The Tropical Fruit Forum

 This is my place in the desert in Palm Springs California....Gary  (I've got a couple more I'll post later...)


Valencia Pride


Gold Nugget


Coconut Cream


Kent



Chocanon



Lemon Zest



Glenn



Bombay



Edward - only 1 mango hidden in back after ALL that flowering



Keitt2


Seedling Nam Doc Mai

So, this hot weather has kicked my mangoes into bloom bigtime.  Enjoy the pics! Hope to have a nice
harvest....fingers crossed that no cold spikes return... Gary
(PS - this year I shut off all the sprinklers to the mangoes on Thanksgiving and perhaps
that was the kicker for such a bounteous bloom - I probably have control over watering
more than most)

Alphonso

Chocanon - a FIRST time spring bloom (it always has bloomed summer and fall)

Coconut Cream

Gold Nugget

Keitt

Kent

Valencia Pride

Venus (thanks Dan for the cutting that took!)

Bombay - another first time bloomer

Edward - always heavy blooms and only one huge mango the last two years - any tips of getting her to hold more fruit?

Glenn - top burned last summer when I mistakenly used Frost cloth instead of Shade cloth on a particularly hot day

Keitt #2

Lemon Zest

Maha Chinok 1 (some frost hit the top of this one)

Maha Chinok 2

Nam Doc Mai Seedling

Pina Colada

Rosigold

Young Lemon Zest

Anybody have Pineapple Pleasure, Orange Sherbert, Coconut Cream or Lemon Zest mangoes (the fruit) for sale now?
Would need to be shipped to California

Thanks, Gary

So, it's a mixed bag this year cuz of the killing frost in January, but this is what's going on here in the sunny dunes of Palm Springs.....Enjoy!     Gary

My its-on-its-own-schedule Chocanon


This is my second Keitt - some flowering


Bought this Lemon Zest in December. Flowering despite some frost damage


My LZ grafting project (onto Manila)- 7 have taken


Venus I grafted last fall


Coconut Cream - a couple flowers - slow grower here


Edward has small set fruit, now under shade cloth for heat protection until they ripen


Gold Nugget-Frost burned top 1 foot of tree - flushing only


VP & Nam Doc Mai dual grafted - still sleeping


VP-frost burned top 1+ foot, flushing only


Another Keitt - this variety just LOVES to flower


Kent - also, a powerful flowererererer


This Lemon Zest lost about 6" due to frost - dormant so far but swelling...


Mexican Papaya - what the frost left of a gorgeous plant


Alphonso - also frost nipped - I've seen 2 flowers, the rest is dormant


Bombay - dormant


Glenn - going to town


Youngest Keitt


Maha Chinok - also hit hard by frost - dormant and recovering


This Maha is flowering a little and survived the cold better


Nam Doc Mai seedling - new growth only


Pina Colada - new growth only


Rosigold - FLOWERING THIS YEAR!  Maybe I'll get lucky....


TR Hovey Papaya after the big chop after killer frost


My never-flowers dwarf Mex. Avocado


Unknown banana variety

Out here in Palm Springs, my weather station showed a rainfall total of .57 inches
since this weather system arrived yesterday - over 10% of our annual average
(4.5 inches).  I know you guys in L.A. and San Diego got some nice totals...
and I hear that the Camarillo/San Barbara area (think the mango professor and
Jacob 13) got some pretty large amounts....

Anyone want to report?


Gary

I have a 6 foot high by 5 foot wide 4-n-1 low chill apple and an Anna apple tree I'm willing to just give away
to the person that wants to come and dig them out of my garden - I'm willing to help.  I also have a 6 foot Minnie Royal and Royal Lee cherry tree, both planted in the same hole, that also can be dug up and taken away - how's $40 sound for them?

The desert out here makes it just too tough to grow them. I'll throw in some small seedling manila mango trees and a small red surinam cherry, too, if you like


Gary

I had posted this over on the Tropical Fruit Forum and was told it should be over here....so....
I've attached a couple pictures of the tree and what appears to be something
on some of the branches....is this gummosis or something like that?  Is it
treatable?  Sorry, some of the pics are a bit blurry....


Thanks, Gary

What's the weirdest stuff you've ever decided to use to tie up your trees with?

For me, I'm still using my last dog's (now deceased) snap-together collar
to tie up my pina colada and then there's the oxygen tubing I got from the
old man next door who moved away (and who is also now deceased....)
which I think is helping to hold up my Kent tree...

 


Gary


Gary

See the 2nd page of this post for pictures and discussion of the event.....

Our city has announced a free horse manure pick up program at a couple stables
we have.  You know - a bring-your-own poop bag/bucket and grab all you want kind of deal.
So.....what's the low down on this type of fertilizer for plants (mango in particular)?

I know it will be high in nitrogen, but any negatives as far as the quality of the nutrients?


Thanks, Gary

Help me out guys.  I thought I recently read somewhere about some kind of regulator
one can use to modify the size of fruit crops on trees.  I'm afraid my Manila is an alternate
bearer as it went from 5 last year to what looks like a couple hundred minimum this year,
and I'd like to even out this situation.

Other than manually cutting off young bunches of fruit, is there something out there that
can control the amount of fruit?


Thanks.....Gary

My mango tree is impinging.....sorry....I mean this Traveler Palm is crowding
my new Lemon Zest Mango.  I'll dig it up for you and help you load it....

I live in Palm Springs,California.  The palm is about 7 years old, and 10 feet
high, though it could be cut back for transportation.  Please send me a PM
if you are interested.

Thanks, Gary



....and in case you're not familiar with it, this is what it's supposed to become as it gets bigger....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/220507287136?lpid=82

Fascinating article about getting apples, a temperate fruit, to produce in the tropics.
Written by Dr. Chiranjit Parmar, a good friend of Moshe Weiss' (my tropical fruit guide
in Israel).  Has great ramifications for growing all kinds of so called "colder climate" fruits,
but only where it never gets that cold.....just read....

http://fruitipedia.blogspot.in/

Thanks Moshe......Gary