The Tropical Fruit Forum

Not a zill variety but how is kook lom krong green?  Lots of people seem to like it ripe.

I'll let you know this season. I got half a dozen KLK last year, but I let let them all get ripe. I expect a more bountiful season this year and I'll try them green.

It's not a major version upgrade; currently on 2.0.19 and latest is 2.1.6. Still, minor versions will often have breaking changes and reading all release notes from 2.1.1 -> 2.1.6 would be wise.

Thanks, Jakefruit! Did you prep the scion that took? The ones pictured are from a seedling Peach Cobbler here, and I prepped the soon-to-be scions the week before (i.e., clipping off leaves and harvesting after the leaf bases came off with the slightest pressure). Wondering if that's influencing the rapid push of these scions? Again, trying not to get my hopes up while getting my hopes up.

Unfortunately, it was so long ago I can't rightly recall. It was the time period where I was buying scions from Chris @ TT; her scions were always well-wrapped, but the leaf bases were also still attached. I chalked the lucky fast take up to timing; I think the rootstock was about to push and the cambium layers lined up well. It was a cleft graft and the rootstock was about the width of a sharpie.

Not one to be picked early; I like the ones that hang until they fall off. Unfortunately, it's very hard to keep clean in my yard and I pick a lot of damaged, unripe fruit to keep the pests/diseases from getting worse. It is prolific with decent-sized fruit hanging in bunches, but I'll probably axe it after this season.

You can turn any tree into a fruit tree by planting a passion fruit vine under it. I have a huge line of oaks in my backyard that is currently loaded.  They drop off when they are ripe.

How are they planted at the base of the trees, containers or in-ground?

I recently took out a huge, old Laurel Oak that was too close to the house and kept losing limbs in the hurricanes. I have a wide space now to plant a tree or three in, but it's ~25ft from the house. The oak provided a lot of late afternoon shade; really missing that benefit. So, I'm looking for a fruit tree that has an upright growth habit that handles high winds well. I'm also hoping it's a tree that drops it's fruit while it's still edible, but it's a "hope" not a "must." I'm on the Gulf Coast, 1/2 hour south of Tampa, and I'm very close to the beach/bay (haven't touched freezing once in over a dozen years).


I have been looking for awhile. I was thinking a Phoenix mango tree, but harvesting the tallest fruit would get to be a burden. I moved on to thinking a Sapodilla, and I have a 6' Molix in a pot ready to plant, but that too might be a pain to harvest. Mamey Sapote is a favorite, but they sound too vulnerable to high winds. Maybe an Ice Cream Bean; I haven't looked too far into that one.


Anyone have a suggestion? I could live without it being a fruit tree, too; if it's a pretty, vertical shade tree, I might just make my wife happy for the first time in forever 

Clefts on small rootstock in containers is the most challenging; if you get even one long-term take out of the three, you did good. You are really going to have to monitor the collar area of the rootstocks for awhile; when you decapitate young rootstock, it's going to push growth from the collar unless you miracled an exact cambium match-up (I've done it once). Also, if you are going to leave a leaf or two anywhere, better to leave them on the rootstock where it's useful and might reduce shock/stress from the topping; leaving any established growth on the scion does nothing to improve success.


Grafting is an art; failure is learning. Good luck!

Any weed & feed grass fertilizers being used near the tree? The weed-killing chemical can cause damage to mango leaves that looks similar

Remove it. On a tree that size the likely outcomes are all bad or not worth the risk/cost of growth opportunity. Maybe it holds to maturity, but even then the fruit quality/size will probably be short of what it will be on a mature tree. Meanwhile, you'll have pushed that maturity date out, possibly a season or more. One fruit now will come at a cost to the tree and future fruit.


I had a Sweet Tart mango grafted with something like a 1.5" trunk and I let it hold two fruits to near-maturity. I also had ST grafted to a mature tree, so I didn't really care if it died. Die it did early the next season, and the fruit I got to try only one season before the mature tree graft produced fruit was nothing close in quality/flavor.

Pics?
Did you straight/flat cut it, or did you cut it at an angle?

Quote from: JakeFruit on March 13, 2025, 01:31:37 PM

Quote from: Artocarpus on March 13, 2025, 01:10:33 PM

Mallika is grown in the northern mango growing areas of India. I have heard they are more cold tolerant but I can’t say for sure from my personal experience growing it this far south.

Mallika's drawback is you must pack it in camel dung for several days to reach peak flavor. The lack of camels in Florida is a major hurdle that has yet to be overcome

I have always assumed that they were being "tongue-in-cheek" when they wrote that.   The idea being it has to be properly ripened off the tree.

It's been so long since I last read it, I had to go back to PINs Mallika page be sure it was camel and not some other pack animal's poop I was remembering in the anecdote (India doesn't seem like a natural camel habitat). Before I found TFF, I read PINs variety pages over dozens of times trying to figure out what variety of Mango/Avocado to grow. It was a simpler time...

Mallika is grown in the northern mango growing areas of India. I have heard they are more cold tolerant but I can’t say for sure from my personal experience growing it this far south.

Mallika's drawback is you must pack it in camel dung for several days to reach peak flavor. The lack of camels in Florida is a major hurdle that has yet to be overcome