The Tropical Fruit Forum

The dwarf mulchi has worked nicely for me.  I like this tiny tree a lot.
On the other hand, I have been growing the giant mulchi for years, I don’t really know, 10-15?  And nothing in the way of fruit.  It looks good and the climate should be a match.  Nada!
Peter

Peter: are you getting fruits on the regular (not giant) mulchi? so maybe the giant is an unstable hybrid like Oscar says? Thanks. F.

Hello dear friends and tropical fruit lovers,

Out of love for tropical fruits, I bought a three acre farm in Homstead area though I live in Minneapolis. This land has not been cleared for long time and full of cane grass up to 8 feet. I flew to Miami and started the project to clear the land and ran into lot of challenges every single day being as I am new to the area and don't really know anyone. I was happy to come across this forum .

In the 1 week I was in Homstead, I was able to clear the land, got two bore wells dug, setup irrigation with gas water pump and drip line and planted 30 trees of 11 varieties.  I struggled to dig the holes for the trees. This is one of the main challenges ahead for me. Started digging manually and quickly found out that I can't do much manually, rented a jack hammer in Home depot to break the lime rock but still not much of progress. Can you guys help me with below questions?

1. What is the best and quick way to dig holes? Next time I go to Homstead in April, I am planning to rent a backhoe or an escavator. Which one is better? I am planning to dig 3 feet deep 3 feet wide holes to give more space for the roots surrounded by lime rock. what is the norm here for holes size for fruit trees like mangos, sugar apple, coconut, jakfruit, guava,mulberry, Barboda cherry, jaboticaba, sapote?

As I dig these big holes, I am planning to bring some dirt soil and fill in these holes. Any places to pick the just cheap dirt soil?

2.Also, as i mentioned I had big tall grass. My bush hog broke when I start clearing the grass. So I ended up driving tractor over the grass and let it lay down. I see the grass turning brown and hoping that it will kill part of the grass and it will act as cover. I know this is not long term solution. I am just buying some time. I made holes in the middle of grass and planted 30 fruit tress and had mulch around trees. What are the cheaper option or places to pick mulch or get it delivered. I think I will need a lot of it. I am planning to stay organic , so no chemicals option to kill the grass for me. I am planning to cover with cardboard around trees and mulch on top to at least kill the grass around the trees.

Since I already lay down the grass, what is the option for me to kill the grass and stop it from coming again. If I use rototiller , does that help? or what about disc? or covering landscape cloth?

I would really appreciate your help and guidance to my questions above.

Thanks

My two cents from my personal experience having planted over 400 trees in HS: It can absolutely be done, but it will require a lot of work, machinery and it won't be cheap.
1. Average you have 12-18 inches of soil over  hard-solid limestone. Trenching is ok for vegetables but not for trees.Fruit-tree roots can't grow or attach well in these conditions. You will definitely need 3'x3' (or bigger) holes in the limestone or the trees won't grow or topple over. To make the holes you absolutely need a big backhoe. Assume 10-15 minutes of digging per hole.
2. After you dig the holes you will end up with a hole and a pile of hard white limestone rocks and minimal soil. You will need to truck at least 50% volume of soil to mix with limestone. 
3. This "soil" mixture is ultra-alkaline and very poor. This won't work for many trees. You will need to apply chelated iron and minors 3-4 times per year. Also fertilizers. Over time soil will improve as a result of time and biological agents.
4. IMO you will definitively need irrigation: summers are very wet, but Feb-May can be super-dry and hot. Irrigating small trees is a must until they're bigger. I would plan and put in irrigation according to where you'll be doing the holes. Need a machine to dig trenches for pipes in the hard rock. Need a well.
5. Weeds are probably the same as any other hot area. I use mulch 2X/year around the trees. about 25 cubic yards per acre, I get a 100yd truckload. Need tractor and labor to spread
Again, it can be done, but Hawaii would be 100% easier...

Quote from: Mike T on December 11, 2017, 09:07:25 PM

I have three from Raul planted in my yard 2 years ago and they are between 1.4m and 2m tall now.

Great! I would like to see a photo of the tree... and a taste report when you can...

Marcos: I believe there are only 3 species of melicoccus. You may want to look into Melicoccus lepidopetalus, which I believe it's originally from NArgentina/Bolivia (aka Coquito de San Juan) and probably more temperate that other melicoccus. I have 2 Melicoccus lepidopetalus trees doing well in Miami, but yet unsexed and they're dioecious. I also have Raul's melicoccus, at about 1 mt. also doing well in Miami.

This is what i have on this tree:

Motoyoé: Melicoccus lepidopetalus  - Sapindácea Motoyoé (toda la Chiquitania, Santa Cruz), guapomba, aguapomba (Brasil), coquito de San Juan (Argentina)

Características Árbol grande, muy frondoso y ramificado, ramas tortuosas, follaje denso. Hojas compuestas por dos hojuelas opuestas. En la época seca cambia el follaje,  simultáneamente con el retoño de nuevas hojas, adquiriendo un hermoso color verde limón. Flores pequeñas, blancas, muy olorosas a miel. Los frutos son pequeños, globosos, algunos alargados o incluso con el extremo inferior en punta.  Al madurar la cáscara, varía de verdosa a amarilla, la pulpa interna anaranjada, fibrosa, dulce pero ligeramente áspera. 
Floración y fructificación Florece al retoñar entre agosto y septiembre. Los frutos maduran entre octubre y noviembre.
Dónde crece Crece en áreas de influencia chaqueña, como las tierras bajas del este o el valle de Tucabaca. Por influencia humana, se halla disperso en gran parte de las comunidades de la Chiquitania.
Usos Los frutos son muy apreciados por la población local, que los consume al natural. Es un árbol muy atractivo para espacios grandes, como ornamental y de sombra.
 

5 months in a tropical climate like Vzla should be plenty for any tree to grow more roots and be in better shape for transplanting later. Use good potting soil and plenty of water. The exception to this would be a tree that's sickly or a very delicate species that grows roots extremely slow.
PS: plants, inflation and violence are probably the only three things that will grow in Vzla over the next 5 months; so saddened about the situation there. F.

here in Florida we have what appears to be a sterile or female form which must be propagated by layering.
never seen viable seeds here, perhaps because we have no hombres.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=23269.0

I second that opinion!

Thanks so much for the interview Oscar! that's just fantastic! Really thanks for sharing!.F

Alexandre: the seeds I got from you are already germinated and about 1" high; I'm looking forward to flowers in 18 months as you say! Thanks. F.

Got my seeds today , a 6 months germination time was mentioned ...

The way things are going now , two 7.1 quakes in less than a month in Mexico , powerful hurricanes one after another , not even wanna mention the political situation , N. Korea etc....I will still plant the seeds that is if Nibiru doesn't wipe us out on September 23 2017...lol...

Oscar , you mentioned ' cooking to be safe ' in an other post about Cut Nut ....why is that ?

So who else started these from seed and how long did they take to sprout ?

My seeds were very fresh and germinated within 2-4 weeks. I can't tell if 6 months is reasonable for germination, but seems way long for these seeds. F.

While it's true that no tree can be totally immune to high winds, it's also true that some trees are more susceptible than others. From my very limited experience i would rank them like this:
Poor resistance: Longan, lychee, abiu, jamaican cherry (muntingia)
Medium resistance: Avocado
High resistance: Mango, Jackfruit, Chico, Java plum, Ice Cream Bean, Santol

My own observations strongly support Oscar's list (with about 200 data points of trees on the ground exposed to hurricane Irma in Homestead) :
Poor resistance: Lychee (40% out of 20 trees snapped, maybe it has to do with being airlayers). Longan. Most younger Garcinias have bad resistance: they topple over but don't break (Maybe it has to do with fact that they're raised in pots initially so they can't develop proper straight/deep tap root?). Jaboticabas get toppled easily but don't break.
Medium: annonas, guavas, abiu, avocado, white sapote
High: Black sapote, Mango, citrus, jackfruit, kwaimuk, sapodilla (branches break off, but trunk ok), sapote, grumichama and Cherry RGrande, spondias,
Needless to say: taller trees and trees with heavy foliage/branching fare much worse that others (jackfruit and black sapote seem to be exception) 

I would love to get some seeds! PM sent

I'm glad I found this post; I thought it was just me! Yes, definitively all my mangoes taste kind of washed-out. Also I think size has been smaller in most. Add my complaints to the list...

IMO Garcinias should go in the ground ASAP; they develop large/deep roots that quickly get stunted in pots. They'll grow faster in the ground after initial period of root growth. Imbe in particular has massive root ball.
All my Garcinias do well in SFla weather year-round in the ground. They're very resilient.
Put them in the ground with mix of potting soil and local soil, use plenty of mulch (they do fine in mixed limestone soil once they get bigger and roots expand beyond planting media)
I provide a dedicated mini-sprinkler for each plant and water as often as daily.
If they're less than 24' I would provide some temporary shade, although they can do ok in full sun if plenty of water.
I do chelated iron, minors and fertilizers every 3-4 months.