The Tropical Fruit Forum

I can't offer any advice except to say that you have an incredibly delicious selection listed out there. It's good to see what is possible in a cooler zone. Nice work.

If there's one thing growing mangoes has taught me, it's how to remain sanguine in the face of relentless failure and opposition. I have harvested far more food for my spirit than my body from my mango trees. The Great Florida Freeze of '26 demonstrates once again that I'm not in control and my plans for life and trees don't mean much. My neighborhood removed nearly 100 feral hogs in the last three months. I replaced all the trees damaged by the hogs. For the first time, I had abundant fruit set on Lemon Zest, Buttercream, Pickering and others. Just a few weeks ago I looked forward to a great 2026 mango season.

Bye bye, Buttercream.

30F at 7am. Going to need an emotional support group after this.

Here's a hug from me. From what I can see out the windows, I'm afraid to go outside and see the full extent. All my coconuts turned brown, all the Mameys have dropped their leaves, and all the flowers and support plants are flattened to the ground. Even my neighbor's ornamental plants are brown and toasted. It's brutal out there.

Still at it so while I was eating my dilemma was but use overhead irrigation which I ever had time to switch to undertree irrigation my trunk wrap could get moisture behind it.

Is it just you working on this or do you have a batallion of Navy SeaBees helping out? 

Every HOA I know is frustrated with their property management company or the reps they have to deal with. New neighborhoods are going up everywhere that have multiple layers of governance including CDDs. You can get into property management with minimal training and start your own business or join an existing company. Demand is high and it's easy to break in. I also know people in the business that just manage a few winter homes for rich snowbird clients. If you have accounting experience or construction experience there are specific demands for that within property owner associations.

If you are able bodied and can pilot a boat, you can find work maintaining boats for clients who are not here in the off-season. The boats need to be taken out regularly, serviced, and looked after. You don't have to do the actual hands-on maintenance yourself, just take the boat where it needs to go for service. You should get a captain license but that's not hard. I know a guy that does this and he loves it. Another option if you are a boat guy is marine salvage - a huge industry but might require more physical labor. You also have the option of working for a cruise line (ports in WPB & Miami) or as a private yacht crew member (different roles available).

Florida Power & Light is hiring near me, and I think so is the Fish & Game Police. So, lots of opportunity in Florida for any skill set.

I'll be curious how it turns out when it fruits. I place a high level of trust in the Vietnamese approach to tropical fruit. They know what they are doing.

I'm growing Hipolito and Lara Purple. Both are extremely delicious. I thought about adding Burgess but I haven't tasted it. Still, Maurice Kong brought that one back from Jamaica.

What other varieties are you growing?

It would probably be prudent to wait at least until the current cold snap ends before doing any annona grafting.

Of course. I'll be in hibernation until late February anyway. It's too cold for me outside.

Julie's Tropical Plants in Apopka advertises a Caimito with this Thang Dang name. The plants look similar to yours, and the label color is the same. Maybe they came from the same wholesaler?

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHfA2kUMpBC/?hl=en

No idea what Thang Dang really means, maybe it's just Vietnamese for purple?

Yeah definitely worth the experiment considering the tree was only 13 bucks 🤣 I have a bunch of seedlings I was going to experiment on but why wait?

I had a low area in the yard that gathers water so that's where I put the Pond Apple trees to make use of an otherwise useless area. Once spring arrives and my trees start to push, you can take some scions if you want.

Did you get it at Nelson's? That's not a variety I've seen before but the world needs more named purple Caimito varieties.

I forgot about Pina Colada. Great pineapple flavor, when you can get production. My tree is very reluctant to flower. I'm hoping for a better year this year, tree is almost 4 years old.

You should try Pettigrew. It is the parent of many delicious mangoes and to my palate, has the strongest pure pineapple flavor I have tasted in a mango. It's also incredibly delicious and I look forward to eating some this summer.