The Tropical Fruit Forum

try these links:

http://ucavo.ucr.edu/Flowering/RemarkableFlower.html

http://ucavo.ucr.edu/Flowering/FloweringBasics.html

I had looked  over those sites prior to posting but I am wondering I there is a specific time of the day or technique I should try to check the flowers for the comparison to note the transition or if someone has tried in the past to determine this on a seedling before. It may be pointless but I thought it would be interesting to know.

Bummer on the lack of video. I had all intention of going but my sad sinuses had other plan's....a road trip to my ENT was not negotiable. I guess all the mango pollen in the air is taking its toll on me. I am really sorry I missed it!

Thanks Tim
How did you do that??

Yes there are quite a few around the neighborhood. One across the street and one directly behind me that I know for sure are flowering. I am so anxiously waiting to see that tree covered with avocados! Will flies pollinate it as well or does it mostly rely on bees? Avocados for everyone if it sets fruit! That tree is well over 40 feet tall!

I am very amazed at just how fast these plants grow! Below are the pictures comparing  January to March and the growth in just 2 months!


January 2012



March 2012.

Noel --Do they grow close to seed? I am going to get rid of all the cherimoya trees I have and try growing something will actually grow here in in Broward. If you have a few seeds from them that you would sell I would love to try germinating/ growing a seedling Be in touch. I want to get the other info we talked about.
Thanks
Marin

Some of you may recall this post regarding what ever the disease was affecting this VP seedling:  http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg1122071020866.html?acd3087e8c39e1370c3a6b1b4d52e2f4QaOvQ
All new growth was dying back just after emerging. As a last ditch effort to save it I pruned the tree back 2 inches on all the limbs to cut off the nodes that the new growth had repeatedly tried to emerge from. This seems to have worked. It has had two big growth flushes since and all of the new growth hardening off with no issues!! You may recall my other post where I was asking about the tap root breaking off when I up potted it. I am beginning to wonder if this condition may have happened because of me breaking off the tap root when I transplanted it
(will post pictures later today)

I have started a bunch  Jackfruit seedlings ( Mai-3, Bangkok Lemon and J-31) some of which I intend to keep containerized. Just an after thought that came to me today: Is it better  to start  seedlings in a 20 gallon container to avoid transferring or up potting? Or is it better to start them off in 1 gallon size containers and up-pot each time  the roots fill the container? 

Hey I like the idea of this thread! Below is a picture of my progress of growing dragon fruit so far. My brother gave me a tip that there was this rogue dragon fruit vine growing in this public park in Boca Raton FL, so equipped with gloves a trash bag and some hand clippers we went guerrilla and got some cuttings (the first picture) this was back in June of 2011. Next, I built a crazy trellis out of 4x4's 2x4's and pieced it together with dry wall screws. Pretty rugged job as I did it all without a level and tape measure just screwed it all together and buried the 4x4's about 1.5 ft deep. The cuttings were so easy to root just let them dry out for a day and stuck one cutting on each flat side of the base of the 4x4. Also I bought some long zip-ties from home depot and as the cuttings grew larger I would zip tie them to the trellis to promote the roots to latch onto the trellis and after awhile I would cut off the zip-ties. The second picture is probably 5 months after planting and the final picture was taken in mid january of 2012. I can't believe how easy it is to grow dragon fruit and it literally just grows and I never water it a perk of it being a cactus I guess. Really hoping it fruits this year, excited to see which type of dragon fruit this is...



Those are really nice healthy looking cuttings. They are growing really nicely too on the trellis you built. Does anyone know what variety they may be? Maybe someone has seen them with fruit on them to ID. What part of Boca Raton is the park? It would be a sight to see them growing wild like that. I would love to see it.  Hopefully for you they are some fantastically sweet tasting variety! Great Job.

Quote from: MarinFla on February 06, 2012, 11:51:42 AM

I don't know if any of my fellow South Floridians saw in the Home & Garden section of the Sunday Sun Sentinel---garden writer Robert Haehle reported that Bayer Advanced Fruit, Citrus & Vegetable Insect Control is a systemic pesticide that makes every part of the tree poisonous implying that if you spray it on your trees while it has fruit on it or shortly before fruiting you are probably eating this poison. That is a scary thought as I have done this The sad thing is that neem oil has not been working very well so I have resorted now to malathion and this finally  seems to be working

Again, neem oil is not a bug killer, it keeps bugs from being able to reproduce. So if you are expecting them to all drop off your tre you will be disappointed. It is a long term solution as existing bugs will not be able to reproduce, sol lowers bug populations. On some bugs neem also works as a repellant. I think it's good to use neem in addition to something that knocks em down, that way you get short term and long term effect.
Oscar

I was having such a difficult time eradicating the scale and mealy bugs that were causing my mango trees to become completely black with sooty mold to the point of causing thick branches to die. The neem oil helped a bit but wasn't the solution. I tried the Bayer but that didn't complete the task either. From my last inspection since the malathion application it seems to have worked and the sooty mold is drying up and coming off like parchment sheets. I was feeling frustrated at how long it took for me to get this under control. Someone should incorporate a a company, call it the Mango Doctor and make house calls! I would have called 'the doctor'

I don't know if any of my fellow South Floridians saw in the Home & Garden section of the Sunday Sun Sentinel---garden writer Robert Haehle reported that Bayer Advanced Fruit, Citrus & Vegetable Insect Control is a systemic pesticide that makes every part of the tree poisonous implying that if you spray it on your trees while it has fruit on it or shortly before fruiting you are probably eating this poison. That is a scary thought as I have done this The sad thing is that neem oil has not been working very well so I have resorted now to malathion and this finally  seems to be working

I made this 5 weeks ago. It was very simple to construct if anyone is interested in the supply list and instructions. I am growing Physical Grafitti and Haley's Comet. I also have American Beauty rooting in a separate pot. I have had a huge growth spurt in the last week. I am looking forward to fruit!

  Kudos to a job superbly done!! Thanks to you two for taking the time and effort to create this masterpiece of a forum.
My name is Marin. Most of you may know of me from GW.  I am an OB/GYN ARNP and Certified Nurse Midwife. I am married and have 3 kids (23, 21 & 16) a border collie and a sulfur crested cockatoo. I work in Coral Springs and I have lived in Deerfield Beach, Florida (zone 10) since 1983 when I moved here from NJ (Grew up in Colonia suburb of Woodbridge Township in  NJ-) . I decided to move to Florida after my Spring Break trip to Florida that year. I loved the warm green climate, the palm trees, the beautiful beaches and most importantly because of my love of Mangoes!!! My hobbies include snow skiing (get my 15-18 days of powder per year),  fishing, scuba diving, camping, traveling and growing tropical fruit are at the top of the list.
Looking forward to a great forum of keeping up old and new "fruit friends" with great information!
Marin