Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies and garden pics)

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MsCowpea
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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#261

Post: # 22341Unread post MsCowpea
Fri Jun 12, 2020 6:16 pm

That is a great video. I think I understand a lot of the concepts of training and pruning better as the computer generated images were so helpful and they also showed some real closeups of the actual cuts and locations. ( I am a sugar addict so I love Nam Doc Mai. It is very sweet. 🍬🍭🍬😀).
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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#262

Post: # 22349Unread post Barb_FL
Fri Jun 12, 2020 6:52 pm

I really can't imagine any of them could taste better than Kent. But last year, people I gave lots of choc-anons to LOVED them. We didn't get that many this year and my husband picked a bunch of chocanon yesterday and left them on the porch. I am usually in and out all day, but my eyes have been so unbearably itchy that I just limited going outside to 10 minutes so never brought them in. Overnight an animal devoured them - probably a raccoon or some animal that doesn't want to climb the tree.

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#263

Post: # 22351Unread post Ginger2778
Fri Jun 12, 2020 7:51 pm

Barb_FL wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2020 6:52 pm I really can't imagine any of them could taste better than Kent. But last year, people I gave lots of choc-anons to LOVED them. We didn't get that many this year and my husband picked a bunch of chocanon yesterday and left them on the porch. I am usually in and out all day, but my eyes have been so unbearably itchy that I just limited going outside to 10 minutes so never brought them in. Overnight an animal devoured them - probably a raccoon or some animal that doesn't want to climb the tree.
I know! Kent tastes like heaven to me. This was one of those "several hundred on the tree" years.
Critters. Ugh! I find it hard sometimes to think, "well, they are just trying to earn a living".
- Marsha

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#264

Post: # 22388Unread post MsCowpea
Sat Jun 13, 2020 11:28 am

31CD263D-4ED3-4BFF-87AC-541D37CEA007.jpeg
This is a rare event. A Fox in the middle of the day -it’s noon. Looks to be well fed not skinny like other foxes I have seen. I live in an urban area. Small enclave of houses with either 2.5 acres or half that. I worry about the Fox being in hostile territory depending on which neighbor sees it but I hope most would just let it go about it’s business.
If it takes out the peacocks the anti-peacock folks would be ecstatic. Hope it doesn’t get the peacock that hangs out in my yard. It is a nuisance but so pretty. I have grown used to it strutting around and pecking on my sliding glass doors. And a month ago there was a momma and 4 little peacocks that had nested in my yard. Nature can be cruel.

132E23FC-CA95-4CF4-B0DC-37689FC2AD7D.jpeg
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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#265

Post: # 22683Unread post MsCowpea
Tue Jun 16, 2020 2:21 pm

I pulled every last zinnia to plant cover crop. These reseeded themselves. I didn’t even know zinnias grew in our hot, rainy summer season. The funny thing is they look like they have less disease compared to our main growing season. That’s peculiar.
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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#266

Post: # 22692Unread post Ginger2778
Tue Jun 16, 2020 4:07 pm

MsCowpea wrote: Sat Jun 13, 2020 11:28 am 31CD263D-4ED3-4BFF-87AC-541D37CEA007.jpegThis is a rare event. A Fox in the middle of the day -it’s noon. Looks to be well fed not skinny like other foxes I have seen. I live in an urban area. Small enclave of houses with either 2.5 acres or half that. I worry about the Fox being in hostile territory depending on which neighbor sees it but I hope most would just let it go about it’s business.
If it takes out the peacocks the anti-peacock folks would be ecstatic. Hope it doesn’t get the peacock that hangs out in my yard. It is a nuisance but so pretty. I have grown used to it strutting around and pecking on my sliding glass doors. And a month ago there was a momma and 4 little peacocks that had nested in my yard. Nature can be cruel.


132E23FC-CA95-4CF4-B0DC-37689FC2AD7D.jpeg
Oh wow wow wow! I have never seen a fox here in Broward. Saw raccoons in my yard about 6 weeks ago, but I've seen them elsewhere. No foxes ever before. Cool!
Peacocks are so beautiful, it's hard for me to think of them as a nuisance.
Zinnias - good to know they will flower in summer, I have a bunch of seeds.
- Marsha

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#267

Post: # 23592Unread post Barb_FL
Fri Jun 26, 2020 4:15 pm

Zinnias grow very well in the sun and heat; if it starts raining a lot, they get powdery mildew fairly easily. It may be a good to try out different remedies for treatment rather than test on tomato plants.

No foxes here either; but sometimes there is hysteria re: coyotes. I've never seen one; but if a cat goes missing, it is usually the coyotes that get the blame.

Elaine - GardenTrends.com has Mountain Magic seeds on sale for $1.67 (for 10). They have other tomato seeds on sale as well and ones that are sold out are nothing I would buy anyway. Shipping was $3.95 for $15 or less. Mountain Fresh Plus was $1.95 for 50 seeds which is really good but I had seeds from Johnny's and really didn't like them that much even though they were good producers. AKMark was the one who said they were great; but what tastes great in AK or other places doesn't for me in FL.

Marsha - My mango season is done; I tried taking down some of the real new growth while I still had mangos as shown in one of the videos. I want to top my tree and start pruning. Can I do that now that all the fruit is gone? My husband watched the video that Elaine posted and is on board (surprise) to help (ie do most of the pruning). My Kent mango tree looks great from all the new growth.

I ended up LOVING the Choc-anons. I also dehydrated a full load of the Kent to make rollups and froze them

I still have to solarize and clean up the garden. I can't stand going out from the heat so wait until 6:30 which doesn't give much time.

Take care everyone.

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#268

Post: # 23607Unread post Ginger2778
Fri Jun 26, 2020 6:43 pm

Barb_FL wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2020 4:15 pm Zinnias grow very well in the sun and heat; if it starts raining a lot, they get powdery mildew fairly easily. It may be a good to try out different remedies for treatment rather than test on tomato plants.

No foxes here either; but sometimes there is hysteria re: coyotes. I've never seen one; but if a cat goes missing, it is usually the coyotes that get the blame.

Elaine - GardenTrends.com has Mountain Magic seeds on sale for $1.67 (for 10). They have other tomato seeds on sale as well and ones that are sold out are nothing I would buy anyway. Shipping was $3.95 for $15 or less. Mountain Fresh Plus was $1.95 for 50 seeds which is really good but I had seeds from Johnny's and really didn't like them that much even though they were good producers. AKMark was the one who said they were great; but what tastes great in AK or other places doesn't for me in FL.

Marsha - My mango season is done; I tried taking down some of the real new growth while I still had mangos as shown in one of the videos. I want to top my tree and start pruning. Can I do that now that all the fruit is gone? My husband watched the video that Elaine posted and is on board (surprise) to help (ie do most of the pruning). My Kent mango tree looks great from all the new growth.

I ended up LOVING the Choc-anons. I also dehydrated a full load of the Kent to make rollups and froze them

I still have to solarize and clean up the garden. I can't stand going out from the heat so wait until 6:30 which doesn't give much time.

Take care everyone.
Barb, you can start trimming the minute the fruit is gone. And you can tip all the way through September. How many fruit did your Kent give you this year?
I had the opportunity to taste 4 fruit from an established Lemon Zest. Oh my gosh!!! It is head and shoulders the single most delicious variety have ever tasted. Ever! I'm so glad I bought the tree this year.
Barb - you gotta get in the Facebook mango group I'm in, I have learned so much. I will invite you to the group on facebook. Is your Facebook name same as your regular name? Elaine you should be on that group too. I'll invite you if you pm me your Facebook name.
- Marsha

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#269

Post: # 23627Unread post Barb_FL
Fri Jun 26, 2020 9:40 pm

That is so cool about Lemon Zest. The name just doesn't sound appealing to me. I want to get one.

My Kent tree was weird - I had a bunch of big ones, but then I had a lot of small ones - the big ones were mainly from the side of the tree that didn't get as affected by the bad weather at the end of January. The small ones were on the other side where they bloomed in March and set fruit. Some of the small ones were dynamite. Early on I remember picking 28 super big ones at one time, then my husband was picking buckets full at a time so the squirrels didn't get them. I would say we picked over 100 large and 80ish small. The small ones were 3 small canes on one larger cane. The squirrels got a ton too.

We still have picked mangos; some in the fridge; some still waiting to ripen more.

The choc-anon didn't do nearly as well as last year when it was loaded, but the fruit was larger this year.

I also didn't fertilize the trees last year, but will do so this year. Do I fertilize after we prune?

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#270

Post: # 23645Unread post Ginger2778
Sat Jun 27, 2020 5:50 am

Barb_FL wrote: Fri Jun 26, 2020 9:40 pm That is so cool about Lemon Zest. The name just doesn't sound appealing to me. I want to get one.

My Kent tree was weird - I had a bunch of big ones, but then I had a lot of small ones - the big ones were mainly from the side of the tree that didn't get as affected by the bad weather at the end of January. The small ones were on the other side where they bloomed in March and set fruit. Some of the small ones were dynamite. Early on I remember picking 28 super big ones at one time, then my husband was picking buckets full at a time so the squirrels didn't get them. I would say we picked over 100 large and 80ish small. The small ones were 3 small canes on one larger cane. The squirrels got a ton too.

We still have picked mangos; some in the fridge; some still waiting to ripen more.

The choc-anon didn't do nearly as well as last year when it was loaded, but the fruit was larger this year.

I also didn't fertilize the trees last year, but will do so this year. Do I fertilize after we prune?

Yes, my FB is my name.
I fertilize in November or December. I just cast some of the citrus avocado mango fertilizer from the trunk to the drip line, in the fashion of a tire's spokes. I get the big bag at HD. I only fertilize once per year. You don't want to do that too close to when the buds are starting to push or it will put out new growth instead of flowers.
- Marsha

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#271

Post: # 23651Unread post MsCowpea
Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:22 am

Marsha, thanks for the offer but I am not into Facebook. I have an unused FB account somewhere but never use it. I signed up DH too but he has never used it either . I use his account to mainly keep track of a friend I have in UK. Once in a blue moon use FB to find out some specific bit of information from a person or group like an event or something but not too often.

On some of our big mango trees I have decided to basically let them just be big trees despite the lack of fruit production. I just can’t see them
pruned to a reasonable size.

I do have 3 small trees that could still be managed at this point. Also 3 old trees need work. Either top worked or maybe hat racked as they have dying branches.


Barb: I had bookmarked this info on fertilizing. The Fairchild expert primarily uses potassium to fertilize Miami Dade trees. But they are growing in rock. Not sure about other soil types.

Mango fertilizer

Advice from Fairchild instructor.
https://treasurecoastrarefruitclub.com/ ... ze-mangos/

https://treasurecoastrarefruitclub.com/ ... r-routine/

Traditional article: Table 2
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG21600.pdf



Thought this was interesting. Major pruning in Israel.

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#272

Post: # 23652Unread post MsCowpea
Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:37 am

Blurry as I can’t get close. She has 4 babies or more like pre-teens. Don’t know how she has kept them all alive for so long. Usually they dwindle down to one or so.
The father never helps to protect them like roosters. He goes about his merry way and has nothing to do with his family that I can see.

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#273

Post: # 23656Unread post Ginger2778
Sat Jun 27, 2020 8:28 am

MsCowpea wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2020 7:22 am Marsha, thanks for the offer but I am not into Facebook. I have an unused FB account somewhere but never use it. I signed up DH too but he has never used it either . I use his account to mainly keep track of a friend I have in UK. Once in a blue moon use FB to find out some specific bit of information from a person or group like an event or something but not too often.

On some of our big mango trees I have decided to basically let them just be big trees despite the lack of fruit production. I just can’t see them
pruned to a reasonable size.

I do have 3 small trees that could still be managed at this point. Also 3 old trees need work. Either top worked or maybe hat racked as they have dying branches.


Barb: I had bookmarked this info on fertilizing. The Fairchild expert primarily uses potassium to fertilize Miami Dade trees. But they are growing in rock. Not sure about other soil types.

Mango fertilizer

Advice from Fairchild instructor.
https://treasurecoastrarefruitclub.com/ ... ze-mangos/

https://treasurecoastrarefruitclub.com/ ... r-routine/

Traditional article: Table 2
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG21600.pdf



Thought this was interesting. Major pruning in Israel.

Elaine, there never is a mango too big to trim. Those that top work them do something called pugging. Then they graft to the stump with 4 or 5 grafts of something better tasting more productive better disease resistance. If it were a person the pugging would be a cross section of the trunk at the waist, or even the knees. Mango trees trunks with an already well established strong root system is quite an advantage, and the new tree type does very well.
This gal at truly tropical does lots of videos and she is super knowledgeable. She walks the walk. This is part 2, but it gives me the info I want to convey. Very good detailed how to.
- Marsha

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#274

Post: # 23674Unread post MsCowpea
Sat Jun 27, 2020 10:32 am

Truly Tropical videos are great. She is the one I linked earlier in this thread. I have watched them all.
What I meant was even though I know all the big trees could be pruned some are really beautiful because they are so tall. I’d just as soon
leave them rather then take out a lot of non-productive wood and make them a shorter, regular fruit tree. But some big ones are ugly to boot with dying branches and need to be cut way back. A friend is having an expert come and talk to him about top working a mango and the cost and he is going to let me know what he says. I am not interested in doing it myself. I would have tried years ago but got too many other things to bother now. I know on one of the TT videos she is checking back on a tree that she topped worked and it still didn’t have fruit 5 years later. That’s must be an exception as you are supposed to get fruit sooner , otherwise why bother? Hopefully, some of my other smaller fruit trees will produce eventually.
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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#275

Post: # 23677Unread post Ginger2778
Sat Jun 27, 2020 10:47 am

Mangoes have caught my interest so much, almost more than tomatoes. For instance, Polyembryotic vs monoembryotic seeds, another really interesting thing to learn for me.
I wouldn't do top working myself either. Or large limb, high limb pruning. I'm getting way too old for that stuff. But I'll tip and tip them until September, because I want my mango trees to produce as much as they can.
Last edited by Ginger2778 on Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
- Marsha

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#276

Post: # 23680Unread post MsCowpea
Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:07 am

Just got a different shot of them. Hope they all make it even though they live to destroy the greens in the vegetable garden.
23A277B3-0EE2-4E00-AB15-9DBB8902D443.jpeg

Papaya
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Thousand Fingers. Not all of them were taken out. Bananas supposed to form 5 or 6 feet along the whole stalk. This is maybe 2 feet. The problem is the
plant is super tall. Over 20 feet tall. Really hard to get them down. Though I don’t think it is supposed to taste that good— More ornamental.
55CCDBB5-D52A-4F35-9199-F67D1619A49D.jpeg
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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#277

Post: # 23683Unread post MsCowpea
Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:12 am

. because I want my mango trees to produce as much as they can.
I hear ya. That is a good thing. I think DH no pruning mindset has messed with my mind. :lol:
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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#278

Post: # 23684Unread post Ginger2778
Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:17 am

MsCowpea wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:12 am
. because I want my mango trees to produce as much as they can.
I hear ya. That is a good thing. I think DH no pruning mindset has messed with my mind. :lol:
No doubt. My DH has definitely influenced me.
- Marsha

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#279

Post: # 23685Unread post Barb_FL
Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:32 am

This AM I watched a video from Tropical Mango where is shows how to graph to a mango tree stump. The stump was no more than 3' and started making shoots. She was graphing another type onto it, but you could easily just let it grow out.

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Re: Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies)

#280

Post: # 23689Unread post MsCowpea
Sat Jun 27, 2020 11:53 am

Barb, I thought about that. One of the trees that has a lot of dying branches on top is Nam Doc Mai which I do love. Even DH would agree that it needs to be chopped way down and then maybe it would sprout out so then no need to top graft. Another is the world’s worse mango, at least the one we have is- lancetilla. Years ago when it was productive we would get football size mangos that were inedible. Sour beyond belief—not even good for green mango recipes. Got it from Fairchild’s mango festival maybe 19 years ago. Now it is huge with damaged diseased branches from hurricanes. Hardly any mangos which is no loss. The trunk looks pretty bad so not sure you could top graft it but maybe it could be cut below the bad part.
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