zands - have you tasted the Julie or are you going by opinions (you wrote, "Julie is supposed to taste so good and have a long season on the tree, but have serious anthracnose problems in South Florida compared to the Caribbean Islands where they are grown all over and are a Caribbean favorite.")? Yes, Julie is a favorite and grows well in the Caribbean but it is known not to grow the same nor taste the same when grown in Florida. I have met some islanders who have attested to this (though they still buy it). Yes, there are some Julie "followers" but its also not a majority favorite. Me, personally, I will put it into a class with Carrie...I would not go out of my way to grow it, buy it or eat it unless there is nothing else.

Julie is very, very susceptible to anthracnose and powdery mildew as well here if Florida. They do not do well under most Florida conditions without heavy use of chemicals.....which I refuse to do. The fruits are few and far between and ugly and black when you do finally get some. I did have a lady tell me that her tree had 500 fruits on it here in Florida. That is the only anecdotal success story I have heard. I, frankly, would want to see it, to really believe it. In general, I would stay away from Julie. Its a nice tasting mango and a very dwarf tree but not a good Florida selection.

Harry

It depends on where its grown. In Florida I've seen Julie trees in Jupiter and Lake Worth loaded with fruit.....while other trees struggle mightily to produce any fruit at all. The flavor can vary as well. Soil-type likely plays a role here.

If you are ok with making a lot of sulfur and copper applications.....then you can probably get it to produce better than it would normally. It is one of the only 'true dwarfs' in that you could never once prune it and it still won't really grow over 8 feet tall.

Like the others said, its just not a good choice for Florida conditions. I would only plant it if you have the yardspace for other trees and can accept a low-production tree.

Squam,
I have to disagree with you when you said it wont grow over 8 ft tall because I've seen grafted Julie mango trees in Trinidad that are over 25ft tall.

Yep, I agree with Squam. The julie seems to thrive in sandy soil, especially if treated with micronutrients. I know of several Julie mango trees that do very well. And, I've also seen others that are on the brink of death. The major differentiating factor was soil. The Julie is a tricky tree to grow. It doesn't like too much water, and is easy to kill with too much fertilizer.

The Julie produces multiple crops, which is a nice feature. The flavor appeals to many (my wife included :-).

Jeff

Thanks to all for the notes of caution, warnings and the advice about maybe needing fungicides. Plus the air circulation, fertilization and watering advice. I'm going to give it a try with growing a Julie mango. I never ate one but I like Carries so I guess I'll like Julie. Since the tree is so dwarf it won't take up that much yard space plus I have a sunny, open place to plant it

Hopefully someone can read this in the future and benefit from the Julie advice here

My 5 year old Julie. 7.5 ft tall. Bought it (with a NDM) at the Margate flea market (defunct in 2007/08, but the Vendor is still around and selling trees in the same area.)I think they both had a P.I.N. tag. Two back to back flushes within the past month.
{{gwi:1332481}}

So far, the fruit do not consistently taste as sweet as my father's in Trinidad, but they have come close with drier weather and in the various sizes from fist size to double fists. In the 5 years it has been growing, only once in the 3yrs of fruiting did I experience a double season (June/July and December/Janurary of 2008/2009) like my father has been getting every...single...year from his four 10-20 year old trees. Nonetheless, mines are delicious and juicy. Haven't experienced any deformed or damaged fruit/limbs due to fungus. Average production per yr is 20-25, with NDM jumping from 37 - 48 this year. One thing I havent seen with my Julie is 4 or more mature mangoes developing from a single flowering pannicle. With NDM you can easily get 5-7. Plus. when my father visits each season, he says NDM is a better tasting mango than the Julie (I respectfully dont share that view :) )
My house/land is approaching 10yrs old- a new community construction, so the soil is sandy with the occasional construction brick/stone/pvc pieces when ever digging to planting a new tree. Never experienced any die back due to fungus, with the only real pest were these:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg0918555123928.html?23

But their numbers have since recessed in the past 2 years.

I think much of my success has been with my lawn irrigation practices. 2-3 times for 14 mins long equaly spaced out per week (3x in drought, manually off in the rainy season) between the hours of 2-3pm. My lawn gets crispy around that time, so I give them the water they need...when they need it. (Tried the UF lawn watering study recommendations of early morning watering. My method was much more successful for my situation). I also angle my sprinklers heads foward so their throw is not wetting the canopy.

Start with a healthy tree, in full sun, taking all the precautions....zands, you should be good to go. Sounds like allot of work, but I think it's worth it for the Julie :).

Robbie

wow, those are nice bushy mango trees!I love to get a Julie but I'm afraid our night are too cold. I don't remember the time we got below 32F but our winter nights are cold and sometimes rainy. Here is a comparison between La Habra and Miami so you can see what I'm talking about.

JF

La Habra
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/90631

Miami
http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/vacationplanner/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USFL0316

I used to live in the chapel trail area, and the ground was extremely rocky. It was basically 1-5 inches of peat/muck, then an inch of sand, then rock. I lived in one of those home owner's association communities with smallish yards and houses basically right next to each other. Now further east, by north douglas rd., a hole that used to take me 30 minutes and 5 pounds of sweat to dig is now 3 minutes and barely any sweat. Hear it's 1 inch of grey sand, then 4-6 inches of black sand, then a huge layer of white sand. Don't know what the layer under that is since the deepest I've dug was 2 ft. The fruit trees seem to like this soil, especially the mamey sapote, which I've had trouble growing over where I used to live.

Sorry for the thread hijack Zands. Good luck with your future Julie mango tree! I'm pretty sure with the right soil, location and care, she will be fine.

murahilin, that may well be true for the islands but I've never seen a Julie tree reach heights that size in Florida conditions. In fact, I know of a Julie tree that is maybe 30/+ years old and no taller than me and the owner doesn't even prune the thing.

The largest Julie tree I've seen in Florida is at the Miami-Dade Fruit and Spice park. That tree is probably over 10 ft if I remember correctly but most tend to stay under.

TnTRobbie

You have not mentioned using fungicide for your Julie. Do fertilize it or just mulch it?

Thanks much for the Julie photos and more Julie information. Your favorable Julie reports are the reason I'm going to grow one.

Your post was* unclear

zands

I have a seven years old julie from Fairchild. The first 5 years the tree grew very slowly, if I remember correctly it only grew about 12 inches (from 3 1/2 feet). Two years ago I was going to send it to mango heaven, for some unknown reason it started to put out a lot of new growth so I decided to hold the execution.That year it had 3 to four more new growth. Today the tree is about 8 feet by 7 feet wide (I am going to prune it to 6-7 feet after next year mango production). This year is the first year it gave me mangoes (25 to 30) very good tasting, now one of my favorites ( my all time favorite NDM

There are several Julie trees in my neck of the woods that are easily 12 feet tall at around 18-20 years of age. It all depends on growing conditions. They are finicky little trees.

Jeff

Jeff --

You know that Julie near the Tamarac library that I showed you the photo. It got even bigger this season. I guess is at 11ft high and 20ft wide. Trunk is about 7 inches. It is bizarrely wide compared to height. The owner must be pruning it like a topiary.

:-) Yah, Julie trees seem to grow wide. The carrie has the same habit if left unpruned. Before the folks at the Fruit and Spice park pruned their big carrie trees recently, they were like 30 feet wide but no more than 12-15 feet high.

Jeff

You know you're in the right place when fellow posters look out for and can identify fruit trees in their surroundings, like I do :) .

Hey zands

I have never used any fungicide on my Julie since I never had any problems. The guy I bought it from that day told me to get Peter's Professional 24-8-16 and apply it twice a year after the 1st yr of planting. 1 tsp per inch trunk circumfrence increase in a gallon of water.
Honestly, it was only the past year when I came across PIN mango viewer that I became aware of Julie's fungus problems in FL. I do mulch though and did so since getting the trees.

TnTRobbie

You hear of that move "Train Spotting"? This is called mango tree spotting which is best during weeks of panicle blooms, a sign of spring in South Florida. As you drive you can spot backyard trees, front yard trees, side yard trees. Thanks for your further advice on Julie cultivation. That PP plant food has to be like Miracle grow with minor minerals (micro nutrients). Julie seems to need those minors here in Florida via foliar spray or drench, I am going to keep this all in mind

gabodymod
Thanks for representing! Your Julie mango success. You are saying micronutrient spray plus regular old 6-6-6. And you never had to use fungicide. Would like to see your Julie tree pics if possible. Flickr or photobucket are free to host images you can show here.

After this year's harvest, I have stopped using PP 24-8-16 on my established mango trees and going to adopt a high K (little or no N) fertilizing regime with foilar spray (Fairchilds method). Sunniland has 2-10-10 bloom mix, so thats what I'll be testing from now on with foilar sprays to cover the micro. Sprayed my julie and ndm this past thursday. We'll see if there is a visual effect when I get back on monday.

I dont think I did anything special to get my tree growing after 5 years of dormancy. I strongly suspect what made her (julie) start making new growth was when she saw me with the chainsaw on hand and I decided to wait a little longer.The reason for not getting anthracnose is because I prune my mango trees every year and also remove large branches that are not healthy ( even if they are healthy) and to open the canopy by pruning and let air circulate and sun inside the tree (keeping things dry). About fertilizing I think less and more often is the way to go. In the wild fertilizing is a continous proces it doesent stop not even during winter months. Remember they are dormant but not dead.Picture of Julie and other trees comming soon, waiting for my daughter to show me how to, just bought a new laptop.

My julie is about 20 years old. It is about 7-8 feet tall. I am in south florida. I get about 20-40 beautiful fruit depending on the year. This is one of the few trees I dont fertilize, fumigate or water. I just leave it alone at full sun and it does great. The anthracnose is there but is not a problem for the tree or for the fruit. I have seen other julie trees doing bad, and I heard of others doing good. I guess there are lots of factors and we might not know all of them yet.

Thanks all for the Julie mango advice. I plan on using foliar nutrient sprays to help ward off the anthracnose directly plus sparing fertilizer on the ground.
Here is the Julie mango I got. In a 3 gallon pot next to a yardstick.
Muscadine grape trellis in background. Southland variety muscadine + Home Depot unidentified muscadine

ÃÂ

Looks like a Julie. Congrats!

Wow, what a lovely tree!

Nice Julie mango tree!

Thanks much Robbie, Invar and TropicalG89! A new fruit tree is like getting a new cat or dog for your family. A new pet. You have high hopes for all of them and ideas in your mind of what the pet will be like in a few years. Your mango tree...how much fruit you will get from it in the future and what it will taste like. Planting mango trees (and any fruit or nut tree) is an investment in the future. Edible landscaping is where it is at!

Real healthy looking tree, good luck!

sam

Here's a video about Julie mango.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P37yVdS0PR4&feature=related

ZANDS - that is the bushiest 3 gal. Mango I've ever seen. Somebody raised it right! Yes, it is like a new member of the family. If you're like me, you go and visit them, if only with a glance, every day!!!!!!

mangoMADdog

MangoHound--

We are (obviously) spoiled in Florida, bushy 3gal mangoes are not too hard to find if you know where to look. I know you West Coast guys spend more and its a tough situation there to acquire a good mango tree to get off to a good start. On the upside you have zero anthracnose threats. My larger take is that the economy sucks so lets grow landscaping we can eat. You plant a mango tree or any fruit tree and you are creating a future abundance that is 100% independent of what the monkeys in Washington DC or your state government are doing

Zands

that's an impressive 3 gallon...your tree could easily sell as a 7 or 15 gallon down here. I don't know about "zero anthracnose threats". Last winter before the rainy season I sprayed some of my trees with copper fungicide and those were the one that did not develope anthracnose. My Alfonso got hit pretty bad with anthracnose.

JF

Here in South Florida, we have one of the best mango propagators in the world (Zill's High Performance Plants) just a short car ride away. So, there's no shortage of high quality, well priced mango trees here in South Florida.

Jeff

Jeff

How come Zill's doesn't shipp to HD or Lowes down here so we could get a decent product and price? All we see is those crappy Manilas and those cheap grafted mangos from Laverne every bluemoon, and if you go to a nursery they gouge you.

JF

If enough of us called, fax, or mail letters to Zill to ship to mango trees to CA. I am sure they would consider it, however the restrictions on agriculture goods into CA may be the reason.

Zill High Performance Plants
7424 Hypoluxo Farms Rd
Lake Worth, FL 33463
phone (561) 434-5133
fax (561) 732-3555

Yah, Zill's is a bit unique in their approach. They don't even have a web site. But heck, when you have their reputation, who needs a website :-).

Jeff

nullzero,
I don't think I've disagreed with a post ever as much as I have with yours about bothering Zills. Please, no one call and bother Zills because they will not ship trees to CA no matter how much you bother them. They are wholesale, not retail. It is up to your nurseries in CA to organize and go through the red tape to get the trees to CA.

I got some advice from Gary on the Julie mango. It turns out that they are very sensitive to high ph soil conditions and develop a problem with magnesium deficiency which can only be corrected via multiple applications of chelated magnesium.

He said that well water can contribute to this problem because the calcium in the water binds up the available magnesium. It's also an issue with soil like ours in parts of Tamarac where we have a mere 6 inches of topsoil followed by a layer of limestone rubble extracted from the canal digging process.

Unfortunately it's not all that easy to find chelated magnesium. Even the popular keyplex 350 uses a non-chelated formulation (magnesium sulfate).

Jeff

Jeff-

In my case with sandy soil, should I water my mangoes with city tap water or well water?

I think Julie mango is the sensitive one. The other mangos may not care. I'd try well water unless you start seeing chlorosis.

Jeff

Oh no. I think I should start using city water instead. My mamey is showing some chlorosis, my kent(mild), the grafted carrie(mild). Thanks for the info Jeff!

^And that's with osmocote, so it could be worse.

Here in Central Florida the soil is a clay type. I removed the clay and added potting soil to the hole before planting. I water my Julie at least 3 days a week. I love my Julie. it is only eight months three feet tall. I see new growth twice since I got it. It is doing pretty good and I am looking forward to eating mangoes hopefully in the next year or two.

I got this Julie dwarfs a month ago. It’s not looking good. It’s inside my pool enclosure so no bugs(hopefullly) I live in Florida, east coast.

any advice please?