Q: I purchased an Avocado tree and planted it in a nice clay pot
that I bought in a special pottery place. My tree looked very healthy when
arrived but after a week leaves become droopy and started yellowing. I was
advised this was a sign of over-watering. I watered the tree only once since I
got it 2 weeks ago. What is wrong with my plant?
A: Unfortunately, the fancy pot may be the reason. Although clay
pots (plain clay, without glaze) are considered to be good for root health,
however, the root system is hard to control and difficult to check without
disturbing. Clay pots with fancy glaze and painting may have a drainage problem.
We have noticed that cone-shaped pots are usually problematic for drainage,
and a plant always has "wet feet". Avocados like watering, but cannot
tolerate sitting in water. If you want to avoid root problems and still like to keep
a beautiful look of your treasure plant, you may use a fancy planter, where
you can put your plant growing in a plain plastic black nursery pot of much
smaller size than a planter: its vertical walls are perfect for drainage, and
the pot is easy to remove for re-potting or inspecting. Make sure to put a
layer of drainage rock on the bottom of the planter so your efforts won't be in
vain.
Q: I
intend to gift three avocados, at least one type A and one type B, to a friend who
lives in an area where the temperature never goes below 25F. The idea is to
give them a ripening season as long as possible. Which combinations do you
suggest, and which are the A and B?
A: When
talking about "A" type and "B" type in Avocados, we are referring to the
flowers. An avocado will produce both male and female flowers on the same plant.
"A" type means that the flowers are female in the morning and male at
afternoon. "B" type means that the flowers are male in the morning and female in the
afternoon. If you plant to start a commercial growth, then it's important to
create a proper mix of both types. However, in hot and humid climate a single
tree produces flowers of both types, so it is NOT necessary to have both A-
and B- types planted together in the backyard. Even a single tree produces
enough fruit for a home gardener.
It is also important to know that while there are "more cold hardy"
avocados (hardy to as low as 15F), it refers to a full grown established tree.
Young trees still need protection from the cold until they are bigger and more
established. One can not expect a small tree planted in June to survive the
first winter with a hard freeze. It'll take a few years until the tree is
strong enough.
These a few rare varieties that may be of your interest.
Poncho Avocado Very cold hardy variety. Produces medium to large green fruit. It
survived temperatures around 10F near San Antonio, Texas (Zone 8b). Mature trees
can take temperatures down to 15F for short period of time without significant
damage.
Anise Avocado This avocado has strongly scented leaves that smell like Anise. Very
rare variety. Fruit is of excellent quality, creamy and buttery.
Catalina Avocado Catalina is a very nice mid-season pear-shaped fruit that is especially
rich and creamy. It is an extremely popular variety in South Florida in the
Cuban Community. The Story of this variety says...
...Catalina is an amazing avocado floated across from Cuba, 60 years
ago just before Fidel Castro took over the Island Nation. Wise Cubans jumped
into the ocean to escape the Castro regime and tossed in some favorite scions
for us to enjoy here in the States. We owe a great debt to poor old Don Miguel
Cruz de la Santa Maria Espinoza Sanchez Alvarez Jr. who sadly was lost at
sea. His amazing scion wood, wrapped in cellophane and aluminum foil floated
over, washing ashore on Miami Beach. His shiny little package was miraculously
picked up on the shoreline and immediately grafted and cared for by keen-eyed
avocado lovers in Miami...
So be sure to think about this story every time you eat a Catalina!
These three Avocados will provide you with fruit ripening during the
whole warm season.
See more information on avocado varieties and the most cold hardy
cultivars.
Q:
Any suggestions on gift plants? With Holidays around the
corner, I've been thinking of getting a present for my
grandma, she lives in FL and is an experienced gardener. I
also have a friend that lives in CA, also warm climate,
but she doesn't have a green thumb. Any "easy" plants I
can try for her?
A:
Live plant is a perfect gift, as we all know. However when
ordering a plant online as a present, for a happy
experience, you should have three things to consider:
Gardener's experience. Planting instructions are
included with every order, and usually success is there if
you follow them. But all plants go through shipping stress
(some more, others less) and need time, patience and love
to recover. Also, a plant will need a new home after
shipping: a pot and a good soil mix. It would be wise if
you add potting mix with a gift
order; the plant should be planted in a permanent pot as
soon as possible, but normally can wait a day in a packing
bag until its new owner gets a pot, if it is not ready
yet.
How easy the plant is? If buying a plant for a
beginner, chose something easy, as well as showy. Adeniums - Desert Roses, Jasmines, Clerodendrums, Cordylines are always a good
choice. Calatheas, Gingers and
Heliconias are always showy, even when not in bloom.
Spice trees and herbs are
fun, easy to grow and one can enjoy their aroma right away
without waiting on them growing bigger. Miracle Fruit is an awesome
present, it comes with detailed instructions how to grow
the Miracle!
How easy the plant ships? Some plants can be
easy in cultivation, but they don't take shipping well.
After being in a dark box for a few days, most plants
usually recover well in experienced hands. When making a
present, you want something showy, not just a stick to
arrive. Besides Adeniums and Jasmines, many fruit trees
usually take shipping without a problem - such as Mango or Sapote trees. You may not
want to start with Avocado, Papaya, Carambola, or Cacao - unless they go to
an experienced grower - these may take some time and skill
to etanblish. Fig trees are super easy in
shipping, but figs may drop leaves in Winter - for this
same reason, you may think twice about deciduous plants
like Sugar Apples, Grapes, Mulberries or Persimmons to be sent as
gifts. On the other hand, if you are sending a deciduous
tree to a gardener who can appreciate the variety, this
may be a good choice - dormant plants take shipping with
less stress!
Holiday
special: On the picture: Adenium Xmas Santa. A Holiday Special
Desert Rose with Christmas-colored flowers - deep-red and
white.
Still not sure which plant to choose? You may buy a Top Tropicals Gift Certificate,
it ships well and has no expiration date!
Avocado, Lychee and Mango setting
fruit... give them some FOOD!
Q:
Do I need to fertilize tropical fruit when they set fruit?
A:
It is traditionally believed that mango and other tropical
fruit shouldn't be fertilized during fruiting period. It
is true to an extent: you don't want fruit to burst from
fast excessive growing. Instead, try to feed fruit trees
wisely, because they still need proper nutrition to
produce flowers and fruit.
Our spring specials of Lychee, Avocado and Mango are full of buds and
some already set tiny fruit (see examples on the photo).
Here is the feeding plan for these plants once you receive
your mail order:
Once received the plant, pot it into container size of
the root ball and let establish for couple weeks. Use SUNSHINE-E to help the plant
recover from shipping stress and establish root system.
Apply SUNSHINE-Honey right before
flowering, and next time at setting fruit, to provide
sweeter and bigger fruit, eliminate fruit cracks and help
resist fungus and other fruit diseases.
Use balanced granulated fertilizer,
1 tsp per each gallon of soil. Apply once a month during
Spring-Summer season. This gives the plant balanced
macro-elements (NPK) necessary for overall plant health.
Do not use on fruit trees fertilizers with high Nitrogen
content.
Apply SUNSHINE SuperFood
micro-element booster to keep fruit trees vigorous,
develop strong root system and avoid deficiencies.
In case of signs of chlorosis (yellowing leaves with
darker veins), give the tree SUNSHINE-GreenLeaf and watch
the leaves turning green quickly.
After harvesting, don't forget to make another treatment
of SUNSHINE-Honey as a
preparation for the next year flowering and fruiting
season.
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:
SUNSHINE-E - for boosting
metabolism - once a month
SUNSHINE-Honey - for bringing
sugars to the heart of the tree and boosting fruit
sweetness and quality - now and in 2 weeks
SUNSHINE-SuperFood - for
overall health, recovering from hurricane and fixing root
damage from flood - now and every 2 weeks throughout warm
season.
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!
20% off entire
purchase. For 20% off your entire purchase, use this code:
FATHER2017 Offer expires end of Father's Day, June 18, 2017. Min order $100 before
S&H.
Chanel No5 and the story of
Ylang-Ylang. This video is about Cananga odorata (Chanel No5 or Ylang-Ylang
tree), history of the plant, legends, cultural meaning, perfume production,
aromatherapy, cultivation. Everyone should own their own Chanel No5, and it's
easy as 1-2-3 - just check out our Ylang-Ylang selection!
Stay updated with TopTropicals Videos by subscribing to our channel at
YouTube.com/TopTropicals and
get our latest video news of what's fruiting and blooming!
Q: I intend to gift three avocados, at least one type A and one type B, to a friend who lives in an area where the temperature never goes below 25F. The idea is to give them a ripening season as long as possible. Which combinations do you suggest, and which are the A and B?
A: When talking about "A" type and "B" type in Avocados, it is referring to the flowers. An avocado will produce both male and female flowers on the same plant. "A" type means that the flowers are female in the morning and male at afternoon. "B" type means that the flowers are male in the morning and female in the afternoon. If you plant to start a commercial growth, then it's important to create a proper mix of both types. However, in hot and humid climate a single tree produces flowers of both types, so it is not necessary to have both A- and B- types planted together in backyard. Even a single tree produces enough fruits for home gardener.
It is also important to know that while there are more cold hardy avocados, it refers to a full grown established tree. They will still need protection from the cold until they are bigger and more established. One can not expect a small tree, which was planted in June, to survive the first winter. It'll take few years until the tree is "harden" enough.
Wurtz Avocado: Fruits from May to Sept.
Dwarf hybrid. It is very compact and slow growing, reaching only about 8-12 feet at maturity. Distinctive weeping growth habit. Suited for planters, containers, patios, greenhouse use. Great for dooryard or container growing. The tree can handle temperatures to 25(F) degrees. Production is good and it is a consistent bearer.
Day Avocado: Fruits July to Sept.
Day avocado is green, smooth skin and is shaped like a club. The fruit is of very good quality and has a nice buttery consistency. The slender tree is relatively cold tolerant and produces July through September.
Fuerte Avocado: Fruits Nov to June.
Relatively cold hardy variety. Green fruit, elongated,flavor excellent, buttery. Vigorous compact tree with decidedly alternate year bearing habit. Ripens November to June.
These three will provide you with fruit ripening during the whole warm season.
For the most cold hardy avocado varieties, see this info sheet.
Q:
I live in California and about a month ago ordered several plants from you, including fruit trees (Carambola, Mango, Avocado) and flowering trees (Xanthostemon, Adeniums, Champaca, Ylang Ylang). They were all doing well until I tried to move them into full sun, when they got leaf burn immediately. Ylang Ylang was doing great in a shade, but I repotted it from 1 gal into 3 gal and it is drooping leaves now. It has been very hot (over 100F) and dry (humidity is less than 25%). Any suggestions?
A: Hot summer can be pretty challenging time for establishing new plants. These are some guidelines to make your summer gardening more successful and rewarding.
You can order plants at any time, but keep your eye on your local weather forecast and try to chose cooler periods to schedule your plant shipments. Here at TopTropcals we monitor weather at destinations, and we can also delay shipment per your request until more favorable conditions.
Use shade cloth or simply white sheets to protect young plants and new plantings from hot sun.
When establishing mail ordered plants during hot weather, keep them in shade for longer period of time than average recommended 1-2 weeks. Give them a chance to establish really well. In areas with low air humidity, try to create a simple mist system. It can be purchased in your local Home Depot for only $20 and set up takes only 10 minutes! It makes a big difference and can help you save many plants from hot weather stress.
Although it may seem that during hot weather plants need more water due to high evaporation, be careful with watering, and check soil with your finger before watering - don't water if it is still wet. Combination of "hot and wet" can be as harmful for the root system as "cold and wet" during winter. Protect root systems from overheating: covering black pots with white cloth will work. Remember when temperature is above 90F, most of plants slow down their metabolism, which means roots slow down or even stop pumping water and become more vulnerable to overwatering. For the same reason, do not hurry to step up into bigger container if roots haven't filled yet the existing pot.
