re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

By the way, this soil from the depot is relatively cheap, and mixed 2:1 with play sand makes a pretty good all purpose bed and pot soil for not too much money



i checked all the open bags of the various offerings (there’s always open/torn bags) and this one has the least amount of ground up bark and the most perlite. When mixed with the sand it loosens up nicely and doesn’t compact in the pot

I was a mostly organic person myself, but what I got out of this video is that the peat help retains the moisture, so they were not having to water as often in a sand-based mix. It's pretty late in the video where they talk about tomatoes growing in compost bins because they are not very susceptible to root rot. He talked about using test plants and recommended strawberries and ferns as test plants.

Last year I used a peat, vermiculite, sand mix. The sand mix was a mixture of play sand and the more gritty sand used with brick pavers. It was heavy, but I only had one tree die on me and it was one I am pretty sure I let get to dry over the winter. I bought 4 bags of Gary's mix this year, but if the reason for the charcoal and pumice is only to reduce weight I think I am going to stick with just using sand. I think I am going to look into doing some test plants not only with the soil, but with the spraying with fish emulsion, seaweed, and molasses. In the video I linked he talked about mulching with leaves and that the leaves provided the nutrients to the soil.

Why does Garys call for Pumice and Perlite? Why not just Pumice?

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I think I am going to look into doing some test plants not only with the soil, but with the spraying with fish emulsion, seaweed, and molasses.

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Foliar feeding absolutely works and should be done at least a few times per year. I do it about every month. Use seaweed. The fish emulsion stinks too bad to spray and I think the seaweed works better too. I know about the molasses but have not tried it since I suspect it will attract pests.

I imagine weight per volume, also easier to source than pumice for most people. I think it also helps fill the size gap between pumice and sand. It does also hold on to some nutrients

You have aeration and moisture ingredients ..trying to find the balance of both in YOUR specific climate. This mix may need to be tweaked based on need.

^ what he said.

OK time for another non-fruit update about container growing one of my favorite root hardy tropicals, the Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima).





Most of y'all probably already know about this plant and the amazing honey-scented flowers. You probably also know that it is root hardy in 9a. It will die to the ground and come back bigger and stronger each year.

But they grow best in rocky poor dry soils in full sun will not tolerate low wet locations. We don't have a lot of dry rocky soil in south LA and my yard is absolutely full of low wet spots where things like bananas and irises thrive. But I wanted Pride of Barbados flowers mixed in with my tropical landscaping so I did an experiment.

I planted seeds in a 30 gallon pot full of sand, rocks, and bagged topsoil. I culled the weaker sprouts and let the strongest one grow in 2025. In the winter, I gave it zero protection. Root hardy in the ground is one thing. Root hardy in an exposed pot is another.

It of course got zapped by 18F this winter and I suspected it was probably dead. After all, this was an exposed first year planting. Checked it out today and it is coming back fast.



So now we know. You can put these things into big pots in the locations you want and then forget about them in winter. Much more root hardy than we thought. This was an unexpected success so I'll need to start more seeds. Awesome plant.

you’re good that’s why

what can I trade you? I have all kinds of cool shite already potted up…loquat, fig, beautyberry, giant black eyed susan, lantana, oaks, birch, pecans, palmetto, etc

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what can I trade you? I have all kinds of cool shite already potted up…loquat, fig, beautyberry, giant black eyed susan, lantana, oaks, birch, pecans, palmetto, etc

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I'm not worried about that but if you have an extra beautyberry I'd love to have one. I'd been planning on digging one up to add to my native corner. I have palmetto, prairie rose, and wax myrtle that hides the pile of bow targets in one corner of my yard

Great time of year guys. Everything is starting to load up.

Key lime is loaded.


Lemon cattley guava is loaded.


Sapodillas starting to plump up and approach ripeness.




Been picking red jaboticabas, Jamaican cherries, meiwa kumquats and LSU Hollier figs. Love this time of year.