The Tropical Fruit Forum

Thanks for the reply. I don't know anyone growing on my area. but net says its USDA Zones 7-10 am in zone 9. so should be ok. though i can't be sure at this point.


the photo on the left was two weeks after i received the tree on a 6 in pot. that was the day I up potted to a 3 gallon pot.  It was growing on that pot till i put it on the ground the photo on the center
As you can see, that 8 months it grown well on that pot. Trouble stared after i put it on the ground. the photo on the right


Thing to note is that on the pot it was on semi shed spot, on the ground its full sun spot.

So suspects. #1 something in the soil that it didn't like. #2 didn't like full florida sun. #3 disease #4 over/under water.

No I don't use any herbicide. on the recent photo you can see there are plenty of grass.

Does anyone else growing this in Florida?

What temperature is too low for most wax Jambu, and not to derail your topic what temps have your Jamun handled?

Thanks. i think that's relevant question, as i heard Syzygium can be grafted inter species. wornder if any one has any success grafting wax jambu on jamun!

But to answer your question, I can't be sure exact temp, but on Jan 2022 weather station one mile away from me reported 22F lowest and my DIY Ardunio weather station recorded 17F. actual temp the tree felt were somewhereg in between. close to 20F i would say. Though north side of the tree were protected by larger oak. But the tree that was (15/20Feet tall at that time) didn't suffer much damage. just dropped some leaves and thats it.

that doesn't surprise me, as many source list Jamun tree to be hardy eve in 8B!

Sebring, Highlands county. I have been here since 2019. The coldest I have seen in 5 years was 33F (1/30/2021). That's ESE of Lake Jackson. The cold wind usually comes from NW and has to cross the lake. The bananas on the NW took damage, the ones in my neighbor's yard were fine. This past winter the low was 40F.
There are some larger, single stem Mangos in the neighborhood, probably 50+ years old trees. They must have survived the cold spells of the 1980s.

Thank you so much for the info. this is exactly type of info i was looking for.

I have a Lychee (not sure the variety) and a Longan (kohala) next to each other. two years back i had several fruits in the lychee tree that looked like bastard! and I wasn't involved!

Here is a photo. These all five fruits came from the lychee tree. not the Longan

i can post seperate photos of lychee and longan fruits form the same trees if anyone interested.

I tried to grow the seeds. they did germinated but the tree remain small. and some died. few left i don't know which is which anymore. I don't think lack of vigor was due to hybrid... rather crazy weather and nutritionaly void soil here in central florida.

But if it happens to my without even trying, i suspect this is very common!

Map is still not correct. I promise you that Bartow is not half a zone warmer than Lake Placid. Its the other way around.

Thanks.
I actually heard the same from at least one other local. then this new map is totally wrong!

Anyway, I wanted to hear form actual central Florida user here. Does any one know any verified micro climate neighborhood/spot in Lakeland to Fort Mead to Indian Lake Estates triangle area, where it warm enough to grow a coconut tree unprotected?
or there is no such place in this area.

hi, have you actually planted any? its been six years. wondering if any luck with pecan in Florida 9B?

I recently got two avocado trees. Waiting for them to get acclimated before I plant it. But one tree is turning dull. The leaves are somewhat folded, rough and yellow tint. Even the branches turning bit yellow. on the other hand the other tree lively green, flat, leathery, shinny. Though same size but next to each other two look like two different species!

I know turning leaves yellow seasonally is ok for avocado. But when i see them side by side, i can't help but to wonder if something is wrong with it. Please let me know if anyone has any idea. or have seen something similar


on the left green one is Joey and on the right yellow one is Lila

Basically i have a big tree in a location i don't want big. Every once in a while i cut big branches. If i could air layer, i would end up having ready made large-fruiting tree!.
I don't know why but in my location seedling doesn't grow fast. i have 3-4 strawberry guava seedling... about two years old. they are about 6" tall and thin as USB cable!

I tried cutting as well. multiple times. well.... not small cutting, but 2 ft branch. As far as i know, anything that can be rooted from cutting has better chance air layering.

I appreciate what you are saying about the expected dew point temperature and, based on that I am in for a scary weekend coming up as our area is in a cold pocket that generally runs about 5 degrees below the Lakeland, Florida temperatures.  Based on the Weather Underground forecast for the upcoming weekend late season cold front, our remaining Mango trees that have again started blooming could suffer significantly.  The only potential saving grace for us is that the worst of the cold is predicted to be short lived.  Hoping that as the weekend nears, the predictions change for the better.

Its probably still too far to accurately say anything. As i mention and shown, even next day temperature forecast can be 10-15 degrees off. Hourly forecast in five days advance, is completely scam! But yes, we need to monitor the situation. By Saturday morning we might have some idea. As of now... it could go either way.

I am in north east Orlando, official lowest temp by weather report was 26f but i think we got lower. I lost all 3yo sugar apples (thai, na dai, kampong). All 3yo atemoyas are fine. Geffner died back a little and Lisa is totally like nothing happened.
Starfruit , 3 yo, died to bigger blanches but alive.
Mai1 jack in 7gal, could hardly handle 30f so it was inside.
Unknown jack that had no issues with 30f, died back to the last 10inches of trunk.
 Kaffir lime has bad damage while other citrus are fine.
Red jabos, restinga have top damage, Sabara is like nothing happened.
Funny, i had dill and parsley not covered and nothing happened to them.
Ana

Thanks for sharing. We should make a list of these info.
In horticulture specific information is very hard to come by. All info out there is a vague... range... estimate... expectation. nothing specific or certain.

But what we are sharing here, is very specific. X location, x temperature, x variety, x size/old... lived/died/cameback. if we had large quantity specific data as such, then we could derived some useful information for that data. Otherwise saying things like a "Tamarind tree is hardy at zone 9" means absolutely nothing at micro range for a specific grower.

For example Elephant apple is generally consider less hardier then say Tamarind. Which is true at some extent. I had 4 Elephant apple trees 150+ft away from each other. They all died on Jan 24th when temperature were about 26F (ish). Tamarind had practically no damage. A week later when temp dipped below 20F, the Tamarind died. Elephant apples were dead a week before. so it wasn't any worse for them. But what i saw yesterday... blew my mind. after five weeks, three out of four Elephant apples now have new growth at the root/trunk base!! about 10 times bigger Tamarind tree still dead as rock. Now that is a information that worth knowing!

Question, is Lisa is the hardiest Atemoya on your property? What variety was the third one? how did that do?
 

Sorry for all your cold damage. Given all your tropical trees I would consider moving at least 100 miles further south.

Thanks.
On the waste cost of Florida... 100 mile south is basically Port Charlotte or even further down Fort Myers....  not good enough... unless near the coast line, at lease waste of I41.
Few Acres of land near the coast line $M... not happening on my caliber. Need to win a lottery jackpot first! lol
On the East coast Hollywood/Miami... even more costly!
Building a gigantic greenhouse here probably would be much more economical.

sorry for your loss.
By the way, which variety of grafted Canistel did you have?

Thanks.
Not sure what variety. Nursery guy didn't know. there was no label on the tree either. Is there any Canistel variety that is more cold hardier than other? Like Lila for avocado?

I am also waiting to see what actual damage my trees received.
If you watered heavy the night before you may have saved the roots ....

Thanks for sharing. Misery loves company.
I'm amazed to see your mango growing back from the trunk. Very rare. Do you know the variety/root stock?
Actually its the Weather forecast that let me down more than the cold. on Jan 23night forecast was 34F for my area. but actual temperature on that night, well more precisely on 24th morning was bellow 25F. That’s a 10 degree miss for the same night prediction.
I usually don't cover the tree at above 32F. Tree should be exposed to that temperature in order to "train" them!
But i didn't count on 10 degree miss. There were multiple factors. First when they say "to night's lowest" they mean up to 12AM. Low temperature in the morning forecasted as part of next day temperature. I unluckily didn’t check hourly temperature up to morning that afternoon.  Second, forecast itself can be very inaccurate. Even without considering micro climate. If you see live temperature on the map, you would see two weather station next to each other report up to 5/6 degree different.
https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap

Because actual official weather station count hasn't changed much since 80s. So all these new ages hourly forecast is based on crowd sourcing data. People buy weather station from Amazon and all these company collect the public’s data. What they don't count is that some people put their station in the garage and other installs it on top of their fire pit! And that stupidity ripples down to national forecast!
If I knew temperature will go that low on 23rd night, I would have add some protection. And then when temperature was forecasted low again after a week, I was already pissed. Thought damage was already done. So I didn’t protect that night either. I was so wrong. Coz, it was lot colder on 30th.  I was like the frog in the puddle, slow cooked by the sun!
But that’s life!

 hasn't change much since 80s. So all these new age hourly forcast is based on crowd sourcing. People buy weather station from amazon and all these company collect the publics data. What they don't count is that some people put their station in the grage and other install it on of their fire pit. And that stupidity reippls down to national forcast

The Jan 29th(night) 30th(morning) 2022 cold spell probably was one of the coldest in decades in central Florida. Though I only see few topics on the forum with documented damage report/stats. I’m in zone 9b, it’s not exactly tropics… but let’s add my sob story for the record!

I know its been a while. I waited a month to confirm if any tree comes back from root/trunk.

Location: Zone 9B. Central Florida. About 5 miles south of I4 & 45 miles East of Clearwater beach. Somewhat opened area. Microclimate wise, I would say my property is generally bit colder than neighboring area (no clue why!  ). Following is my observation on January 24th and 30th.


January 23-24th

Nearest weather station reported, Low 26.5F.

Dead trees (brown/dried leaves/ no green under bark after 5 days):
Elephant Apple (Dillenia indica): Multiple 4+ years old seedlings
Sugar apple: Grafted 7ft tall. Planted on ground 3 years back
Guava (pink): Two years old
Jackfruit: Unknown variety 5 years old seedling.
Imbe (Garcinia Livingstonei): one years old seedling:

Partially damaged:
Logan: 5 years old Grafted. 7ft tall
Mango: 5 years old grafted Valencia pride variety was mostly ok. 3 years old grafted Mallika variety decent amount damaged. Few other 3 years of tommy atkins seedlings were also ok
Jabuticaba: Unconfirmed variety. 4ft bushy tree. Bought it as 3 gallon tree. Put it on the ground 3 years ago. Dropped leaves. Still has green under bark.
 Guava (wild Florida variety): Partly damaged leaves.
Moringa: All leaves/flower died. Still green under bark
Canistel: 3 years old, 6ft grafted tree. Partially damaged. outer leaves turned brown
Wampee (Clausena Lansium): 2 years old seedlings. Leaves turned yellow. Potted one, seated under a oak tree was ok.
Manila tamarind: Majorly damaged: leaves turned brown. The one, Potted and protected under oak tree was ok.
Wood apple (Limonia Acidissima): Some leaves turned yellow
June plum (Spondias Dulcis), leaves died. Still green under bark
Guajilote (parmentiera Edulis): Outer leaves turned brown
Jacafruit: Golden nugget variety.  4 years old grafted, outer leaves turned brown
Sapodilla (Achras Zapota): 4 years old air layered. Outer leaves turned yellow
Star fruit: 5 years old grafted. Previously died back to 2 ft in 2018. Most Leaves turned yellow/brown. Still had few leaves on one tree and green under bark.
Black Sapote: 4 years old grafted. Partial damage on leaves. Outer leaves turned brown.
Lemon Bay Rum: 4 years old. Outer leaves turned brown





January 29-30th

Nearest weather reported, Low 22.4F. But it definitely was much lower. at least on my property. I put my Acurite room thermostate on the porch for few minutes at around 11PM and it reported 20F. Keep it in mind that temperature kept dropping till morning. and on open yard its colder than porch. My DIY temperature sensor recorded ~16F! at 6AM Jan 30th! My sensor was located on the open yard. 6” above ground. Official weather station usually record temperature at 4 Feet above ground.

Confirmed dead (brown/dried leaves & branch/ no green under bark/No grow back. Observe after one month, no sign of life)
Everything reported dead on Jan 24th, plus….
Logan: 5 years old Grafted. 7ft tall
Mango: 5 years old grafted valencia pride. 3 years old grafted Mallika. Few other 3 years of tommy atkins seedlings. All dead.
Jackfruit: Golden nugget variety.  4 years old grafted. This Jackfruit tree survived cold of 24th januray. But died on 30th.
June plum (Spondias Dulcis), 3ft tall. 4 years old air layered. It had some protection on the north side from large oak trees.
Canistel: 3 years old, 6ft grafted tree.
Starfruit: Two trees about 4ft bushy
Tamarind: 5 years old air layered. 8ft tall, branchy trees. Sour variety. About 3 inch trunk diameter at the base. It had some protection on the north side from large oak trees. Died. After one month observation, no new growth. no green under bark. I had one more smaller tamarind, sweet variety. It was planted surrounded by oak tree. That tamarind tree lived.
Manila Tamarind: Multiple two years old seedling.
Black Sapote: 4 years old grafted.
Sapodilla (Achras Zapota): 4 years old air layered.
Lemon Bay Rum: 4 years old.
Limoncello: 1ft, 1 year old seedling.
Pitomba: 2 years old on pot
vegetable hummingbird: 2 years old 7ft tall

Partially damaged:
Moringa: I had bunch of moringa/drumstick trees. Thin trunk one’s died and didn’t grow back. The one’s had over 2 inch trunk diameter. I notice new growth from trunk after 3 weeks. Thin brunch died back.
Jabuticaba: Unconfirmed variety. 4ft bushy tree. Bought it as 3 gallon tree. Put it on the ground 3 years ago. Dropped leaves. Initially appeared dead. New leaves started grow on 4th week. Total branch loss about 5%.
Guava (wild Florida variety): 3ft tall. Two years old seedling. Dropped leaves. Initially appeared dead. Observe new growth after 2 weeks. Most outer and thinnest branch died back. I would say 15% branch loss.
White Sapote (Casimiroa Edulis) : one years old seedling. Dropped leaves. Tender branch died back. Started vigorous new growth after 2 weeks
Wampee (Clausena Lansium): 2 years old seedlings. Less than 2ft tall. Dropped all leaves. Observed slow new growth few inch above root after a month.
Wood apple (Limonia Acidissima): 3ft tall. 5 years old seedling. Dropped leaves. Initially appeared dead. After 3 weeks, observe new growth at about 6 inch above the base. Total branch loss I would say 60%.
Guajilote (parmentiera Edulis): was 3ft tall branchy air layered tree. About 2 inch trunk diameter. It died back to root. After 3 weeks new sapling grow from root.
Neem: 12ft tall, 3+ inch trunk diameter.4 years old seedling. All leaves turned brown/dry. Initially appeared dead. Started slow new growth all over the tree after 4 week.
Jamun (Syzygium cumini): 5years old seedling  5inch trunk diameter. 20+ft tall. Endured decent damage on outer leaves and thin branch. But the tree is ok. Total branch loss, I would say 10%
Amla ( Emblica Officinalis): 10ft tall, 3+ inch trunk diameter.4 years old seedling. All leaves turned brown/dry. Initially appeared dead. Started fast new growth all over the tree after 3 week
Barbados cherry(Malpighia emarginata): 5years old. 7ft tall bushy. Was fruiting last two years. Sustained major damage. Dropped most of its leaves. 70% tree/branches died back. As of after a month, it still has some green leave and few new slow grow
Lychee: unknown variety: 5 years old air layered. Survived with some leaf and young branch damage
Macadamia: unknown variety: 2 years old air layered. Survived with some leaf and young branch damage
Jamaican Cherry (Muntingia calabura): Potted. 4ft tall. I moved it inside a metal shade. Leaves softened overnight. (lesson: unheated metal shade isn't any better than unprotected). Full tree turned brown after few days. After 4 weeks i see new growth from the root.


I uploaded two videos recording the damage in case anyone interested. The video was only after few days of cold. Report here confirmed after a month.
Youtube
Tropical Tree cold damage 24th January 2022 Central Florida
Tropical Tree cold damage 30th January 2022 Central Florida

Hi everyone.
Anybody has any idea what tree this might be?



Thanks!