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Messages - UplanderCA

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1
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango Thief Caught
« on: September 09, 2023, 04:22:04 AM »
@Brad, you have an awesome property…. Lots of open space and almost no traffic.  Affordable Backwoods property is hard to find in So Cal.

@Ben Mango, I agree that they don’t look like the OS photos I have seen.  These would have grown larger and turned yellow when ripe. I posted a similar photo a few years ago for confirmation and someone mentioned Sweet Tart - definitely doesn’t taste like sweet tart. Everyone who has tasted the mangos comments on the orange creamy flavor.  I had some OS shipped from Florida this year and my OS definitely has more of the Orange flavor.  The only other mango graft that I have that would have an Orange flavor would be Seacrest / Triple Sec.  It could be soil and dry heat that affects the appearance and flavor.  My Valencia Prides always has a nice light coconut flavor.

2
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mango Thief Caught
« on: September 08, 2023, 04:22:24 PM »
I’ve read numerous forum postings regarding mango thievery in Florida…so sad. 
Yesterday evening, my neighbors alerted me of a parked car in front of my house with a child, 6-8 years old helping himself to the few mangos on my tree!  I confronted the child and the mother.  She claims she was going to ask for permission.  I sternly reminded her that you ask first…not take then ask.  As I was taking my phone out to photograph them, they threw two unripen Orange Sherbets and sped off.
I figured karma will eventually get her.  I can see it now… one day in the future and her son is in juvenile hall or in prison for stealing, robbery, etc. - it was her values that she passed on to her son.   I hope she remembers it was all on her.  What a sad thing to see, a mother teaching her child to trespass and steal.


The wasted unripen Orange Sherbets

3
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Mango scions/budwood
« on: August 22, 2023, 04:28:35 PM »
Hello Deb,

I may have some of those scions in a few weeks.  I will PM you shortly on what i may have.  I typically prep them ahead to time.
Sorry to hear about the scion quality from TAF.  I received some scions from TAF last week and they all had buds forming - they were all in great shape. A few had mold discoloration but this has not affected the success rate in the past.  I purchased several times in the past with TAF with the mold discoloration.  Alex has standard 2-day Fed Ex shipping.  I always graft within a day of receiving the scions.  My grafting success rate goes down if the cut scions are over a week old.  I typically cut the tips and soak in a cup of water with a drop or two of Vitamin B and growth hormone for an hour.  After making the grafting cuts on the scion,  I put the scions back in the cup of water until I make the cut on the host branch.  I try to never let the graft cuts dry out.  Make sure your host tree is well watered and pushing growth - a little fertilizer doesn't hurt. 
If you are new to grafting, you may want to go to Youtube and look for Truly Tropical videos on grafting (there are others as well).  Chris provides some nice detailed information on grafting techniques. 

Cheers,

Tony

4
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Tropical Storm Watch
« on: August 21, 2023, 06:37:27 PM »
Glad to hear no major issues from the tropical storm with the forum members.  It rained all day in the Upland / Rancho Cucamonga (San Bernadino County).  2" of rain and thank goodness no heavy winds.  I had just grafted a few mango scions on Thursday and put down some slow release fertilizer Saturday evening.  I'm hoping to see some scion growth in a few weeks.

Cheers
Tony

5
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Looking for Mango budwood/Scions
« on: August 03, 2023, 09:54:24 AM »
Hello, you may want to try Tropical Acres in Florida.  They ship to California.  I’ve purchased budwood in the past and Alex does a wonderful job in selecting budwood. Here is a link to their site.
https://www.tropicalacresfarms.com/mangos

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing Mango trees in Southern California
« on: September 13, 2022, 07:11:30 PM »

So the SoCal heatwave out here kept temps above 100 for two whole weeks. I gave one extra run of irrigation during that time and then I’ve been catching my greywater in a bucket and giving extra water. Now with the warm humid rain I am getting some nice flushes. The heat and sun also made my oldest Valencia Pride mangos on the tree develop some great colors.

I don’t want these to split on the tree, but I want them to be their best. I have been told to pick them once their shoulders fill out and then ripen off tree. I want to make sure I am interpreting that correctly, in the shown photo there is a distinct angle on the top mango. I am interpreting letting the shoulder fill out by that area swelling and rounding out so it is a smooth full curve instead of a flat angle.

Is this the correct way?




Anybody harvesting already?

Hey Victoria Ave,
I've been harvesting the last two weeks: NDM and Valencia pride from this weekend.




Waiting for Sweet Tart




and my first Seacrest / Triple Sec



For me, this years harvest is much smaller than last year.  My Maha crop is skimpy this year - maybe 4 nice size fruit.  Hoping that the opossums and fox squirrels stay away from the remaining mangos.   

7
Hello Eggo,

Well what started out looking like it will be a great year turn out bad.  I understand that sentiment.  I had very similar issues with my NDM and Maha with the early fruit.  I will be lucky if this years harvest is 1/2 the size of last years mango crop.  No Orange Sherbet, Lemon Zest, or Sweet Tart this year - the few I had all dropped by end of May. On the positive side, the trees have had two very good growth flushes (with signs of a third starting).  I'm focusing on vegetive growth now.

Just out of curiosity, how are the other Southern California mango growers doing?  How does this year's potential mango harvest look compared to last years: the same, smaller, larger?

Cheers,

Tony

8
My top five in no particular order:

Mango
Jackfruit
Pineapple (especially when in Hawaii)
Raspberry
Cherimoya

Honorable mention: peaches and lychee

9
Interesting that your Maha was done before others. I was under the impression Maha was a very late season tree.

My Valencia looks like it has a at least a couple more weeks on the tree.

My Maha and NDM are early bloomers (late January and February).  They are on a multi-grafted Manila root stock.  My stand-alone NDM tree has consistently bloomed multiple times each year.  It's most likely the location (NE area of the house next to a block wall).  It's October 23 and 1/4 of the tree is blooming again.  It's all about the micro-climates.
<br /><br /><br />image hosting<br />

10
Hey Tony,

Reading through previous posts researching Valencia prides I have several times encountered people mentioning a coconut flavor to them. My fruit is still hanging on the tree and ripening here in Riverside (just starting to get red blush but no yellow yet) and ai am very excited to taste what I hope is a proper Valencia Pride and not the more stunted fruit I harvested in prior years.

As an aside, if you have any spare NDM or Maha seeds I'd love to take them off your hands!

Hello Victoria Ave,

Here is what a perfectly ripen Valencia Pride should look like (this is a medium size one) :

<br /><br />

(IMHO, i think that the Valencia Pride and Mahas are some of most visually appealing mangos)

Re: Maha seeds, I harvested the last fruit a week ago - all gone.  I have some late season NDM that will be ready in late November (I will save the seeds for you).  I may have some extra seedlings of Ataulfo, Kent, Gary, Honeykiss and Ceci Love available next spring.  They are growing in 5 gallon pots at the moment. 

Tony

11
@Grace (Luvfig), thanks for the information on the Keitt mangos at Sprouts.  Glad I passed on the Keitts.   
@sbtropic, if the Keitts at Sprouts looked like the one on your photo - I would have given them a try (most were a solid green and hard)

My mango trees have been supplying me with a decent amount of mangos (Mahachanok, NDM, and Valencia Pride).  The Valencia Pride have been the biggest surprise for me this year. Three of the nine that I harvested had a strong coconut flavor.   I still remember the first coconut tasting VP.  I was sharing it with my neighbors and my first bite into it was, oh no, it has an off-flavor - a few seconds later, the coconut flavor came thru, followed by the sweet classic mango flavor mixed with the coconut flavor - very enjoyable.  My neighbors said it was much better than last years fruit.  From what I can tell, the early fruit on the lower branches had the coconut flavor and the fruit on the higher branches were the normal tasting VP.  Has anyone had Valencia Pride mango with the coconut flavor?

Tony

12
Sprouts Farmers Market has been selling Keitt Mangos (mostly green with little color) the last few weeks.  The label says USA, - are these the Coachella Valley grown?  Has anyone tried them?  They looked too green for me so I passed on them.  I always pass when I see Tommys from somewhere in So. America.  Store bought Tommys are why some of my friends dislike mangos.

Tony

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Growing Mango trees in Southern California
« on: September 17, 2021, 09:25:33 PM »
All the one's I have are in 1 gallon right now. I have only one in a 5 gallon.

How sensitive are mangoes when it comes to transplanting them from container to soil?

Madridje
In my opinion, mangos are easily transferred from containers to ground.   If you read thru this thread, you'll read up on some of the common issues with growing mangos in Southern California.  Simon has posted some instructions for planting mango trees.  The common issue is that some grafted trees (this will depend on the variety) from Florida don't do as well in California.  The growth will be extremely slow for the first couple of years (maybe a foot of growth) or unsatisfactory growth (such as droopy growth).  I have replaced three such trees after harvesting the scions (those were expensive scions!).   

I'm planting mango seeds and going the seedling route.  The seedlings have vigorous roots, don't forget to upsize the containers after a month (especially the 1 gallon pots).  You don't want the roots to be circling the bottom of the pots.

Cheers,
Tony

14
Not a holding trap but will effectively put an end to nuisance squirrels in a swift and humane way.

No one has mentioned this device so far but check out this tube trap from Wildlife Control Supply:
WCS™ Tube Trap™
https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies.com/animal/WCSTUBE.html

A number of members of the California Rare Fruit Growers have been using this trap sucessfully to dispense with numerous marauding rodents that were damaging their ripenng fruit crops.  Apparently the squirrels especially cannot resist running thru the tube of this sort of trap and they get swiftly dispatched before they know it.

A few CRFG Members have reported that their tube trap has dispatched as many as three or four squirrles in one afternoon, so it seems to be a pretty effective device and should be is worth a look-see if you're getting rodent damage to your fruit.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
==

I had two of the rust resistant version and can vouch they work quite well.  The tube trap will also eliminate larger rats and baby opossums (I hate when I have to remove the baby opossums).  I don't recommend putting them on the tops of walls without modifications.  The recoil when the trap is set will cause it to fall off the wall.  I have since mount my tube trap on 6"x 14" boards. I set my traps on top the brick wall.  It's a major traffic route for the squirrels, rats and opossums.  I highly recommend disposing of the carcass as soon as possible.  Other critters will assist in disposing of the carcass.  I didn't empty out one of traps and the whole thing (trap and squirrel) disappeared by the next day.  Not sure what animal is strong enough to pick up the trap and carry it over my 8 ft. wall. 

Maybe this fox???



Tony

15
I think you’d have to know the grower and “bribe” them with fruity gifts or have them be very nice and sharing like many forum members , but I think every mango lover in CA would love to buy some sweet tart mango’s. I can’t imagine more than 100 pounds being harvested in all of Southern California though. Is there any commercial groves with anything but the Coachella Keitt’s in CA?

Not sure if its the same people but Wong Farms sells Valencia Pride and I think is in Coachella as well.. excellent quality fruits, I and a friend got a box this year from them. They also sell their own 'golden lady' but I didn't get to try that, they're always sold out.

According to this article, Wong Farms grow all three: Valencia Pride, Keitt and "Golden Lady".   I thought the CA grown Keitts were from another farm.

https://www.californiabountiful.com/features/article.aspx?arID=2305

I've been fortunate to purchase the VP and Keitts at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.  Their Keitts are so much better than the store bought Keitts.

Tony


16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Mango ID Assistance
« on: August 13, 2021, 08:59:36 PM »
Thank-you for the reply.  It may very well be sweet tart.  Orange Sherbet, Sweet tart, and PPK were in the same group of scions purchased last year.  Here's another photo from a different angle.





17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Mango ID Assistance
« on: August 13, 2021, 03:59:57 PM »
Hello Everyone,

I need a little help in confirming the ID of the mango photo below.  The mango is from a graft I did last year.  The id on the graft is orange sherbet.  It doesn't look like the photos I have seen of orange sherbet.  The mango itself doesn't get much sun as it is shaded by surrounding leaves.  I'm hoping this is going to be my first orange sherbet.  If not, it will be a first the other varieties that I grafted. I  noticed the color change (pale green) the last couple of days.  The lenticels have dark rings and the stem is has the dried woody look.  The mango is still hard, no give whatsoever. 

Orange Sherbet?



Thanks in advance for the help

Tony

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Mango Scions and Grafting
« on: August 10, 2021, 01:21:13 PM »
Those buds look pretty good.  They should be leafing out very soon.  Hopefully, the other scions start pushing soon.  Don't forget to post updates every few weeks.

Tony

19
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Mango Scions and Grafting
« on: August 09, 2021, 09:37:57 PM »
As a general rule, new growth on the root stock near the  graft would siphon energy and nutrients away from the graft.  Can you post a  photo of the growth?  It does appear that you may have used too much paraffin tape on the scion tip.  I would give the graft a little more time to heal before removing the tape from the scion tip...(my opinion only).  If you could send clearer photos of the new growth below the tape, it would be more helpful.

Tony

20
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Seedling Mango tree thread
« on: August 09, 2021, 09:27:23 PM »
This forum and thread are fun to browse and read and have inspired me to try to grow mangoes. I live in the Bay Area (CA). I want to grow some rootstock and my research has pointed me to growing a manila from seed and then grafting on to it. Unfortunately, I don't see any manila mangoes for sale right now in the stores. I have also read that ataulfo is a manila derivative native to Mexico. What are people's thoughts on growing ataulfo seedlings and grafting on to them? They could be better than manila for the Bay Area if they are adapted to Mexico's climate.

Thanks in advance.


Ataulfo is a very good seedling for So Cal based on various threads on the forum.  I just planted two 2-month old Ataulfo seedlings on the ground.  I just repotted another two month old seedling.  The Ataulfo seedlings outgrow the 6" deep pots fast.  You need to repot them if you don't plant them after 2-months.   One thing that I have noticed is that Ataulfo has vigorous root growth with a tap root.

2-month old Ataulfo Seedling from a 6"deep pot with tap root





2-month old Ataulfo Repotted




2-month old Ataulfo Seedling on the ground




The true test will be to see if they survive a few winters on the ground.

Cheers
Tony

21
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Mango Scions and Grafting
« on: August 02, 2021, 02:35:45 AM »
Hello,
It's normal to see some moisture build up between the scion and the grafting tape.  If the bud/leaves do not appear to be able to push thru the grafting tape, you can carefully snip and remove the tape to allow the leaves to push out.  This is a judgement call, post some pictures of the growth below the grafting tape if you think it needs some help.  The forum members will be able to provide additional guidance.  The paraffin grafting tape is fine to use for wrapping scions - I still use it myself.  I also use another product called Buddy Tape.   This product is a bit more expensive than most grafting tapes.  It's a lot more flexible, stretchable and easier to use.  For scion wrapping, I start at the tip of the scion, stretch the grafting tape, wrap a little (pulling the tape snuggly around the scion, and repeat (stretch, wrap, pull) until the scion is completely wrapped.  I only do one layer with a little over-lap on the edges (the grafting tape - both paraffin and Buddy Tape) will stick to itself. There are you-tube videos that show this method.  You want to make sure that you have solid contact between the scion and the rootstock.   For me, I will double or triple wrap the joint to make sure a solid contact is maintained at the scion and rootstock.  Note: both the paraffin grafting tape and Buddy tape will breakdown over time.  No need to remove them. 

Tony

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Mango Scions and Grafting
« on: July 31, 2021, 03:53:32 AM »
Hello,
It maybe the photo quality but you may want to recheck the wrapping around the scion tips. It looks like you are using paraffin tape…which is fine.  If you wrapped the tip several times, it may prevent the buds from breaking thru.  I hope the grafts take and you are successful.
Tony

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: SoCal Mango Scions and Grafting
« on: July 23, 2021, 09:03:10 PM »
Hello,

The tree does have an "odd" structure.  It's kind of sparse looking.  I would let it fill out some more and get at least a year on the ground to get use to the new environment.
I would wait another year and do the following:
1) clear out the greenery/weeds growing at the trunk base
2) fertilize to encourage growth - root and leaf (I use a 8-2-12 fertilizer with the additional micro-nutrients)
3) if the tree gets a lot of sun, you may want to consider painting the exposed trunk and branches.  It does get hot in Riverside.  I live in Upland about 15-20 minutes away.
I'm still learning after planting my first mango tree 8+ years ago.  I've killed a few mango trees...so you may want to hear from more experienced mango growers.  Hopefully they will chime in.

Tony



24
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Nursery Pots San Diego area
« on: July 22, 2021, 12:38:37 PM »
Brad,
Thank-you for holding the pots for me until I could stop by and pick them up.  It was great meeting you and getting the quick tour of the property.  I can already envision a tall fruit tree forest at your doorstep in five years...avocados, cherimoyas, mangos - oh my.   
Thanks again,
Tony

25
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: NDM vs Maha chanok
« on: July 20, 2021, 02:42:31 PM »
I agree with the comments above.  I grow both and I'm more partial to the maha.  It really depends on my mood, if I want sugar candy - it's NDM.  The one thing about NDM is that the fruit will split if you overwater the tree.  I accidentally left the hose running for extra deep watering one day.  A few days later about 1/4 of the fruit on the tree starting splitting. 
Cheers,
Tony

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