The Tropical Fruit Forum

I guess I'm still kind of new to this whole thing, going by different advice I've gotten over the years but it hurts when you learn what doesn't actually work because you have to wait a whole year to benefit from the lesson. Anyway:

Going by advice I received long ago, after fruit set I applied some 0-0-50 (and a little gypsum) around the drip lines, and then sprayed with Keyplex 350DP (with some adjuvant). Within just a couple of days all the fruit dropped off. You have no idea how disheartened I was to see that. And now a couple of weeks later I am seeing a ton of new vegetative growth. Was my fertilizing to blame or just coincidence?

Thanks

Rainking,

First picture shows mechanical damage, from wind, lizard claw, etc.

Second picture:  ??

Ok thanks Har, at least your comment rules out the likelihood of disease. Come to think of it some guys were here mowing the other day so maybe their mowers flung some debris into the leaves in the first pic. And maybe this also happened in the past to the leaves in the second pic.

As others have stated, Har is an invaluable source of information so it may be worth getting his thoughts. Unfortunately he doesn't really seem to look at posts outside of this thread https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=1001.0, so I would suggest posting your question there to get his insights.

Just keep going it will even out. Very seldom do mango trees turn out perfect like a popsickle, just keep it small with a complicated branching structure and open center. I followed the video on 50 trees for 4 years and it has worked out well.

One thing I found about Sweet Tart is that at first it seemed to be a very erect vertical grower the first 2 years.
This year was the third fruit bearing season and the 10 trees I have loaded up with fruit very heavily. Each tree had at least 40 pounds some had sixty. They bore in clusters and bent down the branches enough that it changed the aspect of the tree from vertical to weeping. This variety has been very good to me with ten trees making nearly $1000 worth of fruit.

Thanks for the encouragement pineislander, I will just keep the two branches and hope that the next round of branches will continue to spread and shape the canopy further. Your tree looks great and has me excited for things to come. Nice to know about the fruit helping with the branches, I was surprised by how vertical this little guy is trying to be.

I'll say if you use it, don't mix copper with it.  I did that once & burned many leaves.  Follow label.
However, i've used it on 2 planted 15gal citrus trees & it certainly helped leaves from getting chewed on for a while.
Dyna-gro brand.

Thanks for the tip. I do not intend to use with copper since, if I am reading the label right, the neem oil shold handle all the diseases I am expecting to run into.

I know it needs to be sprayed at a time when it won't burn the leaves, but other than that in my limited research it looks like it may take care of a whole host of things, including powdery mildew, anthracnose, and MBBS. Anyone here able to confirm or have experience using it?

This is my first time grafting and I'm realizing that parafilm is not the same as buddy tape, correct? I bought parafilm since it is marketed as grafting tape and figured it must be the same as the buddy tape they use on Truly Tropical's cleft grafting videos. Then I see how thick it is. After watching those videos again for like the millionth time I realized buddy tape must be much thinner, because they wrap the whole budwood in it and it seems the thinness allows the buds to break through the tape over time; there is no way that could happen with the parafilm I bought. So I went out and removed all the parafilm I wrapped around the tips where the buds would form. Hopefully my grafts will still be ok.

I am now trying to shop around for buddy tape and I can't seem to find it anywhere. There are some cheap Chinese ones on Amazon (see here: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=buddy+tape&i=lawngarden&ref=nb_sb_noss) but not sure I feel like taking another chance on some weird Chinese off brand.

I also read some recommendations on using lab parafilm since it too is thinner and stretchier than grafting parafilm and allows the buds to break through over time.

So thought I'd throw this out to you all and see what you might like to share from your own experience regarding the tapes you use and where you got them. And whatever other tips you might want to share regarding grafting. Thanks!

Strange, how are you feeding it and do you have an idea about your soil analysis.

3 times a year (around Jan, May, and Sep), I sprinkle a little 0-0-50 around the drip line and then water it in. I also spray with Keyplex 350 monthly. it also has cypress mulch around it. This is same as my other trees which are doing fine, including one just a few steps from it in the same type of soil I think. I have not done a soil analysis unfortunately.

Fertilizers such as Urea and Potassium Nitrate, do improve penetration of micro-nutrients;  however, I was speaking of adjuvants.

Kinetic is a good wetter-spreader-penetrant.  So is Pentra-Bark.  There are many others that I have not tried.  Be sure that the product is allowed on food plants.  Availability of products varies per state, and per in-trade credentials or per consumer retail.

Thanks for the info Har I will check those out.

Hi Har, I have been having this ongoing problem with a Pickering. You can see in this photo where new leaves start off healthy and dark green but are beginning to fade. In time they will get really pale between the veins. Iron deficiency? I have been spraying it once a month with an old bottle of Keyplex 350 someone gave me years ago, at a rate of 1oz per gallon, but it doesn't seem to help. (link to product info: https://www.keyplex.com/product/keyplex-350/) Any idea what could be causing it, and recommendations? And it didn't bear fruit this season, could this be why?

It seems that one should separately rate skin and pulp in their resistance to Mango Bacterial Black Spot.

With Keitt, neither the skin nor the pulp is resistant;  even what look like minor surface spots of the disease will have deep lines of visible infection to  the seed and then laterally along the seed.  Even while the fruit is still green, it can all be ruined already.

With Lemon Zest, each fruit will have one infection on the shoulder, and it penetrates to the seed;  however, most of that same fruit ripens properly and is absolutely prime.

Some fruits get many spots of the disease, which stay right near the skin in the pulp, and the rest is good to eat.

A few varieties hardly get the disease at all, and when a spot gets started, it piles above the skin, as a cosmetic blemish, and stays out of the pulp entirely.

Thanks for the really good insights Har. I've heard a lot about how disease resistant sweet tart is, would you consider it among those that hardly get MBBS?

Take my Cogshall, please!  My first tree, planted about 10 years ago.  Every fruit is a failed experiment.  Uneven ripening, poster child for jelly seed.  Next month she is meeting the executioner.  Only question:  what to replace it with?  I'm thinking Angie.

I've been told you can't go wrong with sweet tart. I planted one just now so I guess I'll see. If it works out I'm gonna use it to top work my other trees.

Not sure how it compares to Pristine but I have had some great success on my mango trees with Monterey LG3374 Complete Concentrate Fungicide & Bactericide which is available through Amazon in small quantities.  Wish I had some scientific analysis knowledge to compare for you.  Perhaps someone else has more knowledge for comparison and can chime in.

Thanks, I will look into it!