Nice seeing you there Harry.

How long does it usually take for that much water to get absorbed into the ground at your house?

At least it doesn't rain everyday in your ares but 5.25" is a lot of rain for one day. We sure could use a few slaps of sunshine over here...lol. I wouldn't mind the sun screaming in my face for a few days this month...( : Would you please tell the sun that she needs to make an appointment with us here in the pacific northwest soon... lol.
~ Bo

Wow, that is a lot of rain! I hope it dries quickly before anything decides it doesn't like wet feet.

PR has had the wettest January in history, with close to 12 inches recorded at the airport. Here in the rainforest, it was more. Seemed like it rained everyday.
My yard has been/still is like a sponge, but most of the trees/plants are doing ok. Some papaya casualties, some citrus are looking very unhappy, and so far no mango flowers have set fruit. I know dry season has to start soon (or at least I keep telling myself that!).

I've seen more winter rain this year than I ever remember having. Nothing like 8 inches, but still much much more than normal... In fact, it is raining right now and has been since yesterday here in jax.

The sucky thing is that the summer was very dry. I spent 90% of yard time last year with the watering hose in my hand and running sprincklers around the yard...

The weather is going bananas for sure!

Harry, that's a lot of rain in 6 hours for sure! Just checked the rain guage and I got one inch yesterday, its been cloudy all morning...but not a drop of rain so far.

Mostro, same here most of the summer last year, I had to drag the hoses more often than I care to remember. I hope this summer will be wetter. We're still in a big deficit here, still at once a week lawn watering restrictions.

Harry - Very nice to finally meet and talk yesterday.

murahilin - I was sitting right next to you during the Mango lecture...When I met up with Harry afterwards He told me who you were, nice almost meeting you.

I'm one of those that got the 8 plus inches of rain yesterday. It is the most flooded my yard has ever been. My 2 1/2 foot high planting mounds were under water. Luckily its gone down a few inches already and my three newly soggy Mango trees (Tebow, Neelum, Rosigold) planted on mounds should be ok. I can't check them for a while unless someone can loan me a rowboat to look.

Tony:

I recommend waders.....seriously....high boots will sometimes work......sometimes not enough height though.......until they lower the water table by letting the canals and flood control system discharge the accumulated fresh water into the ocean. Good luck......your plants will be fine.....unless you are growing papaya or avocado.

Harry

I really do need a boat or some waders in my yard today. Once the canal pumps are turned on, it should be dry within a few days.

Here's my Tebow Mango tree on its hillside raised mound, LOL.

Here's my Neelum tree on its very large raised mound...

Here's one of the still unused planting mounds, its now a little tropical desert island.

Yep.....that's the same lake front look I have. There are couple redeeming factors with this kind of standing water. First, I understand that nematodes are drastically reduced by the standing water (along with earth worms....not such good thing) and if you have fire ants, they mound up on top of the water in rafts created by their own bodies and you can just go along and scoop the whole colony, queen and all, with a pool mesh net/strainer and toss them into a plastic bag, tie it closed.....and discard, never to be heard from again. I once had a very severe infestation of fire ants when I first moved into my house. This method was a major help in getting rid of them.

Harry

swrancher,
Yes, nice almost meeting you. Did the presentation get any better after I left or was it just about done?

murahilin - After you left Noel talked about some more types of Mangos and then had a short Q&A session. Good info but being active on this forum you probaly knew a lot of it already.

Harry - The water level went down a few more inches overnight so now all my stuff has dry feet. I'm just glad I built up planting mounds otherwise a few of my trees might have been completely underwater. Have you noticed any Mango varietes that tolerate flooding better versus others that don't? With the annual monsoons in SE Asia I'll guess Indochinese types tolerate flooding better then some of the Indian types?

Tony:

Monsoonal rains, as far as I know, are prevelant in both the native range of the Indochinese and Indian mangos. I have noticed no difference in mango tolerance for water. I have never lost a mango due to wet feet. The fruit can split, flavor be affected....especially with the wateriness of the juice....but never a lost tree. Even had some newly planted trees that were totally immersed (yes, over the top of the tree completely) for 2 days and they didn't miss a beat....no leaf loss or anything. The increased moisture can help anthracnose growth, but some copper spraying will keep that at bay.

Harry

i would think for wet feet you would be more concerned with the rootstock.

Asian varieties definitely do better in wetter seasons.

Zebda is supposed to be one of the best cultivars for salt tolerance.

Harry, have your water levels gone down yet?

mangokush,
Why do you say that Asian varieties do better in wetter season? Also, when saying that Zebda is supposed to be one of the best cultivars for salt tolerance, do you mean that it is one of the best outright or one of the best compared to a small test group?

Sheehan:

The water has subsided to some degree. Walked the yard this morning with my boots and did some copper spraying. Lots of little mangoes to protect from the "fungus among us." Thousands of dead earth worms.....huge ones, like 6-7" long. The water is still about a foot deep in the lowest part of my yard. Much of the yard that was covered with water is now starting to show the top of the grass. It'll be at least 2-3 more days before the water is gone entirely for most of the yard....there still may be some water standing in the lowest of the low areas for up to 4 more days.......assuming no more rain, of course.

How are your Alano grafts looking?

Harry

murahlin,

in India they stop mango season when it starts raining, the rain washes out the flavor, thats why i say Asian varieties do better down here, i think through cultivation they are better suited for South Florida for fruit quality and anthracnose

i dont have any direct experience with Zebda or any studies done on it, i just now reading from credible sources its more salt tolerant than other varieties. again probably from being cultivated in Egypt.

mangos have a taproot, i dont think they are especially susceptible to wet feet. just my speculation obviously there are people on here with alot more firsthand experience.

I think that the distinction to be made between the Indian Cultivars and the SE Asian (Indochinese) types is that the Indian cultivars are much more susceptable to anthracnose problems which affect the fruit, but not the tree. I am assuming that India has a distinct dry season when their mangoes are maturing while in SE Asia, the climate is more moist without as distinct a dry season. Never been either place, so I am not sure. One thing for sure is that SE Asian types are clearly much more anthracnose resistant than the Indian types. There is no disputing that. I don't know of any SE Asian type that will not produce fruit here in Florida even though you don't spray fungicide. Many of the Indian types will produce no fruit unless you spray. At least, that is the way it is out west here (in the swamps) by my house.

Harry

Ouch- that is a lot of standing water. I forget how close to sea level Florida is. What is your soil like? I assume sandy. Any issue with salt water coming up?
Good luck with your trees.

Water has receeded considerably yesterday with cooler drier air in place. Still have standing water in the lowest sections of the yard. Along a line to the east of my house, I have jaboticabas, a guanabana tree and my two pummelo trees that flank this culvert like area. It will be two more days, at least, before it is dry. The rest of the yard is soggy, but, at least there is no standing water as of this morning.

My soil is mix of organic muck (at the surface) that might be a foot or so thick. Then it is hit or miss coral rock and sand. Lots of coral rock. The tropical trees love the muck, but it also acts as a water retentive layer and makes drainage difficult and slow.

theres mostly sand in my area, i dug a five foot deep hole for my rainbow eucalyptus.

i just put compost around the drip lines.

its so sandy that even after a hard rain i can dig in some areas of my yard and it will be dry, the rain rolls down the mound before its absorbed.

In my yard.....once you get past the organic muck layer and through the coral rock, you hit water (in the sandy layer) at about 4 feet. That's why, unless the canal water levels are lowered, the drainage is at a snail's pace in my yard. But, the trees never need irrigation once they are rooted sufficiently to reach the water table.

Harry,
My alano grafts are doing okay. They are still alive so thats a good sign. The only disadvantage these grafts might have is that I regrafted onto rootstocks that I used once for the balata grafts that didnt end up surviving.

Morning yard walk was very gratifying. Mango blooms everywhere. Lychee blooms just beginning. Water virtually gone, but for a small puddle at the lowest part of the yard. But......70% chance of rain tonight, possibly heavy :( But for those that care, Super Bowl Sunday is going to be a perfect South Florida winter day....sunny and in the 60's

I'm going to post some updated pictures of the happenings in the yard this weekend. Have a great day all!

My yard is now semi-dry with some of the lowest areas still holding a few inches of water. The tropical desert island is no longer an island its just a plain old dirt mound again.

One of the positives of all the rain is my Valemcia Pride tree is starting to put out buds and blooms. My little 2 foot high whipstick Rosigold tree has about 4-5 branches coming right out of the top that now look like they may be buds and not branches. Its the little tree that thought it could...but its so small it will have to wait until next year though. My new Graham tree just put out several nice buds, its big enough that I'll see if it holds a few fruit. The small Carrie tree is budding the best but once the fruit form I'm going to take them off it and let the tree mature another year before it fruits. My Angie looks like its putting out a few buds and its big enough that I'm going to wait and see what happens with it. My Pickering tree seems to be doing a lot of nothing so far. The Neelum tree is still surrounded by its own water moat so I'm not exactly sure what its doing and the Tebow tree is still a whipstick although it has a few new bumps forming up top.