re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates

Finally found a decent dark purple bougainvillea that isn't a shrub type. Needed a vining type that will climb a trellis. Not a fruit tree but definitley tropical.

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Do you happen to be in BR area? If so you should really look up Chapple Farms. He has a good amount of interesting fruit trees including a decent amount of tropicals.

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I'm not in BR (Northshore), but I'm aware of what Andrew is doing at Chapple Farms and it is very impressive. Have exchanged a few messages with him in the past trying to source some things. He has an account here and I hope he'll join this thread to dish some of his knowledge. He probably knows more about this stuff than anyone locally.

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Once the fruit is formed, how long until ripe?

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my lisbon fruited around may last year and I pulled my fruit right before the freeze.

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Any advice here?
I've got two crap myrtles i can't stand that i want to cut down and grind up and what I want to do is plant two Barbados Cherries in their place.

Obviously I'd remove as much stump as i can, and then remove as much wood chips as possible, but is it goign to be dumb to plant those trees in that same spot after removing as much as I can and filling back up with soil? I would imagine the decomposing root system is going to take a lot of nutrients from the ground, but if i dig a big enough hole after grinding as much as i can, i'd think i can mitigate that a good bit. Do I really need to wait several months before planting in the same place?

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First, Barbados Cherry is basically a zone 10 plant. Many vendors will advertise for 9b, but any Barbados Cherry in the ground in LA (except the extreme south down da bayou) would have been wiped out by this winter. Actual cold tolerance on this is mid-upper 20s. So if you're planning to put them in the ground, have a rock solid protection scheme. Unlike many trees, they do great in pots.

Planting into the same hole that you just dug something out of is a roll of the dice. You may get lucky but your odds of fungal and bacterial infection of the new tree are significantly greater, which may lead to root rot and death.

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I would imagine the decomposing root system is going to take a lot of nutrients from the ground

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The decomposing roots will actually add nutrients to the ground, but it will also deplete soil oxygen to some degree and more importantly become a substrate for pathogens.

If I were you, I would abandon this plan. Consider putting some large circular raised beds where the myrtles were and filling them with a very well-draining sandy soil. It would at least make sure the new trees have a good foot or so of good soil to grow into. Think of it as a giant bottomless pot. I have a 5 foot diameter one filled with 50/50 sand and topsoil that I grow an orange tree in. Why did I do this? Because I cut down a huge water oak 5 feet away and the ground began to sink as the oak roots decayed, making the area wetter and more hospitable for fungal rot. Orange tree rides above it all, doing fine. Now of course, when you put a tree's roots in an elevated raised bed, the tree is not as cold hardy anymore. The roots don't have as much thermal earth mass to protect them. But hell you already knew you were going to have to significantly cold protect Barbados cherry anyway, so who cares?

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I bought two Hass Advocadoes and ordered two Pickering Mango's b/c of this thread. Looking to add more and going to get one of those cheap greenhouses as well.

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Ambitious man, that's the spirit! That's what this thread is for. People keep telling you "no you can't" but have you or anyone you've known really tried it? You'd be surprised with what is possible as long as you're committed to becoming educated and investing in protective/lighting measures.

I don't grow avocados but people who know their stuff tell me that they need INCREDIBLY good drainage and plenty of water. I would probably put them in raised beds of 60-70% sand with an automatic irrigation system. Maybe someone who knows more will advise otherwise.

I may just pick one up for science ??. I’ve gotten over my fear of pruning by learning how to do initial heading cuts on bare root deciduous trees, so that’s no problem at all.

You’ve definitely sent me down a rabbit hole of looking into more tropicals now. Almost as if my 50 or so other edible trees/bushes aren’t enough.

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Consider putting some large circular raised beds where the myrtles were and filling them with a very well-draining sandy soil. It would at least make sure the new trees have a good foot or so of good soil to grow into.

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They are already in a flower bed basically. I've never been able to grow anything in this flower bed. The two crap myrtles are probably 25 years old.
It wasn't until i really dug out the dirt to put new dirt did i realize why nothing was staying alive there. There was a giant log about 2' below the surface of the raised bed rotting away inbetween the two crap myrtles. So every time i put shrubs there they'd last a few months and eventually start looking terrible and die.

I think i'm going to just remove the crap myrtles, flatten the whole bed out and fill it with rocks and then I'll put the two cherry trees in a nice large decorative pot and I'll find some other cheap decorative pots to put some other flowering plants inbetween the cherries. Run some irrigation to them and be done with it.



How big of a pot are you using on the fruit trees? Looking at the Everglades site recommends 10-15 gallons. You get any bigger and I would imagine it's going to start to get rather difficult to move.

Thanks.


Are you using solid containters are those cloth type ones?

I’ve got a few dozen of the nursery containers but most are still at my property in MS. I had been trying to figure out what kind of caddies you were using. Never thought about drum containers. I think I’m going to have the popup greenhouse right next to a brick patio so I should be able to move them easily.

Updated the OP with recommended reading. All books available on Amazon.