TropicalNebraska
Newly Registered
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2014 12:19 pm

Pests in Asian fruit trees

I've tried growing a couple different trees from tropical countries in Asia (mostly mangoes) and have had really bad pest infestations with these trees. Is there something about tropical fruit trees native to Asian countries that makes them have more trouble with insect pests? I've also grown a lot of tropical fruit plants from Latin America and the Caribbean and never seem to have trouble with any of these having insect problems.

imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I would have thought you might have fewer problems unless you have the same pests. A lot of the tropical plants make do with pest damage because there is no off season for bugs, no winter kill. Pests are around year round, but they do still go through cycles. The best defense with fungal diseases like Anthrachnose and powdery mildew is to regularly cleanup the leaves and infested fruit as soon as you see it. Prune the tree to keep it more open to let more air and light in and if the tree isn't too tall, you will need to spray the tree before it blossoms or there won't be any fruit. Blossom midge can make blossoms drop and they are hard to control. 90% of mango trees in residential areas have some issues. About half of the blossoms drop just from wind alone. Anthrachnose isn't pretty, but it is found on riper fruit. Luckily I like my mango half ripe anyway.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pi052

TropicalNebraska
Newly Registered
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2014 12:19 pm

Thanks, imafan26. Unfortunately, I had to dig my mango up when it was still a seedling. I didn't even know that it had germinated until I was digging it up. I also had a serious problem with a coconut seed I was trying to grow. The insects that were on the seed spread to my orange tree and eventually I had to get rid of all of my citrus trees because it had spread to all of them. I grow my plants as ornamentals indoors since I don't live in a tropical climate, so the bugs spread from plant to plant fast.

imafan26
Mod
Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Indoors is hard. You have to make sure your plants and the surrounding area is very clean. Once the bugs get inside they are hard to get rid of. Beneficial insects don't help if they are outside. Good luck with your plants.

Coconuts are challenging to grow. The nut takes about 2 years to germinate. Most people just find a palm spouting because the forgot about the coconut long before. The rhinocerous beetle is going to make keeping any coconut palms alive very difficult. It is another alien species that got in somehow and is spreading and there are no natural enemies here and the Dept of Ag is very slow to approve predators and they do not have a good track record for keeping things from spreading.



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