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Started By
Message
re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates
Posted on 6/29/26 at 11:37 am to Tigerlaff
Posted on 6/29/26 at 11:37 am to Tigerlaff
Big step today. I repotted my lipstick palm from the 3 gallon container it came in, to a 7 gallon. It had roots coming out of the bottom of the 3 gallon and it was ready.
I didnt use the full Gary mixture for it. I know it needs to retain more moisture so I didnt use the pumice or granite. This was my mixture
50% - Peat Moss
20% - Orchid Bark
15% Pearlite
15% Sand
As close to those percentages as I could.
I also put carbon and Mycorrhizal in there. When I took it out of the container it came in, there was a good bit of bark in there. It also was fairly sandy. I didnt want to change it much because it has been doing well in it. And I didnt remove all the soil from the roots. They looked good So I just scrapped some off and then potted it.
I also put some palm fertilizer on top, a little bit of manure and a thin layer of cypress. I also keep a deep pan under it and water in the pan at all times. I am still using a spray bottle and spraying off the fronds a couple times a day when Im home and walk by. LOL
I also repotted my alocasia. I bought it this spring and it was in a 3 gallon. I repotted it in a 7 in March and its already busting out of that so I put it in a 10. I a little scared of it, my friend has not had good luck with them. It got the Gary soil mixture which is the same thing I did in the spring with the top dressing of Osmocote, manure compost and cypress. I actually had some soil left from March and just used it to repot it today in a 10 gallon. That thing had some great roots on it. I think I am doing well with it so far.
It was in this pot
Roots
I didnt use the full Gary mixture for it. I know it needs to retain more moisture so I didnt use the pumice or granite. This was my mixture
50% - Peat Moss
20% - Orchid Bark
15% Pearlite
15% Sand
As close to those percentages as I could.
I also put carbon and Mycorrhizal in there. When I took it out of the container it came in, there was a good bit of bark in there. It also was fairly sandy. I didnt want to change it much because it has been doing well in it. And I didnt remove all the soil from the roots. They looked good So I just scrapped some off and then potted it.
I also put some palm fertilizer on top, a little bit of manure and a thin layer of cypress. I also keep a deep pan under it and water in the pan at all times. I am still using a spray bottle and spraying off the fronds a couple times a day when Im home and walk by. LOL
I also repotted my alocasia. I bought it this spring and it was in a 3 gallon. I repotted it in a 7 in March and its already busting out of that so I put it in a 10. I a little scared of it, my friend has not had good luck with them. It got the Gary soil mixture which is the same thing I did in the spring with the top dressing of Osmocote, manure compost and cypress. I actually had some soil left from March and just used it to repot it today in a 10 gallon. That thing had some great roots on it. I think I am doing well with it so far.
It was in this pot
Roots
3
Posted on 6/29/26 at 11:44 am to LanierSpots
Laff what do you have in the 45gal pots? Hard to tell
Ruby sup guava is wildly thirsty in this heat, wants water daily! Leaves go from perky to sad back to plump!
Ruby sup guava is wildly thirsty in this heat, wants water daily! Leaves go from perky to sad back to plump!
Posted on 6/29/26 at 11:52 am to cgrand
Nice! My Texas Stars are about to bloom too. Good spot you put them in.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 12:04 pm to LanierSpots
Got around to potting my new mangos and kari starfruit up yesterday.
Starfruit got a a full rootball wash, was much more established.
Mangos, not to my surprise had obviously just been recently upsized to the 3g pots. Plan was to leave 50% of rootball, but when I dumped it out I was left with a one gallon or smaller root mass. Kind of annoying to pay for dirt. The cecilove also dropped the new light yellow leaves it had just flushed due to shipping stress and rubbing in the box I imagine.
Anyways they’re in a good mix, good pots and in the shade to recover for a week or so!
50 gallons of mix!
Got a 45lb sack of pumice from pumice store.com that amounted to 10 gal of rock
Avocados doing fantastic
Stack them behind the guava and mangos for afternoon shade
Starfruit got a a full rootball wash, was much more established.
Mangos, not to my surprise had obviously just been recently upsized to the 3g pots. Plan was to leave 50% of rootball, but when I dumped it out I was left with a one gallon or smaller root mass. Kind of annoying to pay for dirt. The cecilove also dropped the new light yellow leaves it had just flushed due to shipping stress and rubbing in the box I imagine.
Anyways they’re in a good mix, good pots and in the shade to recover for a week or so!
50 gallons of mix!
Got a 45lb sack of pumice from pumice store.com that amounted to 10 gal of rock
Avocados doing fantastic
Stack them behind the guava and mangos for afternoon shade
Posted on 6/29/26 at 12:16 pm to DickTater
you got it going on man.
Hell yeah
Hell yeah
Posted on 6/29/26 at 12:30 pm to DickTater
quote:
Got a 45lb sack of pumice from pumice store.com that amounted to 10 gal of rock
Man I went on a quest here yesterday and looked at 10 places to find Pumice. Nada
I have been buying on Amazon and with free shipping, its not terrible.
This post was edited on 6/29/26 at 1:11 pm
Posted on 6/29/26 at 12:56 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:
For you avocado guys, Gary's annual lecture dropped this weekend:
I don't think that I'll be an avocado guy for much longer.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 1:22 pm to Loup
my Barbados cherry trees have been doing really well since i put them in the ground. The cherries have actually been pretty good. a pain to eat with the big arse seeds, but they aren't quite as sour as they were when they first came in about 2 months ago.
Got a pup on my ice cream banana tree i'm going to attempt to remove and replant. my banana tree has also really taken off since planting in the ground, as well as feeding it specific banana tree fertilizer.
My avacado tree seems to have died, although it looks like it might want to come back. kind of had enough of it anyway. Seems to be a pain in the arse the entire time i've had it.
My mamey is doing really well after i thought it might have died from the winter.
My mangoes, starfruit and guava are all doing really well.
Definitely have noticed that they need to be soaked well in the morning, and then again around 1pm b/c it's so fricking hot.
Got a pup on my ice cream banana tree i'm going to attempt to remove and replant. my banana tree has also really taken off since planting in the ground, as well as feeding it specific banana tree fertilizer.
My avacado tree seems to have died, although it looks like it might want to come back. kind of had enough of it anyway. Seems to be a pain in the arse the entire time i've had it.
My mamey is doing really well after i thought it might have died from the winter.
My mangoes, starfruit and guava are all doing really well.
Definitely have noticed that they need to be soaked well in the morning, and then again around 1pm b/c it's so fricking hot.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:17 pm to TeddyPadillac
Got a few people to respond to here, but let me first just say that y'all are some badasses. Really love how some of y'all just went full send and are totally crushing it. My expectations for this thread have been wildly exceeded.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:21 pm to LanierSpots
quote:
repotted my lipstick palm from the 3 gallon container it came in, to a 7 gallon. It had roots coming out of the bottom of the 3 gallon and it was ready.
50% - Peat Moss
20% - Orchid Bark
15% Pearlite
15% Sand
At first I shuddered when I saw 70% organic but hell yours looks way better than mine does. Mine went straight from 3g to 10g and I've also been giving it several hours of full sun each day. I think it's just struggled a bit under those conditions. Mine looks OK just not deep green like yours. I'll post a photo when I get home. Alocasia looks amazing too.
You are really killing it on palms and aroids. Great stuff!
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:23 pm to DickTater
quote:
Laff what do you have in the 45gal pots? Hard to tell
Ruby sup guava is wildly thirsty in this heat, wants water daily! Leaves go from perky to sad back to plump!
Only thing I had in 45g was a Panama Red passionfruit but it died. So now all my 45s are just sitting there waiting. Next year I'll probably have to up pot the Pickering, atemoya, and ruby supreme to 45. But I'll make 25s go as long as they can first.
Yeah tropical guava is thirsty to begin with. The cattley guavas can handle a hot drought a litttle better. Water water water!
This post was edited on 6/29/26 at 2:25 pm
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:27 pm to DickTater
quote:
Got around to potting my new mangos and kari starfruit up yesterday.
Starfruit got a a full rootball wash, was much more established.
Mangos, not to my surprise had obviously just been recently upsized to the 3g pots. Plan was to leave 50% of rootball, but when I dumped it out I was left with a one gallon or smaller root mass. Kind of annoying to pay for dirt. The cecilove also dropped the new light yellow leaves it had just flushed due to shipping stress and rubbing in the box I imagine.
Anyways they’re in a good mix, good pots and in the shade to recover for a week or so!
This is impressive. That stuff is looking great and look at that giant mountain of quality soil! Is the Kari flowering at all yet?
Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:30 pm to Loup
quote:
I don't think that I'll be an avocado guy for much longer.
Gary says the best thing to grow them in is pure sand. Unbelievable how sensitive they are. I admire your efforts, braver than I! Posted on 6/29/26 at 2:38 pm to TeddyPadillac
quote:
my Barbados cherry trees have been doing really well since i put them in the ground. The cherries have actually been pretty good. a pain to eat with the big arse seeds, but they aren't quite as sour as they were when they first came in about 2 months ago.
Got a pup on my ice cream banana tree i'm going to attempt to remove and replant. my banana tree has also really taken off since planting in the ground, as well as feeding it specific banana tree fertilizer.
My avacado tree seems to have died, although it looks like it might want to come back. kind of had enough of it anyway. Seems to be a pain in the arse the entire time i've had it.
My mamey is doing really well after i thought it might have died from the winter.
My mangoes, starfruit and guava are all doing really well.
Definitely have noticed that they need to be soaked well in the morning, and then again around 1pm b/c it's so fricking hot.
Glad you like the Barbados cherry. I don't like them but boy do they handle the heat well.
Different day, different avocado lamentation. I watched the entire 2+ hour Gary lecture last night even though I have zero intentions of growing them. It's just fascinating to me how difficult they are for most people.
The mamey is crazy impressive. What variety is it? There are a couple of dwarf ones like Cochin that I have seen fruit in very large pots. You would probably be the first person ever to eat a Louisiana grown mamey.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 3:12 pm to Tigerlaff
Key West Mamey Sapote from Everglades Farm.
I got it b/c my boss at the time was from Mexico and when i was on a trip with him in Mexico City he was telling me how much he loved mamey's as a kid, and I ended up getting mamey ice cream at the restaurant we were at as i was curious what it was as i had never heard of it before he told me his story.
I don't think i'm getting any fruit off of it anytime soon. Assuming it does well this winter, any thing that flowers next spring is getting pulled off anyway so i can keep it growing more, so i'm probably 2 years away at minimum of ever producing fruit, at best.
I got it b/c my boss at the time was from Mexico and when i was on a trip with him in Mexico City he was telling me how much he loved mamey's as a kid, and I ended up getting mamey ice cream at the restaurant we were at as i was curious what it was as i had never heard of it before he told me his story.
I don't think i'm getting any fruit off of it anytime soon. Assuming it does well this winter, any thing that flowers next spring is getting pulled off anyway so i can keep it growing more, so i'm probably 2 years away at minimum of ever producing fruit, at best.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 3:23 pm to TeddyPadillac
teddy can you post a pic of your Barbados cherry I’m interested to see what a producing tree looks like. Mine is growing pretty well but it’s just on year one in the ground
Posted on 6/29/26 at 3:44 pm to cgrand
I can later. They were producing cherries last summer in the pot. I planted them not too long ago, maybe 2 months ago. They got beat up pretty bad from whatever storm we had come through 2 weeks ago. I was on vacation during that but they were leaning pretty bad after it. I planted them raised up a good bit, as the flower bed i put them in had crepe myrtles there before that i cut down and grinded the stumps over a year ago.
This was right after i planted them. and those weeds are irritating the shite out of me. constantly picking them by hand and spraying them, and they just keep popping up.
I have been fertilizing everything with Super Thrive. Try to do that every 2 weeks or so since the spring, and did some osmocote about 6 weeks ago as well.
This was right after i planted them. and those weeds are irritating the shite out of me. constantly picking them by hand and spraying them, and they just keep popping up.
I have been fertilizing everything with Super Thrive. Try to do that every 2 weeks or so since the spring, and did some osmocote about 6 weeks ago as well.
This post was edited on 6/29/26 at 3:48 pm
Posted on 6/29/26 at 3:49 pm to TeddyPadillac
you need nutsedge for that
Posted on 6/29/26 at 3:51 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:
At first I shuddered when I saw 70% organic but hell yours looks way better than mine does.
Well, mine has been growing in the mix that it came in. Not my mix. I have never repotted it so this is the first time. I didnt want to use the full Gary mix because i didnt want it to drain so much. Cant let it dry out. I will keep an eye on it.
Posted on 6/29/26 at 3:54 pm to Neauxla
Thanks. I've been handpicking it every day and also spraying with Killzall. it's kicking my arse.
I had cut up the crepe myrtles and let that sit for a little over a year with nothing in the bed. This flower bed never was able to grow anything. Every shrub i tried over the last 10 years would eventually die. Of course it got weeds in it after removing everything but about 3 months before i planted the cherry trees i killed everything in that dirt and then tilled up the dirt, then killed it all again when it first appeared again. Then i put some black weed mesh and a ton of bagged garden soil on top of that, and it's still popping up everywhere.
I had cut up the crepe myrtles and let that sit for a little over a year with nothing in the bed. This flower bed never was able to grow anything. Every shrub i tried over the last 10 years would eventually die. Of course it got weeds in it after removing everything but about 3 months before i planted the cherry trees i killed everything in that dirt and then tilled up the dirt, then killed it all again when it first appeared again. Then i put some black weed mesh and a ton of bagged garden soil on top of that, and it's still popping up everywhere.
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