, 1962-08-25
PRESS RELEASE.
Fruit Trees Thut Foil To Beer Fruits
PRESS RELEASE
BY FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL EXPER.

~
One Of the reasons for fully grown and apparently healthy fruit
tree failing to bear may be linked to its flowers and Towering habits
If the Iree Is one when produces only the male or non-frult-produclng
types of flowers, it will most likely flower profusely but OF course
no nult VIII develop. Plants that produce only male types flowers are
often found among the keneps, papayas and governor pNunS. some
times the trees does produce the type of flower that will develop into
fruits and in such a case the problem may be lack OF ponlnauon.
Pollmation is the transfer of pollen from the male parts OF a flower
to the female organs of the flower which later develop into the hut
Fruit producing mowers may be of two types. Those which have tunc-
tionng male and female parts IN the same blossom are = penecs
flowers and most of the time, they are capable of self poIination or
are easily pollmated by insects or wind. The other type OF fruit pro-
ducing flower is equipped with female reproductive parts only ana
pollen from a male type, or from q perfect flower s needed to anoW
its development into a fruit. AS a rule. lack Of fruitfuiness o tree N
these parts is not due to lack of pounation, for our large insect popu-
lauon, and almost constant winds take very good care of this problem.
The great majority of non-bearing fruit trees in this area are
non-productive because of poor growing conditions or improper care
of both. oyercrowding is a common malpractice here. A plant must
have a certain minimum space in which to grow and develop. Whle
the area needed willvary with the site and thetype and variety OF
plant involved, there must always be a sufficient volume OF soil to
provide water and nutrients for the roots, and adequate space above
the ground for the full development of the trunk, leaves and branches.
Avocados or alligator pear trees should be spaced at from twenty
five to forty feet from other avocados. a mango may neeo rom
thity-fve to IS much as fifty feet between it and another mango
tree. With citrus plants, the distance between the trees may vary from
fifteen or twenty feet for a tangerine, to thirty or forty feet for an
orange: Coconut palms may be planted at distances that vary from
fifteen to thirty under our conditions. As a general rule, the space
that should be allotted to a particular tree at a speclIc SIT { Q
determined from the space occupied by a similar fully grown tree,
in the same soil and growing in the same AGRA fairly close by. It
should be a roughly circular area, the radius of which is at least one
and a half times the distance from the center of the mature tree to
the outer fringe Of the longest branches. A healthy normal tree will
entirely fill the soil area underneath its branches with feeding roots
and most trees send out feeding roots much father than this especially
if the soil is shallow.
If an unfruitful tree has enough space and has no polination
problems it may be suffering from lack of sufficient water to grow
and mature a crop of fruit. A heavy growth of grass and weeds could
easily rob a tree of the water it needed for a crop. Any plant or plants
growing within the aera of soil III which the roots of a tree are feed
ing will use up moisture and nutrient that should 60 to the tree"
A tree that is covered with a sooty-back deposit on the leaves
and stems is certain to be heavily infested with scale insects. These
scale insects or lice, as they are sometimes called here, are seen as
little brown, green r grayish white spots on the under sides of the
leaves and stems. The black ~soot' is a harmless fungus that grows in
a substance given off by the scales. The scales directly damage the
tree by sucking the sap. Insecticides to control these scale insects
may be obtained in both towns OF St Croix and from the nsular
agricultural station in St Thomas. Control of the scale eliminates the
fungus and gives the tree a better chance to produce a crop.