re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

Desperate times call for desperate measures



It would have gone a lot easier had I done it before I planted everything. I dropped a pole on my Texas star but otherwise no other casualties.

I bet it’s at least 10 degrees cooler under there, maybe more

they are bananas under the shade cloth. Lots of other stuff in there too. It’s an excellent spot for them as it’s good dirt and stays wet during normal weather but we’ve gotten no rain in a month and it’s been high 90s every day. They were suffering

I hope they do cause I damn near got heatstroke building it . Motherfrick it’s just brutal mid day right now

I must be getting old

quote:

---

Starfruit is putting out vertical branches after the pruning. Tied up the branch i didnt cut back.

---

Well done! That's looking great. Never ever hesitate to prune a starfruit. I would also cut that long tied one to keep it symmetrical. I've actually been thinking about planting one in the ground in a protected location. They will fruit in full shade and they are so vigorous that they can completely regenerate from a freeze in one season. As long as I protect the graft, I think I could get away with having one planted right up against the south brick wall of my house under a large magnolia canopy.

quote:

---

might get some fruit off of it before it gets put in the greenhouse.

---

Yes, that is large enough to hold fruit. You will likely harvest while the tree is in the greenhouse. Mine was about that size last year and I got plenty of fruit. It will start flowering heavily in the next few weeks when this heatwave finally breaks.

quote:

---

I have been thinking of putting my cattley guava in the ground as landscaping it and tenting it for the winter.

---

If you have to choose between the two, the cattley guava will be much tougher. I would definitely protect with a heat source for the first 3-4 years to get the roots established. Mine is doing great in the ground but something ate all the fruit. Had to net my potted one too.







If you're looking at a landscaping tree also check out cherry of the Rio Grande (Eugenia involucrata). Even more cold hardy than cattley guava.

quote:

---

If you have to choose between the two, the cattley guava will be much tougher. I would definitely protect with a heat source for the first 3-4 years to get the roots established.

---

One side of my house is pretty well protected from the wind and stays sunny. The st aug never goes dormant. It'd probably be perfect for the guava.

quote:

---

Mine is doing great in the ground but something ate all the fruit. Had to net my potted one too.

---

Those look awesome! I have mine staked up but it's fighting me, it wants to be a bush more than a tree.

Alright we are now going into day 238 of 110F+ heat index, humidity above 70%, and no rain. Also hit 18F this winter and 10F the year before. I can now make some pretty qualified statements about what fruit trees are 9a tough and which are not. This is not a zone pusher post. This is for those who want to set it and forget it. Luckily the list is short:

2nd runner up: kumquat. Not as cold hardy as a fig, but close enough for 9a. Very few disease or pest problems for a citrus. Many pests don't like the leaves. Takes full sun and heat no problem. Hardy to about 16-17F. Leaves that don't scorch, fruit that takes freezes better, and lack of fire blight issues pushes kumquat above loquat despite the better cold tolerance of loquat.

Runner up: figs. Still can get sunburn, rust, and winter die back in the coldest years. But the weather here isn't killing it. It will come back reliably and fruit. Tough but shows signs of stress and damage. Easy to graft, air layer, and root from cuttings so they can almost always be cloned and saved.

Winner: feijoa AKA pineapple guava. These trees have that DOG in 'em. Absolutely zero stress response to triple digit heat, 10F cold, drought, no pests, no disease. Only drawback is poor to non-existent self pollination for nearly all varieties. The varieties Coolidge and Unique are self fertile but will set much better and larger fruit with cross pollination. Beautiful evergreen foliage and flowers make it a true ornamental. I cannot think of anything that has proven tougher here than feijoa.

Would love to hear from anyone with mulberry or jujube experience to see how they stack up.

Do you ever order feijoa from a farm? Just looking for recommendations.

Have had a few gauvas just fall off recently. Brought them inside to ripen fully, another 4-6 days. I must say pretty dang good! Not as sweet as late season fruit, but I thinned them to one per branch and think that’s helped considerably!

See the 2nd round of blooms are about to open, hopefully they set in this heat yikes

Okay have a question in regards to trimming my Pickering. The tree has never wanted to really grow super upright, I get it’s a dwarf in a pot. Tried tying it up in spots for over a year, never really lignified. So I said the hell with it and let it do its thing. The 3 main scaffold branches are spaced evenly, and branch at about 16” above root flare, but immediately droop down towards the ground..new growth has drug it down further. Now it has eventually gone back up right somewhat. Curious what the thoughts are if I should just let it be and do its thing, eventually it will get going up, or if I should head back to a larger branch and start over, which I don’t want to do, but may be best :( ?


I just worry about fruit load down the road, but maybe it’s stronger this way?

Tree is in a 15 gal pot