The Tropical Fruit Forum

I'll most likely just leave it to its own since nobody in my family really like them. But good to know all that info about them. There one loaded with larger fruit out back i just let the animals chew em up lol. At least until I get a dehydrator. Can anyone confirm that dehydrating will actually remove the garbage can flavor? The dehydrated ones in store bought trail mix were always good and this co.ing year I'll need a good way to preserve the harvests.

You will not end up with anything like the store bought Papaya chunks if you simply slice and dry in a home dehydrator. There is a lot of sugar and dye in those things. Actually, I have never been able to produce anything at all like the store bought stuff. What I made (with no added sugar) would be best descrribed as papaya hard tack, and I started with a good papaya! If anyone has had success with this you are welcome to comment. Pineapple is exactly the opposite--the home dried blows the commercial product away with rich full candy flavor and no added sugar.

Physalis peruviana was the first one that came to mind ("Golden Berries"). They fruit fast and are nematode resistant as a bonus. Physalis won't fruit much over the summer in my experience. Mulberries and Mysore raspberries are good options, too. Mysore is a good berry. Its main problem is that it does not have the typical raspberry taste. I think it suffers greatly from being compared to its relatives. The other problem is the huge thorns.

Actually, just about any fruit can be cubed into cereal. Bananas, dragonfruit, and mango are great. Frozen mango cubes defrosted in a bowl of cereal are a real treat and can be pulled out of the freezer year round.

This is probably not what you wanted to hear, but have you thought about planting something other than a mango there? A mango gets pretty hard to pick/prune over 12'. Pineapples would grow great in that spot and taste just as good as mangoes when they are home grown.

I sort of doubt that tHD uses much or any fertilizer because the plants that they sell they are
just brokering, so that amounts to plants in and out, asap!

Form what I've seen at times it seems that they aren't even watering their plant stock regularly.

Just my 2¢ worth . . .

Paul M.
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You are correct. The plants only get watered when the employees of the nursery that sells to HD come by and water them. Costa Farms does the ornamentals I believe. I don't know if they also handle the fruiting plants.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Is that part of the yard always in that much shade?

Other than the thrip damage, the tree looks great with no visible HLB at this time.

I have a sweetheart that has been in ground in east Orange county(FL) since 2012. Its one of my original trees I planted after Bob from Green Jungle(RIP) gave me some fruit from his trees. I was hooked. My tree is about 15 feet high and about 10 wide. Never had any cold or frost issues while nearby longons, which are supposedly more cold hardy, froze. I have also never even had a flowering. Really flipping annoying for one of my most otherwise successful trees. My Texas plum at least blooms.

Sorry to hear your Sweet Heart is not reliable. What plum do you have from Texas that blooms in 9b? Maybe it just needs a pollinator?

John, lots of lychee trees here in central Florida are still doing fine. We were the center of commercial lychee production for 30-40 years before the major freezes of the 50s, 70s, and 80s. Many of those old Brewster trees had excellent crops this past year. So far, most of the really old trees have escaped major mite damage.

I see normal roots for a mango that size--no root rot. Root rot cases have almost none of the little feeder roots that show up in your picture and often have obvious fungal growth.

Maybe its a light issue. I imagine things are a bit dark in Germany this time of year, especially in doors.

Anyone else getting rain? Got  rain Saturday started out late got heavier than downpour in the early Am. Today I've had a steady rain most of the day.. Reminds me of the late 80s when we had these lite steady rains all day most of the winter. I remember well. My Father had sod business. It was my job to get the trucks in and out of the field pushing with a forklift. Also has been quite windy
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Do squirrels prefer acorns over mangoes???

Not sure about acorns over mangoes, but they definitely prefer macadamias over lychee.

If they bloom in June, there should be no issue ripening fruit in Florida.