The Tropical Fruit Forum

Is it too late to top my guava 'Ruby Supreme'?  It's gotten to about eight feet tall and the June bloom season is coming soon.

So, if I were to lop off about three to four feet off the top right now, leaving the plant about four or five feet tall, would it still fruit?  It has not begun to flower as of yet.

It's in sandy Florida soil with about six inches of leaf mulch over that.

Advice?  Suggestions?

Paul M.
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I got a Eugenia stipitata last year from TT.  It grew well 'til this past cold season then got some leaf burn and lost the first few buds it was starting.

I understood that this species is supposed to bloom year round as long as it remains warm.  Now that it is warm again it's growing well but so far no buds or blooms.

To encourage blooming does this species benefit from fertilizing?  Or extra water?  Or a drying off period?  Or maybe it's just seasonal after all.

Anyone on here who's growing this species:  How do you get yours to bloom and set fruit for you?

Mine's in a 7-gallon pot and in mostly full sun.  Gets plenty of water.

Cheers!

Paul M.
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My abius are in half gallon pots and are about 8 to 10 inches tall.

They seem healthy enough but I've kept them pretty shady.  They are recovering from being very recently moved up into their larger (1/2 gal.) pots and are just starting to show some new leaf growth.

How soon would it be advisable to start moving the abius into brighter sunlight –or at least into less shade?

And as a tangential question, I have several green sapotes, also currently being kept in 50% shade.  They are about 12 to 14 inches tall and sturdy.  When should I start to increase their sunlight?

Suggestions, advice, please . . .

Paul M.
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A sabará was received in late summer of 2020 in a three gallon pot and was about two feet tall and a foot and a half in diameter.  Seemed perfectly healthy and grew new leaves so no concerns with it.

Suddenly early in March all its leaves dried up and turned a light brown but did not fall from the plant which always seems a bad sign.  Only a few very tiny green leaves remained at the tips of some of the branches.

Then I began to water it more and in about two weeks all the dead leaves began to drop and new leaves started to grow.  Now the sabará is all lush and green again.

So..... 

Is this typical of sabará during winter time?

Should it by now –closing on a year after its receipt– be moved up into a five gallon pot?

I want to put it into the ground but don't know how large these get in zone 9b in Florida, especially in my sandy soil.

Suggestions, please & advice . . . .

Paul M.
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Got this thing from TT in Nov.'20.  It was in a 1 gal. pot.  In early March it got moved up into a 3 gal. pot and was shortly put out into more sunlight.

Now after about six weeks in the larger pot I discovered that it has set half a dozen fruits which are already the size of a marble.  The 'tree' is closing on three feet tall.  Had no idea that these could be so precocious.

Hopefully it will hold some of the fruit and I'll get to try them.  Of course they may be unsatisfactory as others on here have warned that this may just be a yellow-fleshed A. glabra and not especially tasty, but we shall see.

I also have an A. montana which is still in a one gal. pot, also from TT.  Guess it may also benefit from being moved up into a three gal., but will it fruit?  If a move into a larger pot encourages it to do so will let you know.

Cheers!

Paul M.
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My three mango cultivars, all in 7 gallon pots had no problems wth the cold here in Tampa this winter.  They each made flower spikes in early March, but . . .

The 'Irwin' made one infloresence that got knocked off accidentally and it did not bother to throw out another one.

The 'Beverly', the tallest one of the three at 6 to 7 feet, threw a terminal inflorescence and one lateral and bloomed profusely but set no fruit.

The 'Ice Cream' made about six modest sized inflorescences and set about ten fruit between them.  They are small, only the size of English peas at the tme if this writing and look okay but I don't know if they will all hold. This is my first experience with trying to grow mangoes here in Tampa so I am keeping my fingers crossed that 'Ice Cream' will hold these few fruit.

I don't expect any fruit on the other two cultivars since the flowers are all finsihed and have dropped.

So far my mango trees' leaves are blemish free and the plants appear happy. But since this is my first foray into growing mangoes I would welcome any cultural advice y'all might could offer to a rank mango newbie.

Cheers!

Paul M.
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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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