re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

Had to move my Silas Wood sapodilla from 7g to 20g and cut it back. Thing has been growing like a weed. It was slow to start but once it got going it was off to the races.



Also, over the last few days meteorologists have begun predicting that La Nina will last all winter. That means a warmer and drier winter for the deep south. Great news for us in this thread. I am really hoping we get back to some normal winters soon.

When you put your thermostat in your greenhouse do you put the temp probe into a glass of water so the temp swings aren't as rapid?

Just remembered that I have two of these from my homebrewing days.

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When you put your thermostat in your greenhouse do you put the temp probe into a glass of water so the temp swings aren't as rapid?

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No. Seems like a good way to have your plants freeze or cook, depending on the weather.

Thanks for the input on temps.
Funny how different my DH and Pickering are flushing growth.
Pickering is much more prolific, large leaves and pushes about every 4-6 weeks!

If I wanted to prune my guava back how should I do that for size control? It has a nice main leader about 5ft tall from the crown, and several lateral branches established.

Head the laterals back hard? Cut the main leader back?

If you could do one peach and one pear in 9b what would you choose? I could do 2 each if absolutely necessary, I already fit in 4 citrus and 2 apple with 6 more low chill apples on the way this winter.

No idea on pears. Zero experience. For peaches you need to be looking at things like Florida king and tropic snow.

And if you are 9b in Louisiana or the gulf south, you need to get ready for a pretty rigorous spray program.

If you are 9b California or Arizona then have fun and go crazy with your dry climate. Peaches are native to arid northwest China. Our humidity will wreck them without chemical help. Sure, you'll always find the one guy who gets a huge harvest with no spraying or pruning, but that's not the rule at all.

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You may fare better in 9A which corresponds to the University of Florida’s Zone where they were developed. You’ll get more chill hours than I do.

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Every time I start bitching about my 6-10 annual freezes I think about the very few crazy reverse zone pushers who are going in the opposite direction. People in Broward trying to grow apples and cherries, etc. Then I don't feel so bad. Way easier for me to grow a mango in ground than for them to grow a Ranier cherry.

Right on brotha. This whole thread is about saying "F it let's see what happens."





The more I think about it, the more I start to think that a warm 9b is the best zone. The exotic pest pressure is lower and the freezes are generally light and chill hours are reasonable. 9a is 100+ in the summer and the rare single digits in the winter.

I live on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and it feels like our weather is tempered somewhat by the water. Our back yard is a canal, but the front of the neighborhood faces the lake, we are right there.

We are trying a few apples, but we mostly have fruit well suited for our zone, previously mentioned blueberries, oranges, some of the more cold hardy dwarf bananas that I hope to get fruit from next year.

If they don't work out I can always yank em and put something else there. We have rabbiteyes that should give us fruit from early season through late season, oranges should start with Valencia in the spring the Washington Navels and Hamlin later in the year. Melons in the summer, we should be good with fruit. I do my strawberries hydroponically inside. Running everbearing varieties when I pull the runners off they will give a new crop and then the runners will give a new crop to. I have gotten decent at getting a raft of plants to give fruit all around the same time.

The apples we are going with first are Anna and Ein Shemer, they were available locally. I ordered bare root Kindercrisp, Golden Delecious, Rubinette and Sunshine that should come during the dormant season. I do want to pick up a golden Dorsett also, and I am not so sure about the Golden Delicious, but if it doesn't work out I can just graft another apple to the tree later.

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If you could do one peach and one pear in 9b what would you choose?

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I'm in zone 9a and have a Flordaking and a Rio Grande. The Rio Grande is a lot healthier than the Flordaking but it buds mid January and I've lost a lot of the buds to late freezes. I haven't had that much trouble with either of them as far as pests go. I spray with bonide fruit tree spray as recommended on the label. I planted them both in 2021 and the Rio is about 15 ft tall now.

I did a poor job of thinning them this year and they didn't get as big as store peaches but they were still delicious. I don't have any good pics of them when loaded down but here is a screen shot of a vid I took of the Rio.

I should have thinned out about twice as many as I did.