The Tropical Fruit Forum

Is there a safe way of disposing of the infected branches?
I fear leaving by the roadside for hauling company may result of its incorporating into free mulch, spreading the disease.

I cant burn, I think we may still have a burn ban and may just get stuff airborne.

Any suggestions?

Brewster and Mauritius appear vulnerable in my yard.  Branches of Hak ip, Peerless and Early large red grafted on the Brewster and Mauritius are fine but not the Brewster and Mauritius both of which have affected branches.  I have been watching and trying to manage this so it is possible the other varieties will be infected in time.

There is an Emperor about 50 feet away which seems a little less prone to breakout.  I had removed a few branches from the emperor last year and it is clean so far for this year.

If they are rats, is there a good and easy wat to redirect their interest.  For now they have targeted only one tree.  There are several other trees close by.
I am happy to have them eat fruit on the ground but not get up into the tree.
Would bobcat pee or a wooden owl do the job?

I may have to agree with shot and say cool this down, it is getting personal.

No it is not a simple, we talked about Miami (https://www.drought.gov/states/florida/county/Miami-Dade) getting a wet dry season but the St Pete/Tampa (https://www.drought.gov/states/florida/county/Pinellas) area got a very dry, dry season and if you looked at the drought index in one of the earlier posts it shows different parts of the state were less blessed (or cursed) with rain this past dry season.  This is not unusual, it is possible, actually common for parts of Florida to be dry while other parts are wet and has been this way for a vey long long time.

We can't fully describe the processes going on and convince someone who holds a differing opinion as strongly as people do on this subject in 20 lines of text.  So please cool down and lets have some decorum on the forum.

If you want to change minds, invite someone to your orchard and over tasting mango and sort, talk and listen , it would be a couple of hours well spent and who know you or the person may go away with a few points that may alter your long held position.

I have tried to manage my lychees this past year plus with the mite.  Cut back the tree spayed sulfur repeatedly when there was new growth but fell off the wagon a few months ago.  A friend was visiting a month or so ago and spotted a branch with the tell tale signs.  I removed it and resumes spraying.  While checking the tree today I saw several branches with the tell tale bumps.   I intend to take down the entire canopy and am contemplating just removing the two trees that have the mite.  I have a couple more trees some distance away, I am watching them carefully and hope they stay mite free.

Are there any developments in the search for a good way of managing this pest?  or will I have to keep spraying sulfur every time I see new growth?

Limestone base under my topsoil facilitates quick drainage. Standing water is not an issue in our neighborhood. Let the water percolate into the aquifer as nature designed

What is your elevation, are you on the coastal ridge?
Your setup in a low area could be a problem if the water table is high.   

During a recent presentation (2023 Rainy Season Outlook) the national weather service noted that Miami international airport rainfall station recorded 31 plus inches of rain this past dry season (ending May 15th).  It was the 12th wettest dry season on record, with about 10 inches more rain than normal (average).  That is why it is wetter than normal in parts of Miami Dade County.  Same in parts of Broward County. 

The back and forth is about why it rained so much this dry season.  Some attribute it to climate change, some are suggesting (perhaps not as articulately) that it could be part of some natural cycle. (Scientists in the region have long looked at teleconnections - relating natural occurrences and cycles like ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) or AMO (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation) to rainfall in Florida with mixed outcome.  The important thing is neither of these preclude the other and you could have both climate change and natural cycles affecting what we see any one year. 

Enjoy the banter, it is going on in so many places. 

True, and I had a couple of branches tied on this same tree.  This particular pair were so thick and could easily hold the weight of the fruits pulling straight down.  The problem was the twist.  Had I anticipated that, I will have tied them to each other, but I didn't see this coming.  I was focused on the weight pulling the branch down not pulling them apart.
Each of the branches were 4 to 5 inches across and they did not break, they split apart like they were pulled away from each other along a horizontal plane.  I am not sure I am describing it well but what would have held them together was if both were tethered to each other so they couldn't be split apart.
I will make and attach a sketch later.



 
   


This is the cut away of the failure point.  One from above and one from below.  Notice that the shear did not get to the mail trunk and did not get to the bottom part of the branch that came of the main trunk.

             
Looking from above                     Looking from below



It is a new failure mode than the traditional rip typical of having a narrow crotch angle.  For this the crotch angle was great just short of horizontal and did not fail.  What failed was where the branch split two ways.  Exactly what you are looking for when you tip the tree young to encourage branching.  That is why I am trying to make sure that we understand this failure mode which can happen in our well designed canopy.

Bummer! That happens almost every year with our lychee trees. I am constantly reminded that there is no substiute for training young trees to have wide crotch angles.

You can say that again and in this case, prune to avoid multiple branches from the same node.  I have a small non fruiting Son Pari that same a similar setup, one of the two branches will be pruned off in the next few days.

Orkine, what variety?  Sorry for your loss, looks like you won't be going hungry though

Choc Anon.
This variety in my yard makes a ton of fruit.  May flower two or three times in the season and and hold fruit from each flowering.

Burying fish under plants is a good idea.  Your challenge is making sure the fish is buried deep enough to ensure racoons and other critters don't dig them up.  I would imagine a foot should be good enough.

So very sorry this happened. Enjoy the rest of fruits on your tree, I'm sure it will recover quickly...I know it can be very disappointing but now the tree will be stronger.

Quick question, did you have a storm come by or high winds? Or did it just crack all on its own? Must have been pretty heavy!

Oh forgot to mention I've had to tie a rope to a few of my mango branches that were laden with fruits and lifted it up and tied the rope to the main trunk of the tree where it can handle the extra weight, this worked very well for me , Good luck!!

THanks.

Not even a breeze.  It was so calm that I was out spraying without a care of drift.
We are in the rainy season now (and had a wet end to the dry season)   Fruits are sizing up and the Venus that is prone to splitting has a couple of split fruits already (from the rains in late April).  I think the branch was under strain and just couldn't hold anymore.