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Messages - Mark in Texas

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: White Jade Pineapple
« on: April 04, 2025, 06:27:29 PM »
That's just what White Jade does.  I gave up on it years ago. 

2
Thanks for that info. 

Do you remember what paint you used, outside latex enamel or interior?  Maybe I'm over thinking this.

3
Time to resurrect this thread.  Any chemists out there?  Am trying to figure out how much Kocide 3000 aka copper hydroxide (46%, 65% molar copper) to add to a gallon of white latex paint to make a knockoff of Griffin's Spin-Out, the original (and then came MicroKote which is a rip off).  Been employing this potting technique for many years. Amazon wants $998/gal. for what is about $60 worth of materials, paint being the most expensive item.  FYI,  Spin-out (or MicroKote) is a copper laden latex container coating that root prunes, preventing container root spin out and increasing root mass in a smaller container a good 10X.  SePro Griffin's Spin Out root growth regulator label says their Copper hydroxide (CAS# 20427-59-2) is 7.1% in suspension.  I'm not buying into this member's numbers regarding how much Kocide to use.   ajosin is his name. https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=3239.0

4
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: WTB cotton candy Mango Scions
« on: August 14, 2024, 09:25:50 AM »
Ditto for me too.  I'll take some.  Am also looking for Orange Sherbet, Fruit Punch or Venus.

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: My mango leaves are drooping
« on: May 13, 2024, 02:05:13 PM »
Mites?

6
Mark,

Your fake sharwil looks like a sir prize avocado. Sir prize avocados do have that distinctive ridge on fruit which becomes less obvious when fruit ripens. I do see the ridge in one of your pictures.

Fruitfool

Could be.  Had Sir Prize on another tree.




7
No red speckling which suggests to me guatemalan genes in the mix.   I screwed up somewhere, some how.  I have a branch or two of the Lamb Hass you sent to me.

8
Kaz, Giant Atis.  Mine is blooming.  Whether they'll stick is anyone's guess. 








9
Thats really odd Mark.  I am having a hard time identifying that avocado.  Those have been on the tree a year?  I doesn't really look like any kind of avocado I am growing.   Maybe let them go longer and try again in a couple months. 

It kind of looks like sharwil but i have not see them turn dark like that. 

Its not one of those oro negro or tex mex trees you had going before?

Don't remember how long they've been on exactly, probably about 6 months or so.  I have one lower branch of Oro Negro and that avocado is pretty much round, not pear shaped.  No Tex Mex, yech. 

Since the branches are very thick looks like I need to stub them and graft to the shoots that push.  Done that a lot with avocados and mangos thanks to freezes (heating failures) years ago.  FWIW, did it with a peach tree that was very heavy bearing, 25' W X 12' T.  One of the 5 varieties was apricot....but I digress.
 




10
Sharwil graft done yesterday in the center of a GEM tree.   Very healthy branching Jan Boyce is next to it, left. 

Brad, FWIW I have a large cocktail tree of Ardith, JB, and Nabal from wood I got from you years ago.  Fruit of Ardith and JB is excellent.  Nabal has never fruited, or, it may have but dropped all of them at BB stage.  Don't remember. Hell, I'm overwhelmed with a good 1,000 prime oranges (4 varieties including 2 blood), 2 varieties of lemons, 2 varieties of limes, etc. harvested from Dec. thru late April.  I bet I harvested 500 Meyers this year.  Grafted the budwood on a Flying Dragon rootstock I started from seed around 2011.







Reed is just loaded.  This is the view from my easy chair stationed in/under the Reed canopy.   Greenhouse is my Man Cave.







11
If it came from me, it is the real sharwil.  I started with 1 tree and have made like 100 clones off it now and have a field of them.  Im positive they are sharwils.

OK, thanks.  Pulled 2 black ones yesterday.   Refresh my memory, aren't they supposed to turn black on the tree?  I don't remember what the drill was with my original, old tree back in 2012.

No they are way over ripe if its turning black.  Sharwil doesn't turn black.  Can you post a pic of the fruit or the tree? 

I am surprised thry are not dropping from the tree if they are really turning black.  Sounds weird.  Maybe it isn't sharwil.

Sharwil would not hold this long in your GH i think.  You should be getting very nice sharwils by February there. 

Here's a sharwil picked yesterday it is totally green


Then it's not Sharwil, just what I thought.  Man, I hate to start over - cutting it down to a stub so I get shoots to graft to.

Fruit hangs black on the tree for a long time and never counter ripens correctly.

I've got a few Lamb branches from wood you gave me and it fruits OK.

Here's an old fruit from wood I got from MaryLu.

2015:







Today:

Picked yesterday, rock hard.  Have had fruit sit on a counter for 3 weeks and not ripen correctly.










12
Mark, search here, Kaz has pics and a long thread.

Got it, thanks.  https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=53120.0

Hopefully one of the Sharwil sticks will take on that rootstock shoot that is about 18" tall now, in the center of the GEM tree.

13
If it came from me, it is the real sharwil.  I started with 1 tree and have made like 100 clones off it now and have a field of them.  Im positive they are sharwils.

OK, thanks.  Pulled 2 black ones yesterday.   Refresh my memory, aren't they supposed to turn black on the tree?  I don't remember what the drill was with my original, old tree back in 2012.

14
alarms, back up heaters, etc.

What are you using for a temperature alarm?

Davis 6332 temperature sensor transmitter, wireless linked to a Davis Vantage Vue weather station.  Really nice system.

15
Maybe try pulling the sharwils sooner?  They are falling off the trees here in April.

So maybe Jan or February in you GH.

I have a good one called fujikawa that I can send in winter.  Also one called santa clara gold.

Trees are flushing and theres no good budwood now. 

As far as the ones you mentioned in this thread, they looked pretty mediocre from Kaz's post, but you can check it out and decide. I would go for something better to be honest.  Sorry Kaz.

To be honest with you I'm not sure I've got the real Sharwil.   Sure doesn't look like the original I got from MaryLu's budwood I got in 2012.   That was perfect fruit and tree culture. Also froze. I've got all kinds of safeguards in now, no freezing issues now with alarms, back up heaters, etc. 

I remember the fujikawa you mentioned years ago.  Might hit you up for that, thanks!


16
Thanks Jaboticaba45

Mark, search here, Kaz has pics and a long thread.

Have not seen you around in a while... 

Dis you get some sharwil grafts growing?  I think it is better than pinkerton.

I have a large Sharwil tree from budwood you sent me.  Been producing for years.  Kicker is, most of the fruit turns black on the tree and some is good and some when picked goes to crap.  Never seen the likes of it.  Kaz sent me the sticks which included more Sharwil.  What I'm trying to do is graft to a rootstock sucker that GEM is on as the main tree, top working.  I grafted JB on one sucker which is doing well but wanted something else to graft to on the second one that pushed about 2 months ago. 

Greenhouse is doing very well. I have literally harvested some of the finest oranges, Meyer lemons, limes since Dec.   At least 800 off 3 trees.  I have gallons of orange juice orange and Blood, Meyer lemon juice, baggies of zest, etc.  BTW, gave Kaz some Giant Atis sticks.  For the first year my tree is  holding a ot of blooms.

Here's hoping you and yours are doing well.  We just got back from the N.O. Jazz Festival.  Was a hoot!  Too damn crowded though.  The Nat. WW II museum is not to be missed.  Would be a great experience for your kids.

Will check out threads.

17
Did a trade and got these varieties on the side.  Other than a few posts here about a few varieties (like red Hansen) I am clueless as to the vigor of the trees (my greenhouse roof in central Texas has a ridge of 18'), tendency to alternate bear, fruit quality, etc.  Am top working to existing fruit bearing trees such as Reed, JB, Ardith, Sharwil, etc.

As an aside the USPS morons delivered the package to my home town and rather than delivering it sent it off to a small rural town, off to Austin and then finally back to me, but by that time I was in NOLA 3 days after the original scheduled delivery.  Will file a claim. 

Best condition is Derek sticks.  Hamada, Hansen, and Nancy might be workable.  As fate would have it the one I really wanted, Pinkerton, is in bad shape an toast

Any info would be appreciated so I can make a practical choice regarding variety.

FWIW, Reed is loaded this year.  Must have 50 or so in a tree I keep trimmed to about 16'.

Thanks,
Mark

18
Have a Waldin shoot coming up in the middle of my GEM tree. Girth is any where from 1/4" to about 1/2".  Like to do a cleft graft or perhaps T-bud. 

Am in central Texas.  Small USPS flat rate box would work.

Thanks,
Mark

19
Am interested in a 1 gal. pot of Rosigold shipped to Texas.  Can you help?

Thanks,
Mark

20
I have Pinkerton if you’re still looking.

I'd be interested come late winter, Feb.  Do your trees start flushing around then?  What part of Ca are you in?

Thanks

21
My Reed, greenhouse grown, and most of my other avocados, has taken temps of 21F and 18F and come back quickly.  I have to trim it 2X - 3X a year to keep it under 16', 3 meters.  I had greenhouse heater failures one year and in 2021 we had Snowarmaggedon that wipe out most of Texas.  Got down to 5F, many didn't have electricty for up to a month.

April 2023







Good luck,
Mark

22
Good luck bud.   I went thru 200 gals. of rainwater today.  Texas is finally getting some rain.  My area is still in an Exceptional Drought category after about 3.7". .

23
When i was preparing the soil in the gh i did add sand for drainage and poriosity, i think i added less than what i need.
I understand that spreading it on top of the soil wont work, so i had the idea of making holes in the soil with a sharp obcect ,then filling those holes with sand . The soil really isnt bad , but i have some places that hold a bit of an excess moisture so would like to help with the drainage everywhere if possible.
Is this a good idea ?

Do you have clay?

Never amend clay soil or you just killed your tree with a non draining pot. 

I use nothing but bottomless RootBuilder pots in my greenhouse.  Only way to go. https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=7511.0

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado Container Size
« on: August 31, 2022, 10:35:40 AM »
One of the avocados I grafted last year had been doing pretty well until the last month or so. Recently some of the older leaves are looking a bit yellow and a few have brown tips. It is growing in a container (around 4 or 5 gallons) in a  fast draining medium (EB Stone cactus & succulent with some extra perlite) and fed with a standard avocado/citrus feed. I'm wondering if the container is too small and could be contributing to the problem.  I have another slightly smaller grafted avocado that is growing in a similar container with the same medium and that one seems absolutely fine. So I'm really not sure what's going on. Would appreciate any advice or suggestions.





I don't seeing yellowing.  Hard to beat Osmocote Indoor-Outdoor Plus, 6 mo. slow release, 15-9-12 with micros. 

You must retrain with staking or cutting back one of those side branches straight up to form a new central leader.  I did the goalpost topping about 3' up on a Reed and it never recovered from being all wonky.  A good freeze and I'm now back to a beautiful tree that I maintain to 12' H X 8'.

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Grow pots for dwarf citrus
« on: August 20, 2022, 06:19:36 PM »
Try one of the root pruning systems - Rootmaker, MicroKote, Griffin's Spin-out.   Been using them for decades for citrus and other tropicals.

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