Things We Already Knew

A recent study by Canadian scientists has revealed that living among trees is good for your health. More precisely, they found that after correcting for income, age, and education, residents of urban neighborhoods having just 10 more trees per city block had significantly better health outcomes--- comparable to the effect of an additional $10,000 of income or being 7 years younger.

The study was aided by the database that the city of Toronto keeps of its public trees--- 530,000 of them listed by species, location, and trunk diameter. I reckon that just living in a city that takes its trees that seriously would bring some kind of benefit.

One likely factor in the health boost is the improvement in air quality provided by the trees as they scrub ozone, particulates, and other pollutants from city air. Scientists also conjectured that the greenery acts to reduce stress and to increase one's desire to exercise. I'm not sure about the “desire” part, but fruit trees certainly do promote exercise, such as pruning, watering, fertilizing, freeze-protecting, and harvesting. As for the stress reduction, that can vary, depending on the incidence of squirrels, raccoons, insect pests, freezing weather, and mysterious overnight digging.

It would be easy to poke fun at the study, likening it to shockers such as “Scientists show that crying babies increase parental stress levels” or “Study finds no improvement in writing skills from frequent texting”. But having a quantitative measure of the benefit of urban trees is significant. It allows advocates for green space and city parks to argue on the basis of economic returns and not “just” spiritual benefits. But those of us who can feel the life force pouring off of a healthy fruit tree proudly displaying its bounty, or a magnificent live oak that has withstood a hundred years of Florida sun, wind, flood and drought, have always known that we belong in the midst of green life.

Angie

The relatively new Angie mango variety has garnered considerable attention. Named after the wife of Bill Whitman, it was one of the “Curator's Choice” mangos sold at the 2014 Fairchild Mango Festival, and it's on this year's list as well. The Curator's Choice description of Angie is, well, enthusiastic:

'Angie' was selected for home garden and estate agriculture in South Florida due to its compact growth habit, disease tolerance and overall fruit quality. The fruit are 400 g, oblong and saffron yellow with Indian orange blush on the sun-exposed shoulders. The skin is smooth and without visible lenticels. The flesh is tangerine orange and without fiber. The flavor is classified in the 'Alphonso' class of mangos with a deep sweetness and sophisticated profile rich in apricot. The disease tolerance is excellent and given its early season it often can be harvested before the rainy season in South Florida. The tree is semi-dwarf and highly manageable with annual pruning. Size can be maintained at or below 3 m with consistent production.

Several posters at the Tropical Fruit Forum report that for them the Angie is more a mid-season fruiter. Many liken the fruit to a Carrie, apart from the appealing coloration which is a major plus for commercial growers.

The debate--- and there's always plenty of it at the Forum--- is whether Angie is truly a “top-tier” mango. Like Carrie, it has a unique flavor that many love, but a few find off-putting. There are several reports that the fruit is better the second year than the first, which seems to me to be a rather common occurrence with fruiting plants. Opinions about top-tierness vary, but except for the Carrie haters, most everyone considers Angie to be an excellent variety.

At the 2014 Festival, I bought a Manalita and a Neelum, and though pleased with them, I wished I had also bought an Angie. Based on the number of rave opinions at the Forum and the recommendation of Campbell and Ledesma--- and the fact that I have the loves-Carrie gene--- I decided to buy not one but two Angies from Larry this past spring. I'll be surprised if they don't turn out to be among my favorites.

The Man From Manhattan

I spent one day of my life in Manhattan, Kansas, the home of Kansas State University. It was October 19, 1987. I remember the October 19 because it was my mother's birthday, and the 1987 because during my drive home to Oklahoma after giving a talk at the university, I listened to news coverage of the stock market crash. On that day, stock averages fell more than 20%. Experts later attributed most of the fall to the relatively new phenomenon of computer trading.

I hardly knew that almost three decades later, I would be writing about a man from Manhattan, David Fairchild. His father was professor of botany and later president of Kanasa State, and young David grew up surrounded by scientists and scholars. He completed Bachelor's and Master's degrees at the university before leaving for the wider world.

After further education in the U. S. and Europe, Fairchild became the principal plant hunter for the U. S. Department of Agriculture. As leader of numerous expeditions throughout the world, he brought back many thousands species and varieties of plants. His impact on the development of agriculture in the U. S. is beyond measure.

In 1905, he married Marian, daughter of well-known tech entrepreneur Alexander Graham Bell. MRFC members who attended Larry Schokman's 2013 presentation to our club know about the Kampong, the remarkable residence, research facility, and botanical park that the Fairchilds developed in Coconut Grove, Florida. They lived there from 1928 until their passing in mid-century.

Fairchild had a much smaller role in his namesake Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. It was established in 1936 by accountant, educator, and businessman William Montgomery, who named it in honor of the great horticulturalist.

David Fairchild had many achievements, from serving as President of the American Genetic Society to spearheading the establishment of Everglades National Park. But he is best remembered as the greatest plant hunter in American history. In the words of Larry Schokman, “The long distances involved, the different people, the strange foods that he ate, the unusual sights, sounds, and aromas, only whetted his curiosity instead of dulling it. He referred to the world as 'my Garden'”. 

Pink Surprise

When it comes to planting cold-sensitive fruit trees, I'm pretty much fearless (synonyms: foolhardy, nutcase, soon parted from his money). I've planted several just in case it never freezes again here at my spread four miles from the coast.

Actually, the process is that I tell myself I'll keep it in a container, and just haul it into the garage during freezes. But after a while, I decide that it's better for it to experience freedom, even if short-lived, than to live forever imprisoned. The extra work of container plantings, especially large, heavy ones, might also have something to do with it.

So back in April of 2014, I optimistically bought a wax jambu at the Sarasota club's tree sale. Over the summer it grew vigorously, and I moved it up to a 7-gallon pot. It flourished over the no-winter winter, even growing some more, and it was using so much water that I thought about moving it up yet again. But heck, let's put it in the ground.

Getting fruit was a long shot anyway, so might as well plant it in a shady but warm location. I had just pulled out a couple of palmettos next to a young oak tree in the canopied part of our property, and there it went.

This happened early in this past February, when it seemed like winter had been canceled for the year. Only two weeks later came the plunge of '15. I protected the new planting with a freeze cloth, but the temperature didn't drop to freezing there anyway.

Come spring, there were actually a few flower buds on little Waxie. Gradually they bloomed and dropped off, but at least getting a few blooms was encouraging.

After that, the welcome spring rains took care of a lot of my watering tasks, and I didn't see much of Waxie. Until a week ago Saturday, when my eye caught something pink under a ground-hugging branch:

Yes, an actual wax jambu fruit, grown right here in my eclectic fruit tree grove! Deep pink on the bottom, but still a little greenish on the sides.

Now the plot thickens [ominous music starts up in the background]. I decided to give it another day. Sunday it looked a bit pinker. Should be about perfect on Monday.

 

I don't have to tell you that on Monday [crescendo of dissonant music], there was nothing but an empty branch. Yep, waited one day too long to harvest perhaps my only wax jambu fruit ever.

Sigh. Well, cheer up, it's mango season! As I started away, there was another flash of pink--- eight feet up in the oak tree. Three-quarters of the missing fruit, where a bushy-tailed marauder must have left it. I took this photo, then knocked down the ravaged prize. The peel at the blossom end was eaten off, along with part of one side.

In The Public Eye

Palma Sola Park has always struck me as a rather well-kept secret, and recently I was glad to see it getting some much-deserved publicity. No doubt many club members enjoyed reading Premier Display of Rare Fruit in Park, by Richard Dymond in the Bradenton Herald, and if you missed it, just follow the link.

That reminded me of back in May, when I was organizing some of the club's tree sale paraphernalia. In a dusty box I came across a printout of an article, Cultivating Variety In Rare Fruits, by Dale White, published October 6, 2008 in the Sarasota Hearld-Tribune. Those who were MRFC members at that time may find it nostalgic, and for newer members, it contains some interesting club history. Below are some excerpts, but I encourage readers to follow the link to the entire article.

There is a catchy opener:

 MANATEE COUNTY - A local group of rare-fruit enthusiasts knows tastes and textures that most people have never encountered.

Lemons bigger than softballs. Cherries that range from sweet to lip-puckeringly sour. And mangoes in about 150 flavors -- including ice cream.

The 100 or so gardeners in the Manatee Rare Fruit Council grow those fruits and more, things so exotic they cannot be found in supermarkets.

The council, and other groups like it across Florida, provide fruit enthusiasts a way to share their knowledge and curiosity about rare fruits and how they can be grown, eaten or used in recipes

Their tongue-twisting list of edibles includes atemoya, cherimoya, carambola, grumichama, jaboticaba, white sapote, canistel, Maher black sapote, ortanique, Chinese imbu, soursop, rollinia, monstera and longan.

As strange as those names may sound, the fruit can look even stranger -- like alien cuisine from a science fiction flick.

A couple of well-known Pete's were featured:

"Mangoes are my favorite," council president Pete Kearns said.

And later:

[C]ouncil member Pete Ray is mulling over new possibilities for jaboticaba, a black fruit that grows on a tree's trunk instead of its limbs.

"It might make a good wine," said Ray, who once owned an avocado grove in Miami.

There is history:

The council took root in October 1986 when its founders gathered at the former Bayshore Public Library in Manatee County. It has grown bigger, and stronger, ever since.

And the birth of Palma Sola:

In January, the Manatee Rare Fruit Council will invite some of those other green-thumb groups to Bradenton to see its latest acquisition -- a coveted asset among Florida's rare fruit organizations.

This past spring, the Palma Sola Botanical Park on 17th Avenue Northwest in Bradenton gave the council about two-thirds of an acre. Kearns, Ray and other council members have planted about 40 trees, vines and other plants, including noni, pineapples, lychees, macadamia nuts and other produce not ordinarily grown in Florida.

In three to four years, their patch of Eden should be reaching maturity and provide a bounty of delicacies for the discerning palate.

"What we're doing here is pretty unusual," Ray said. "We want this to be the premier public display of rare fruit trees in Florida."

I think that Pete Ray got his wish, at least for Southwest Florida.

Pruning Peaches and Poms

This past week I enjoyed two fine talks on fruit horticulture. Cindy Weinstein, President of the Florida Pomegranate Association, spoke on pomegranates at our club in Palmetto, and Dr. Mercy Olmstead of UF-IFAS spoke about peaches and other stone fruit at the Suncoast Tropical Fruit and Vegetable Society in Nokomis. Both were extremely knowledgeable and informative.

Though peaches and poms are not close relatives, they have much in common. Both are touted as partial replacements for Florida's declining citrus industry. Both require varieties specially selected for Florida's humid subtropical climate. And from the viewpoint of pruning they have many similarities:

–--Both are deciduous, fast-growing plants that require vigorous pruning to fruit well and stay healthy.

---They should be pruned twice each year, once in late winter before bud break, and once in summer after fruit is formed.

---Both benefit greatly from thinning out the interior. Dr. Olmstead mentioned a rule of thumb for peaches: after pruning in the summer, you should see some broken sunlight on the ground beneath the tree. She also recommended leaving a few small central branches to provide some shade for next year's interior fruit.

---Both have a tendency to produce watersprouts. These are thin, vigorous branches that spring up on old wood. They often grow vertically. They don't produce fruit, and serve only to clog up the tree and sap its energy. Just clip them off.

---A peach tree should have a single trunk, and about four main “scaffold” branches coming out horizontally. In combination with thinning the interior, this leads to the classic “vase” shape for the tree. Although it is possible to train pomegranates to a single trunk, it's best to allow them to form several main trunks for a “shrubby” look.

---Tip the branches (cut off the last inch or so) in summer to prevent the tree from getting too lanky.

---Especially on peach trees, look for and remove “blind wood”. These are small branches that may carry fruit, but have no leaves to support the fruit growth and no leaf buds to leaf out in future years. They just draw energy from the rest of the tree, without pulling their share of the load.

---After fruit is formed but while still small, it should be thinned, especially near the ends of thin branches that won't be able to bear its weight. In general, thin peaches to one per six inches. For pomegranates, remove all fruit that lies on terminal buds. Favor fruit on strong branches toward the interior of the tree.

Finally, after all that work pruning it, don't be discouraged when your peach tree dies in ten or twelve years. That's about as long as they last in Florida.

No Taproot? Just Add One

Last month MRFC Secretary Josh Starry and I had the pleasure of touring the fruit tree collection of two of our club members, Craig and Celeste Welch.

Among the many items of interest, Craig showed us his use of inarching, a nifty and probably underutilized grafting technique. Its primary purpose is to expand the root system of a tree. The method starts with planting a seed a short distance from the trunk of an established tree, and allowing the seedling to grow. Once it is underway, its top is removed and the remainder is grafted into the trunk of the established tree. If the graft takes, the seedling roots become a second root system. This provides the tree with a better supply of water and nutrients.

Inarching is typically used when a tree is damaged and needs a boost, but it can be used on any tree that might benefit. For example, a tree propagated by airlayering has an unnatural root system, lacking a taproot. Inarching gains it a natural root system, with a taproot if it is a taproot species.

A secondary benefit of inarching is to increase the physical stability of the tree. Craig showed us a jakfruit that he had triply inarched, giving it an additional tripod of trunks. It will laugh at hurricanes.

MRFC members already know that Celeste maintains this website as an outsize contribution to the club. The Welch family were first-time vendors at our sale this year. It's a delight to have such a knowledgeable and enthusiastic couple in our ranks.