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Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

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Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#121

Post by culopatin »

Ozzie_osman wrote: post #34

I grew up in Egypt, my dad is from a town on the Suez Canal called Ismailia, famous for its mangoes. We would wait the whole year for mango season (August/September). As kids, our clothes would all get mango stains. Our parents would make us take our shirts off before we eat them to avoid that. I moved to the US, and I haven't had a good mango here. When friends visit Egypt, I tell them to get mangoes (in season, aro…

Same with plums. I don’t even know why they sell them in the us. It’s like eating a ball of water. Think of the flavor of an ice slushie that’s just the ice.

I gave them plenty of chances, in every corner of the country, in every season I could find them. Always terrible.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#122

Post by ornornor »

gumby wrote: post #47
Ozzie_osman wrote: post #34

I grew up in Egypt, my dad is from a town on the Suez Canal called Ismailia, famous for its mangoes. We would wait the whole year for mango season (August/September). As kids, our clothes would all get mango stains. Our parents would make us take our shirts off before we eat them to avoid that. I moved to the US, and I haven't had a good mango here. When friends visit Egypt, I tell them to get mangoes (in season, aro…

A lot of tropical fruit is uninteresting in the USA: bananas, pineapple, mangoes etc have little flavor and typically one variety is available at most. I sometimes have 50 year old memories in dreams of eating fresh fruit and they are so different in form and flavor I wonder if they are hallucinations. But as you point out, they require a climate unavailable on the continent so have to be harvested unripe and transpo…

I’ve wondered a lot about that as well and I think this is not only the product of picking unripe fruits so that they can be harvested sooner and not go bad in transit, but also because of the hybridization of crops.

There are companies working very hard at developing new variants of fruits and vegetables that grow faster, are less susceptible to pests, don’t get damaged as much in transit, look like what consumers expect them to look like (no matter what the reality is), and smell good. Unfortunately, taste is never there. For instance have you ever noticed how hard tomatoes skin is at the supermarket vs the ones you grow yourself or even the “heirloom” variety? Tougher skin is not very pleasant but they survive shipping better.

This is my hypothesis why fruits and vegs used to taste so much better. It’s gotten worse over time with each generation of hybrids.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#123

Post by cronix »

andrew_ wrote: post #8

For growing mango from seed, or really anything from seed, you cannot beat a small plastic container (like what cottage cheese, sour cream, or green yogurt might come in) filled halfway with coconut coir. It's absolutely the best medium for germinating seed. Fill halfway with coir and water once a week. Coconut coir keeps water evenly distributed and I've never had a seed or seedling mold over using it. I personally…

I prefer heavy duty felt pots which have the advantage of "air pruning" the roots. Once you've seen the root system those develop you won't go back to anything plastic. Instead of just curling around the bottom of the container in search of the air holes at the bottom, the roots grow just to the pot walls and stop, because they get plenty of oxygen transferred through the felt so they don't continue on searching for it becoming root-bound - in all directions. One solid massive root ball. One brand name is "smart pots." They're reusable as well.

Edit: Hard to find a video that don't involve cannabis growing, but here's a decent one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GrnTSXsFKI

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#124

Post by system2 »

andai wrote: post #102
cwkoss wrote: post #95

I really want a solar powered time lapse camera that takes a photo around noon every day, saves to SD card. Would be great for plant time lapses. I haven't been able to find anyone who's done this already. It seems like there are trail cams and similar that have all the parts, so this should be possible to manufacture for a price point of around $50, and I think it would be an amazing product: I bet every gardening e…

I wonder if there's any way to do crowdfunding for products that don't exist yet. I don't mean kickstarter, in that case there's someone who wants to make the thing already. I mean for things where there are a lot of people who want it to exist, and could pledge some cash to motivate someone to make the damn thing. One I've been waiting for since 2008 is a general purpose epaper tablet / laptop, and I see its nonexis…

I think many useful product idea creators will not share their ideas because it would suck to see someone turning your idea into reality and potentially make money. And average people with no tech or creation skills come up with the worst ideas.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#125

Post by yumraj »

sabujp wrote: post #115

People here complaining about good mangoes not being available in the US haven't been to CA. You can get a box of 14-15 alphonso or ataulfo mangoes for $10-12 at local indian and asian stores around late summer. These come in from Mexico and near the beginning of the season are still not yet ripe (on purpose so they don't spoil in the store). Wait a few days after purchasing them and then they become really sweet. Ye…

> 14-15 alphonso or ataulfo mangoes

Alphonso and ataulfo are not the same thing, not even close except they are both mangoes.

Alphonso is a uniquely fragrant and flavorful variety from India which is very rare to find in the US but you should be able to find it canned in pulp form.

Ataulfo is an ordinary mango from Mexico that is available everywhere in CA, including in organic form at Costco.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#127

Post by creamynebula »

gumby wrote: post #71
VBprogrammer wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I should be amazed they exist at all. Exactly this. Go back a century and the idea of eating exotic fruits like these was the only available to the wealthiest. It's a shame in a way that bananas and the like have become ubiquitous, to the detriment of fruits which were locally available.

> It's a shame in a way that bananas and the like have become ubiquitous… I’m happy to be able to eat a banana; merely sorry that the ubiquitous one is such a boring variety. The consequences of the industrial monocrop banana will be solved soon one way or another: the cavendish is under attack and either it will be replaced or all bananas will go extinct. I suppose Hegel would have appreciated this example.

We have quite a few varieties regularly available in every corner store here in Brazil, they all taste quite good if you wait for them to ripe

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#128

Post by horsawlarway »

ornornor wrote: post #122
gumby wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of tropical fruit is uninteresting in the USA: bananas, pineapple, mangoes etc have little flavor and typically one variety is available at most. I sometimes have 50 year old memories in dreams of eating fresh fruit and they are so different in form and flavor I wonder if they are hallucinations. But as you point out, they require a climate unavailable on the continent so have to be harvested unripe and transpo…

I’ve wondered a lot about that as well and I think this is not only the product of picking unripe fruits so that they can be harvested sooner and not go bad in transit, but also because of the hybridization of crops. There are companies working very hard at developing new variants of fruits and vegetables that grow faster, are less susceptible to pests, don’t get damaged as much in transit, look like what consumers e…

Not really even a hypothesis.

Farmers select for traits that increase profit. Since most markets don't let customers actually taste the product, they aren't choosing to buy it on that quality, and no one in the commercial space is trying to optimize it.

Instead customers are buying fruit that LOOKS good - big, bright, colorful, blemish-free (survives transport without damage).

So farmers plant fruits that will look good, survive transport, and have large yields. Unfortunately optimizing those qualities tends to get you terribly bland tasting fruit.

Ironically - pre-industrial revolution, when most fruits were grown and consumed locally, it was the opposite - people tended to select for fruits that were good tasting.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#129

Post by ornornor »

carapace wrote: post #18

I've been growing plants for the last year and a half or so (covid y'know) and it's really enjoyable and fulfilling, I highly recommend it. Among other things I've got five little macadamia trees, three Torrey pine trees, two carob trees that just sprouted, and a sequoiadendron giganteum seedling about an inch tall. (It's funny to me that the Giant Sequoia seeds are tiny, smaller than a grain of rice, yet the tree gr…

I find it incredibly frustrating.

Some plants will die right away so at least it’s a fast failure.

But others will be ok for quite a while, several months or even a year or two. And then they’ll start yellowing, losing leaves, whatever, and eventually die.

Even plants that are supposedly hardy, like ivy.

I absolutely hate growing plants, and it actually makes me angry to see them fail. Even though I love an interior with plants, I’m actually feeling better if I never tried to have the plant than if I did and it inevitably dies.

Luckily, I live in nature and can open the windows instead, my surroundings being a forest.

Re: Growing a mango tree from seed – one year time lapse [video]

#130

Post by Ozzie_osman »

SamBam wrote: post #46
akudha wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general rule, fruits and vegetables don’t taste good in the U.S, compared to countries like India. They last much longer here though. I don’t know the reason, but I can speculate - too many chemicals probably? Every time I am in India, I pig out. Yet, I rarely put on weight. I eat way less (like 50% less) in the U.S, and put on weight easily unless I am super careful. This is not to say all foods are awesome in…

The main difference is fruits and vegetables in the US are bred for storage and transport, and not for flavor. This is starting to swing back, with people appreciating flavor, but this will require people to accept that there are seasons to fruits and vegetables, which is hard when you're used to year-round supply. But if you want a tomato in January or an apple in June, those just aren't going to taste as good.

> The main difference is fruits and vegetables in the US are bred for storage and transport, and not for flavor.

And probably for sales/cosmetics. Eg most people would agree Red Delicious apples are far from being the tastiest, but they have a very appealing name and look great.

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