April 2020

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• John Hatch grows Abiu very successfully in full sun at Glasshouse Mountains and got one of his original trees off Sippy Orchards. The fruit usually weigh around 700gms. He only has seedling trees but he says you need two for good pollination. Other requirements are no westerly winds and no frost. His trees get a little pink wax scale and negra scale plus fruit fly.
   
• Bruce Chadfield lost his grafted trees but has 2 very healthy 3 year old seedling trees growing in the sun.
   
• Richard Poli   I had one and it died – bought some fruit when last in Cairns and raised the seeds – they germinated well and I planted them out but only one survived and even that is somewhat sick.  Next door planted one beside his dam several years ago.  It flourished and was about 2 mtrs+ high, then this year I suspect with the dry weather it too has died so I dare say if they are going to survive down here they are going to need plenty of mulch and water.
   
• Dennis Coulter I planted one in 1994.  No fruit until either at a Field day or in the newsletter someone said you had to have two.  I planted a second one in 1998 or 2000, can’t remember unless I look up my records.  Anyway, both trees fruited for the first time this year and I picked one off the youngest tree and two or three off the elder one.  I am waiting with baited breath for the next crop, they were beautiful.  One had fruit fly a bit, which is not bad since I never get any fejoias without fruit fly.  Both trees are only about 7 feet high, the older one is slightly more bushy than the younger.  Could be soil or climate problem.  I gave both blood and bone and dynamic lifter plus for a number of years, but nothing much in the last 12 months because of the lack of rain.
   
• Bill Tunstall  I have bought a number of specimens over the years, several being grafted trees, but lost them even though I mollycoddled them.  Later I planted some seedlings and two of them have grown to about 4 metres in height.  Both have flowered and are in close vicinity of each other but I have only had very few fruit from them.  They would be about 6 – 8 years old. About three year ago I planted more seeds which I brought back from North Queensland.  They sprouted well in the pots and then I planted them out. Now they are about 2 metres high, quite bushy and have flowered once without fruiting.  They are very healthy looking trees and I intend to keep them fairly low.  I know that they are quite susceptible to chemicals and tried to feed them mostly with organic fertilizer.  I have had a little trouble with scale and mealy bug, but at the moment they look reasonably clean. What I would like to know is how to get them to set fruit, and also what is a good fertilizing scheme for them.
   
• John Coffey Although I do not confess to being a dedicated gardener following all the rules and correct care guidelines, all my fruit trees do flower and fruit well except one. That one is the Abiu. The tree I have is approx 12 years old, purchased from a nursery that I have purchased all my trees from and grows well. However all that has ever happened is the tree bursting into flower every year but failing to set any fruit at all. I live in Moorooka where there is primarily clay base but the garden is regularly mulched, fertilised, watered and has good drainage etc. Over the years I have tried -more then less fertiliser, lots of water, minimal water, pruning hard then letting it go wild. I do tend to keep it to a height of 3mts. Nothing seems to help me get even one fruit to develop.
   
• Aubrey Blankley found this article in the Courier-mail under Garden and Outdoor living show on (Growing exotic fruit trees is worth a try) dated September 1, 1993 and thought it might be of interest to you. “This is a beautiful fruit and I first tasted it at Nambour so I know it grows that far south. It is a native to Brazil and Peru and the fruit is shaped a little like a persimmon. The tree is a small evergreen, growing to around 5m to 8m tall, and it prefers a tropical and sub-tropical climate. It will not tolerate frost. Abiu should be given regular applications of fertiliser at the same rate and quantity as for citrus trees. Regular application of poultry manure fertiliser can be used instead if preferred. Little or no pruning is required Regular mulching is also important. The fruit will be ready for harvest between January and September, depending on the variety or location.  Some trees can have up to three crops during this period. The fruit should be fully ripe before eating as it contains unpleasant milky latex just under the skin and this can stick to the mouth and lips. It is best to wait till the fruit drops to the ground so you know it is fully mature and can be eaten safely”
   
• Luc   I am letting them go several days longer on the tree then roll them in my hands with a little pressure and let sit another day or 2 at room temp. refrigerate for a few hours, spoon out – didn’t notice any latex.  

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• Tyres contain cadmium which fixes the colour in the rubber and potatoes, cabbages, carrots, radishes, lettuce, turnips, & peanuts are known to accumulate cadmium
   
• Do not to use treated pine as a surround for your vegetable beds.
   
• Beetroot is a root vegetable that originated in southern Europe. It was originally grown for its leaves, although now both the leaves and root are eaten. Beetroot is related to sugar beet and is one of the sweetest vegetables available. It is a member of the spinach family and is a favourite food of summer salads and comes in a variety of colours and sizes: Ruby Red and Crosbys Egyptian Flat are dark red with dark green leaves and red stems. Detroit Dark Red and Bulls Blood have dark red and light zones when sliced. Chioggia also has concentric rings of red and white flesh. Albino are white as the name suggests. Burpees Golden Globe are an orange yellow variety. Cylindra is a long cylindrical. Selecting and storing beetroot  Choose beetroot with smooth, firm skin and a deep red colour, if choosing the darker varieties. If the leaves are still attached they should be ridged with pink/red veins. A scaly area at the top of the root indicates a tougher beetroot. Smaller beetroot are much more tender. Before storing trim the leaves 2 inches from the root, remove any dirt and do not wash or cut off the tails as the beetroot will bleed. Store beetroot in a dark, cool environment with high humidity. It can also be stored unwashed in plastic in the refrigerator for a week. The leaves can be stored in a separate plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2 days and used instead of other green leafy vegetables. Beetroot can be bottled in an acidic liquid – such as vinegar or lemon juice – which preserves the colour, if the liquid is too alkaline the colour turns a brownish purple. Freshly cooked beetroot can be frozen; once cooked peel and slice or leave whole, store in airtight bags or containers and freeze for up to 10 months. Beetroot is often used pickled in salads and sandwiches but fresh beetroot is just as delicious. For a tasty alternative to some of your favourite meals try these tasty recipes: Roast Beetroot, Feta and Rocket Salad; Roast Beetroot and Walnut Salad; Beetroot Hummus; excellent dip
• They only eat the seeds of pumpkin in Cappadocia, Turkey and use the flesh for fertiliser to grow more pumpkins for the seeds!
   
• Luffas  If you want a soft sponge, pick the luffa while its green.  If you want a tougher quality, wait till the outer skin yellows and dries out.  Ref: John Kufrovich

  The bigger ones will be tougher and make good luffas; the new little ones should be good in stir-fries. There are lots of Google sites on making luffa sponges.  http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=689      Ref:  Stephen

• Pumpkin Seeds 

  Adrian  We use the seeds to make a nice snack. We simply put a little salt on them, then pan fry them with a little bit of oil till slightly brown. They are a really good crunchy snack! No need to peel them, they’re fine as is. Harvesting around 60kg of pumpkins this year means we get plenty of pre dinner snacks!

  Jason   I have never hulled my pumpkin seeds either when roasting them in the oven. Generally I put them on a tray after having cooked something else and just let the residual heat bake them. As for pepitas, they are from a specific kind of pumpkin I believe.

  Diane  I make similar but I use dukkah seasoning instead as there are many different dukkah mixes to suit every taste – enjoy them with wine/beer instead of nuts etc. They only take a short time in the oven to puff up.

• Bok Choy Botanical name: Brassica rapa var. chinensis Other names:  Buk Choy, Pack Choy, Chinese white cabbage, Chinese chard    by Roger Goebel – DPI  BRASSICACEAE (Brassica) family

  Varieties of bok choy have different characteristics. The four most cultivated forms in Queensland are: Joi choi or Chinese white bok choy. Plants to 30cm high with white stems. Mei qing or Shanghai bok choy. Plants to 15cm high light green stems. Tai sai nikanme or Japanese celery mustard. Plants to 45cm high with thin leaves and stalks.

  Canton or squat. Plants to 20cm high with white stems.

Growing Bok Choy:  Ideal growing conditions are required to produce quality plants. Any stress will increase the growing time, reduce the flavour and size and are likely to cause the plants to ‘bolt’- produce a premature seed head. Recommended growing conditions include: Soil Ph 6.5 to 7 is preferred; Row spacing 30cm and Plant spacing 10cm; Plants sown in seed boxes, transplanted at 2 to 3 weeks of growth or direct planted; Rows on raised beds to increase soil drainage around the root area; Choose well drained soils with plenty of aged organic matter; Frequent light watering, twice each day when not raining;  Maintain the area weed free; Adequate nitrogen (equivalent to 1kg urea to 10m of row applied in 4 or more applications) Harvest entire plants or just cut the larger leaves. Harvest the entire crop as quickly as possible and dig in any remainder to reduce pest/disease levels. Don’t re-plant the area with the same or similar crop.

• Pumpkins  For extended storage, wash skins in a solution of about a tablespoon of chlorine bleach to a gallon of water to disinfect the skin and discourage mould or rot. Dry immediately as dampness encourages spoilage. If you find mould, wipe with vegetable oil to remove the mould and seal the spot. You can leave them on the vines into the winter months. The longer you leave them the better they will store. Frosts will help to sweeten the fruit as well. Leave a good size of stem on the pumpkin and NEVER carry them by this as you can damage the fruit and this will start the whole thing rotting. Store in an airy place (shed is good) on their side as this will stop moisture developing near the stem area. I also use candle wax on any wounds to help prolong the storing time. Leaving them out in the sun for a couple of days will help to harden the skins, bringing them in undercover at night, before storing. If a stem happens to come off you can seal it by dripping melted candle wax onto the area. Turn them every couple of weeks so they aren’t resting on the same spot. Ref: Marilena Stanton

  Michelle says they have had great success storing them in the shed – the best “keepers” were the ones with the longest stems still on them – some over 1m long !! I also rubbed some vegetable oil in to their skins – heard someone recommend it once so I gave it a go. Also – the ones that I rolled over occasionally seemed to avoid getting mushy bottoms. I must say we did notice that the older the pumpkins got, the richer the flavour and colour. These were all Kent seeds that Jason gave me a couple of years ago.

• Sweet Potato  Saw the best patch of Ipomoea batatas recently at Bruce Chadfield’s place grown in cut grass/mulch above ground. Zig in the Northern Territory also says that the best sweet potatoes he grew were plants that had run into a pile of acacia leaves (Acacia difficilis). The tubers were in the leaf mulch and not in the sandy ground below.
   
• Taro  Just came back from a pot luck dinner where one of the dishes was a delicious taro dish. Consisted of 4 parts taro to one part sweet potato, cooked in 1/2 can of coconut cream, with a bit of honey added. Was mashed to a very fine soup like consistency. Really delicious!    Ref:  Oscar, Hawaii
   
• Zeolite  –  A Natural Australian Mineral. It not only helps you grow better fruit and vegetables by increasing nutrient retention ability of your soil but zeolite also helps you store your fruit and vegetables longer because it absorbs ethylene produced by the ripening process. Place the fruit or vegetable in a plastic bag and add two tablespoons of zeolite. Close the bag and store in a cool place.
   

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• If you have ever had trouble getting seeds to germinate and growing them on, the solution is to spray them 5 times a day with weak fertilizer. The NPK is varied to suit the end product: N for more leafy plants; K for flowering types. A watering can with a bit of Thrive should do the trick.
• Seed   To propagating seed, put some damp peat moss into a plastic bag. This method is not suitable for ultra fine seed. Blow into the bag to puff it up, tie it off, then hang it up in the shade somewhere. Ref: Jan Sked
   
• Propagating Seed from the Tropics  Many seeds from the tropics may have short viability – a few days for some so sow seed immediately. Some seed will not germinate until the temperature reaches over 30 degrees celsius so if you don’t have these conditions, use a heat bed.
   
• Propagating Seed – Thurston in South America  I am sure all of us have many containers in which seeds have been planted but never germinated. In the past I have, after a time, thrown out the soil and started over again until I discovered new seedlings of things I had long given up on a heap of discarded soil but now I have noted something even more interesting. When I do double planting, i.e. plant seeds of things like tamarind which easily germinate in pots that have seeds I have long given up on, I find that the original seeds in the pot often germinate also. I have just observed this again with a range of seeds which were planted 8 months to a year and a half ago. I planted some sweet tamarind seeds in the same pots just before I left for the US, and now, upon returning home, I find tamarind seedlings together with seedlings from many of the seeds I had long given up on. Has anyone else observed this? Do germinating seeds disperse chemicals into the surrounding soil that might cause other more recalcitrant seeds to germinate? Bob Cannon says that one trick he learned was to sprout radish seeds along with recalcitrant seeds. (He has also, at times, sprouted the seeds in water then watered the difficult seed with the sprout water). It seems to work for some. He also suspects that some species release more of the favourable chemicals than others).
• Anti-Spiralling and Air Pruned Pots   Look out for an anti-spiralling pot and the roots are also air pruned upon exiting through the slots in the side of the pot. Excellent idea if you propagate.
   
• Propagating Seed  Paul Recher uses cocopeat – puts it in a plastic ziplock bag – has great success.
   
• Place seed in pots placed in polystyrene boxes in full sun but with cuttings I place them in a shadehouse. Ref: Jan Sked
   
• Ever had trouble getting trays of seedlings to grow on after germination?  Foliar feeding is the answer. Just put a tiny amount of Thrive or similar in the watering can every day. Commercial nurseries might mist/fertigate 5 times a day with very weak fertiliser. The NPK was varied to suit – N for leafy plants and K for flowering plants.
   
• I am sure all of us have many containers in which seeds have been planted but never germinated. In the past I have, after a time, thrown out the soil and started over again until I discovered new seedlings of things I had long given up on a heap of discarded soil but now I have noted something even more interesting. When I do double planting, i.e. plant seeds of things like tamarind which easily germinate in pots that have seeds I have long given up on, I find that the original seeds in the pot often germinate also. I have just observed this again with a range of seeds which were planted 8 months to a year and a half ago. I planted some sweet tamarind seeds in the same pots just before I left for the US, and now, upon returning home, I find tamarind seedlings together with seedlings from many of the seeds I had long given up on. Has anyone else observed this? Do germinating seeds disperse chemicals into the surrounding soil that might cause other more recalcitrant seeds to germinate?  Ref:  Thurston – Sth America
   
• Pectinase is useful if you have seed with the pulp still sticking on and no amount of sucking, scrubbing or soaking in plain water will remove it. Put in a teaspoonful mixed in water and leave it overnight and the adhering pulp will slip off the seed with gentle scrubbing the next morning.  Ref: Samar – India
   
• You may have read that when propagating seed to check its viability by putting it in water and any seed that floats is not viable however Oscar in Hawaii says that seeds which depend on being carried by water for dispersal, float, e.g. Pond Apple which grows in the everglades in Florida (Annona glabra) floats. Noni (Morinda citrifolia), growing along the ocean shores, also floats. Rollinia deliciosa grows in the Amazon basin where land is often flooded so it makes sense that it would also float.
   
• Propagating seed using 4 drawer plastic cabinets.  As soon as the seedling starts coming out I move it to the side where it can get some light then transfer it to the bottom drawers, which are much bigger, so that they have more room to grow. Then I move them to the top of the cabinet where they are exposed to even more light. Finally I move or transplant them to a shaded location out in the yard. The best feature, though, is the area on top of the cabinet which has indented pockets that hold water. That maintains the pots moist, but not saturated. No fungicide needed, and I usually leave the drawers closed to retain moisture, but I have thought about keeping them a little open for air circulation. I keep it in my patio, right next to the screen, so there’s minimal air reaching inside. I get most seeds to sprout when I use it.  No problem with damping off.  Ref:  Jaime Zuniga – Miami
  Sheryl Interesting concept. He places a bit of water in each of the drawers so plants are able to access moisture from the bottom. Main thing to check would be to use a spirit level so drawers would be level to uptake water.  Those 4 drawer cabinets have 2 small drawers and 2 large drawers so just choose pots to suit the height.
   
• Warren Lue from Jamaica says that a lot of fruit trees can be propagated by cuttings.  Successes include loquat, wampi, mangosteen, phyllanthus acidus, baccaurea etc. He uses coarse sand and perlite 4:1 with very little organic matter about 5% mist for 5 secs every 10 minutes till sundown.
   
• Steve Flood, a TAFE horticultural lecturer on the Sunshine Coast says that plants strike well in sand but they don’t grow well and don’t like having their roots disturbed, so fill a pot with potting mix make a hole in the middle with a stick or something. Fill the hole with sand and put your cutting into the sand. Roots strike and then grow into the potting mix. Simple and effective. Pull leaves off the cuttings (if they remove without tearing stem) and the leaf scar heals better and infection is resisted. Don’t use rooting compounds unless needed; they encourage rooting but inhibit root growth. They are needed only on those plants that won’t strike naturally.
   
• Propagating Cuttings by Misting   To set up a super low tech simple mist box. You can use the just a regular garden hose with a sprinkler head, set to very fine mist. Hang up from a rafter or on top of a tall pole. Set it up with a timer to go on for 5 minutes once an hour. Make sure the area getting misted has an easy way to drain all the water. It should not form any puddles.  Ref:  Oscar – Hawaii
• Calamansi   Verman from the Philippines says that he propagated scions from a calamansi tree and kept it with wet toilet paper in a Ziploc bag kept a in the crisper section of his refrigerator – easy to graft. Just follow the steps shown in the group’s file section.  Ref:  rarefruit-ph@yahoo.com
   
• Soft-Tip Cuttings: Usually taken in Spring. Very few fruit trees are propagated by this method, but generally anything in the Solanum group, such as Pepinos and Tamarillos will be fine.
   
• Jiffy Pots   The Club has bought some of jiffy pots and we will be demonstrating them at our Field Trip in March. It’s a Norwegian sustainable resource forestry plant system and comprises a peat pellet surrounded by a fine biodegradable net. Seeds and seedlings are planted into the pellet which, when given water, expands to full size. It is then grown to the size required then planted out. Advantages of this system are unrestricted root development with air pruning and it also removes the need to purchase potting mix etc. Those who went to the Pummelo field trip will remember them being demonstrated there using them for marcots.   Ref: Sheryl Backhouse
   
• Ilama   Either soak seed in a Giberellic acid solution overnight or plant them on a seedling heat mat. Both work. They grow on the sides of volcanos in Honduras and the ground is apparently quite warm to the touch. With no treatment, Ilama seeds can sit there for 6-12 months with no germination
• Marcotting   I did some marcotting with the forestry size jiffy peat pots that the club bought. They are great to handle and the size is just right. To cover the marcot I used glad wrap about 90 mm wide (I cut it off a larger roll). I was able to use the wrap like a bandage and it didn’t need to be tied off. I then covered it with aluminum foil to protect it from the severe heat we have been experiencing. I also used the Jiffy Pots to strike some Blueberry cuttings. The cuttings were first sterilized and then put into the soaked Jiffy peat pots (100 x 50mm dia.).  I then put them into a white plastic bucket with a plastic bag over the top and sealed the bag to bucket with a large rubber band. The handle of the bucket held the bag up and a clothes peg kept it there. I lost 1 out of 8 of the cuttings. I had noticed that previously most cuttings rotted, probably from fungus infections.  The large forestry size Jiffy Pots will be on sale at the next club meeting for 20¢ each so bring in a container with a lid to take some home. I hope that this may be of help to some of you. Also, don’t forget we have the square forestry propagation pots in a frame for sale at the club. These have the special mesh bottom to air prune the roots and prevent root binding/strangulation. They are $7 per set of 20 which includes the frame.  Ref: George Allen
   
• Member Tony Chew reports:   I have experimented with 40 marcots over the past summer using the method Sheryl demonstrated at the field day here last September. The success rates are about 60%. Fruit trees marcotted were persimmon, lychee, longan, fig, pear, pummelo, grapefruit, orange, mandarin, lemon, lime, kumquat, avocado and mango. The best results are from the citrus and lychee with almost 100% success. The worst are the persimmon, avocado and mango. It takes about 6 weeks for the roots to establish and ready for planting to the polybags. If transplanted too early the roots are still very fragile and casualty rates will be high. The ideal time to do marcots will be summer where the hot weather and adequate rainfalls encourage growths. I find this method of propagation simpler and easy to perform. The marcots are hardy and true to type. The plant will probably bear fruits much earlier as it is a branch off the tree.
   
• Breadnut (A. camansi) and kwai muk can go into full sun when 2 feet tall. With Chempadek I like to wait till they are 4 feet tall for full sun. For me, the Kwai Muk has been a more vigorous grower than Chempadek. By vigorous I mean health of plant, not necessarily size of plant.   Ref:  Oscar – Hawaii
   
• Fig Propagation   I have most success with dormant cuttings taken at about bud burst and planted into a warm raised bed covered with mulching cloth.  Poke cuttings through the cloth and leave only 1 bud exposed. 2 yr wood is more reliable that softer 1 yr wood. Bottom cut should be just below a node.  Dipping cuttings in systemic fungicide helps, as does wounding, a couple of vertical knife cuts to score the bark. Figs replanted into old beds seem reluctant to get going, so fresh friable and well aerated soil is helpful. If planting into potting mix, the nutrient level needs to be low at first until the plants get established, and not water logged at the bottom of the pot. Young plants are very prone to root rot.  Ref: Eric Cairns in New Zealand
   
• Guava orchard I visited in Thailand air layered all the guavas they propagated. Language was a problem, but thought I understood that air layering was the only way they propagated their guava.    Ref: Samar Gupta, Mumbai, India
   
• Jackfruit   I tried cuttings of Arto. species in Fiji and Arto. hetero. in Israel and it works but it takes a long time as the roots break easily so each cutting should be placed in a small pot and not in a rooting bed. I used apical cuttings only of 15-20 cms long leaving a few cut-halved leaves with bottom heat of 30 celsius.   Ref:  Ariel – Israel
   
• Mango   If you get Mango scion at 1 to 6 months from flushing, the graft will have a long time to bear fruits, while if you get dormant scions 8 months up from flushing, they will be bearing earlier. However, when you transplant your grafted seedlings, and they grow healthy with good fertile organic rich soil, it will grow faster and bigger. Usually we can start making them flower and fruit at 5 years from field planting. Others may start bearing in one year, but we remove the flowers to induce faster vegetative growth. The bigger the tree, the more fruits it can produce.   Ref:  Rex – Philippines – rarefruit yahoogroup
• Mango   Here’s what Malcolm Manners revealed to Joe Real: Mango is picky to graft — if you do it right, you can get 95% or better but if you don’t do it right, expect next to zero%. Different people use different methods throughout the world. Here is the method preferred by Florida nurseries which gives excellent success: June is the best month to graft (this is for the USA – October is our equivalent here in Australia which is early summer) May and July (Nov & Dec in Aust) will give substantially less success, and any other month may be disastrous. Prepare budwood. About a week to 10 days before you want to graft, choose mature, dormant twigs on your scion-source tree, and clip off the leaves from the terminal 5-8 inches. Leave the petioles attached. DO NOT harvest the scions at this point. They should remain on the mother plant looking like little porcupines with their petioles sticking out in all directions. After a week, start gently nudging the petioles, daily. At first they’ll just bend but stay attached but there will come a day when they fall off at the slightest touch of your finger. On that day, collect the scions and graft them. I like a veneer (=side veneer) graft about 3-4 inches long with the terminal bud attached. If there is no terminal bud, that’s ok; the tree just won’t be quite as straight/vertical at first. Whereas with most grafts, I make the scion cuts first, then hold the scion in my mouth while making the rootstock cuts, mango wood tastes bad and can be quite corrosive, and if you’re allergic, can be life-threatening so with mango, I always cut the rootstock first, then just work really quickly to get the scion cut and into place. Wrap with polyethylene grafting tape, rather tightly. Cover all of the buds at first, except the terminal bud. Try to seal all the cut surfaces. After 4 weeks, carefully unwrap and then re-wrap the scion, this time leaving the axillary (as well as terminal) buds open to the air, but putting the tape back on the internodes, to continue to provide support and protection. At that time, also make a notch 1/4 of the way through the rootstock trunk just above the scion, on the same side as the scion. Also clip out the terminal bud of the rootstock. About every 2 weeks after that, cut a few inches of the rootstock top off, removing a few leaves each time. Of course, height and number of leaves on a rootstock will vary widely, but you are trying to encourage scion growth, but you don’t want the rootstock to become leafless for a month to 6 weeks after the graft was first unwrapped. About 10 weeks after grafting, 6 weeks after rewrapping, you should have a nice sturdy stem on your scion, with mature leaves. At that point it is safe to completely remove the rootstock top down to the graft and to remove the grafting tape. This method is obviously rather labour-intensive and “picky.” However, nurseries (and individuals) who use it routinely get well over 95% success; those who don’t generally settle for 65% with expert grafters and far less if their grafters are less than expert.
• Mulberry  In the dormant season take cuttings with at least three buds and root them in a sponge-rock material or bury the entire cutting upside down in the soil and keep moist for a few months until a callus forms – then invert and plant in a pot or the ground. A scion of your mulberry tree grafted to a seedling mulberry will develop a better root system than roots from a cutting. Layering is also an option but again the roots will not develop as well as those of a seedling. Ref: Fruit Gardener (CRFG) Sept/Oct 2002
• Mulberry We break dormancy prior to ‘cutting’ by stripping [by hand] the branch to be cut of all its leaves, some people use urea.  We spray it with a Miracle Gro or its equivalent. Then when new buds begin to appear we make the cutting, spray with fungicide and insecticide and if you can get it bactericide and virucide, dip in rooting compound, shake off the excess rooting compound, put in moist coarse river sand and enclosed in an air tight bag where there is no direct sunlight or wind.  Oscar is correct – different mulberries require different preparations.  Please try just a handful as an experiment.   Ref: Bob Bishop
• Peach Seeds  Ray Johnson says to wash the fresh seed (do not open them up), store in a zip lock bag with a bit of wet paper towel and store in refrigerator crisper.  They should germinate in about 6 weeks.  When you see the little root coming out of the seed, plant in a potting mix with the root pointing down.  He has had probably 90% success rate. 

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Five Hour Olives   If you have olives and cannot be bothered to process them in soaking solutions, then try this method. You can be eating the olives within five hours of picking them off the tree! The process is simple – pick black-ripe olives off the tree and check to make sure the flesh is purple. Wash the olives under the tap. Layer the olives on shallow trays then place in an oven at around 50ºC for about five hours. The process can be sped up by pricking them. Most black-ripe olives can be processed his way. If you want a range of sizes and flavours, try UC13A6, Kalamata and Pendolino. The flavours obtained have bouquets of sweetness – dried prunes and raisins with a slight bitterness. The olives can be eaten immediately. To get a salt taste, soak the olives in brine for one hour, drain off excess liquid, then oven dry. For a sweeter olive, instead of brine soak the olives in a sugar solution or why not try both. Once dried, the olives will keep without refrigeration or they can be put into extra virgin olive oil. If you want to make tapenade and you have no pickled olives, then use these.  Source – Australian Olive Grower Sept. 2001.

The Longer Method:

Green Olives (& half ripe ones) of any variety

Day 1 -Wash in running water then cover with boiling water & leave 24 hours.

Day 2 -Pour off cold water & cover with boiling water & leave 24 hours

Day 3 -Repeat day 2

Day 4 -Pour off cold water.   Place olives into clean jars, add mixture of brine & white or other vinegar in proportions of 3 to 1 by volume.

Fill jars well and add a layer of olive oil.

You can start eating after one week

Brine = 10% w/v salt in water that is 100 grams/litre of final solution. The brine mix I finished up with was 4.5 litre water, 1.3 litre white vinegar, 2 litre brown vinegar, 600g salt.

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• Preparation of scion material The best scion material is obtained from the tips of mature (rounded) shoots with prominent buds (called tip wood) immediately before the August (winter) growth flush. Tip wood is prepared two or three weeks before use by removal of leaves from the scion, leaving 1 cm of petiole (leaf stem) remaining. The graft stick is cut from the mother tree when required and should be about 6-8 cm long. If not used immediately scions can be stored, wrapped in a moist towelette and plastic bag, in a cool, dark position for periods up to seven days.  Ref:  Terry Muller

• Researcher Dr Chrys Akem says: “After we prune the trees, clean out all the dead tissue that’s hanging on the trees, all the panicles, all the leaves under the trees, let’s clean them up, bury them, because that’s the source of the diseases that develop on the fruit when they start developing,”

• When I was in New Guinea, my golf caddies would spend a lot of time up mango trees.  Interestingly they ate the new leaves and prized these just as highly as the fruit.  Ref: Jennifer Vickers
   
• John Hatch says that a mango is ready to pick when you turn it on the horizontal and it snaps off!

• We are successful in bringing mango to bloom without chemical. I used eggshell and vinegar and of course OHN.  http://www.agribusinessweek.com/make-your-own-ohn/    Ref:  Jojie – Philippines  

• In Vietnam there are 130 varieties of Mangoes and they can manipulate the tree to produce flowering at any time of the year. To induce flowering from the vegetative state to reproductive growth, they water stress and use chemical fertiliser. We stop fertiliser or use just a minor dose of nitrogen to make the roots weaker. If this does not produce results, then we cincture the trunk. Sheryl What stage of plant growth do you cincture?  A. After fruiting we promote new growth to get new flushing, then we consider when we want the fruit and from that point we count back to the time we apply this technique and it’s used 6-7 months before we want to have fruit. Sheryl So you cincture the trunk 30cm from the ground ie 2-3 months before flowering and Coaltar is used as a growth retardant in conjunction with this process and is applied directly on the tree trunk. Our Mangoes give 2 crops per year – one main crop and then a minor crop.

• Because of the tropical climate in Malaysia, you can graft Mango and Chempedak all year round. The scion wood is quite long at about 8 inches – 20cm. If the scion is too short on the mango the success rate is low. You can graft anywhere – either in the green or at the brown hardened off stage. Wrap the graft  then put a long plastic cover over the graft Ref:  Mr. Zahar –  Agricultural Park in Kuantan

• Autumn – Tip prune when you pick your Mangoes but it is very important to prune in May. Take out crowding limbs and reduce the number of tip shoots if the tree canopy is dense – open up your tree so air and light can get into it. This encourages flushing then flowering at the correct time.  Don’t let them get too large. Fertilize after harvest with 1-2kg of Gypsum. Spray Copper monthly to prevent anthracnose on fruit. In addition, you can also mix up a solution of Copper with a water based paint and paint it on the trunk.

• There’s a mango called Dunn’s Special which really appeals to me. It has a very rich tangy taste that is unique. Kasper says people either love it or dislike it, but everybody that I gave a taste to liked it, even one person who normally didn’t like mangoes. It a bit smaller than a Kensington Pride (Bowen), and the seed is smaller, colour is not as intense, fibre similar, skin thick. It is considered to be a juicing fruit, and is used at the rate of one to seven because of its strong taste. It’s also good for drying. It bears consistently down here and is a medium size tree. The original tree in Queensland is at Bahrs Scrubb and is about 100 years old and is of Indian origin (mono embryonic). It is named after the introducer who also has his name on a road in the area. Kasper first got it through one of our club’s members Len Hansen (an ex-president). Unfortunately he hasn’t propagated from it, so if any one wants it they will have to put an order in. Ref: George Allen
   
• A Queensland orchardist says he has discovered a new variety of mango which will revolutionise the industry. Gin Gin grower Errol Balke says the “Bundy Special” is a cross between the Keitt variety and the popular Bowen mango. He says it produces more than double the crop of current varieties. “It’s what 90 per cent of the breeders are trying to achieve. A very highly coloured fruit, real pretty pink when it’s ripe,” he said. “It’s purply colour on the trees and as that purple turns to a pink it’s virtually mature, ready to pick. “It’s what they call a mono-embryonic seed, which is a single seed and it gives you a heck of a lot more flesh recovery.” Sheryl:  Excellent flavour and dripping with juice!!
• John Picone had mangoes on his trees when most trees in S Qld and I would think N NSW have lost them to disease due to the wet weather even though they have sprayed. John said that he started weekly sprays, alternating with copper and mancozeb from early flower bud stage and kept it up on a weekly basis. Normally copper is not recommended for spraying on the open flowers, but John’s results speak for themselves. The enclosure should have made the moisture-encouraged diseases worse. Ref: George Allen
   
• Excellent info here:  http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Primary_Industry/index.cfm?header=Mango%20Irrigation%20and%20Nutrition%20Research
   
• Control of Anthracnose must start when you have young flushes (new leaves). Spray the young leaves with 300 grams Copper Oxychloride combined with 2 kilos Muriate of Potash (0-0-60) dissolved in 200 litres of water. Spray at bud break and repeated 3 times at 2 weeks interval. During fruit production, include fungicide in the spray solution. After harvest, use hot water dip. Ref: Tony Rola
   
• Powdery Mildew in Mangoes  Signs to look for are when they completely lose their first flowering but put out a second flowering. You’ll usually see a white residue and the panicle flowers are brown and brittle. Some people spray neutral copper and a wetting agent when the panicles are almost ready to open and others swear by wettable sulphur and a wetting agent. Sulphur will give a good set. Copper seems to be best after the small fruit have formed and will avoid the black spots from anthracnose.
• Why do mango trees often flower but bear no fruits?       Ref: pestnet The answer may be fungus, insects or both. In Australia, Johnson and Muirhead (1988) recommended a spray of Mancozeb (800g/kg) at the rate of 2 g/ltr weekly during blossoming and then monthly until harvest. In countries with high rainfall, flowers are commonly infected by the anthracnose fungus, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (sexual stage, Glomerella cingulata). It causes a blossom blight. Symptoms begin as small black spots on flower buds, peduncles, pedicels and the rachis of the inflorescence. Necrotic flowers abscise leaving the persistent peduncles. Lesions may enlarge and coalesce to form large patches of necrotic, brown tissue. As for non-chemical methods: prune out diseased twigs and clean up fallen infected trash. Also, make sure there are no mangoes sitting in the trees as they are likely to be a source of inoculum. Sounds good, but almost impossible to do on large trees! Therefore, prune trees to no more than 4 m tall, starting from an early age. The other cause of the problem is blossom moth, the larvae of which eat the flowers. The easiest way to recognise blossom moth damage is to look for clumps of flower debris held together by webbing. If the remains of the flowers are pulled apart, it is possible to find the small caterpillars hiding inside. Other insects are a possibility: beetles, large grasshoppers or chafer beetles, which would only be obvious at night time. Put a sheet or umbrella beneath the trees to catch any insects that may be present when the flowers are gently tapped.
• Researchers from the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac City, Ilocos Norte discovered that two microorganisms commonly found in the soil could be used as biocontrol agents against Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, a causal organism of anthracnose, is the most serious fungal disease in mango. According to Dr. Thelma Z. Layaoen, MMSU professor and study leader, the microorganisms, Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus subtilis, were able to control and reduce the infection caused by anthracnose. To test the fungicidal effect of the microorganisms, suspensions of pure cultures were sprayed on anthracnose-infected mango seedlings every two weeks. The fungicidal effect of the microorganisms, 12-14 weeks after treatment, is comparable with the use of commercial fungicide and could be used as an alternative. The researcher recommends that the technology could be part of an integrated pest management program for mango to reduce the use of chemical pesticides. The result of the cost analysis study, however, showed that the use of the microorganisms as biocontrol agents is 20% more expensive than the commercial fungicide. Hence, it is recommended that low-cost materials for the production or multiplication of the microorganisms be studied further to reduce the cost. The MMSU researchers also noted that the microorganisms are sensitive to heat, so they recommended that application be done in the late afternoon. The researchers see potential for these biocontrol agents and stress the long-term beneficial effect of the microorganisms on the environment and human health.
• Guinness Book of World Records has certified a 3.5 kilo mango from southern Philippines to be the world’s biggest. It surpassed the 2.4-kilo mango from Canada which was a product of Sergio at Maria Socorro Bodiongan of Iligan City.
   
• Queensland researchers have proven that mango disease can be reduced by 20 per cent simply by taking the cleaners through a plantation. The Queensland Department of Primary Industries found growers who improve the cleanliness of their orchard can reduce the amount of chemicals used, and improve fruit quality within two years. Researcher Dr Chrys Akem says it’s simply a matter of going back to basics. “After we prune the trees, let’s go back and clean out all the dead tissue that’s hanging on the trees, all the panicles, all the leaves under the trees, let’s clean them up, bury them, because that’s the sources of the disease that do develop on the fruit when they start developing,” he says.   Ref: abc.net.au
   
• The only tree that fruited well was my Banana Jack and it had a few dozen on it but as it is a long thin mango, the flesh to seed ratio is not great – you need to eat 2 or 3 to get a mouthful! Gordon Tait from Bundaberg reports that his Java, Chok Anan, Bullocks Heart, Keitt and Brooks gave him a few.
   
• Mango Grafting info from Berns in the Philippines  When I visited the Mandaue Experimental Station (MES) in Cebu, they have 3 different varieties of Mango – Guadalupe, Guimaras and Lamao. What is interesting is that they have a unique propagation method in mangoes. They use bantam grafting in Carabao mangoes. They use 5-6 months old mango seedling and graft the preferred variety in a very low graft union way. It’s like Carabao Mango Bonsai. I think the principle is like Mr. Loquias low bark grafting, keeping the canopy small with pruning the side and an open centre. Low bark grafting is grafted in a low graft union too.The reason for this bantam grafting is to make the mango trees dwarf with excessive pruning.
   
• Grafting   If you get Mango scion at 1 to 6 months from flushing, the graft will have a long time to bear fruits, while if you get dormant scions 8 months up from flushing, they will be bearing earlier. However, when you transplant your grafted seedlings and they grow healthy with good fertile organic rich soil, it will grow faster and bigger. Usually we can start making them flower and fruit at 5 years from field planting. Others may start bearing in one year, but we remove the flowers to induce faster vegetative growth. The bigger the tree, the more fruits it can produce.   Ref:  Rex – Philippines

• Most Mango trees found for sale in Thailand are all airlayered trees. They airlayer from small to gigantic sizes.  5-6 inches diameter and bigger and they do the same for Jackfruit and Santol. Ref: Jay – Miami