The Tropical Fruit Forum

Whoops, sorry.  This was meant to post to the disccussion board.  Moderator please move it.

I finally broke down and bought two mangoes recently.  They are both dwarf varieties.  My understanding is that they can be kept small enough (6 to 8 feet) and still provide me with some fruit.  I'm in zone 9b so they will have to be kept in pots in case of extreme cold when they would need to be put into a greenhouse that can be heated.

The two cultivars are 'Ice Cream' and 'Irwin' (aka 'Egg of the Sun'), both touted as good for central Florida and not so tender to the cold as some other mangoes. Both of these are about 3-feet tall right now and I potted them into 7 gal. pots.  The 'Ice Cream' was already pugged at about 2-feet when it arrived and had grown three or four branches since.  That seems all well and good.

The 'Irwin', also in a 7 gal, has one central axis, never pugged and has just broken a cluster of tiny leaves at the apex.  It needs to be pugged but I think I should wait for it to establish for another month maybe two, before cutting it.  Leaving it about two feet tall sounds like it ought to be okay.  Yes?  It's not too late in the growing season yet to do that is it?

So, do my intentions for the treatment of these two cultivars seem doable and/or practical?  Or am I wasting my time with them and should have chosen some other cultivar?

Comments?  Suggestions?

TIA

Paul M.
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I checked and looks like right now they are going for around $100. So I could either wait like you say or maybe pick it up if my pockets end up burning. Seems like a novelty worth the price, not only to read but also have, so I will probably get it at some point. Thank you!

Well JBJ, this book is definitely not a novelty.  It's crammed full of narratives about the discovery of and introduction to Florida of many tropical fruit.

It also contains the minutes of the Rare Fruit Council meetings for several decades.

In those minutes one can find notations on when certain fruits were first brought to Florida and the efforts to grow and succeed wth them. These same minutes document the source for certain cultivars of different types of fruit, some of which were exemplary-tasting and became all-the-rage, but which over the years fell from favor and which may only today be being rediscovered and becoming popular again.

I wouldn't undrrate this particular book.

¡Solamente mis dos granitos de arena!

Paul
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I haven’t had a chance to read it yet myself but try looking for bill Whitman’s book. I think it is called five decades with fruit or something along those lines. Guy was a pioneer

Hi again JBJ,

Mike's suggestion for the Whitman book is a good one.  I recently got a copy and have only skimmed thru it but it is crammed with interesting fruit history.

It is now quite pricey since it is OOP but be patient because every so often a less inexpenvive copy will show up and that's the time to nab one.  It's a big, heavy book.  The complete title is:

"Five Decades With Tropical Fruit, A Personal Journey" by William F. Whitman; pub. Coral Gables, FL, 2001.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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What ever it turns out to be it looks like it will make plenty of berries all at once and they surely could be turned into jam or jelly, maybe with a jot of lemon or lime juice added for contrast.

Just a thought.

Paul M.
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To get the sprouts you talk of, you need to coppice the tree, but I think it may need to be a more mature tree, and not just a seedling.

Carolyn,

Guess I was not entirely clear on the adventitious growth question . . . .

I moved this seedling tree up from a 2-inch pot to a 6-inch pot and it began to grow a bit faster, but . . .

It also of its own accord sent up a little growth nearby.  I did not top the treel

That is the basis for my earlier question.

Paul M.
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Thanx Carolyn.

That is good advice on several counts. 

I'll prolly wind up mostly using the leaves to cook with or make tea.

It's likely close to time to move the plant up again into a larger pot.  I'll try a gallon this time.

Any coomment about whether this species throws up adventitious growths from the roots?  If so it seems like that would be a good way to propogate this plant.

Cheers!

Paul M.
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Just Fruits & Exotics in Crawfordville, FL (just outside Tallahassee) has green fingerlimes periodically available on their website.  Have a look.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
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Isn't the fruit of P. ligularis green when developing but then ripens to golden yellow or a golden orange?  And sometimes has a rosy blush on one cheek?

That's what I remember from when I ate them in Costa Rica and Guatemala.

Paul M.
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Thank you for this extra info, Palingkecil.  Much appreciated.

I'll try the fish emulsion.  I have a blottle of it around here somewhere.

Your experience with them shows that they ought to be okay with more sun as long as they don't dry out.

Paul M.
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Thanx Richard!  Seeds postmarked June 11th in France arrived today, June 22 in Tampa, FL in good condition.

I'm impressed with the packaging which was thin, sturdy, and protected the seeds.

Now my questions is: Should these seeds (Annona paludosa) be soaked before planting and if so for how long?  They are quite tiny.  How long 'til they would be expected to germinate, please?

Regards,

Paul M.
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Decorate your tree with tinsel. Birds won’t go near it.

I have had success by making a mobile using blank CDs and putting that in my garden amongst my fruit trees. It has worked very well so far, which is gong on two years now.

I drove a 1/2-inch metal conduit into the soil about two feet with the top end sitting about six feet above the ground.  Then I used #10-gauge galvanized wire to make a support arm that mounted/slid down into the top of the conduit.  The support arm was then bent horizontally away from the conduit with the end of it about 18-inches from the conduit.  I bent a small hook into the end of the support arm.

Then used another piece of #10-gauge wire about 14-inches long and hung CDs from each end (2 each, back-to-back) of the cross wire with their reflective sides facing out.  To hang the CDs from I bent a small hook at each end of the cross-arm.

The CDs were hung from the cross-wire and the cross wire was hung from the support arm.  All were hung using  a suitable length of monofilament fishing line so everything would rotate and spin in the lightest breeze, casting moving reflections on the ground all around the garden area anytime the sun is out.

With the CDs being reflective on both sides there are as many as four spots of light gliding across the ground at the same time.  Those gliding spots seem to keep both the birds and the squirrels away from my fruit trees.  I am guessing that they think its some hawk gliding around reconnoitering for a meal and so keep clear of my plants.

And so far the birds don't seem to have become used to all the reflective spots gliding around.  Keeping my fingers X-ed that they continue to be leery of those reflections.

The only maintainence on my garden mobile has been to replace any of the CDs if they have started showing any water damage from the summer rainstorms. The CDs generally have lasted these two years now before one or two of them started to lose reflectivity from water seeping in between the plastic layers.  But it's cheap, quick, and easy to replace them when that happens.

OK – Hope that this will be useful for helping to keep squirrels and birds away from y'all's fruit trees.  (Hey – I live in the South, y'all, okay?)

Cheers!

Paul M.
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Hi All,

I was recently able to get several plants of Ugni molinae (Chilean Guava) from a nursery in NC.  Plants arrived in good condition, about 14- to 16-inches tall and are still healthy-lookng but seem to be quite slow growing.

I have them in about 60% shade under a pergola that's covered over with Petrea volubilis (Queen's Wreath) in 1 gal pots and they are growing but rather slowly.  Maybe that is too much shade but not sure how much of our strong summer sunshine they wlll tolerate here in Florida.

Not sure if they tolerate wet feet, either, but also I have a number of tropicals (ferns & orchids) under the pergola and those get misted frequently and watered some about every other day –or sometimes daily when it's hot and no rain is forecast.

Does the above sound like a suitable situation for these U. molinae?  I know they grow in a temperate to coolish situation in S. America where it can often be damp.

Hoping that someone else here in FL/9b might be succeeding with this species and can remark on their own experiences growing them.

TIA

Paul M.
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