re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

Alright mango growers; here’s today’s episode of “Know Your Enemy”…

Meet the Sri Lankan Weevil. These guys eat mango leaves and if left unchecked will deposit larvae in the soil below the tree and reproduce every few weeks.

They can be absolute hell especially on young trees and defoliate them in a matter of weeks. First pic is the insect; second pic is the characteristic damage you’ll see if they are around.

Largely nocturnal; they tend to hide under the leaf and emerge at dusk or during cooler temps. Neem products are entirely ineffective on them. Some use systemics or permethrin type pesticides. I’ve found the easiest way to deal with them is to manually remove them and squish them dead. They are very clever and will play possum feining death. Be sure to squeeze hard as they’ll make an audible pop when you’ve killed them.

Unfortunately; these bugs are endemic to most nurseries and it’s entirely likely that you have some larvae in the soil of your plants already.

They’ve shown up in recent days here in Central FL.

Would now be a good time to try and graft citrus, or would it be better to wait until late winter/early spring? My rootstock is outgrowing my budwood and making me consider different techniques

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I thought of the pop up greenhouses but then it’s another big thing I have to store

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Here's how big my 12X8 is in the box.



But your plan will work as long as you monitor temperature and adjust. I try to have my things thrive over the winter but the main thing I want to get across in this thread is just get them through winter without freezing. It doesn't matter if they drop their leaves and look bad and stop growing and abort fruit. Just survive the 60-75 days of winter and you're off to the races for the rest of the year.

Probably slightly more because the woven polyethylene is a little thicker than fabric and it covers all 4 sides, not just the roof. I store the frames in a closet and the coverings in big tote bins.

How do you protect your banana tree? Do you just cut the leaves off and wrap the trunk really well? I'm probably going to let most of the pups freeze and only protect one or two trunks.

dang it likes that spot

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How do you protect your banana tree? Do you just cut the leaves off and wrap the trunk really well? I'm probably going to let most of the pups freeze and only protect one or two trunks.

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You are right about picking only 1 or 2 trunks. Don't try to save it all. The ideal size banana to overwinter in south LA is about 6-7 feet. Small enough to protect and will fruit at the right time.

I wrap mine in C9 Christmas lights, then frost cloth on top of that. Out in the open like that you will want to wrap it thick. Don't worry about the leaves. Let them freeze and hang down for more insulation. HEAVILY mulch the base. You need to protect the underground corm. This is a raised bed and will thus get colder.

Do this enough times and eventually one is gonna make it and produce a ton of really good bananas. Hopefully no record cold this year.

My namwah/ice cream bananas are like 20 feet tall right now. Should see a flag leaf any day now.

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So what’s the threshold on ruby guavas? We get a lot of 45-60’ nights in our area…will they be okay ? Just less vigor?
Would be a lot of moving in and out all season!!

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They will be fine, but the leaves will likely turn purple and a lot will fall off in the colder part of that range. They will not take any real damage at any of those temps, but prolonged exposure to the 40s may delay flowering in the spring. Emphasis on "may." Plenty of people leave them out as long as there is no weather in the 30s and they do fine without much leaf drop. They are not going to take any actual damage until 32F. The internet will tell you they are good to 28-30F, but that is for in-ground trees. In a pot damage is likely to start at 32F or even 36-37F if exposed to the open sky and frost occurs. The main thing to watch out for at the temps you mentioned is root rot. Back off of your watering during the winter and do not water until the soil has dried out a good bit. Wet, cold soil is the easiest way to get root rot on a tropical plant.

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Mangos? Pickering and Dwarf Hawaiian..same range?
Thanks for the reminder to get a setup planned

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Yes, all mangos should be treated the same. Despite what the internet will tell you, all varieties of mango are pretty much equally cold sensitive. Is there some cultivar in northern India that can take 30F instead of 32F? Probably. But for your purposes they are all the same, especially since they are in pots. Like guava, mangos aren't going to take actual damage until 32F. The problem is that mango flowering is triggered by cold weather. So when we start hitting temperatures below 60F, the trees will think they are in the coldest part of a subtropical winter and that warmer weather is on the way. Then you end up with a bunch of flowers that will not hold on the tree if the temp drops below 40F. In my opinion, the most realistic way for most people to manage this is to protect a flowering mango anytime the forecast calls for anything below 45F and to protect a non-flowering mango from anything below about 36-37F since frost can occur at those temps with the right dewpoint. Also, remember that the trees will flower again when we get to late winter / early spring and temps stay between 40F-60F. It's just that you may lose the first bloom from early winter and some varieties flower a lot more willingly than others. You will have no problem getting Pickering to flower.

My trees (except for those that need chill hours) don't see anything under 50F unless we are in an arctic blast and the greenhouse heater can't keep up with ambient temps in the teens and 20s. I could certainly protect less but I have the time and means, so what the hell.

Haven’t bought from her personally; but, know some that have. She’s legit.,,

Of the 7g trees she’s offering; chosen solely in terms of flavor, I’d be all about that Kathy/K3. It’s positively fantastic; but, a bit finicky in terms of growth. It may want more nutrients than most. I don’t know how well it would do long term in a pot. You’d have to be willing to go all the way; keep potting up to 25 and beyond.