re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

Dang! Inside at 50! I may need to re think the pot I just put it in. It’s a large terracotta probably 30” diameter..don’t want to be hauling that in and outside. What size would be good for it long term may try to find a nicer plastic pot. Plan to use Gary’s mix ratio ..I watched way too many YouTube videos on his channel lol. Thanks!

Giant heavy clay pot is a mistake. You need to be able to easily move this. What you want are injection molded black nursery pots and then you drill extra holes in the bottom. For a guava, it will eventually need at least a 15gal pot but you can start smaller, like 7gal. My large ones are in 25gal.

Gary's soil mix is ELITE. Best thing I have ever done for my potted plants and trees. He is a prophet.

Will swap pots and find something more mobile ! Do you keep the soil wetter since in a pot and good drainage? Some reading online says they are thirsty plants (ruby supreme)

Do you have any dragon fruit ?

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Will swap pots and find something more mobile ! Do you keep the soil wetter since in a pot and good drainage? Some reading online says they are thirsty plants (ruby supreme)

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I posted an Amazon link to some great pot caddies with wheels earlier in this thread. Really helps with moving these things around. I would not say guava are particularly thirsty plants. They will however take a lot of water, meaning they are difficult to overwater and cause rot. Lychee and Jamaican cherry? My god, now those are thirsty plants and you better not let them dry out.

No I do not grow dragon fruit and I don't recommend them for the gulf south. They are vining habit cacti and need hot dry heat, full sun, large pots with very heavy sand soil, and a very heavy/sturdy trellis to climb. We're talking easily over 100lbs to do it right. Some youtubers literally make their trellises out of concrete. Very very difficult to move and they hate our humidity and cold. Ideal humidity is no more than 50%.

But again, this thread ain't for pussies. If you think you can do it, go for it and tell conventional wisdom to STFU! Master gardener in my neighborhood told me I could never grow lychee but those things are pushing new growth as we speak.

The only truly reliable method is to build a pvc or wood frame and essentially build a tiny plastic greenhouse around them with a heat source inside. Too much effort for a palm for me.

Pindos are tanks. If you don't mind palmate fronds look at Mexican fan palm and Trachycarpus fortuneii.

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Pindos are tanks

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I think they’re the most underrated palm around.

Inexpensive, pretty aesthetics, cold hardy and don’t get so tall as to require professional trimming.

I’ll go check mine later. Last I checked there was only new leaf growth on the tips.

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Mix was 1/1/1 peat/sand/perlite. Added a handful of azomite and osmocote to the top and then covered with roughly an inch of compost and a handful of dr earth. I’ll mulch it with a handful of leaves later. Fingers crossed it’ll take off and be happy.

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You have just made a soil mix that is better than what 99% of people on earth would buy or make. It will breath. It will drain. It will last for years. It will be almost impossible to overwater. And all you have to to do is top off with fresh compost and fertilizer each year. You're not going to believe what this thing will look like by September.

And I promise you, someone is going to tell you you're doing it wrong because "tHe SoiL nEeDs NoOtRiEnTs" and will tell you repot in wood chips or cow manure or some other bullshite. Just look at them and smile.



I've got two 7ft tall ruby supreme trees covered in new foliage and flowers 15 feet away from me that are growing in sand, pumice, perlite, and peat. Compost and fertilizer sits on the top only.

The single drawback is that you have to water more in the summer, a small price to pay for, you know, not rotting your roots and killing your tree.

Honestly this mix has an even bigger impact on indoor plants. It's overnight turnaround stuff.