2020

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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

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• Pouteria viridis is a fruit tasting very similar to Mamey Sapote but can grow in the highlands and can take cooler weather than Mamey Sapote.     Ref Oscar – Hawaii.
   
• The green sapote (Pouteria viride) tree grows very well in the Brisbane area as long as the soil is well drained. In marginal areas it is, like the avocado, very prone to root rot. The tree is an attractive one similar to the mamey sapote, but smaller. It originates from volcanic, mountainous regions of Central America, which is very well drained. I recommend planting grafted of marcotted trees only in ideal conditions, otherwise plant seedlings. Hill the soil well if its condition is poor, or not well drained, this way the tree will survive quite wet conditions. Green sapotes can be grafted on mamey sapote rootstock; it can handle wet conditions much better. My experience has shown me that the tree may survive wet periods more successfully, but will drop its fruit in very wet weather. After planting, put a few rocks or concrete slabs on the north side of the newly planted trees, cover the ground and rocks with black plastic, and the tree will grow even in the winter as the ground temperature will be up to 5 deg. C warmer. Green sapote trees will not take more than the lightest of frosts. I also graft green sapote trees on green sapote seedlings, or marcot them. The grafted and air-layered trees bear fruit in 3-5 years; quicker than trees grown from seed, which bear in 5-7 years. The casualty rate is higher in marcotted trees, this is easy to understand, given their natural habitat in Central America. They flower in late spring or early summer. The fruit takes 12 months to ripen. Fruit that ripens in spring is not nearly as sweet as summer fruit. Cold weather or too much at flowering can affect fruit set. As the flowering season is quite extended the trees are mostly heavily laden with fruit. The fruit weighs 200-500 gr. It is green in appearance, turning yellow when ripe. It is delicious eaten fresh out of hand, blended with milk, or served with ice cream. My experience has shown me it is not as popular as mamey sapotes with my Central American customers, and appeals more to Asian and European tastes. Its flavour is milder than the mamey sapote’s, and somewhat sweeter. Its flesh is lighter orange-red, compared to mamey’s deeper red. This suggests to me that green sapote is more suitable for eating fresh, mamey for cooking. My son Peter, who works in the hotel industry, puts a small amount of vanilla or coffee essence in the smoothies he makes, to enhance the flavour, and says both the mamey and green sapotes are FANTASTIC in milk drinks, or with ice cream.   by Kaspar Schnyder
   
• Grafting Green Sapote  www.permacultureportal.com  Collection of dormant scion-wood from deciduous fruit trees is fairly straightforward: just snip off the tips of branches of desirable varieties when the tree is leafless in winter. With tropical evergreen trees the timing is more precise- grafting fully dormant tropical scion-wood may result in a very long wait for bud break, and the beginning of active growth. There is the need to ensure the buds are swelling before grafting onto a rootstock, rather than fully dormant. Once shoots have actually emerged from the buds on the scion, it is too late to graft. Dormant buds on evergreen scions are prepared by removing the leaves, and sometimes pinching out the terminal bud. Then the buds above each leaf stem will begin to swell in a week or two, only then being most suitable for propagation by cleft or approach grafting onto seedling rootstocks of green sapote, or the closely related mamey sapote. 

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• Put a large black plastic drum (or a 44 gallon drum painted black) under each fruit tree and fill the container with water.
   
• During the day the drum will heat up and throw off enough radiation at night stopping the frost from settling.
   
• You can also espalier dwarf fruit trees against a north facing brick wall of your house then strawberries can be planted at the base facing the wall.
   
• According to a NZ company who sells specialist frost protection equipment, the good ones sell for around $1800. But the bottom line is that that when the alarm goes off, they do not rely on the sprinklers coming on automatically – they get up at whatever hour to make sure that all is working as it should. I also spoke to the owner of a vineyard and they have just installed 2 propellers at $55,000 each which use 300 ltrs of diesel per night and around the base of the propeller they put 10 smokepots which generate a hit of heat that is taken up by the propeller. He said that the problem with the overhead watering system is that by the time the frost arrives, the pipes are frozen Ref: Sheryl Backhouse
   
• Increase plant carbohydrate levels because higher levels of carbohydrates in plants during a frost event means less leakage, hence damage during thawing. Biological farmers measure “Brix levels” with a refractometer. Crops with a higher sugar content (high Brix) will also have a lower freezing point, with an associated protection against frost damage. The soil forms a heat bank, and we want warm soil for warm air rise at night to minimize frost risk. A high Brix reading means higher sugar and mineral content, higher true protein content, a greater specific gravity or density, and a lower nitrate and water content for better storage characteristics. The key to achieving high carbohydrate levels are canopy management and avoiding a high nitrogen status. The crop canopy will trap cold air on top, so a dense canopy is not necessarily desirable. Strategies for pulses evolve around these principles, and crop choice. Crops deficient or marginal in potassium and copper are likely to be more susceptible to frost damage, and this may also be the case for molybdenum. Foliar copper, zinc or manganese will only be effective if the crop is deficient in the element applied. Canopy management is important. In cereals, frost sits on top of the canopy when the cold air is trapped, and so damages the upper parts of the plant. Sowing in wider rows enables frost to get to ground level, and the inter-row soil is more exposed. The open canopy does not trap cold air. Wide rows require the soil to be moist to trap the heat in the soil during the day. With wide or paired rows and a wide gap, the heat can radiate up. Wide rows can be used to channel cold air by aligning the rows downhill. Channel air flow away from the susceptible crop by using wide rows aligned up and down the hill or slope. In some areas in WA, apparently a 3m wide “moat” is used to channel the cold air. A sacrifice area may be required where the cold air settles. Claying or delving sandy soils increase the ability of the soil to absorb and hold heat by making the soil colour darker, and retaining moisture nearer the surface. Claying can be an expensive practice and requires careful costing before treating large areas. Learn from vineyard experiences: In 2006 the vineyard experiences in the SE of South Australia (“Limestone Coast’) with severe frosts was that the only successful measure was use of frost sprinklers. Air movement through frost fans was inadequate apart from a few metres from the fan. Air did channel down the vine rows into low spots where worst damage occurred. Smoke was useless, and inter-row practices of little benefit in such a severe frost year. Ref:  Wayne Hawthorne
   
• I protected my cold sensitive plants this past winter by putting step ladders over them and then draping the ladders with quilts. Over smaller plants I upended wastebaskets and trash cans. If your plant is particularly sensitive, you can string Christmas lights inside your protective covering and the minimal heat from the lights may very well keep the temperature inside above freezing. Be careful with plastic. It can cook the plants underneath if the sun comes out the next day.  Ref: Di Bauer
   
• Frost protection cloth (or even the bed sheets over the plants) works by holding in the warmer air the earth radiates all of the time. That is why it is important to have the material go all of the way to the ground. If you just cover the tree branches themselves, there is no reservoir of heat to help protect the plant. It doesn’t work well, but if you are needing only 1-3 degrees F of protection, they are available to help. You should have covered all frost sensitive plants with at least bedsheets. Be sure they go from somewhat above the tallest part of the plant down to the soil itself. This seeems to give about 3 degrees F of protection. They also make a frost protection cloth but that is expensive. The sheets can remain on the plants for several weeks as enough sunlight gets through for photosynthesis to continue. Without protection, Surinam cherry and Cherry of the Rio Grande will survive to about 22 F. Kwai Muk will survive 28 F. Roger Meyer, southern California.
   
• I am growing White Sapotes here in the Katy, Texas area. I have never protected my trees and they have survived, so far the following low temps 22, 24 and 25 degrees. The main thing I do here is try to make sure they are not putting on new growth when the freezes come thru here. I do not fertilize them from autumn and do not fertilize again until early spring. This seems to get them through the winter in pretty good shape.

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• Fruit Trees that are flowering but not setting fruit. Ray Johnson says a grower gave him some CaB to try out, which is a Calcium Boron mix and where once he got very few Grumichama, his tree is now loaded. Spray it on all your flowering fruit trees.
   
• Colin Campbell says that if you are using organic fertilisers exclusively, they do tend to raise the pH more than chemical fertilisers so sprinkle a little sulphur around every second year.
   
• Bruce Benson the President of the Capricorn Club says they’ve had a few problems following the heavy summer rains which has resulted in the leaching of Boron and Molybdenum. Boron helps move calcium through the plant and improves the viability of pollen and setting of fruit. Best way to apply boron is to use 5gms of Solubor or a level teaspoon dissolved in a 10 litre watering can per medium sized tree and applied around the dripline. Calcium improves the internal quality of the fruit. Apply these trace elements to all your fruit trees this year prior to the commencement of flowering. These elements are only required in small amounts – don’t apply too much as you risk injuring your plants. Molybdenum aids in the plants uptake of Nitrogen. A shortage of this trace element is not very noticeable in tree crops but in short lived small crops such as curcurbits, it is very critical. Molybdenum (Sodium Molybdate) can be applied in the same manner.With the cool weather this winter, most fruit trees should flower well so get your trees ready now while they are resting. He’s found the best organic fungicide spray “Eco-carb” combined with copper hydroxide. This combination works two ways. The Eco-carb which is activated Potassium bicarbonate, is very alkaline and consequently kills the fungi. Copper Hydroxide is a protectant fungicide and is to be used as a covering to prevent the entry of the fungi. This combination works well on flowers and fruit as when it is dry, the Eco-carb provides a good source of Potassium.
• With many trees, Calcium and Boron and Zinc are also important for fruit set and retention.
   
• One of our members reports that the use of CaB on early flowering fruit trees has dramatically increased fruit set. This product consists of Calcium sucrose 10.0% & boric acid 1.0% in a liquid form that appears to be rapidly taken up by the trees.
   
• We use Cracker Dust – It’s a blue metal and we mix this with fowl dung (about 3:1) but you can change it as there’s no rules but it has a number of advantages. There was an ABC programme on it. There are a lot of minerals in it and its pH is about 9 so it’s nearly as good as putting lime on the ground so you mineralise your ground.  Sheryl What’s the difference between Cracker Dust and Blue Metal?Bob   Fineness. Blue Metal is too course. I’ve found that just by putting it around trees, that the roots come up into it and it’s very inexpensive. You can use it instead of top soil because it’s easier to spread and the grass will green up where you’ve put it – put it on at anytime of the year.   Ref:  Bob Brinsmead – Tropical Fruit World
   
• We were told of the use of Boron and Nitrogen many years ago by Peter Young, a spray of 1gm of Borax, 1 gm of Urea to 1 litre of water.  This had to be sprayed at very early flower bud stage.  The Boron aids the pollination and seed set of the plant.  It also is important for sugar production in the fruit and if overdone makes a great soil steriliser, nothing grows for years
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• With any crop it’s usually applied at the 1st major flush and there’s usually a window of opportunity from flushing to flowering so during that time, try and push them as much as possible.   Ref:  Ben Waddelow
   
• Nitrogen fertiliser will burn away all your organic carbon in the soil so whenever you add nitrogen fertiliser in any form, you need to add a carbon source – either humic or fulvic acid, or compost at the same time – it helps to balance out – it doesn’t draw out nitrogen out of the soil. Nitrogen is a gas and you want to lock it up in the soil. Having a carbon source holds it into the soil. Just having pure ammonium or even pure fish fertiliser within a day or two, the nitrogen will just evaporate. I use foliar fertiliser in the main growing season when there’s new growth – it’s very weak – do it at regular fortnightly intervals. You’re building your brix levels up. You can feed the trees a lot more and by doing that and spraying small droplets over a leaf, it becomes rapidly absorbed into the tree within an hour or two and you can actually see changes in the plant within 4 hours. When they talk about flushing, it either means putting a lot of fertiliser and a lot of water to get that growth happening. If a tree is healthy it will ward off pests and diseases so keep fertilising small amounts which is better than large amounts as the plant can deal with it a lot better. Use stone mulch about 2½” thick white quartz $40.00 per tonne and paramagnetic basalt fines – $100.00 a tonne. Put the basalt fines down first and the quartz on top then compost around the outer ring of rocks – about 3-4 large shovels per tree and you can put it right up to the trunk. As the tree gets bigger, we can extend the ring of stone mulch. I set up a trial over about 20 different trees and I put a whole lot of different materials down as mulch: different rock sizes/particles, different wood mulches, straw, different types of sand then put the water on and let it sit for a day or two then came back and did the finger test and I was very surprised to see the difference – then when it rained, I did another finger test and its amazing how there’s such a big difference between the different types of mulches. The one that held the most amount of moisture was a combination of large 8ml quartz and very fine basalt rock. We expected other mulches to do a lot better but that one was the most effective for us. I’m an Arborist and can get wood mulch but found it broke down after a year and it had to be reapplied so putting down the stone, it didn’t break down. We found with a lot of other mulches in very dry conditions, it won’t allow penetration of a small shower of rain so if you have wood chips, it becomes a barrier so when the water rains on that spot, it will run off elsewhere. Straw mulch will soak up a lot of water but if you do the finger test, under the soil is still very dry. Some of the growth rates we’ve had by pushing the trees hard – we only had sticks when we started – no more than 300mm – and now after 3-4 months, they are up to chest height so we’re hoping that by the end of the season they will be pushing well over head height and fruiting 2-3kgs per tree so it really helps to do your fertigation through your lines and do foliar feeding. We use NTS products.  An Indian scientist I talked to spoke about having a lot of plant vigour – they believe more in pruning so they push their plants with as much fertiliser and water as possible then they’ll go through and prune very heavily so the plant doesn’t lose any vigour but it will shock the tree and it will then fruit very heavily.  Ref: Ben Waddelow
   
• For those that do not have access to cheap urea, you can use ammonium sulfate, but use twice more amount per gallon than what Doc Alexis is using (ammonium sulfate is 21% N, about half than that of urea’s N). You can also mix together with iron chelates and other soluble micronutrients or seaweed based organic fertilizers and apply foliarly after mildly water stressing the tree (ie, no watering until you see the leaves start to slightly roll), and follow up with normal watering.   Ref: Joe Real

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• I saw a new technique for growing them which looks excellent. They used a coco coir pole.  Using this method, dragon fruit roots absorb more nutrients in the coir poles when being fertilized instead of cement poles. (Coir is the outer husk of the Coconut). Ref:  Sheryl Backhouse
   
• Dragon Fruit can last for up to 2-3 weeks in a plastic bag if kept in the refrigerator. You can also freeze dragon fruit but the texture will be altered and it will best be used in a sauce or sorbet.
   
• In Vietnam Pitaya are grown on square concrete posts 1½ mtrs above ground, 25cms thick, 3 mtrs apart and cuttings are grown on all four sides and then taped to the post. With this particular variety when they reach the top, they just trail down. There are no wires between the posts for them to climb along.  Ref: Sheryl Backhouse
   
• Yellow Pitaya:  At the last meeting, Jim Wyman bought in some yellow Pitaya which were so sweet!  I asked him what he did and he said:  “I have clay soil, give them a little Nitrophoska in spring, a handful of Potash when fruiting, they like lots of horse and cow manure and I just brush off the spines when the fruit look ripe on the plant”.  Ref: Sheryl Backhouse
   
• Graham Reinders mentions that to achieve higher brix levels in Pitaya, try bumping the sulphur content of your nutrient up a bit. It is the main flavour giver. Bumping CO2 is not a good idea unless you maximize all the other plant inputs. I have bumped the CO2 up to 1500 ppm in a high yield greenhouse and can get about 30% yield increase, however the plant only does as well as the LIMITING input of the 20 or so required, so any one lacking negates all the other good work.
    
• When do you pick Pithaya?  If it is for your own consumption, the right time will be when the bud (the end where the flowery part drops off) has begun to show signs of a crack. This means the fruit is ripe. If you leave this be, the fruit will start showing signs of cracking in the middle part. This is sign of the final stage of fruit development in terms of ripeness. Sweetness is dependent not only on ripeness but variety/species and type of nutrient uptake. If you have all the N, P, K, Mr, Trace Elements and Humic Acid at par – adding a little bit of Sulphur based plant nutrient will improve the Brix index.     Ref:  Surjan Singh Kuala Lumpur
   
• Bob Cosgrove reports that he’s had great success in getting his Pitaya to come into flowering by hanging a stocking over the plant with two handfuls of fowl manure and 1dsp of potassium inside so when it rains, it’s getting fertilised!
   
• Besides the Cracker Dust and Fowl Manure we give them an NPK dressing every 6 weeks so after the water and  fertiliser, these will really start to bud everywhere in 2-3 weeks. They need a heavy structure to support them. Large upright posts and a post-rail on top and perhaps put in 2 rows a metre apart so they can go over each side. When they get too large, just go through with a cane knife and hack them off.   Ref: Bob Brinsmead – Tropical Fruit World
   
• Overwatering or excessive rainfall can cause the flowers to drop and fruit to rot. Birds can be a nuisance. The bacterium Xanthomonas campestris causes the stems to rot. Dothiorella fungi can cause brown spots on the fruit, but this is not common.   Ref:  Wikipedia
   
• Pitahaya flowering but not fruiting. There is a tendency for young fruit or flowers to turn yellow and drop off after rain. This can be reduced or prevented using minerals like calcium or plant vitamins to bolster health.  You might try placing an iron additive around the base of a few to see if that cures the “yellow” condition…
   
• We had a bad case of rust which took 3 months spraying every 3 weeks with mancozeb to clear. Anyone that needs help with rust it is the only product that worked with white oil to stop pests.   Ref:  Roslyn
   
• Pitaya in Pots  I initially went the “60cm basin” route and after a few years I had to move. I had 2¼ mtr bamboo posts stayed to the rim of the basin and four plants in each. After my move I kept them in pots and all their lives they did better than those I planted in the ground because I had used a “light” mix of growing medium, no sand or clay. Remember in their native condition they are feeding from the leaves and detritus off the trees they grow under, not heavy soils. The roots are fibrous with no tap roots and they never go deeper than what hypothetically would be the detritus layer, may 8 -12 inches. Moving them was heavy and difficult but not impossible. As soon as you get a permanent place, take very long cuttings off the basin plants and you will have an orchard in no time.   Ref: Graham Reindeer
   
• To remove prickles on the Yellow Pitaya:   Get an old kitchen brush and the prickles all fall out. The prickles will even go through leather gloves!