Does anyone actually have a tree that produces 'fruit' up north?
Comments (15)
Hermitian
9 years ago
Monzi zone 8a South Carolina
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Has anyone ver grown a Mango tree up north?
Comments (44)Mike, Unfortunately I have to start over with my ice cream banana because i left it out in the cold. I'm currently moving and might try with a metal halide indoors. While we're on the subject of tropicals though I have a miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) in Al's 5-1-1 by a window with a cfl which is currently flushing yet again. It initally dropped all its leaves back in march but its come all the way back. Hopefully I'll get some fruit from it soon. I also have a second one of these trees- I put it in the 5-1-1 but with Sphagnum instead of peat. It dropped all its leaves and has done nothing at all for the past 3 months. The moss is very slow to dry but I hear these love water so I don't know whats wrong with this one. Maybe it needs humidity indoors to get it kick started. If anyone would know, i'd love to hear. I'm anxious to try growing some citrus this summer. -Greg...See MoreBent trees produce more fruit?
Comments (35)"See if you can find any information about P that is actually based on research in the field where a lack of it has caused production problems. Check into Australian fruit production because, as I recall, their soil is ancient and very low in P." I Googled for a little bit and really didn't come up w/ much scientific info. (At least they didn't explain any science behind it.) I quickly came across a few examples like this: http://archive.agric.wa.gov.au/objtwr/imported_assets/content/pw/gard/nutritional_gn_formatted.pdf where they have a quick blurb about P, where they say, "Phosphorus is essential for the development of flowers, fruit and roots....In fruit trees, flowering and fruiting may be affected. Deficiency symptoms are more prevalent during cold, wet conditions. To correct the deficiency apply solid or liquid phosphate fertilisers." Ive read lots of stuff like this in the past, but I know you are looking for something more substantial. In Prof. D. Layne's book "The Peach, Botany Production and Uses", he mentions that P is rare in peaches and that generally there is no response to adding it. Interestingly he does say that P deficiency can occur, causing reduced growth, without any visual symptoms in the foliage. I'd post the link to the book, but since it's a copyrighted book, the link may not pull up the same pages I was reading. Google books does that sometimes. I know you are somewhat annoyed that commercial guidelines could recommend adding P w/o a soil test, but again it's only for the first two years, it's a small amount, and in a commercial orchard, where that amount of P would probably be used up by the time it got down to the root zone. The U.C. Davis link you posted above get their info. from their nutrition manual (linked at the bottom of their page). The authors of it even state, " In fact, annual requirements of fruit trees in general range from 5 to 10 lb/acre (6 to 11 kg/ha), which is much lower than for many field crops." Although they don't specifically state a maintenance program for P is required, they do imply it. Of course they don't recommend application of nutrients w/o testing, but U of GA only mentioned it for the first two years, which isn't a big issue to me. I've always read that P is very stable and immobile in soil, so I think the risk of pollution from a couple very light applications of P is very minimal. It seems most pollution from P comes from sewage treatment and feed lots. The link from the U.C. Davis nutrition manual says,"However, there is minimal leaching loss of phosphorus from the soil because it exists predominately in these insoluble forms." To me the danger of too much P is the reduced uptake of Zn, which is pretty important to peach trees. But there is little risk of too much P in this area, unless someone was careless w/ applying it. You may be right, that P doesn't matter for fruit trees, but there seems to enough university publications recommending a minimum level for it, that I think it warrants addressing in soils low in P, such as in this locale. Although I agree, there does seem to be a degree of conflicting advice about it. I think Rayrose has a very good point that Ph is just as important as the actual level of P in the soil, in terms of root uptake. I also agree that too much emphasis should not be placed on any one nutrient. I hope I haven't left the impression that P is the only nutrient that matters, or even the main nutrient. I just originally addressed Clark's situation based on my own soils, which showed P the most deficient of all nutrients. But I tried to qualify that by recognizing soils my be different in his part of the state....See MoreAnyone had a 'certified male' Ginkgo produce fruit?
Comments (36)I have a mature ginkgo (it was a large B&B purchased from a reliable nursery and planted 15 years ago)and last year, to my surprise, it produced one fruit. Nothing this year. It could be it is female and just isn't getting pollinated. I have one other ginkgo about 30 feet away. That one is much younger and may not be producing much pollen yet. There are no other ginkgoes in the neighborhood that I know of. I found the link posted by brandon7 interesting. It would be kind of neat if I had one of the rare monoecious "male" ginkgoes. Could it be that the tree really isn't mature? It is at least 35 feet tall and 9-10 inches in diameter. I have never noticed any flowers. Are they conspicuous? The linked article mentioned 45 year old trees that had still not produced flowers. Well, I am keeping my fingers crossed....See MoreAnyone have a cacao tree that is producing?
Comments (9)I bought both of mine from Pine Island, the guys there are really nice. One is a yellow pod and one is an orange pod, still want a red pod. Both are still growing in pots and are about 3 - 4 years old now, so I am expecting that they will probably start blooming in the spring. I use a general potting mix with a little bit of sand mixed in. They LOVE water and humidity and grow a few feet per year, thats in a pot, I would imagine even more if in the ground. Keep out of full sun while young, though they can take some morning direct. Mine get watered daily and are sitting by the pond for extra humidity. Good luck John...See MoreHermitian
9 years ago
steiconi
9 years ago
shelma1
8 years ago
rredbbeard
8 years agoshelma1
8 years agohottina44
8 years agoshelma1
8 years agograbmebymyhandle
8 years agoUser
8 years agonucci60
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoBest bet would be to dig them up and store in winter in a cool but non freezing place to preserve the pstem (Must survive more than one season usually) for blooming if you dont have a warm greenhouse, or large room, but this does not work with all varieties, especially not the Cavendish types (stems die leaving corms), and your summers might be shorter than ours here in Oklahoma. Some types that store well this way with varying degrees of success are Orinoco (Does great), Dwarf Orinoco, Raja Puri, Dwarf Namwah, Musa Icecream. Saba stored well like this too, but I wont see fruit on it, it takes too long, and saba gets huge eventually and probably unmanageable for storage. Here is my tall Orinoco I have fruiting right now at ten feet of stem in zone 7a planted in the ground about April 15th (gets about 20 feet with leaves) that slept under my house bare root last winter at about 45/50F, with no roots, soil, leaves, light, water, etc. (Warning, Orinoco pstems can weigh 100+ pounds, pick a dwarf variety if you have a bad back) It takes about 3 weeks to resume growth in spring, plant the pstem a little deeper the next year to stabilize, and you have to take the time it takes to ripen in consideration for the type you are growing. You have to beat the first frost, and some types take a very long time to ripen, you wont always get fruit due to timing. Its been my experience that Viente Cohol does not overwinter very well indoors, dying back to pot level for me, and re sprouting, and you would need a pretty tall ceiling if you have a mature plant, and very big windows. But it is a short cycle banana, and can fruit and ripen very quickly if you can accommodate it, and worth a try. A banana pstem (visible false stem made of rolled up leaves, like straws inside of straws) will die after fruiting, but the corm/rhizome (The core of the plant) survives and puts up new pups/babies to replace the dead one. With this dig and store method, you get almost instant banana plant, and they look very impressive at about 20 feet (Including leaves) in a couple of months.
After six months of storage under the house before planting again.
rredbbeard
6 years agoHottina44,
I bought 'Truly Tiny' back in February, and keep it in a 20" pot in a basement growing space during the winter.
Here in CT zone 6b, I put it outdoors in direct sun in mid-May, and in spite of a very wet, cool 4 weeks, it is doing well, with lots of healthy leaves and pups growing.I'll take it back inside at the end of September, or whenever the evenings are going lower than 50°. If I build a lean-to for it on a south wall, the outdoor period can probably be etended byb1 month on each end, so, mid-April to end of October. After that, it's LED's in the basement.
My understanding is that TT does stay under 5', total, so it's worth a try! I have a couple of m.'Pink Velutina' I started from seed, with one in flower, and I guess this ornamental will take up to 6 months to ripen. I've posted here recently about this.
Keep us posted on how your TT does!
--Rick in CT
Pink Velutina July 5, 2017:
Truly Tiny June 23, 2017:
Rick in CT
sandy0225