- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates
Posted on 6/2/26 at 9:24 pm to wiltznucs
Posted on 6/2/26 at 9:24 pm to wiltznucs
Don't forget the covert fruit trees that are disguised as landscaping/hedges/bushes:
Cattley guava
Suriname cherry
Cherry of the Rio Grande
Feijoa/pineapple guava
Cattley guava
Suriname cherry
Cherry of the Rio Grande
Feijoa/pineapple guava
This post was edited on 6/2/26 at 9:30 pm
0
Posted on 6/3/26 at 5:10 am to wiltznucs
quote:
I’ll simply say that I too may or may not live in a HOA/CDD community with bylaws against fruit trees and edible plants. I’ll also say that I may or may not have been told that as long as the yard is well maintained and they aren’t in plain view from the curb that a blind eye will almost always be turned to it. Problems typically arise in neighbor disputes. 99% of people have no idea what a banana, avocado or mango tree looks like. My neighborhood will have 6,000 homes once finished.
Yea, I get it. But our sub division takes care of the lawns and the guys who do that complain about mess a lot and I know fruit trees make a mess. I do have plenty of things planted in my yard that are not on the "approved list". Im just not going to push it with the fruit stuff.
It was a choice I made when I moved here. Im enjoying the plants and trees that I plant here and taking care of them. I dont know how much time Id have for a bunch of fruit stuff even though I love all your posts on them. I run two companies by myself still and they keep me very buys at my age. No help outside from the wife either. LOL
Id really like a lime or lemon tree but I tried a meyer inside my pool cage and just ran into too many hurdles so I got rid of it.
The HOA here is not agressive on the plants but I really dont want them evaluating my yard. Half the stuff I have planted are not "legal" and I just dont want a problem. They are suppose to take care of all the plants as well but I do and the yard guys love me. They dont even step in my beds. Just cut the lawn and move on. They mulch once a year and thats it
Posted on 6/3/26 at 12:37 pm to LanierSpots
I get it. Florida’s HOA/CDD structure is sort of ridiculous. You own the property; you should be able to grow you want on it.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 4:36 pm to wiltznucs
Until your neighbor decides he (let's be real: she) wants an all native garden that looks exactly like a baseball field that hasn't been mowed in 9 years. 
Posted on 6/3/26 at 4:59 pm to Tigerlaff
Cattley guava thinning. It is unbelievable how much fruit a cattley guava will set. Every single flower gets pollinated every year. It's too much. I took over 100 off today and I'm not even a quarter of the way done. This is in a 20g pot. Here is what an unthinned branch looks like. Multiply this by 150:
You need to thin by AT LEAST half to get the fruit to decent size and sweetness. This is the only tree that I am starting to suspect that I need to neglect more. My preseason potassium and magnesium applications and pruning are making the already overconfident tree think that it is the best fruiting plant in world history. I may need to starve and ignore it more to get something that resembles a reasonable fruit set and THEN feed it once flowering is over.
Starting to suspect that my mangos are stalling. I've got 12 on a 25g tree. It's probably too much. I grabbed the smallest fruit on the tree and photographed it yesterday to compare in 1 week. If there is no gain I may need to thin a few. Look at that clean Pickering after 2 weeks of straight rain, humidity at 80+%, and temps at 90F. Zero fungal scarring. Elite genetics:
Last one, some of you may want to jump on it like I did if you're crazy about guava. Incredible Edible Landscapes just released a new air layered cultivar they are calling Indonesian White Seedless. Unlike the cattley guava discussed above, this is a tropical guava and will not take freezing temps. What I like about this guava is that it has very few seeds and is advertised as creamy, not crunchy. It basically looks like a Mexican Cream guava without as many seeds. The seller also says it's very sweet, but what else would he say? $90 shipped for a 1g air layer but it's a very good looking cultivar obtained from a collector in Florida. You can email them to order or just let ya boy grow it to see if it's all it's cracked up to be.
LINK
Video about it:
LINK
You need to thin by AT LEAST half to get the fruit to decent size and sweetness. This is the only tree that I am starting to suspect that I need to neglect more. My preseason potassium and magnesium applications and pruning are making the already overconfident tree think that it is the best fruiting plant in world history. I may need to starve and ignore it more to get something that resembles a reasonable fruit set and THEN feed it once flowering is over.
Starting to suspect that my mangos are stalling. I've got 12 on a 25g tree. It's probably too much. I grabbed the smallest fruit on the tree and photographed it yesterday to compare in 1 week. If there is no gain I may need to thin a few. Look at that clean Pickering after 2 weeks of straight rain, humidity at 80+%, and temps at 90F. Zero fungal scarring. Elite genetics:
Last one, some of you may want to jump on it like I did if you're crazy about guava. Incredible Edible Landscapes just released a new air layered cultivar they are calling Indonesian White Seedless. Unlike the cattley guava discussed above, this is a tropical guava and will not take freezing temps. What I like about this guava is that it has very few seeds and is advertised as creamy, not crunchy. It basically looks like a Mexican Cream guava without as many seeds. The seller also says it's very sweet, but what else would he say? $90 shipped for a 1g air layer but it's a very good looking cultivar obtained from a collector in Florida. You can email them to order or just let ya boy grow it to see if it's all it's cracked up to be.
LINK
Video about it:
LINK
This post was edited on 6/3/26 at 5:24 pm
Posted on 6/3/26 at 5:06 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:
thinning
Thinning breaks my heart. Insane how many that tree is setting.
I think I need to think my pink lady but I'm the type who has to learn hard lessons for themself. I just counted 40 and didnt include new buds or buds that looked lkke they'd just set.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 5:15 pm to Loup
quote:
Thinning breaks my heart. Insane how many that tree is setting.
Same. And I suspect I am learning that lesson with potted mangos right now. But I'd rather risk it and maybe be right. If not there's always next year.
Yeah I now understand why cattley guava is an invasive species. Hawaii cannot control it at all. It's fast growing, incredibly self fertile, prolific, precocious, disease and pest resistant, takes tropical heat, takes 22F, and makes delicious fruit for animals to spread. And no Caribbean fruit fly to mess it up like central and south Florida. I planted 9 seeds last year and all 9 germinated and grew into plants. cgrand has one in his yard. It's a doomsday tree and it's why I think it has incredible potential in south Louisiana. Once it is well established I don't see any 9a freeze actually killing it. And as I've consistently said, this is an elite container tree and maybe the best introductory tropical you can grow. Anyone at any skill level can grow this tree. Just make sure to get the yellow fruited one unless you like astringency.
This post was edited on 6/3/26 at 5:28 pm
Posted on 6/3/26 at 5:54 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:and it’s bionic. I think it grows an inch a day
cgrand has one in his yard.
And yes they are very invasive in Hawaii and other places due to germination success and root hardiness. Looking forward to some fruit though!
Posted on 6/3/26 at 7:02 pm to cgrand
It gets too cold for it to colonize here. You need to freeze protect for at least the first year and ideally the first 3 and thereafter anytime you see anything below 22F. But my seedlings are doing the same thing. Dry soil, wet soil, full shade, full sun: doesn't matter. My 1 year old in ground tree has about 30 guavas on it.
Posted on 6/3/26 at 7:03 pm to cgrand
Mine has taken off like a rocket.
My Silas Wood Sapodilla did absolutely nothing for two months and then over the past two weeks has grown about 6". Same with my Starfruit. Both were slow to start but really took off once the nights got out of the 60s.
Tigerlaff, my Pickering is now 18"-24" tall. I was planning on cutting it below the next growth ring. I just wanted to be sure I'm understanding the growth ring thing right.
This is where I'd cut, right?
My Silas Wood Sapodilla did absolutely nothing for two months and then over the past two weeks has grown about 6". Same with my Starfruit. Both were slow to start but really took off once the nights got out of the 60s.
Tigerlaff, my Pickering is now 18"-24" tall. I was planning on cutting it below the next growth ring. I just wanted to be sure I'm understanding the growth ring thing right.
This is where I'd cut, right?
Posted on 6/3/26 at 7:16 pm to Tigerlaff
My little dwarf plumeria came in today. Was a little bigger than I though it would be. Happy with it. Jungle Jacks Plumeria did a good job of packaging it. Did not even lose a leaf in shipping. It was completely dry but other than that, it looked very good. Got it watered and out in the sun. Now to keep from killing it....
Posted on 6/3/26 at 8:48 pm to Loup
quote:
My Silas Wood Sapodilla did absolutely nothing for two months and then over the past two weeks has grown about 6". Same with my Starfruit. Both were slow to start but really took off once the nights got out of the 60s.
Sapodilla in general is a very slow grower. The dwarf varieties (Silas Wood, Makok, and debateably Alano) even more so. They are supposed to be slow, so don't worry. If it's green it's doing what it's supposed to do.
Starfruit is exactly as you described. It won't go crazy until the night temps rise. But for example, my new tree started flowering in the first week of June 2025. First ripe harvest was October 2025. This year I started flowering in late April early May and expect ripe fruit in September. The tree will settle in as long as you don't let it freeze.
quote:
Tigerlaff, my Pickering is now 18"-24" tall. I was planning on cutting it below the next growth ring. I just wanted to be sure I'm understanding the growth ring thing right.
This is where I'd cut, right?
If you cut at that exact line, the new branches will emerge from where the leaves are below the cut and the branches will be vertically oriented. If you cut above that line, the new branches will all come from that ring and be horizontally oriented. More of a lollipop shape.
This post was edited on 6/3/26 at 8:52 pm
Posted on 6/3/26 at 9:15 pm to Tigerlaff
Fig rehab project. I bought a 3g Prosciutto Unknown from NJ Fig Farm last fall. Prosciutto is the best fig I've ever had. I have one in the front yard that I grew from a cutting.
The 3g from NJ arrived dormant, which was expected. I planted it on 4/17/26 a few days after arrival but it never woke up.
Then it started dying from the tips. I cut it back each time and the fungus just kept attacking. It finally sent up a root sucker but 2 weeks of rain killed that.
So I pulled it out today. Figs are unbelievably tough. I bet 90% that this recovers and I'm able to replant.
And yes, NJ Fig Farm grows their plants in completely garbage soil just like everyone else. Would not recommend them.
The 3g from NJ arrived dormant, which was expected. I planted it on 4/17/26 a few days after arrival but it never woke up.
Then it started dying from the tips. I cut it back each time and the fungus just kept attacking. It finally sent up a root sucker but 2 weeks of rain killed that.
So I pulled it out today. Figs are unbelievably tough. I bet 90% that this recovers and I'm able to replant.
And yes, NJ Fig Farm grows their plants in completely garbage soil just like everyone else. Would not recommend them.
This post was edited on 6/3/26 at 10:09 pm
Posted on 6/3/26 at 9:29 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:yes they are. I posted a couple weeks ago the Celeste rooted branches I ripped out of that bed I’ve been working on. I barely got any root and they never skipped a beat. I gave three of them to a farmer all pushing new leaves and have one left if anyone wants it. It’s huge now
Figs are unbelievably tough.
Posted on 6/4/26 at 5:54 am to Tigerlaff
quote:
If you cut at that exact line, the new branches will emerge from where the leaves are below the cut and the branches will be vertically oriented. If you cut above that line, the new branches will all come from that ring and be horizontally oriented. More of a lollipop shape.
Thanks, from what you previously posted and from what I've read I think I want to cut it below the ring so that the branches aren't all crowning out from the same spot. Do I need to wait for the trunk to harden off or can I cut it now while green? If I cut it now I won't lose sleep thinking about it
Posted on 6/4/26 at 8:24 am to Loup
Cut now. The tree is in growth mode. If you let it harden off it may take a while to get going.
Posted on 6/4/26 at 12:51 pm to Tigerlaff
Harvested my first purple possum yesterday. Very tropical on the front end followed by a very sour warhead candy taste about 3 seconds after starting to eat it. The sourness was pretty delayed. Anyways, anyone have tips on how to preserve the flesh for smoothies? I was thinking about blending the flesh/seeds with a little water then freezing in ice cube trays.
Posted on 6/4/26 at 1:31 pm to AyyyBaw
quote:
Very tropical on the front end followed by a very sour warhead candy taste about 3 seconds after starting to eat it.
If you let it ripen a bit more (the skin gets all wrinkly) it isn't as tart. I like them sour.
Posted on 6/4/26 at 1:57 pm to AyyyBaw
Beautiful color but you ate it way too early. Wait until it is totally wrinkled all over. Then give it another day. It will be much less tart and hopefully sweet.
This one needed another couple days:
This one needed another couple days:
This post was edited on 6/4/26 at 1:58 pm
Page 115 of 123
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News