The Tropical Fruit Forum

Thanks JF for the encouraging pics!  Mine is in a 3 gallon pot, and it's getting chilly so I have it currently indoors. 

Thanks all for the replies and suggestions!

Yep, it is a seedling and not grafted.  I got it from Home Depot.
That does pose a question: should I let it those flushes down there grow or should I prune it off?

Here are a couple of pics:




Thanks,

Herman

Yes Herman - 3 things against lots of growth - if it's too hot or too cold (which you tend to ususally be),
if it doesn't get enough water (Spagnum Moss is a strange growing medium - how about getting it into something a bit more ... normal.... ) and if it's in a pot!

If you want growth get it into the ground and especially if you have sandy soil you CAN'T give it too much water and fertilize it with a weak dose of something every couple weeks - that has really helped my trees this year!!!!!!

Those are my opinons anyway....Fang of the Desert

Thanks MangoFang for the info!  Unfortunately I live in a condo so I have to resort to container growing.  It is actually in soil, but I am using sphagnum moss as mulch.

Thanks,

Herman

If it ain't dying, then its likely storing up energy/ materials for a flush eruption. Similair plants grow so differently in different areas CA/FL etc. Don't love it too much. Just the basics (sunlight, water, looking out for disease). Is it in ground?

My Mallika. Hopefully it'll fruit next yr.

That is a really nice looking tree you have there!

Yeah, I tend to pamper mine.  It is growing in a container.

I am in San Diego.  The last few weeks were extremely hot here for San Diego - upper 80s and lower 90s - and it didn't have a single flush.  I see a lot of shoots that are trying to push out, but nothing.  Just "thorns" on the main trunk.  The other mango tree that I have is a manila, similar in height, and it has already pushed out 4 flushes for the summer.

Thanks,

Herman

Thanks all for the replies! Yeah, I live in a condo facing south, so usually by 2PM the mango tree is in shade, but it does get good full sunlight for 4-5 hours.
I'm not feeding it with anything special, just fish emulsion and liquid bone meal, and it was at half strength and AFTER the new leaves have already grown pretty big.
Before that I've been just watering it with distilled water, with a few drops of liquid kelp.
I've never sprayed anything on the leaves except distilled water when I first got it in the mail.

Sorry to hear that Fang =( Hope you get one this year!

So 30+ days ago I attempted my first veneer graft (Feb. 28):









but it doesn't look like it was doing much of anything, so I unwrapped it today, and it looks like the graft took:






There are some new growth on the main rootstock, despite having given it a cut after the graft, so I'm thinking maybe I should cut the top off the main rootstock again, but this time only leaving a couple of leaves.  Maybe that will force the growth on the graft.  What do yall think?

Thanks everyone for your replies!  I tried googling and can't seem to find this data.

So I currently have the seeds in a seed starter with a grow light above it.  Do you think that this will work or does it require actual sunlight?

Thanks!

Herman

Nice Richard!  I just attempted my first ever graft in my whole life a couple of days ago as well.  It is also a veneer side graft, a mallika scion onto a glenn that I grew from supermarket-bought seed.  Since I've never grafted before, I wanted to experiment, and had a scion available after pugging my mallika.

So did you leave your tree in the sun outside, or have it indoors?

Here's some more information on these bugs:

"The name “flower beetle” is used to describe many different insects. The true flower beetles live outdoors in the garden and flowerbed. They can be destructive to plants and fruit, but they seldom invade homes.

People sometimes confuse flower beetles with the small brown insects that they find in the cereal in the pantry. Scientists use the name “flour beetles for these pantry pests. Flour beetles can be very destructive pests of stored food.

Flower beetles are common in gardens and flowerbeds. Two of the most common flower beetles in the United States are Euphoria sepulcralis (F.) and Protaetia fusca (Herbst). They are scarab beetles in the subfamily Cetoniinae. These are small beetles — about 0.5″ long. There are some Cetoniinae in Africa that reach up to 5″ in length. Many people call them “Goliath beetles”.

The flower beetle E. sepulcralis is found throughout the eastern United States as far north as Illinois and as far west as Texas. It is a dark beetle with a metallic green or bronze sheen. There are white markings on the wing covers. The flower beetle P. fusca is originally from Asia. It has become established in Florida.

Flower beetle larvae live in the soil. They seem to feed on the roots of grass and other plants in the same way as white grubs do. They may also feed on decaying organic material. They change to adults in chambers in the soil. In warm climates, the adult beetles are found throughout the year. The population seems to peak in the summer.

The adult flower beetle normally feeds on pollen. It takes the pollen from flowers on various trees, including apple, orange, and dogwood. It also gets pollen from flowering plants such as daisies and milkweed. It sometimes feeds at cuts on trees where it eats fermenting sap.

The flower beetle can be a destructive pest when it attacks corn or roses. It has also been found attacking fruit trees, mangoes, and avocados. On fruit trees, the beetles cause damage when they destroy the flowers. This reduces the number of fruit that can develop. The beetles attack the kernels of corn while the ears are on the stalks. .

Because they fly and feed in flowers, the adult beetles will be difficult to control. A pest control professional can treat flower beetles in the larva stage while they are still in the soil. "

Looks like the most effective way to control them is using natural enemies of these bugs:

"Natural enemies of adult Protaetia fusca in Australia include the bird Dacelo novaeguineae (Hermann) (kookaburra) and the fungus Aspergillus flavus Link. Threskiornis spinicollis (Jameson), the straw-necked ibis, is an effective larval predator and adult wasps of Scolia verticalis F. have been bred from P. fusca larvae (Simpson, 1990)."