The Tropical Fruit Forum

Interesting . . . Had not heard of using baking soda mixed with food (attractants) for squirrels/rodents.
I will have to try that.

I've had very good success controling rodents by using concrete powder and wheatgerm mixed half and half together and adding two or three drops of anise oil to the wheatgerm before mixing.  A bowl of water is placed nearby since the mixture will make them thirsty and the water helps the concrete to set afterwards.  They never build up any immunity to this mixture as happens with poisons.

Begone ye fluffy rats (squirrels)!

Paul M.
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PM sent . . . .

Paul M.
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It could be a build up of minerals in the soil from all the ondoor watering so likely the pots need a good flushing out.

Ideally if it's warm enough outside by now, set them out and let a good rainstorm flush the pots.

And in lieu of that go ahead with the repotting....

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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Paul, you work with what you have.  If you have 10ft, then plant them at 10ft.  It's maybe not ideal but you can only use what you have.  The trees will just not grow as much in the middle where they grow together.

Thanks Brad, for that comment.  It's mostly what I was thinking.  Plus I expect to keep them both pruned so that they'll be easier to pick.

Cheers!

Paul M.
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Gentle Avocado Aficionados,

How near to one another can I sensibly plant 'Mexicola' and 'Mexicola Grande'?

My 'MG' has now been in ground for five years and is about 18 ft tall.  My 'Mexicola' is in a 2 gal pot and about 18 inches tall but needs to go into the ground asap.

How close together is it practical to plant the two of these without causing possibly too much of an unreasonable overcrowding?  My yard's space is slightly limited so I'm wondering about planting how close I can get away with.

I plan on keeping the 'MG' cut back to about 10 to 12 feet tall but it's already setting fruit  for this season plus it's initiating a second blooming now, right after the first.  Prolly will do the same pruning eventually with the smaller 'Mexicola' once it gets established and growing well.

Any & all spacing suggestions appreciated.

Paul M.
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I believe ours is Asimina Obovata that we grew from seed.  We had a few of the seeds germinate but all but one died.  Come to find out they are very sensitive to any kind of root disturbance and everyone says its best to direct sow the seed in the ground rather than in a pot.  Of course I put them into a seed tray.  They begin to sprout in Nov. 2022.  Pictures are when they sprouted and the only one that has survived to now. 

Sorry to hear that your A. obovatas all died but one, Stella.  That's so frustrating.

The A. obobata that I got went into the ground and so far hasn't shown any activity.  Because it was dormant and looked like a dead stick, I marked it with a tall visible flag, like surveyors use.  Hopefully now that it has warmed up mine will leaf out sson.  (My dormant A. trilobas have just leafed out after planting them out about three weeks ago.)

As to potting Asiminas, they can be started in a tall, say 12- or 14-inch, narrow tree pot and when the time comes to plant them out, slice the tree pot open vertically so the whole  of the taproot and column of potting mix can be lifted out in its entirety and gently planted into an accordingly deep hole.  That way root disturbance is minimal so that the survival rate is far more likely.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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Anyone had success with it?

Last October I ordered two different cultivars of Asimina triloba from a nursery in the NW US.  They arrived bareroot and dormant last month.  They got planted out about three weeks ago (and flagged so the naked 'twigs' wouldn't get mowed by accident) but they haven't yet broken their dormancy as of this writing.

I'll post later on when I start to see activity.

I'm waiting with bated breath (and hook). –with apologies to Mary Rodgers!

Paul M.
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[ snip ]  Just make sure to water it crazy amounts when flowering.

Thanx for the heavy-waterng heads-up!

Cheers!

Paul M.
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Mine bloomed two years ago but didn't last year. 

Fingers X-Ed for this year!

Paul M.
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Yes, I can remove them. The bots are getting harder to detect. At first it used to be very clear it was a bot, but now they make posts that are somewhat related to the forum subject area.

One other thing that often can help flag a poster as a bot or spammer is that they tend to seldom reply to their initial post with any 'thank yous' or other replies after that initial post.

Also there may be a link included in the message which probably wiser NOT to click on for fear of getting oneself some malware.

Stay safe all and have a fabulous fruiting season!

Paul M.
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I saw some mangoes while visiting Belize in '81 in Belize City on a sidestreet where a curbside vendor had several in a boxtop off a beer carton. They looked to be close to three quarters the size of footballs, so I had to stop and ask about them.

I asked the ladies selling them what they were but they didn't know a name for them other than mango.  I told them that we never see mangoes for sale in Tampa that are anywhere near so big as theirs and the ladies said that these weren't all that big cuz it was the end of the season there for mangoes.

Nonetheless, those were the largest mangoes that I have ever seen.

Paul M.
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A few years ago, calycina and involucrata were merged into being the same species, so, I guess
it's both. I do have both calycina and CORG, and several cultivars of each from other collectors.

What was the rationale for this species merge?  Did they justify this species merge by
examining and comparing the gemomes of the two?

But then the tale  that's so long been floating around has been that E. calycina is easier
to grow than E. involucrata and that E. calycina doesn't experience the frequent dieback
than the other one does.

Just pondering a bit . . . .

Paul M.
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