Mango trees are especially
beautiful during spring time when they flush out
multi-color new leaves! But you want your mango be not
only beautiful but fruitful as well. Here are some tips:
1) Fertilize Mango tree with a balanced slow release fertilizer
starting March. Use 1 tsp of granulated fertilizer per 1
gal of soil, or a handful or two for an in-ground tree.
You may add one application of foliar spray of a
water-soluble bloom booster fertilizer (the one for Roses
or Azaleas will work). This will give your tree a good
macro-nutrient kick-start.
2) Spray entire tree with SUNSHINE-Superfood solution.
This will provide all necessary micro-elements and keep
the plant healthy and strong throughout the season. Repeat
treatment once a month until harvest time.
3) For sweeter fruit, apply SUNSHINE-Honey solution
several times:
- early spring before flowering
- at setting buds
- right at the beginning of setting fruit
- after harvesting, to provide the tree with all good
micro-nutrients before resting season.
1) Adenium plants - from TopTropicals Endless selection of
Adeniums. We have double flower, red, purple, yellow
and even black flowers! 2) A small pot with excellent drainage is a must.
Position the plant in a pot, size of root system. 3) Adenium soil mix. TopTropicals Adenium Soilless Mix.
Use only well-drained soil. 4) Lots of light. Adeniums need lots of light for
heavy flowering. However from our own experience, in super
hot climates, they look healthier in filtered bright
light. After initial planting, once the plant is
established and starts growing new leaves (may take a few
weeks), gradually move it into brighter light. 5) Little water. Adeniums like a neutral to hard
water. Acidic water tends to sour the soil too fast and
may cause root rot. Water plants preferably in the early
morning, and allow them to drink up throughout the day.
Watering can be done daily to every few days. Do not water
again until soil dries on surface. Never allow your plants
to sit in a saucer of water, but don't let them to dry out
too often - this causes adeniums to go into early
dormancy. Adeniums do not like both over-watering or
drying-out. 6) Fertilizer. To make your plant develop a large
swollen base/trunk, you'll need a good quality fertilizer.
Use slow-release granulated fertilizer
for overall plant health, and liquid water soluble
fertilizer for swelling up trunks that is also used to
increase flowering. It shouldn't be too high in nitrogen,
the middle number should be the highest (similar to
10-50-10). Never apply fertilizer directly on roots and do
not liquid feed when a plant is thirsty: always water
first slightly to avoid root burn and leaf drop. Do not
wet leaves. 7) SuperFood micro-elements. Besides
macro-nutrients provided by fertilizer, Adenium needs
micro-elements for balanced development of root system and
especially caudex: Sunshine-SuperFood. 8) SUNSHINE-BC. Spray leaves with SUNSHINE-BC once a month to
encourage young growth, profuse flowering and large
caudex. 9) Growing caudex. There is a secret how to create
a large swollen caudex: raise the plant a bit every time
you re-pot it, so that the upper part of roots will be a
little exposed. The plant will form more roots that will
go down.
SUNSHINE boosters for recovering
plants after shipping
Q:
I live in Garden City, NJ and have a sun room with a
tropical plant collection that I keep at about 40-45
degrees in winter. I used Sunshine booster during winter
for my plant collection and results were amazing! I
haven't lost a single plant. Now I see you have more
products and I am planning to purchase more plants, how
should I use Sunshine boosters to help plants recover
after shipping?
A:
Spray SUNSHINE-E solution right after receiving a plant
from shipping. It will boost up the plant and make it
50-60% stronger and easier to recover after shipping
stress. After that, apply SUNSHINE-SuperFood
microelement booster to provide everything necessary for
the plant to grow vigorously and happily. SUNSHINE-E is
indeed a wonderful plant stimulant and stress reliever,
although it is not a "magic-cure-all" medicine where one
can't find its active ingredient. The hormone
(epibrassinolide) is well-known and used in different
countries along with other hormones for promote growth,
fruiting, blooming, rooting, etc. One of the most amazing
properties of SUNSHINE is that it works in extremely low
dozes. Only a few drops will be enough to make a solution
in distilled water, to treat a large size plant. If you
want to try it out, one 5 ml bottle will last for several
applications. Large bottles of SUNSHINE 50 ml and 100 ml -
great for small and big gardens. It is a good idea to
start bi-weekly applications to improve your plants
tolerance to Summer heat, drought and improve disease
resistance. The formula works through plant metabolism
within 2-4 days, repeat application not sooner than in one
week. After application of SUNSHINE-E, don't forget to
boost your plants with SUNSHINE-SuperFood .
Q:
I have a large fruit garden here in Florida with many
mango trees, avocadoes, guavas, and other tropical fruit.
Last year hurricane Irma and flooding killed a few avocado
trees, but mangos and guavas survived OK, but the sad part
is, very few flowers this year and almost no fruit
setting. I noticed on your website your Superfood and
Sunshine-Honey boosters that supposedly help fruiting? But
I am afraid it is too late now as your instructions say
first application must be in early Spring? I wish I
discovered earlier that my trees wouldn't want to fruit
this year...
A:
First of all, it is never late to give the food! You may
start applications of SUNSHINE products at any time
of the year. The best results will be achieved once you
treat your plants on regular basis throughout the whole
year cycle of metabolism.
Couple weeks ago we started harvesting our 2 guava trees.
These two are the same variety (Variegated Honeymoon),
planted within 20 ft from each other and growing in the
same conditions. The only difference was, one was treated
with SUNSHINE-Honey and SUNSHINE-SuperFood, and another
one didn't get any treats in order to have a control
plant.
Results are very interesting, see the picture. Both trees
were heavily covered with fruit. However the one with
treatments developed fruit that is much larger, much
sweeter and juicier, and the most interestingly - with
less seeds, almost no seeds!
To answer your question: yes, you can start feeding your
fruit trees right now. It is still a Springtime. Many
mango varieties have late season; even early varieties may
delay their fruiting if flowering triggered by
miscro-elements. Guavas have very long season and most
varieties can have multiple crops throughout Summer-Fall.
Here is a simple and affordable feeding schedule to
help your fruit garden recover from last year hurricane
stress, and establish reliable production:
1) SUNSHINE-E - for boosting
metabolism - once a month
2) SUNSHINE-Honey - for bringing
sugars to the heart of the tree and boosting fruit
sweetness and quality - now and in 2 weeks
3) SUNSHINE-SuperFood - for
overall health, recovering from hurricane and fixing root
damage from flood - now and every 2 weeks throughout warm
season.
4) You may apply regular balanced fertilizer NPK as
usual (we apply once a month, a handful per in-ground
tree)
It's that simple. Just try and watch your trees produce
again!
URBAN TROPICAL GARDENING:
10 secrets of successful Container Mango growing on a
balcony.
Q:
I live in Miami in apartment on a second floor, and I have
a balcony with SE exposure. I wonder if I can grow a mango tree in a pot? Will it
fruit for me? I recently moved to South Florida and I
don't know much about tropical plants; but I tasted real
fiberless mangos from someone's garden - it was so
delicious and different from those in the grocery store. I
wonder if I can have a fruiting tree on my balcony? And if
yes, how do I plant and take care of it?
A:
Yes, you can! Here is what you need to do:
1) Temperature. You are lucky to live in Tropics,
keep it on a balcony year round.
2) Light. Position the pot in a spot with the most
sun exposure. Mango trees can take filtered light too, but
the less sun, the less fruit you will get.
3) Soil and Container. Use only
well drained potting mix. Step up the purchased
plant into next size container (3 gal into 7 gal, 7 gal
into 15 gal). When transplanting, make sure to keep growth
point (where roots meet the trunk) just at the top of the
soil. Covering base of the trunk with soil may kill the
plant.
4) Water. Water daily during hot season, but only
if top of soil gets dry. If it still moist, skip that day.
Mangoes (unlike
Avocados!) prefer to stay on a dry side.
5) Fertilizer. Use
balanced fertilizer once a month, 1 tsp per 1 gal of
soil. Do not fertilize during fruiting - this may cause
fruit cracks.
6) Microelements. Apply SUNSHINE-Superfood once a month. This will help your
mango healthy, vigorous, and resistant to diseases. Use SUNSHINE-Honey to make your
fruit sweeter.
7) Insect control. Watch for scales and mealybugs,
clean with solution of soapy water + vegetable oil (may
need to repeat 2-3 times with 10 days interval), or with
systemic insecticide like imidacloprid only as needed (if
non-harsh treatment didn't help). Most Flea shampoo for
dogs contain that chemical, you may try that shampoo
solution.
8) Trimming. Once potted, do not remove leaves
that are discolored or have spots until new growth
appears. Dark dots on mango leaves, especially in humid
climate like Florida, may be signs of fungus. Treat with
fungicide according to label, and remove only badly
damaged leaves. Trim crown as needed after flowering and
fruiting (by Fall). Train into a small tree, and you may
remove some lower branches eventually.
9) Flower and fruit. Mangoes are winter bloomers
with bunches of tiny flowers coming in thousands. Many of
them set fruit (if pollinating insects present). Keep in
mind that young trees can only bare a few fruit. Normally
a tree will drop excessive fruit and keep only a few that
it can manage. To save the young tree some energy, remove
fruit if too many and leave only 2-3 for the first year.
It will pay you next year with more abundant crop.
10) Variety. Last but not least: Choose the right
variety for container culture! Pick from "condo" dwarf
varieties such as Icecream, Nam Doc Mai, Carrie, Cogshall, Julie, Fairchild, Pickering, Graham, Mallika, and a few others -
check out Mango Chart pdf
and full list of our Mango varieties.
