The Tropical Fruit Forum

Hi,

I have a formerly healthy Lula avocado tree here in Florida.  Every year the fruit was beautiful, but last year the fruit started to scab.   I thought it was because of a cold spell, but it's happening again this year.  What could this be? Secondly, how do I fix it?   

Could this be thrips damage? I'm not an avocado expert, so I'm guessing.  If so, would a systematic insecticide like Bayer Fruit knock the little #$%# out? 

Any avocado experts out there?

Thanks,

Shawn

Lemondrop mangosteen -- small fruit and often infested with small worms
Cattley guava -- Caribbean fruitfly magnet
Papaya -- smells like feet when good and usually infested with Papaya fruitfly maggots when not. Might try again and bag sooner.
Cherry of the Rio Grande -- small worms in dark fruit. Nope....
Peaches of all varieties -- had a small orchard of glorious Florida peaches for a couple of years before the Caribbean fruit fly found it.  Couldn't protect them and every peach infested with maggots.
Grumichama -- some infested with small worms
Passionfruit -- too hard to control
Dwarf everbearing mulberry -- fruit too small to be worth the effort
Citrus except for Sugar belle and Persian limes -- citrus greening killed the rest
White Sapote (Suebelle) -- if in fact a real Suebelle, this fruit had a real nasty aftertaste. Attracted fruit fly as well.
Jujube (Sugar Cane) -- Never fruited in Central Florida; was told it needed more chill hours by the nursery. It also had too many spiny suckers popping up.
Wax jambu -- small fruit, tasteless and attacked by fruit fly
Pitangatuba -- small bombs of pure acid; perhaps good mixed with a drink, but not fresh eating
Low chill pears -- nice tree but no fruit in six years in Central Florida
Feijoa -- small flowers but never any fruit in 7 years
Various Guava -- not once attacked by Caribbean fruit fly (amazingly), but not a fresh eating fruit for me
Rollinia -- die back and no fruit
June Plum -- fruit was hard to eat and seed had spikes
Ice cream bean -- need two to pollinate and die back every winter
Figs -- a few varieties were ok, but not worth the space and the constant battle with rust

I kept my Sue Belle white sapote at 10 feet. It was very vigorous though so I needed to prune about every six months.  It took a good prune though with no problems.

Does anyone know if Rose Apple is hit by Caribbean fruit fly?  Does anyone grow this fruit in Florida?  What are the results? Any maggots?  Thanks.

I was at Truly Tropical so I picked one up. I actually found a less than ideal spot for it, but still a spot. I'll let you know how it goes in the 3 years or so it'll take to get a fruit.

Here are a few pics of my residential yard. Every tree/shrub produces fruit. I don't think you'd notice that the front yard has: white Himalayan mulberry, five different jaboticaba, five varieties of feijoa, macadamia, avocado, atemoya, Barbados cherry, loquat, pitangatuba, achacha, dwarf mango and persimmon. They all are very ornamental and don't look out of place in the neighborhood. The backyard is a different story (even more tropical fruit trees): looks like a jungle.

It's grafted so the graft isn't aware that it's a very small plant. It will sometimes flower and try to push a fruit. Don't let it fruit at this size or you can risk killing your tree.  Remove all fruit for the first 3 years (maybe two) to allow the tree to build up a strong trunk and deep roots.

Har lists Pram Kai Meu as supremely delicious. Does anyone have this tree? What is the consensus on it?

Ha!  I wish I had a full acre. I have about a 1/4 acre residential lot. I have a total of 153 tropical fruit trees on property with 73 in ground; 19 of which are mango trees that are about 12-14 feet high. The mangos are spaced at five feet apart. Anyway, I think over many years I've accidentally mastered the art of high concentration growing. I even have a mango tree hedge made up of pickering, rosie gold and ice cream. Anyway, it looks like a botanical garden in back, but you would not notice anything amiss in front even though every single tree on property is a fruit producer except for a couple of tall Michelia Alba trees and a purple tabebuia in front. The highlight in the backyard is a long row of several tall mango trees and a couple of 14 feet lychees.

It's hard to balance the line between 'crazy plant guy' and also fit within the scheme of a normal residential neighborhood. I think, by accident, I pulled it off though. Helps that my wife tells me 'no' a lot whenever I try to plant a tree in a bad spot.

I'm headed to Delray Beach to pick up my Sweet Tart and a Sugar loaf mango tomorrow based on your recommendations; maybe a Kathy too (WTH). Thanks very much for your help.   I'll post some pics later this week if anyone is interested.

Any idea how productive Sugarloaf is?   Anyone have a tree with a few years on it yet?  Any idea how the mother tree is doing for productivity?

Thanks

I love my Scarlett Beauty hot weather plums here in Florida. They don't seem to be attacked by the Caribbean fruit fly either -- however, one year several got stung, but not since and it's pretty noticeable the damage that the maggots will do. I used to have twenty wonderful UF varieties but cut them all down due to heavy heavy maggots.

Mine have been excellent.