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Messages - Johnny Eat Fruit

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2024 SoCal Mango Tasting
« on: October 25, 2024, 02:29:10 PM »
I just took some updated photos of my mango trees to show where they are on the ripening stage. I have also included my Coco Cream, Guava and Sweet Tart mangoes I already picked riping in the kitchen. The last photo is my (4) year old Brewster Lychee tree witch just put on a flush and looks quite nice.

Johnny


Ripening Sweet Tart Mangoes (10-25-2024)



OS- Val-Carrie Mango Tree (10-25-24)



Hanging Val-Carrie Mango Fruit (10-25-24)


Peach Cobbler Fruit on Tree (10-25-24)



Coco Cream, Guava and Sweet Tart Mangoes (10-25-24)



Brewster Lychee Tree after Flush (10-25-2024)

2
Your Thomas Sapodilla was much larger and fuller than the one I purchased from Lara Farms in March 2022 (See 1st Photo). Mine was very small and I carefully moved it into a larger #5 pot and placed it in my greenhouse.

You can see by December 2023 it has grown well in the unheated Greenhouse (see 2nd photo). The problem is when I moved it outside in early 2024 the growth really slowed down. My greenhouse really helped to accelerate growth in the early years though.

Johnny


Thomas Sapodilla (3-25-2022)



Thomas Sapodilla (12-21-2023)

3
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2024 SoCal Mango Tasting
« on: October 25, 2024, 10:49:43 AM »
Hey Brad,

My sweet Tart was late setting blooms this year due to a early powderdy mildew attack in March that whiped out the early fruit set. After that I started spraying with sulfer. I try to apply every 10-14 days but sometimes I get lazy a skip a week or two. If I suspect PM or see signs in early or late summer I apply Potassium Bicarbonate will will kill the spores on contact. This is a short term solution but it is better than doing nothing for the new growth emerging. I will try to be more vigilant next year in 2025.

Johnny

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2024 SoCal Mango Tasting
« on: October 24, 2024, 05:53:31 PM »
I am about 4-5 miles from the coast and it is not that hot even in mid summer. My Lemon Zest, Sweet Tart and Buttercream mango grafts all get hit by powdery mildew even in the fall (See 1st Photo of ST). I spray to keep the impact down but still get hit. Regardless Sweet Tart tree still produces well even at my costal location. I just went outside and noticed many my sweet tart mangoes are getting a yellow shoulder and will be ready to pick at any time. Most of my 20 or so Guava mangoes are now starting to turn yellow and are ready. I am at peak season right now with an abundance of fruit.

I am very happy with the (3) grafts of Orange Sherbet I did in 2022 (See 2nd photo). No disease issues and it has very nice-looking growth after a flush. If you look on the left side of the OS tree you can see some powdery mildew but that is from a Buttercream graft last year that is much more suspectable. I have other grafts on this Orange Sherbet tree but the two main varieties are OS and Val-Carrie. To my surprise I have (1) OS fruit on the inside of the tree that is staring to turn yellowish and almost ready to pick. Really surprised it fruited just after two years of growth. Looking forward to tying soon this along with Angie, Val-Carrie and Buttercream. The motherload has arrived.

Johnny



Sweet Tart Mango Tree (10-4-2024)


Orange Sherbet Mango Tree (10-17-2024)

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2024 SoCal Mango Tasting
« on: October 24, 2024, 11:09:36 AM »
Very cool Simon. Your mangoes look great.

A already finished my Seacrest mangoes and the were all excellent. For me they are a early season meaning they ripen from early/Mid September to Mid October.

Still have about 15 or so Sweet Tart mangoes left on my tree and about 8-9 Coconut Cream left. At my location these are Mid season meaning late September to early November.

I have some very large Val-Carries on my tree this year and they are starting to change color. Really looking forward to trying those. Just picked some Guava Mangoes and they look beautiful. Butter creams still look good and the last to harvest at my location are the Peach Cobblers which also look very plump and nice. I will try to post some photos in the next day or two.

Johnny 

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2024 SoCal Mango Tasting
« on: October 24, 2024, 10:32:16 AM »
I love the Parfianka Pomegranate. I have two plants growing on my property. It is the best tasting variety I have tried and as a bonus the plant is semi-dwarf relative to other varieties.

Johnny

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2024 SoCal Mango Tasting
« on: October 23, 2024, 12:28:05 PM »
My two favorite mangoes this year (2024) have been Sweet Tart and Coconut Cream.

A perfectly ripe Sweet Tart mango with it’s orange flesh will be a remarkable experience for those that have never had one at peak flavor. Just finished eating a stunningly good Coconut Cream a few minutes ago. What a treat. Looking forward to the next one soon.

Johnny

8
I have a Thomas sapodilla tree in a #7 pot. Purchased from Lara Farms in a #1 pot a few years back (see photo). So far it seems to be a fairly slow grower outside. Maybe I might get some fruit around 2032.

Johnny


Thomas Sapodilla (9-29-2024)

9
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango issue
« on: October 19, 2024, 06:34:43 PM »
Looks like powdery mildew.

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Butterscotch sapodilla
« on: October 19, 2024, 03:21:19 PM »
In early January of this year I moved my Butterscotch Sapodilla tree out of my greenhouse and placed it outside. Based on the very slow growth I believe this is a Dwarf variety, at least in California. You can see for yourself the growth this year from the two photos, one from January and another from October 2024.

If somebody was going to get a small Butterscotch plant and grow it outside in SoCal it will likely take 8-10 years to begin consistent fruiting in my opinion. On the opposite end of the Spectrum my five year old Tikal Sapodilla tree is about 8-9' tall and grows much faster vertically upright.  The growth rate of the Alano Sapodilla appears to be in between and is a medium to medium-fast grower with a more spreading habit. Thus far I have no fruit from any of my sapodilla trees.

Johnny



Butterscotch Sapodilla 1-5-2024


Butterscotch Sapodilla 10-17-2024

11
Citrus General Discussion / Re: lemons (and other citrus) on own roots
« on: October 06, 2024, 08:01:39 PM »
I would be inclined Not to use Lemon Seedlings as rootstock for Lemon Trees. Not because of incompatibly but because of the size of the tree. Lemon trees are in general large trees, Meyer is the exception. Dwarfing rootstock is preferred by virtue of smaller size and far more manageable maintance in the long term. I am now grafting all of my citrus trees on Flying Dragon. I don’t want 12-18’ tall trees that are much more maintenance intensive.

I made a error over a decade ago by planting my Yosemite Gold mandarin tree on C-35 rootstock. Now it is about 15 feet tall and requires contestant trimming. Lesson learned, don't plant on standard rootstock.

Johnny

12
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Xie Shan in CA
« on: September 28, 2024, 04:09:56 PM »
Interesting you had zero takes with your grafts. Over the last several months I have grafted about 25-30 Flying Dragon rootstocks in #2 pots at are in my greenhouse. My overall grafting sucess rate is about 70-75%. Most of these scions were also from the CCPP.

Some examples I had sucess with were Nagami Kumquat, Variegated Calamondin, Fairchild Mandarin, Femminello Santa Teresa Lemon, Kinnow Mandarin, Minneola Tangelo, Coctail Pummelo and Beam Tarocco Blood Orange. Having a greenhouse really helps and I don't think I would have tried this if they were growing outside and the Flying Dragons are very slowing growing but in my greenhouse I got them from 5" to over 36" tall in one year. Most growers also use greenhouses for the same reason.

Johnny

13
Grow something else. Try a Apple, Plum or Peach tree.

Johnny

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Help with sapodilla
« on: September 15, 2024, 08:59:36 PM »
You need help Brother Crush53.

Put your tree in in ground and wait 4-6 years. 

Johnny

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Just ate my first Seacrest Mango for 2024
« on: September 13, 2024, 11:01:33 PM »
For our friends in Florida there season has just ended but for California our season has just began. Just ate my first Seacreast mango and it was fantastic. I detected some citrus component but it was totally different from a perfectly ripe Lemon Zest. The Seacrest has a deep orange color in the flesh with excellent richness. It was very sweet but with a complexity not evident in LZ. The long hang time with a lack of rain in SoCal might concentrate flavors more so than in Florida, just speculation. The first photo shows some of my Seacrest on on lower right with Coconut Cream on the lower left. CC ripens later than Seacreat at my Location. I have 20+ Seacrest on my tree. Not sure how many Coconut Cream mangoes are on my multi grafted tree but if I were to guess it would be about 20 or so. This tree is eight years old.

Just picked a few Sweet Tart mangoes from my tree. The one I had two weeks ago was excellent. This tree is also eight years old. (See 2nd photo)

Guava is also doing well with several grafts on various trees all producing Fruit. (See 3rd photo as a example)

ValCarrie has a few fruit Ripening on my tree. The right half on the tree is ValCarrie. The left half is Orange Sherbet for a 2022 graft which is growing very strong. (See 4th photo)

This is the first year I have fruit from my Buttercream graft from 2020. Have five fruit (See Photo). I also grafted this variety to several other trees this year so looking foward to more fruit in future years.

My Zill M4 Mango Seedling tree that I started in July 2023 is now 46" tall and has grown very well. I just recently took it out of the greenhouse and upottted it to a #7 pot. (See photo) Grafted it to one of my in ground trees and looking foward to fruit in 3-4 years.

Many other grafts are growing well but are to immature to produce fruit. Very impressed with the growth of Raw Honey (Shwehintha). This Mango tree from Burma Grows fast and upright with dark green Foliage an are highly disease resistant. This is grafted onto (3) different mango trees in my garden and all are growing very well. I even had to remove to few immature fruit this August from a 2022 graft. The new growth foliage is a beautiful purple growth. (See Purple Growth on th last photo, Top middle) This variety seems well suited for California based on my experience so far.


Seacrest and CC Mangoes (9-13-2024)


Sweet Tart Mango Tree (9-13-24)


Guava ripening Mangoes (9-13-2024)


Orange Sherbet and ValCarrie Mango Tree (9-13-24)


Buttercream Mangoes


Zill M4 Mango Seedling Tree (9-13-2024)


Multi Grafted Mango Tree (9-6-2024)

16
Initially I grafted four Sharwil avocado scions onto my Carmen avocado tree. At first it looked like (3) Sharwil scions took and were growing. Over time thought two of the three scions died and the remaining scion grew very well as shown by the photo.  Lesson learned graft at least (4) scions per variety for success. Hopefully one will take off. This is not a dream but a numbers game.

Johnny

17
I have successfully grafted Avocado scions in February and July. Just make sure you do 4-5 grafts of each variety to get a take.

In the photo below you will see my July 2023 Sharwil graft to a Carmen avocado tree. The Sharwil avocado graft is the thick branch it front that is aggressively growing faster and taller than the smaller Carmen.  I just measured and the graft union is now 1.5" in diameter.


Johnny


Carmen-Sharwil Avocado Tree (8-23-2024)

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Finding the Perfect Potting Soil Mix
« on: August 27, 2024, 08:53:36 PM »
Gary's Top Pot mix is based on a mix of Pumice, Peat Moss and Sand plus a few minor extra ingredients. I don't know how you arrived at your mix on those ratios.

For my pots I use a modified mix for Gary's top pot. It is 70% sandy Loam soil, 15% pumice and 15% peat moss. It is mainly mineral like in nature. Has worked well for me for over 20 years. On the down side the mix is very heavy and not consumer friendly.

Use what you like if it works well long term. Peat moss does start to degrade after a year or two and turns to muck in time that why I keep my mix mainly mineral and the pumice helps with drainage.

Johnny

19
Hey Simon,

Beautiful looking sweet Tart fruit. My tree has about 30 ripening fruit on it and hopefully I can start harvesting in September.

This year about 15-20% of my sweet Tart follage was affected with Powedry Mildew. It had some effect on the blooms but I still got some fruit with little spraying on this tree. My Lemon Zest was much more affcted with PM and even with some spraying I got no fruit. I have already partially Top Worked my LZ mango tree. I suppose if I spray regurally between March-June every 7-10 days it would be effective but I get lazy sometimes and I am not as consistant with spraying.

Johnny



Sweet Tart with Fruit (8-16-2024)

20
Seacreat is looking good this year. I have over 20 fruits from one 2020 graft and will likely start picking some in late September. Also my Coconut Cream is finally producing well this year. You can see some of them on the upper left of the attached photo next to the greenhouse.

Johnny



Seacreat and Coco Cream Mango Tree (8-10-24)

21
Hey Simon,

I would concur with most of your assements.

Sweet Tart has good production but is prone to fruit split with young trees at my location. May take 6-8 years in costal locations to improve. Inland warmer areas may have better results.

Peach Cobber looks to be very productive. Lots of small fruit holding on my various grafts at my HB location.

Cac:  My four year old graft on Manila rootstock has fantasit growth but so far no production. I am hoping with more time this variety will produce well.

Cotton Candy:  My grafted tree in #25 pot is holding small fruit. I already grafted this to (3) other trees in ground and am waiting to see how it will perfoerm long term. 

Lemon Zest:  Grows fast but has constant Powerdy Mildew issues. I might have a few fruit in the fall but we shall see. Orange Sherbet seems to be a much better alternative for SoCal. No PM and good growth at my location so far with a two-year old gtrafts. Hopefully, it will fruit next year. 

Seacrest:  For me, this is the first fruit to set, fill out, and harvest. High production plus excellent growth makes this a winner. Also excellent quality fruit. The photo shows one branch graft from 2020.

Johnny



Seacrest Fruit (7-2-2014)

22
I grow Peach Cobbler and those are Not Peach Cobbler.

Johnny

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Seedling Mango tree thread
« on: July 05, 2024, 02:42:17 PM »
Good to hear Simon your Pina Colada seeding is fruiting.

I just transferred my PC mango seedling tree into a larger #25 pot. It is just now starting to flush. Perhaps in a year or two I might get a few fruit.

Johnny

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Best soil for mango trees !
« on: July 03, 2024, 10:39:16 PM »
For SolCal sandy loam soil is the best with 10% pumice.

Clay or heavy soil is the worst for mango trees long term. Most newbies growers fail to understand this.

Johnny

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: The Reed avocado thread
« on: July 03, 2024, 09:50:06 PM »
I think people make growing avocados or most sub-tropicals way too complicated.

Plant in good sandy-loam soil. Water every day (especially in warm temperatures) with drip irrigation and watch them grow. Lightly apply organic fertilizer every 6-8 weeks.

If by chance you got a dud remove and replace. Avocados should grow well under these conditions. By the way, I had a few loosers I replaced and it has worked out well. The 1st Reed was a dud. The 2nd Reed is a stud.

Johnny


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