re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

Got my lemon guava uppotted from 20g to 25g. Not a huge step up but should save me from root pruning for another couple of years. Vigorous grower that had filled the entire 20g soil volume with roots.







Ate the last Taiwan ruby seedless guava from the tree I sold on Friday. No surprises here. Not a fan.



Qinmi #9 yellow passionfruit continues to flower and set fruit even with lows of 50F. I was told that this vine was extremely cold sensitive but it's hard to believe considering how productive it remains with these chilly nights.



At the end of every season I try to photograph the trunk caliper of certain trees to document their year to year growth. Pickering mango has really put on some good size over the last 18 months.

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I also dug up my two Birds of paradise which were dying. Both were rotted in the ground. No idea what happened to them as the ground around them was not really wet down there.

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White or orange? The orange are the most soil tolerant plants I have ever seen. I grow the orange ones in pots of complete garbage muck soil that I never change. Their roots simply do not care about being deprived of oxygen. It's one of the only plants I know that will perform the same in terrible or premium soil. I have no experience with the white ones but they are both in the Strelitzia genus so I assume they have similar tolerance. Makes me think yours was attacked by nematodes or something.

PSA - Tropical Acres has Zill 40-26 mango graft orders open as of today. Only 9 still available. They only graft about 50 of these per year.

LINK

Zill 40-26 is interesting because it makes a small fruit with world class flavor (strong citrus and coconut profile) on an extremely dwarf and compact tree. For comparison, 40-26 is more dwarf than Pickering and resembles Julie in growth habit. This makes sense considering that it is a Julie seedling and likely pollinated by Gary. It is also reportedly productive (makes enough female flowers) and disease resistant. This makes it potentially a great container tree for the Gulf South.

I have no idea how 40-26 will perform here. I ordered a graft in March and expect it to be ready in January or February. But the tree and budwood are extremely rare so if anyone wants to join the experiment with me, this is your chance. $60 for the graft and they invoice you for shipping when it is ready.





Video

Went to my local nursery yesterday and they have totally remodeled that place in a month and they have a shite ton of things that I want. And its not really buying season. But I bought some things anyway. Dont even care.
And their fruit tree section is 4 times as big as it was before.


They have a design center now and have a bunch of things planted around it and they had this beautiful creature. I have wanted one of these for a while so after seeing this monster, I bought a small one. 7 gal and its in pretty good shape. Now I just have to figure out how to keep all these day alocasicas alive this winter.







Bought this one




Also picked up a smaller Mojito Calacasia with I know will die down in the winter but the pot was full of bulbs so it was worth it at $25

I think one of my agave plants have mealy bugs. Looks like it to me anyway

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None, only 4 or 5 flowers.

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just wait until next year. That thing is going to dump fruit. Just gotta get it through winter.

Ok. Just ordered some. Will have it tomorrow. I have one desert rose that I have been treating with alcohol but they keep coming back.


Thanks for the advice.

FINALLY got the Lara Farms Honeyquat to bloom! Been waiting on this forever.



Oliver did not fruit last year after I bare rooted and repotted it, but it is making up for it this year.



First blooms on Vista White. Really excited about this one. The favorite of many loquat conaisseurs.



Regular old gold nugget.

They will be protected so I should get them all.