The Tropical Fruit Forum

Every year around this time, the area underneath my Mango trees usually has a good layer of dead mango leaves from the year's growth. Is it okay to leave it for mulch or do you rake it up once a year and discard it? I've always wondered if dead mango leaves are good for mulching the tree, my trees are appx 11-14 years old. Thanks for any help and feedback

Anyone's Maha mangoes ripe yet in Florida? All of mine are still green.

Most of my Glenns are gone, just a few left...a little bit more Cogshall left and of course my Keitt are still green( mine usually ripens in Aug/Sept).

I'm planning on picking the Mahas as soon as I see some light yellowing and finish ripening in the house to beat the critters from eating them all.

Hi everyone, can some one recommend a nursery or website that sells Pineapple guava maybe a self fertile variety like 'Coolidge' somewhere in Florida? None of my local nurseries carry them...

Thanks for any help 

For the mango gurus out there I need some advise, I found this mango hanging on the tree, clearly either squirrels or birds or whatever else has been chewing on it. I noticed the mango is already yellow inside. Do you think I can pick some of the mangoes on the tree now and what are the chances of them ripening inside the house? I'm losing about 5 or 6 mangoes daily to squirrels/varmints and I'd rather pick the few that they left me or I'll end up with nothing  ...This is a Glenn mango btw. Thanks in advance

I have Glenn, Cogshall and a few Maha mangoes on my trees. All are still green but we've had about 25" inches of rain since May 13 so I'm not too excited that the flavor is going to be great, but I still want to eat some before the squirrels eat them all, they've been eating a few since they were the size of a large egg totally green!! I was hoping to pick it mature green and let them ripen on the counter or in a paper bag before they eat them all. If some of yours out there are almost ready maybe mine are not far behind?

Thanks!

Please Let me know when your Keitts are starting to ripen...I'm hoping another 4 weeks for me here?I don't have many maybe 14 or so...

A friend gave me 2 of these mangoes, the person that owned the tree just bought the house a few months ago and knows nothing about mangoes...tree looks about to be 4 years old maybe? by the looks of the picture she took. One is turning a little bit of yellow and the other is still green. Its definitely a roundish shape mango....mauritius lychee for reference 

Any guesses?

Today, I noticed a few of my Lychees were starting to blush...unfortunately the birds and squirrels noticed it also...I found a couple of crows flying over the top and picking the lychees ( they aren't close to being ripe) and then this squirrel was running up the tree and taking some also.

I think it was Brad? that suggested the bird away reflective ribbon/tape and this "bird b gone" balloon that's suppose to help...I guess time will tell. I also covered a few of them with the Clam shells, its the only thing that save some lychees for me to eat last year from the critters. I was able to eat about 40% of them, the critters are still the winner, they ate 60%    .

Wish me luck, I will need it!!

It's almost the middle of January and I still have no blooms on 5 out of 6 mango trees I have. I only have 1 mango tree blooming. As many of you living in Central to South Florida its been a very warm winter with the few occasional days of "colder" weather. My Lychee has blooms but its a "mixed" new growths with blooms mixed together. I'm hoping its just late and will start blooming next month. It will actually be a good thing if it waits to bloom later less likely it will get nipped from a late freeze...

How's everyone else's Florida mango blooms coming along...anyone on the same boat as me? 

A man down a few miles from me has a Longan tree loaded with fruits...bad news is they are very small due to the very dense fruits on each cluster, they didn't seem to get large because there were so many in a bunch 

Are they suppose to be brown when they are ripe? He said I can have all I want, I tried several of them and they are pretty sweet but they are small in size...not sure if I need to give them a couple more weeks to turn brownish?

How much longer do you think these Glenns can be picked and ripened on the counter? Starting to get a little blush on them...

I noticed today that I have quite a few yellow leaves on the interior part of my Lychee tree...these are mature leaves. The tree is 5 years planted and has baby fruits. Is it normal to have these yellow mature leaves fall off this time of year or am I not watering enough...its been quite hot and dry here lately.

Thanks for any help 

Sooo...because I was too impatient to taste fruits from my own Maha I let it fruit sooner than I should have causing my tree to stop growing after the first few fruits were picked...really halted the new growths  . When I saw some swelling the last few weeks I assumed they were blooms since all my other trees were putting out mixed blooms/leaves right now. I thought I would try something new. I decided to start fertilizing my Maha. I started several weeks ago when I first saw the first signs of swelling hoping to halt the flowers and let it put out new growths instead. Coincidence or not they are now bursting with  new growths, no blooms that I can find. Almost every branch has 1-4 new shoots growing. Very good news since I really need this tree to grow this year so I can let it fruit next season.

I wanted to get new growths instead of blooms right away instead of letting it fruit...wait till they are pea size then remove them and wait several more weeks before they start growing again. Thought I would share my method in case anyone out there might want to try it on their small/young mango trees? Not saying it will work for you but it did for me