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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Fest 2025!!!
« on: March 15, 2025, 04:52:12 PM »
I have family members flying in from California, they definitely would like to sample some different mangoes during the event.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Honey kiss or Keitt?
« on: August 03, 2022, 06:51:24 PM »Quote
My recommendation is plant a cotton candy and graft honey kiss onto it. Cotton candy is more vigorous
This is actually what I have planned, I have not been all too happy with Cotton Candy, two years in a row, I have had major Jelly Seed issues, of the very few that I was able to eat, the fruit is delicious, and the tree is productive, and precocious ( over 40 fruit, second year fruiting ).
I have picked most the fruit off my tree, think I have 1 or 2 still hanging, I liked the fruiting period of this tree, my trees produced in perfect synchronization, in this order Edgar > Pickering > Cotton Candy, Cotton Candy also seems to ripen all at once, great commercial variety contender, thick skinned, clean fruit, and big.
So I plan on putting Honey Kiss, and ST Maui on it. I'll keep one branch with Cotton Candy.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pura Vida Avocado in S. Florida
« on: April 05, 2022, 09:10:50 PM »
Years ago, Ledesma gave me a few scions, I grafted them but they did not take, which was strange since, another variety grafted well, and Avos are usually easy to graft. sure would like to get a tree, now that I am living in Fla.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Need help again when to anticipate Cotton Candy can be picked. Signs etc
« on: June 27, 2021, 11:50:00 AM »
My tree is also fruiting for the first time this year, and has about 40 mangoes on it, I was also not familiar with when to pick them, one day this one colored up almost over night, so I picked it, it was still very firm, today it had a nice aroma, and a slight give, so decided to cut it open, it had terrible jelly seed, and the outer portion that looked normal, was a bit under ripe, although it did taste good, but there was not much to eat.
I cut open another one that had just changed color today, same deal, Jelly seed galore, I have a Pickering not 12 feet away, and the mangoes are perfect this year, my Edgar tree also did not have any jelly seed, none of the trees were watered and all had the same ammendments given to them.
the only difference I can see is that, we had plenty of rain, and this might affect this variety more than the others.
I wonder if picking them at the mature green stage (or at the lighter green color stage yours are at) would help with the internal disaster.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sunburst mango variety question
« on: May 30, 2021, 04:35:22 PM »
All the different names are confusing, I think the K3, Kathy, is also called Kryptonite by Campbell, if I am not mistaken, Campbell seems to have a deal with NASA, on naming mangoes with a celestial theme.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: MANGO recommendation
« on: May 16, 2021, 09:18:38 PM »BBS Control for Mango Farmers. Ghana not the USA. This mango man knows what he is talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXNeGaGYNIg&t=5s
That channel has very informative videos on mango cultivation, and although it's mostly directed towards commercial farming, much of the advice, and techniques can apply to the back yard grower. I think the main difference is that, commercial farmers prefer a narrow window of harvest ( fruit ready to pick all at once ) , where the back yard grower, mostly prefer an extended harvest.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Can a mango tree be propagated from a cutting?
« on: May 05, 2021, 10:44:24 PM »Even if it makes roots, its not long for the world. Dont waste your time or the hormones.Do you know why it wouldn't work? Just curious because I couldn't find any articles about it online. All I saw was videos of people doing it and growing trees but they never reported back about fruit production.
For mulberries, the Australian white aka green must be grafted.
I think the difference is, you don't get a tap root, maybe not a problem if you want to keep the tree in a pot, or are using drip irrigation, I also watched those videos, I wan't to try it, specially using of Aloe vera, and/or cinnamon as rooting hormone.
Mango can be marcotted as well, even tissue culture, marcotting is something I would also like to play around with.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Top ten tree mango list
« on: April 07, 2021, 06:31:04 PM »Quote
Pickering is a slow grower for me and I’m
Not very impressed with taste.
My oldest tree is the Pickering, it is naturally dwarfish, which is one of it's selling points. very reliable producer.
as for taste, I have learned that Pickering really needs to ripen on the tree before picking, I mean really ripen, picking before fully ripe they just won't have much sweetness or flavor.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: newer/Zill mangos being grown where there's no cold stress to induce flowering?
« on: April 04, 2021, 10:37:28 PM »
In the warmer tropical zones, if you get a variety that is hesitant to flower do to the warm temps in winter, you can initiate flowering with Potassium Nitrate sprays.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: The question that nobody has asked or discussed & haven’t seen it in 6 years
« on: March 19, 2021, 11:20:59 PM »
I would have a couple dozen personal favorites, and the rest of a single variety, that can be marketed commercially. in commercial operations, the last thing you want is, multiple harvests, labor is expensive, unless you plan on doing all the work yourself. picking, cleaning, sorting, and packing, mangoes from 250 trees. is a lot of work.
commercial operations, usually only have 1-3 varieties, in the D.R, they use potassium nitrate to trigger flowering ( synchronize ) the goal is to get all the flowering at the same time, so you don't have fruits in all stages of development.
harvesting is typically done in three stages. the early fruit, are picked by lot hands. and sold locally to markets. the main harvest is done next, this is their main export, they hire hands to get things moving fast,
the last mangoes, are sold to street vendors, they come and pick them, and clean off the tree of whatever was left over.
300 trees is a difficult number, its way too much for a single person to handle unless you have a lot of time on your hands, and not very profitable as a business if you have to hire people.
commercial operations, usually only have 1-3 varieties, in the D.R, they use potassium nitrate to trigger flowering ( synchronize ) the goal is to get all the flowering at the same time, so you don't have fruits in all stages of development.
harvesting is typically done in three stages. the early fruit, are picked by lot hands. and sold locally to markets. the main harvest is done next, this is their main export, they hire hands to get things moving fast,
the last mangoes, are sold to street vendors, they come and pick them, and clean off the tree of whatever was left over.
300 trees is a difficult number, its way too much for a single person to handle unless you have a lot of time on your hands, and not very profitable as a business if you have to hire people.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Top ten tree mango list
« on: March 14, 2021, 06:34:20 PM »
Kinda ticked at my Edgar, in 2019 It produced maybe 5 fruit, after harvest, I gave it a hard prune, sine the tree was getting way to big, so understandably I did not expect anything in 2020, and I was right. but this season, I expected a lot of flowering, which I got. but all I see are maybe 8 pea sized fruit.
on the other hand, the cotton candy, which is a younger tree, is loaded with fruit, first time flowering.
on the other hand, the cotton candy, which is a younger tree, is loaded with fruit, first time flowering.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What Fertilizers do YOU use!
« on: March 09, 2021, 07:08:20 PM »
Forgot about the Dr Earth, I use that on my potted seedlings.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Which mango varieties have a propensity to produce too many male flowers
« on: March 08, 2021, 10:35:19 PM »
My small E-4, flowered a lot, but I don't think I'll get any fruit.
My Edgar also flowered a lot, there are some small pea size fruit, but not that many,
the ones loaded with pea to golf ball size fruit right now are Cotton Candy, and Pickering.
My Edgar also flowered a lot, there are some small pea size fruit, but not that many,
the ones loaded with pea to golf ball size fruit right now are Cotton Candy, and Pickering.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What Fertilizers do YOU use!
« on: March 08, 2021, 10:30:52 PM »
I don't use often, but do spread some of Excalibur's 8-3-9 (for fruits trees), only use this on my mangos after harvest. this year I did buy a bag of potassium sulfate, and just spread some yesterday.
this year I have been experimenting with foliar spray, this really seems to make a notable difference, on my smaller trees, new leaves are huge, my dragon fruit have kicked into high gear, growing and new branching. I use bioAg Cytoplus, with Dyna grow Pro Tekt (Silica ), and used yucca as a sticking agent.
Cytoplus:
Guaranteed Analysis: Boron (B)...............0.25% Manganese (Mn)..........0.8% Soluble Potash (K2O)......7.5% Cobalt (Co)........... 0.035% Molybdenum (Mo)........0.05% Copper (Cu).......... 0.13% Sulfur (S)......................3.25% Iron (Fe).................0.9% Zinc (Zn).......................0.5%Non-plant food ingredients: Humic Acid(s) 47% , Seaweed Extract 25% (derived from Ascophyllum
this year I have been experimenting with foliar spray, this really seems to make a notable difference, on my smaller trees, new leaves are huge, my dragon fruit have kicked into high gear, growing and new branching. I use bioAg Cytoplus, with Dyna grow Pro Tekt (Silica ), and used yucca as a sticking agent.
Cytoplus:
Guaranteed Analysis: Boron (B)...............0.25% Manganese (Mn)..........0.8% Soluble Potash (K2O)......7.5% Cobalt (Co)........... 0.035% Molybdenum (Mo)........0.05% Copper (Cu).......... 0.13% Sulfur (S)......................3.25% Iron (Fe).................0.9% Zinc (Zn).......................0.5%Non-plant food ingredients: Humic Acid(s) 47% , Seaweed Extract 25% (derived from Ascophyllum
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Kesar vs Jumbo Kesar
« on: February 28, 2021, 10:45:16 AM »I did hear a rumor that there is Jumbo Kesar in the Dominican Republic. That rumor came out of South Florida. Could this be remotely possible and is there any way to verify this?
Pretty much all I know about the Dominican Republic is that they have bad liquor.
Could be another false rumor
Not only is it growing in the DR, it's growing on a very large scale commercially. the scions were brought directly from India, and they were put on mostly Banilejo rootstock.
This is the first video I recorded with Noris Ledesma, they had three varieties in the initial phase of the project, Kesar, jumbo Kesar, and Kent, they later abandoned the Kent, this video is mostly in Spanish.
https://youtu.be/JCnW56M77Yw
I did a follow up on the project, a year later, this video is in English
https://youtu.be/D2-bJ_0bh1E
last information I got on this DR project , Joe, left the project and started one of his own ( With Kesar), the original project, was expanded, if memory serves me, around 30,000 trees. they were shipping containers of fruit to NY and Chicago markets, but had some serious logistics problems, at that time, the project did not have their own packing processing plant, and the area does not have a thermal treatment plant. on top of that, since Jumbo Kesar are much larger than the local varieties normally exported, the thermal treatment plant really screwed up a few shipments, some of the mangoes were cooked. also you may have noticed, how the fruits were in many stages of development, in commercial setups, fruits must be extremely close to the same stage of ripeness, and that was another reason they had some failures. I do not know if they worked those problems out by now.
I was told by a person that they planted Jumbo Kesar in South Fla, but want to keep that persons name private.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Kesar vs Jumbo Kesar
« on: February 28, 2021, 12:54:44 AM »
There is no difference in taste between the two varieties, everything is the same except the size of the fruit.
from what I have gathered, this was a natural mutation (I think they call it a somatic mutation) that happened on one part of a tree in an orchard in India, the farmer noticed that one branch of this tree always had much larger fruit, so he propagated it, and this is how we got the Jumbo Kesar.
I know that Kesar and Jumbo Kesar are in Florida, from what I have gathered, they grow well here, Kesar seems to be better adapted to different climates, unlike Alphonso, which does not do or taste as well outside it's preferred growing area.
from what I have gathered, this was a natural mutation (I think they call it a somatic mutation) that happened on one part of a tree in an orchard in India, the farmer noticed that one branch of this tree always had much larger fruit, so he propagated it, and this is how we got the Jumbo Kesar.
I know that Kesar and Jumbo Kesar are in Florida, from what I have gathered, they grow well here, Kesar seems to be better adapted to different climates, unlike Alphonso, which does not do or taste as well outside it's preferred growing area.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2021 Mango Season (Florida)
« on: February 26, 2021, 09:35:15 PM »my orange essence is just starting to flower for the first time
This one is going to start to receive more attention as they come into production. It’s prolific, high eating quality, nice size and doesn’t seem to get MBBS. Ours are all flowering well again.
Gifted OS to my bro in law. Hope he remembers me!
Lots of blooms here. Not much fruit set yet. Considering fishing
I really liked the taste of this one, also noted the very thick skin, and seemed to have a decent shelf life. I bought them green, and they ripened well, who knows might be a future commercial variety, not sure on the production and disease resistance if any.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Is the purple mangosteen self-pollinating?
« on: February 25, 2021, 08:44:31 PM »
Garcinia mangostana will produce fruit on it's own, the male plant of the species I read is extinct.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Sugarloaf/E4 Thread
« on: February 16, 2021, 08:59:39 PM »
My E4 is about the same size, it also pushed a lot of flowers one branch decided to flush instead, I do notice a few tiny "mango-ettes" hopefully they wont drop, I'll be happy if I get at least 4 fruit of that tree, it was planted late 2019.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Foliar fertiliser
« on: February 01, 2021, 08:34:09 PM »
Mangosteens can really benefit from foliar feeding, they naturally have a terrible root system in young trees, and is one of the reasons they grow so slow and take so long to mature.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2021 Mango report
« on: January 31, 2021, 10:30:50 PM »
I give thanks to the experienced members in the forum, and their recommendations, for the varieties I have. I planted Sugarloaf before I even tasted it, and was able try a few last year, I am so glad I got one.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: 2021 Mango report
« on: January 31, 2021, 03:30:45 PM »
All four of my trees are flowering, the first to show signs was Cotton Candy this is the first flowering for this tree, then a very precocious E4 that was only planted in late 2018. (I won't allow it to hold too many fruit if it tries to), the always reliable Pickering, and finally in the last few days, the Edgar.
So I am also very optimistic about the 2021 mango season.
So I am also very optimistic about the 2021 mango season.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What causes a "bad year for mangoes"? Mango trees never even flowered here.
« on: August 22, 2019, 11:29:24 PM »
Cool weather at the right time definitely helps trigger flowering, but lest not forget that many Florida mango varieties are grown in the tropics, where they do not get even one night below 65F and they can produce fruit without any problem.
some varieties require more stress than others to trigger flowering. water seems to be the biggest contributing factor in the DR, dry winters = more fruit, no cold involved.
some varieties require more stress than others to trigger flowering. water seems to be the biggest contributing factor in the DR, dry winters = more fruit, no cold involved.
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Fruits at winn-dixie and Hilarious Article on Rambutan
« on: August 16, 2019, 01:31:05 PM »
They could have at least spray painted the fruit, or added pink colored cotton around it or something, to make it look more "alien" .
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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango tree fertilization question please
« on: August 16, 2019, 01:23:28 PM »
I believe it's a good idea to use some nitrogen on young trees that are not bearing yet. once they start producing fruit, and the tree is the size you want. then cut back or eliminate all nitrogen.
I know the advice most given is, zero nitrogen for mature trees, personally I do not see why a small amount cannot be added, right after harvest and just before yearly pruning. to help with that new growth. as long as it's not a timed release, you want that gone by the time flowering season comes around.
I know the advice most given is, zero nitrogen for mature trees, personally I do not see why a small amount cannot be added, right after harvest and just before yearly pruning. to help with that new growth. as long as it's not a timed release, you want that gone by the time flowering season comes around.