Not enough Durian Discussion

[fruit nerd]

Mike up here there has been ripe fruit for a good while now, we are pretty dry too I have had 2978mm of rain for the year so far but bugger all the last 6 weeks.

We got a good drink last week (or was it the week before?). About 50mm all up I think. Grass has greened up and jaboticaba and grumichama have exploded with flowers. A few of the durians are pushing out lots of new growth. Looking forward to my first flowers, maybe in a couple of years .

[Mike T]

I am at around 2400mm and almost 0 for 7 weeks. No red prawn flowers but a late feb thru March crop looks likely
 

[fruit nerd]

I have to say, the mini durian season we just had was great. Had some really great durians. Much better than the main season earlier this year where a lot of the fruits were damaged (fruit rot?), presumably due to the massive amounts of rain were had before harvest. Would be great to select varieties that produce a good crop in Nov, before the start of the wet season.

[Mike T]

A particular monthong lineage seems to produce the spring crop reliably before the regular late summer/Autumn crop.

[Finca La Isla]

Is the flowering for both of those crops induced by a dry period or does the spring crop seem to flower without the ‘dry’?
Peter

[fruit nerd]

Is the flowering for both of those crops induced by a dry period or does the spring crop seem to flower without the ‘dry’?
Peter

Not too sure on the answer to this. Jan/Feb/Mar is the peak of the wet season here. It's possible that a short dry period in April/May could stimulate flowering. Another factor is that we had a warm winter here. Breadfruit and mangosteen fruited out of season. Would really like to see the raw data of daily rainfall at Whyanbeel/Daintree but not sure if that is publicly available.

[Gone tropo]

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsCode=136&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_startYear=&p_c=&p_stn_num=031062

That’s the link for rainfall data for whyanbeel this year which is very very similar to my own data. Wetter than average all winter from June to sep

[Gone tropo]

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDQ65002.shtml

For those growing durian in places that don’t get cyclones consider yourself lucky this is what we are facing over the coming days, likely to impact several regulars in this thread.

[Finca La Isla]

Yeah, that’s pretty serious, although the forecast shows it getting weaker.
There’s never been a cyclone where we are but there have been some close enough to the North that you begin to wonder. Houses and infrastructure are designed to resist earthquakes but not hurricanes.
Best of luck,
Peter

[fruit nerd]

Yeah, that’s pretty serious, although the forecast shows it getting weaker.

Now a Category 4 and yes, it should weaken over the next couple of days. Unfortunately, there are indications that it could re-intensify before landfall. We'll see. Still a long way out, but currently, things aren't looking good.

[0hip]

how would going around and doing an extremely prejudicial prune just before the storm go? literally cut off all the main branches back to stubs. very last minute stuff as a last resort but it would dramatically reduce the force being applied to the root system and the tree should just grow back after the storm. that would be my plan if everything else fails.
 
 im in townsville so also looking at getting hit but some of the latest has it heading further north. hopefully it weakens alot before it crosses the coast otherwise its going to be a tough few years for everyone

[Finca La Isla]

I was in a category 4 storm in Fiji years ago. It was interesting how mango trees, especially, let their branches get blown off but the main trunk survived while other trees just got completely blown over.  I like the idea of the radical pruning to save the tree, probably about the last preparation when it’s fairly certain you’re about to get clobbered. 🤞🤞🤞
Peter

[jimreevescairns]

Yep - I’m in Cairns and I have decided where I’m lopping my big Limberlost tree if it looks like we will get hit. Some big side branches higher up will go too. Would be such a shame …. It’s flowering properly for the first time in years!!
I seem to recall Mike T talking about regretting not chopping his trees before the Larry/ yasi cyclones.
I have long metal star pickets which I am going to hammer in triangular patterns around my larger young trees and then tie ropes from them to the trunk to try and limit the amount of movement of the trunk to hopefully lessen root damage.
Andrew ( Gone troppo) made a good point about painting the trunks for sun protection after all the leaves have been blown off in a text today.
Well fingers crossed ……. I really want to eat my own durian this year for a change !!

[Gone tropo]

At this stage looks like me and fruit nerd going to take a direct hit cat 3 which is winds to 225km/h if it curves slightly south over coming days jim and mike in cairns going to cop it.

[fruit nerd]

Quick update, the cyclone made landfall as a Cat 2 and was intensifying leading up to landfall. Been up to 1m of rain in the last few days and many roads have been blocked by flooding. All my durian survived fortunately. One small tree did have a branch land on it but it did not snap it. Some durian trees were certainly roughed up and have branches that seemingly don't know up from down. A couple of durian trees have also lost leaves on a couple of branches. All in all, I think they look fine and should bounce back quickly.

[Finca La Isla]

Good to hear, could have been worse.  I hope Gone Tropo has done well enough as well!
Peter

[fruit nerd]

Unfortunately, things have gone downhill from when I made the post above. The Daintree and Mossman rivers are flooding badly and there has been record flooding in Cairns. ~500mm has been recorded in 10 hours near Cairns, and that was after 500mm in the previous 24 hours. Heavy rain is still falling so this is not over yet.

[Gone tropo]

Record flooding occurring here I have recorded 1879mm of rain in last 5 days with 700mm of that falling in last 24 hours. I’m nearing 5000mm for the year.

[fruit nerd]

Hello,

Today, some of the my durians have leaves that are turning brown. I believe this is wind damage since it is effecting the more exposed durians and with Cyclone Jasper, we had strong winds for many hours. That said, I can't rule out water being the problem since we also had 2m (6 feet) of rain in 6 days. One question, would it be a good idea to apply an organic fertiliser now to stimulate new growth?

[Mike T]

Don't apply fertliser now.BTW my penang88, Gumpun and Limberlost have set lots of smallish fruit and are in the middle of another big flowering event. The sudden deluge after a dry period seems to have helped.

[fruit nerd]

Thanks Mike T, out of curiosity, what is the reason for not apply fertiliser now and how long would you wait? Sad to see the durians get knocked around like this, most were looking great before the cyclone. Hopefully it doesn't set them back too much.

[Finca La Isla]

Nerd, I think with small trees like the one in the photo to apply an organic fertilizer could be good. I would maybe hold off on a NPK application depending. But perhaps so much rain has washed/leached away any top dressing that was there.
For durians in production cycles the timing of applications is important but I would keep the light applications coming for small trees and perhaps a foliar calcium application.
Peter

[Mike T]

It has copped a thrashing and been water logged. Roots and root hairs will be compromised a bit. I think let it try to heal a bit and maybe clear grass around the stem and wait for it to reshoot a little. Fertiliser now may ad to the stress but if you're overwhelmed by the desire to do something put mild fertliser around and well away from the stem.

[manders]

I've heard of people growing Durian here in Florida, but I've never heard of anyone having them flower or fruit. Does anyone know why?

[fruit nerd]

I've heard of people growing Durian here in Florida, but I've never heard of anyone having them flower or fruit. Does anyone know why?

If you look at the mean daily minimums and max's for Miami as an example, it looks quite suitable for growing durian. A quick look at the record minimums though quickly reveals the problem - it gets way too cold. The record min is -3C/27F for Miami. Durian is grown in places in Australia that get down to around 5C occasionally. That is too cold for them and they will loose leaves but will survive. -3C/27F though is insanely cold and durian wouldn't stand a chance.