who has a mature PPK/Lemon Meringue?

[bsbullie]

Trying to do some research and comparisons on mature PPK trees.  When I say mature, I am really talking about 7 years or so and older.  My reasoning is something that was just brought to my attention on two 10+ year old trees, one in Palm Beach County and one in Broward County.

Does anyone who owns a PPK in this age bracket notice any die back issue?

Does anyone who owns a PPK in this range notice their tree has the bark splitting in an unusual manner with orange sap bleeding from it?

I have picture I can post however having issues posting from my tablet.   I can email the photos to someone to post for me if anyone wants to volunteer.

[Sleepdoc]

Mine is only 3 or 4 years old, and my in-laws is 4 or 5.  No help there...

The one at the F&S park must be around 10 yrs old based on size.  I never really looked at the trunk or bark.  Again, no help on the sap issue..

[cbss_daviefl]

I have one at my rental house in west Davie.  I am guessing it is about 8 years old now, probably 15 ft tall.  No die back or splitting that I have witnessed but I have not really looked at the tree in a year.  It is behind a clump of queen palms so it has been growing in shade so it may be smaller than it should be.  It is now tall enough that the upper parts get full sun.

[mangomaniac2]

Trying to do some research and comparisons on mature PPK trees.  When I say mature, I am really talking about 7 years or so and older.  My reasoning is something that was just brought to my attention on two 10+ year old trees, one in Palm Beach County and one in Broward County.

Does anyone who owns a PPK in this age bracket notice any die back issue?

Does anyone who owns a PPK in this range notice their tree has the bark splitting in an unusual manner with orange sap bleeding from it?

I have picture I can post however having issues posting from my tablet.   I can email the photos to someone to post for me if anyone wants to volunteer.
I recently purchased a 25gal which has 4 inch caliper. I am guessing this tree is approaching the age you indicate. This one has same issues you mention but as its warming up the dieback is trying to push something, probably another flower.

[mangomaniac2]

All my mango trees come from florida and it seems most of mine have bled some after a couple weeks in dry az weather. Have not figured this out but it stops after only seeping a few drops.

[bsbullie]

Here are photos of the damage

[Squam256]

Here are photos of the damage

Could be damage from bark or ambrosia beetle. PPK has an assortment of issues as a tree including being a pest magnet among others. We've had one die on us in West Palm that we're going to have to replace and I'm about ready to rip out another one I have growing in Loxahatchee. Dieback is definitely an issue with a lot of the established trees.

The fruit has quite a cult following though.

[bsbullie]

Samples of the Broward infected tree have been sent to USDA in Miami-Dade for testing and pathogen report.  The following is what it is initially thought to possibly be.

http://fabiserv.up.ac.za/webresources/pdf/a7ae0a8edb6620927765949a54b0221c.pdf

[gunnar429]

  >

[natsgarden123]

Here are photos of the damage

Could be damage from bark or ambrosia beetle. PPK has an assortment of issues as a tree including being a pest magnet among others. We've had one die on us in West Palm that we're going to have to replace and I'm about ready to rip out another one I have growing in Loxahatchee. Dieback is definitely an issue with a lot of the established trees.

The fruit has quite a cult following though.

Do you think the fruit is that good?  I think its just ok.

And having a tree with a known suspectibility to a disease; isnt that asking for trouble in the orchard?

[bsbullie]

Yes, I think the fruit is quite good.

So far, there is no evidence of this "disease" spreading.  In both cases, there are other mango trees around the infected PPK without any signs of damage.  The tree in Broward, which has what appears to be a more serious infection, has the dieback issue.  The tree in Palm Beach County does not have any dieback as of yet.

[natsgarden123]

Yes, I think the fruit is quite good.

So far, there is no evidence of this "disease" spreading.  In both cases, there are other mango trees around the infected PPK without any signs of damage.  The tree in Broward, which has what appears to be a more serious infection, has the dieback issue.  The tree in Palm Beach County does not have any dieback as of yet.

well just thinking in medical terms....disease or pest spread is always possible

[Squam256]

Here are photos of the damage

Could be damage from bark or ambrosia beetle. PPK has an assortment of issues as a tree including being a pest magnet among others. We've had one die on us in West Palm that we're going to have to replace and I'm about ready to rip out another one I have growing in Loxahatchee. Dieback is definitely an issue with a lot of the established trees.

The fruit has quite a cult following though.

Do you think the fruit is that good?  I think its just ok.

And having a tree with a known suspectibility to a disease; isnt that asking for trouble in the orchard?

I've never been that impressed by it, and the flavor can actually get pretty washed out in wetter years. It's undeniably popular with a lot of people though.

[SWRancher]

Samples of the Broward infected tree have been sent to USDA in Miami-Dade for testing and pathogen report.  The following is what it is initially thought to possibly be.

http://fabiserv.up.ac.za/webresources/pdf/a7ae0a8edb6620927765949a54b0221c.pdf

Wow, lets hope thats not what it has.   

[SWRancher]

Here are photos of the damage

Could be damage from bark or ambrosia beetle. PPK has an assortment of issues as a tree including being a pest magnet among others. We've had one die on us in West Palm that we're going to have to replace and I'm about ready to rip out another one I have growing in Loxahatchee. Dieback is definitely an issue with a lot of the established trees.

The fruit has quite a cult following though.

Do you think the fruit is that good?  I think its just ok.

And having a tree with a known suspectibility to a disease; isnt that asking for trouble in the orchard?

I'm with Rob, PPK is an excellent tasting mango, very unique taste and well worth having. There are lots of disease prone mangos, some much more so then the PPK, consider Cushman, Dot and Keitt. Honestly I have alot more disease related problems with Cushman and Keitt then with my PPK tree which in my yard has been healthy and very productive. I'm actually getting very fustrated with my Cushman's issues and am considering topworking it with something else.       

[TnTrobbie]

This past week I was thinking about a couple of these PPK mangoes I had from TT last year. Though sweet smelling and tasting with a prestine yellow exterior to match, it just comes across to my palate as.....bitter. Lemon peel bitter. I just could not love it . That disease looks terrible.

[jc]

If you got bitter, it was not ripe! Unripe PPK look and smell great, but the flavor can be sour and bitter. The early crop was off, but the later the season got the better the PPK got. Bright canary yellow all around to get the lemon meringue taste and darker gold to get a richer sweeter impression. Some of them have an effervescent mouthfeel. I easily ate over a hundred of them last season and learned not to eat them until they were all yellow or better, no green at all.  I had a bunch from TT and a few from my tree. The ones from my tree I let tree ripen to full yellow and they were off the charts!  If my tree goes down from disease I'll just have to get two more to replace it.

I guess I'm one of those cult followers.



 

This past week I was thinking about a couple of these PPK mangoes I had from TT last year. Though sweet smelling and tasting with a prestine yellow exterior to match, it just comes across to my palate as.....bitter. Lemon peel bitter. I just could not love it . That disease looks terrible.

[Cookie Monster]

I adore the lemon meringue mango. Lemon zest is even better.

Like SW Rancher, my both of my keitts (one 30+ years old and the other 10 years old) have been very disease prone. My little dot, on the other hand, has so far been one of my better trees. Disease issues seem to be variable based on conditions.

[jc]

Agree w Jeff on the LZ comparison.

My Dot is kicking ass this year. Two year old tree growing well and holding about 20 XL egg sized fruit. It's going to be a big tree.

[mikesid]

If you got bitter, it was not ripe! Unripe PPK look and smell great, but the flavor can be sour and bitter. The early crop was off, but the later the season got the better the PPK got. Bright canary yellow all around to get the lemon meringue taste and darker gold to get a richer sweeter impression. Some of them have an effervescent mouthfeel. I easily ate over a hundred of them last season and learned not to eat them until they were all yellow or better, no green at all.  I had a bunch from TT and a few from my tree. The ones from my tree I let tree ripen to full yellow and they were off the charts!  If my tree goes down from disease I'll just have to get two more to replace it.

I guess I'm one of those cult followers.



 

This past week I was thinking about a couple of these PPK mangoes I had from TT last year. Though sweet smelling and tasting with a prestine yellow exterior to match, it just comes across to my palate as.....bitter. Lemon peel bitter. I just could not love it . That disease looks terrible.

I had the same experience at TT last year. I'm not complaining but late season was much better!

[cbss_daviefl]

PPK was in the top 5 mango varieties I ate last year.  Dot took #1.  I got a bunch from Pine Island and ate some at F & S Park.  Sadly, I still have not eaten a PPK from my own tree, maybe this year if I can get to them before the renters. 

My kent tree at my old house was the worst with disease.  Die back took it down to about 60% of its original size.  I would guess it had some type of circulatory infection.  It eventually stabilized itself.  I think it produced a few mangos last year.  It looked OK the last time I looked at it.

[GrassFlats]

My potted Cogshall developed those same type of wounds with drainage coming from them.  Could it be gummosis? I believe that's the name for it after reading about it.  The tree had some dieback so i just removed all the damaged limbs which seemed to be the distal parts of the tree.  I thought the tree was a goner but amazingly it looks like it has stabilized and put out a huge vegetative growth in the last few weeks.  I wonder if certain varieties of mango are susceptible to diseases like this

[bsbullie]

Doesn't look  like gummosis from interior branches.  These have occurred on mature trees where the bark has split in an unusual manner and excretes sap.  There is no sign of any gummy substance other than sap.  The dieback is not a small branch but like 5+ foot sections.  People who have looked at it have initially said not gummosis and suggested samples be sent for pathogen testing.  Note the pictures I took and the pictues within the link I posted...may not be the issue but very similar.

If Har reads this, I would like to know if there is anything like this on Chris"/TT's PPK tree(s).

[jc]

http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/pub/php/diagnosticguide/2004/mango/

Rob check this out. It sounds like what you might be seeing. Symptoms are there.

[bsbullie]

I had read that and others on gummosis however the initial UF people who looked at the tree and damage said no.  Now it is 100% possible they are wrong...the pathogen report will hopefully answer the questions.