The Tropical Fruit Forum

B2B, so are those flowers and should I knock them off.  Or should I leave them and the plant will take care of that by itself.
The root stock has flowered, still has one or two, and set one fruit.

My Licia on pond apple continues to do well.
I took a look today and got a surprise.

Look closely at these photos, there is something that looks like a flower.  I may be wrong but can someone familiar with Licia please confirm.
Also, I assume as with mango it is prudent to take the flower off and let the scion grow for at least a season.

As I understand it, it you cut just above the node several (4 to 6 according the video I shared) from the same area.
You then reduce to the number you want.  Some people don't like this and prefer to cut a couple of inches below the node in which case buds develop where the leafs below the cut are.  You get fewer shoots and they are not exactly at the same point.

I tipped a recently grafted sweet tart and I will get a photo to post later.  I cut below the node to get separate branching.

My suggestion is that for the first cut or heading, cutting just above the node makes sense.  For subsequent tipping, my preference will be below the node, but its only my preference. 

Perhaps Har, BSb and other mango experts can share their preferences or if there is a correct practice what it is.

I was out looking at a seedling yesterday and saw the orange blob climbing out of the mulch onto the seedling.
The appearance was of a dry powdery deposit.  On touching with a stick I realized it was actually slimy n wet. Almost like a deep yellow orangish custard.
I looked it up and came across an article "What is the Orange Fungus Growing in my mulch?"
Interesting read.  Anyone experienced this and do you need to manage it or is it a good thing?

Will post photo later.

Currently out of town for the day, will photograph and post image.
It is at the edge of property with no shade value.
Close to a small canal which is not a plus for keeping the tree.  Flood protect issue if it fell in the canal during a storm.
My planted trees are further away from the bank.

I could be doing the local water district a favor if I removed the tree.

That's me talking myself into one option 😀

I got a nice mango (3 gal pot) about a year or so ago and transplanted it immediately into the soil.

I dug a large hole, much larger than I needed because it was not far from a tree that had roots all over the place.  I made the hole large and cleared all the roots in the space.  Replace with nice soil mix and planted my mango.  It has not done very well and in investigating yesterday (I moved mulch aside) I found a lot of fibrous roots under the mulch.  It was exactly the same type of root I had removed in making the hole.
Aparently the large tree just made a whole lot more roots and took over the area i prepared for the mango.  What is the best course of action.

1) Dig up the mango and abandon the location? 
2) dig a perimeter to a few feet all the way around my mango to cut off the tree roots again and this time place a root barrier of some sorts, plastic plain or painted with microkote on both inside and outside.  Can the roots come in from the bottom in this case?
3) Kill the useless but large tree and lets its roots rot in place(so pissed, I am liking this right now)
4) Fertilize enough for both and just know that my mango will continue to be out-competed by a well established tree that roots like crazy

Or is there something else I should do.

It is M4 and I want it to live and do well.  If I am going to do anything I'd like to do it as we are going into the rainy season.

By the way, are there any trees in Florida with roots that put out chemicals to retard its competition?  I ask because the root smell seems to be the only game in town anywhere I have come across it close to this tree.

I have some pest identification and pest control questions.

There are what I assume to be 3 different things.

First:  Some bug is eating notches in my lychee.  I assumed it is a weevil of some sort but have never spotted it.
See images below



Next on lychee and longan, there is this ?I don't know what it is?  that is on the underside of a number of leaves.  It does not appear to be moving and may be the case of a bud long gone or some stage in the life cycle where it is not active.  Can you id this and how do I treat control this?




Lastly, there are these neat rows of what I assume are scales along the ribs of several leafs, see images below.  Other than scraping them off, is there anything I should be doing?

Pineislander, I don't mind keeping a weed or two, just don't want them competing with my trees especially now that I am fertilizing and taking better care of them.

I started with Bahiagrass (or weed) lawn but have seen some St. Augustinegrass and other grass I didn't plant take residence over the years.  I don't have a sprinkler system and let my lawn go brown in the dry season which kills off some weeds.  What survives is well adapted to our seasons.  Now that I have started irrigating my trees in the dry season, there is a burst of activity close to each tree and within the spray radius of the spray gun I use.

If it is good ground cover, I will let it be.  If it competes with my mango roots, then it is toast , at least I will try to make it so.  I think Wedelia might have something to say about that.

Ditto, I got mine yesterday as well.

For the two people I offered to share with, check your PM or PM me.
Lets get these grafted ASAP.

Raul, check your pm.

One last "pestilence".   
I also have old world climbing fern, lygodiumhttps://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/lygodium-microphyllum/.  Its not bothering my fruit trees right now but it is on the lot.  I have been battling it for 10 years and is re-sprouts every-time.  Nothing truly kills it.  If a few leaves or pieces drop in areas I have cleared, it will come back.  Hope someone knows of something that I don't to eradicate this invasive.
I have been able to keep it at bay but it always reminds me it is there and waiting to take over.

Can you imagine if this were a great fruit tree that you can re-sprout from its leaves.  Too bad, nothing good comes that easy 

So I started mulching some of my trees late last year.
I still have several bare.  What I have noticed recently is this explosion of weed (or ground cover) on the mulched plants.  On one the density was such you could not see the mulch.  On the others I pick the weed once I see it. 
I took a 3 day trip a couple of weeks ago and when I returned I had to spend a good amount of time freeing my trees from what I see as competition.  Am I missing something?

Should I be removing these weeds?  Does it matter what they are?
If I had all my trees mulched it will be a full time job keeping the weeds off, is there a product to knock them back without harming the roots near the surface.
I am not doing organic and will use chemicals if i have to, but will like to keep the use of chemicals to a minimum.

Should I just bury the weeds under even more mulch?

I need all the information on mulching I can get because I am thinking this is the way to go with the other trees (no trunk damage from edger on my mulched trees  ) so please share your experience.


Modified to add pictures:



The weed is on the edge of the mulch, waiting to invade!



On the move



Close up view of a few I pulled.



Complete take over.  I mulched this little tree and didn't keep it up.  The weed has taken over what used to be mulch, mostly soil now.



Trying to get back my territory.  I pulled half of this mulch bed.  You can see the dying weeds on the pulled half.  They have nice white roots, very happy looking roots.  Just on the wrong plants.



I also have this weed which is also pretty aggressive.  It crawls along crowding out just about anything else.


One last fact in case it matters.  I get my mulch from a local nursery for free.  It is wood shavings or chips used for stable bedding.  It slightly aged but you can still see the dried horse business (#2).  Could this be seed source for importing new weeds.

Lots of rain in West Palm Beach and a fair amount up in Jupiter too.  I moved some mulch to see if it was saturate and unfortunately it was not.  The ground outside the mulched area is very wet though and not just at the surface but at least down to six inches or more.

Very pleased, except sulfur that I sprayed in the last few days must have been washed off and I got enough wind that knocked off a few fruits.  I hope the rest stay on,  Looking forwards to lots-a mangoes this year.