eating the dead animals later.

There are various ways to kill rats/mice/etc. and experts claim various levels of humane death vs. in their opinion less humane killing of these vermin... But, Vermin that eat my crops and food on my property are excluded from all of my sympathy.

This new idea sounds appealing and thus I'm trying 50% baking soda mixed with either cornmeal,starch/sugar,peanut butter/ etc. etc. etc. to keep rat/mice/and perhaps squirrel populations under control...

It sounds too good to be true. But, I'm willing to give it a try.

Any stories from people using it on the forum?

Many Youtube and references on internet::::


https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+baking+soda+kills+rats+squirrels&oq=youtube+baking+soda+kills+rats+squirrels&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.16881j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:fa421428,vid:3fSyCL6zw9Q
https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+baking+soda+kills+rats+squirrels&oq=youtube+baking+soda+kills+rats+squirrels&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.16881j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:0fe8a515,vid:aOERg3W__24


https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+baking+soda+kills+rats+squirrels&oq=youtube+baking+soda+kills+rats+squirrels&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.16881j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_YssXZPiRC4qVwbkPlMaImAM_32

9
Carrie fruit: the sour seed is one of my favorite bones to chew.

Super Julie: Also a deliciously sour seed to gnaw on.

Some Keitts: They have to be correctly inoculated by the bugs through the cracks in the fruit to get that perfectly balanced sour/vinegar seed taste.

Who else likes to gnaw on seeds and which varieties and what tastes keep you gnawing on that seed?   :P :P :P

10
I decided to let a few seedling bear rather than grafting and this one put out a fruit that looks like sweet tart but no sharp tart or sharp sweet tastes. At the total green stage and still firm, it tastes only sweet but a good sweetness to me something between glen & ripe keitt taste but probably more like some of my smaller seedling Keitt than either.

It's sort of fun seeing what your seedling will bear and I plan to keep this one as I get burnt out with tasting too many sharp tastes of sweet tart etc. and I crave the milder tastes during those periods.

When starting with seeds from good mango trees it seems to be a lot easier to get new seedling trees producing a fruit with a good taste vs bad tastes than I previously thought years ago.








11
Lady requests and gets 1/2 greenish and 1/2 ripe mangos.

Lady calls back later after leaving and my wife hands me the phone for the question she has for me to answer.

Do Green Mangos weight more than Ripe Mangos?

My initial thought was I misunderstood as she has a different accent than mine and thus I asked for her to slowly repeat the question.

Nope, it was the same... lol......



What's some you've been asked???    ;D ;D ;D

12
The most frustrating sight for me to see in my yard is a 12 ft tall tree 10 ft wide with ZERO mangos on it

The trees that I multiple grafted years ago are not part of the fruitless mango tree collection in my yard today.

My plans are to top work 5/6 of canopy of the fruitless trees with 1 or more typically productive variety in my yard. Any tree not bearing in a given year is wanting my grafting ability and I am doing it now. Trees grafted last few days pineapple pleasure, coconut cream, cotton candy (it bore good 3 years but nothing this year so I will graft a small part of it more like 1/4 to 1/3), a few M4 with low fruit set will also do 1/4 to 1/3  grafts... Phoenix is going to be 5/6 grafted as too pathetic in my yard being zero fruit 5 yrs (like pineapple pleasure also 5/6 grafted to new varieties).

The fear is that you will perhaps not have any of your favorite variety due to the other graft competition/shading/etc..... That fear is gone in me as I much prefer something on the tree vs. NOTHING.




13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Ways to Eat & Enjoy dropped Green Mangos
« on: April 08, 2022, 02:34:52 PM »
This past Wed. a storm came through dropping many many mangos from the trees before maturity.

1. The strong lemony taste with salt etc. is one way to eat them.

2. Some varieties like sweettart etc. will ripen to a limited degree in a week if desired to ingest at that time.

3. My spouse took many of the green mangos and boiled them for about 40 minutes till the peeling went from green to a yellow tint. Once cooled spooning this out is a gel with very strong lemon to Key lime taste. It sort of reminds me of a strong jelled yogart.
 A. She used this to make a mango pie that taste like a key lime or lemon pie. Very good... Ingredients sweetened condensed milk + Cream Cheese + boiled green mango filling... You Must Make It... You will Not Be Disappointed...
 B. She also made a lemon pound cake using boiled green mango + yellow cake mix..... Also Very very good.
 C. Freeze it and use it later for anything that lemons or limes would normally be required... lol... (No longer a need for me to grow difficult citrus in S. Fl... YEA)......

Try it .... You will Like It....
This picture has a little of the pie filling seen from yesterday (I ate the rest). The mango next to the filling is 1/2 piece that was cooked & in refrigerator. But you can see the jelled appearance if zoom in. Apparently the cooking takes the starch & sugars and converts it into a jelly. Make sure soft before stopping the boil.



To my surprise my wife made another pie today so here is a picture of it with a piece of the remaining pound cake wrapped (I ate the rest lol).




14
IMO my mango trees planted closer to the house/concrete seem to have a lower rate of fungal issues with a higher rate of mango retention to maturity. I assume this to be due to the drying effect of concrete.

I keep thinking of the LZ picture from Arizona near the pool and concrete with the abundance of Mangos growing on it. I believe simon_grow posted it years ago.

What success have you had in planting near water/ponds/low lands/hills/rocks/forests/ under tall trees/ etc. etc. etc. and seeming to have a lower incidence of fungal issues from bloom to fruit maturation.

15
Regardless of how good a fruit may taste, if it never produces mature fruit.... It is useless to me...

If you also have over 15 varieties of mangos, what grafted trees have produced zero fruit over 4 years when the other varieties of the same size/maturity have produced fruit... I would like to know as I do NOT want to purchase more potentially unproductive trees.

1. Pineapple Pleasure- Huge tree trunk now and fruit always falls off (fungus/male flowers/etc.) I'm keeping it at 6ft till it produces a mature fruit. 4+ years and no mature fruit and this year 5th looks the same.
2. Phoenix = I let it grow since away from the house and 4+ years (this will be the 5th) and zero fruit. Fungus or male flowers primarily appear and disappear.

I have many productive varieties. I do not want to purchase more failures, regardless of taste... Please let me know of your failures...

16
I love strong sour/sweet tangerines and I was missing the dancy tangerines I use to eat in Florida at my house years ago.

To my surprise today at Aldi, 3 lb. bag for something like $3.... So I bought them to try as they felt firm and not dehydrated sitting to long in storage... Make sure they are not limp/dehydrated old... Mine all were great and going tomorrow to buy more as I'm hooked on a super sour and sweet taste that I've missed for many years and Jan. is the peak for Florida picked fruits but may be overseas or from California and it only says on the label:::  Tiny and Tasty Easy Peel MANDIES Mandarins by Aldi... Distributed exclusively by Aldi, Bativa, Il 60510.....

Too bad citrus is so hard to grown in Fl. 

Someone is having success somewhere and I hope others loving sour/sweet mandarin/tangerine taste go to Aldi quick.... for this amazing taste... Very small tiny but strong strong taste & worth it for sure to me...





17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Buttermilk Mango Tonight
« on: August 23, 2021, 08:18:36 PM »
As most people know that enjoy making buttermilk, the secret is selecting the right bacteria starter.

Well I found my favorite starter hanging on the trees again today for my buttermilk Mango. Just go on down to the bottom of this and see those beauties basking in the kitchen sink... Umm Umm... They have been inoculated with the finest bacteria and hand delivered often by those little bugs moving from cracked mango to cracked mango...

Now the first step is cut just below the area the bacteria has cleaned up in the crack. Thus go to the second picture... Now if your a first time Carrie eater and can't handle a strong vinegar or sour taste, then just cut off a little bit more.

Now I pick up the mango and stick my beak into it and as you can see in the 3rd picture I left some teeth marks on all 3 and sure enough it's a 3 for 3 win with all of them being just right with that sour vinegar taste to go with the sweet orange flesh of the Keitt mango...

Now don't be shy guys, just put your beak right in and enjoy that stuff... it's gooood....

One of my favorite ways to eat mangos late in the year...   :)








18
Rosigold: Often a underperformer in my wet environment is an overperformer this year probably due to the dryness during the less spring rainfall.
Many years I considered cutting that half of the tree off with a few fruits only and often fungus infected.
It has been a better producer than the Glen on that tree that has half & half Rosigold.

Just another reason to keep many varieties and diversification as you never know what will happen year to year..



Pickering: As another forum member has mentioned for their pickering and mine also, it has been a dismal year with smaller than average fruit and little production with the drops and dryness. Last year was it's best year. About 4 years ago it tasted horrible when small but now (last year) taste pretty good once it's gotten above my height and many years of growth.... Probably next year will be better for it.


19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / .22 pellet gun with scope
« on: April 18, 2021, 04:21:25 PM »
Good air rifle for removing rodents.
1. Use lead pellets vs. aluminum etc. to increase impact force and decrease velocity of this air propelled lead .22.  You do not want neighbors to think it is propelled by gunpowder.

The weak link IMO on this gun is the scope may fall apart with too much jarring over time internally. Try to decrease jarring but unfortunately every shot probably shortens it's time before the plastic separates internally. 1 of 3 scopes failed in about 18 months and other 2 still work fine.

Today was $119.99 but probably has already changed as amazon rapidly adjusts prices.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01APG0T7W/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&th=1&psc=1

With laws possibly changing, you might consider buying now vs. later...

20
No need to show if this topic has been mentioned before but I did not see it in a quick search but I think it would be a significant green leafy food addition to our diet.

Sweet potato leaves were picked by my wife from some sweet potato bulbs lightly covered with soil and watered for 2 weeks and there are a lot of leaves to eat.

I was surprised that they actually have a sweetness IMO when even eaten raw. Much better eaten raw than things like moringa or dollar weed IMO... Give them a try for your veggies as very easy to grow almost anywhere...

Now my wife also uses moringa leaves in many toppings to various dinners and I consider it more acrid and vinegar tasting & to be complemented with vinegar for a nice tartness on fish etc.

I am looking forward to the new sweet additional taste when she cooks.

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / 2021 Mango Pictures
« on: January 05, 2021, 07:17:25 PM »




22
Happy hunting now and tomorrow morning for the falling iguana and unwanted slow moving reptiles like snakes during the cold spell...

23
I love the taste of Late Season Keitt, especially cut up in a slurry of chunks. It is also my favorite freezer mango and my freezer is full and now I just admire the remainder still on the trees.

It's just amazing to me how prolific a Keitt tree can be.


24
I've cleaned my (ns1 today) Jackfruit & removed the seeds & rag from the yellow sweet part typically eaten.

Now the rag remains and I decided to try eating it also. The first choice since I like french fries is fried rag in oil for about 8 minutes. Canola oil was used today but vegetable etc. should be fine. Also added my salt....

The result was delicious delicious mildly sweet "french fries".  :P  IMO sweeter & better than "Onion Rings or French Fries"

Sooo, try to eat it all.... or at least the Rag.... lol

Try it, You'll Like It....








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