Fruit flowers not getting polinated

[1voyager1]

I have not seen more that a very few honey or carpenter bees round my property through the last 6 months or so.

I've no idea if this is normal because that's about when we bought and moved into our place.

The lilikoi has produced at least 3 dozen flowers in the last few weeks.
Only 1 has begun to develop fruit.
Note:
Subsequently,I have tried hand pollinating many of the flowers.
None have taken.
When we took the place over, the lilikoi was growing up an ohia with the fruit hanging 15 to 20' in the air.
I have since pruned it back and built a trellis for it to grow on.
It seems to be doing well except for pollination of the flowers.

A several year old sharwil avo produced many flowers a few months ago.
Only 2 fruit set with one aborting leaving 1 solitary developing fruit left on the small 5+ year old tree.
I understand the type A and type B avo requirement.
I see solitary sharwils bearing a lot fruit in the vicinity [a couple of miles or less distant].

I'm beginning to wonder if someone near me is applying heavy doses of insecticides killing off the pollinators.
Although, the lilikoi problem might indicate otherwise.

We do have what could be termed a LFA infestation that I am beginning to address.
I'm on my way to pick up some Tango as soon as I finish this.

Anyone have thoughts on what the problem may be?

[Carey]

Anytime you cut back a plant that drastically, expect a year or two of low fruit production... If the Ohia that this plant was growing up had dead branches in the up area, there may have been carpenter bees up there... we keep some old sacrificial pieces of wood out by our lilikoi...

Avos are always finicky.. too much or too little rain will effect their fruiting...plus a tree that is only about 5 years old is still starting off...

We had a very low amount of all bees last year, but this year there are more (last year we had very little pollination of our Manila palm, so little there were very few seeds, this year there are more seeds...so maybe the bees are also low...

Ants can actually help in taking over some of the pollination work...but I do not like LFAs, so they are in my Least Favored Ant (LFA) list!

but if you did do the hand pollination thing correctly & your lilikoi are still not producing... I would think it is their way of coping with the cut back..

[MarkP]

I have had carpenter bees buzzing around some giant yellow himalayan raspberries. I just cut down a few canes that were as thick as my wrist at the base. They are like soomething out of a nightmare.

[shave_ice]

Avocados don't necessarily produce every year. Some might, while other might produce every other year. One year might be heavy, the next year it might be light. Ideally, if you have space, it is nice to plant several different varieties of avocados so that you can get them year round and if one doesn't produce well one season, you have others as back up.

If you've only been at your place for 6 months or so, I would give it time. Also, make sure you are fertilizing properly. It might be a nutrient deficiency, not necessarily a pollination issue.

[1voyager1]

Thanks folks for your responses.
I guess I might as well relax a bit and see what happens through the next year.
This place had been let go fallow for a while.
Not terribly so, but long enough that things are stressing a bit from lack of attention, short on nutrients, being buried by the weeds, and so on.

Just spent a hundred bucks on fertilizers and such recently, the same for Tango today.
The bananas are definitely looking better, but are still not there yet.
The next echelon of plants should be in good shape and put out good bunches of fruit.

I had pruned the lilikoi back very severely.
it was basically down to a 2' high stump.
It has been putting out many vines and growing quickly, covering a 4' X 16' trellis in a very short time.
It has been very vigorous.
I may be expecting too much from it to want a truck load of fruit from it this summer.

The Sharwil is suffering from neglect along with being planted in a spot that has very thin soil over a slab of lava rock.
I have picked up 3 more avos [another Sharwil, a Lamb-Hass and an Ota] to put in the ground yet.

I've got about 5 projects going all at once.
I need to finish some of them before adding any more.
Thanks again.

EDIT:
What would be a good sacrificial wood to draw carpenter bees, ...an untreated 4x4 stuck vertically into the ground? ..or...?

Thinking of that kinda makes me a bit paranoid about my trellis, it's made out of redwood. Do I need to worry about the carpenter bees turning it into Swiss cheese, or is it safe?

[Carey]

We used untreated fascia wood from our lanai that was already has a lot of bee bores & just set it out by the lilikoi vines.. probably pine/fir from ~30 years ago

[1voyager1]

Next Question:
OK, the Lilikoi seems to be putting out flushes of flowers.
The first one was the one that gave the single fruit.
The second flush, about a month after the first, set 3 more fruit.
It is beginning a third flush of flowers now.
The first fruit to set began to noticeably turn yellow a couple of weeks ago.
A few days ago I handled it to look at it.
It broke loose and fell to the ground.
Everything I read about what is a ripe lilikoi tells me that it is ripe when it drops.
But, it is still hard as a rock.
Although, when I shake it I can feel that something is moving around inside.
Do I need to wait for the skin to begin shriveling or is it ready now?

I've also read that they are usually not self-fertile.
That might explain why hand pollination did not work.
I might need to put in a second plant for cross fertilization to increase the "crop".
Any thoughts?

[Carey]

Some of the lilkoi fruit we get is still hard when ripe fruit.

Since this is just one fruit, I would slice it open & check the fruit. If it is ready, then you will know more about your vine

We have 3 vines of regular lilikoi now, but have had just one & it fruited OK. All of our vines came from cuttings from a solitary vine that nice large fruits that did not shrivel when they were ripe... I have noticed that smaller fruit also seem to be ripe & shriveled...maybe it is a varietal thing...

[dayna]

our bees like dead ohia. We've got tons of carpenter bees and lots of "honey" bees. I see at least three different types of bees daily. I have no idea where the other bees are living.

Dayna

http://www.FarmingAloha.com
www.E-Z-Caps.com

[1voyager1]

Update:
The Lilikoi is well into its 3rd flush of flowers.
More fruit are now being set.
At least 6 to 8 new fruit have set.
I think more will be coming from this flush.
And, even more from the next flush, if there is one.
The vine seems to be gaining strength as it grows and the summer wears on.
Or, this may just be its fruiting pattern.
I'll know for sure next year.