People of TopTropicals. Dog of the Year: Tilda, the Assistant Photographer
Today is a sad day. Our Editor and Photographer assistant Tilda left us for her last trip to Eternity...
to the Dog's Paradise. For many years, Tilda has been helping Top Tropicals Editor and Plant Expert Marina Rybka to take pictures of beautiful plants from all
over the world. We can often see Tilda's tail, paws, ears or eyes in many photos of our plant catalog. With Marina's and Tilda's help, our catalog today has 4900 tropical plant profiles with 53989 photos!
Tilda, you will always stay with us. You will follow us in every shot you made with your Mom. Thank you for being there for Marina and her TopTropicals. Thank you for making life of tropical gardeners happier! You made the
difference. We love you forever.
TopTropicals PeopleCat Club and Zoo
Thank you for supporting us in helping PeopleCat Community! Make your kind donation today and receive a surprise gift from us! Every little bit helps. Thank you and God bless you and your
pets!
Q: My Red Jade Vine has the leaf tips turning brown. I water this plant four
times a week and I am using a half a teaspoon of miracle grow bloom booster
15-30-15 per 2 gallons, every two weeks. In the beginning I had to water this
plant off city water in South Fort Myers. Over the last two months I picked
up a dechlorinator buggy plus threw that on my hose and I've been watering it
with that but it didn't seem to make a difference. I put this plant in the
ground last September. It has three shoots that run into the top of the tree,
so it is growing but leaves seem to drop off down low at the base of the vine
and the brown tipping running into the top of the plant. But not the newest
shoot its leaves are solid green all the way at the top. Thanks for any
advice.
A: Mucuna benettii - Red Jade vine - is not the easiest plant to grow, and
we are glad your vine is growing well. For those who love this plant but not
ready to face all challenges, we recommend its cousin - Camptosema grandiflora - Dwarf Red Jade Vine, which is much hardier and
easier plant.
We looked at the photos and these are our thoughts.
1) The top of the plant with green fresh leaves definitely indicates
that the plant is generally healthy and vigorous.
2) Dry tips of the old leaves may indicate excess salts in soil, in
combination with the summer heat that it went through. Based on your feeding program
description, that fertilizer may create a problem. Water soluble traditional
fertilizers are EDTA-chelated which often causes nutrients lock up in soil
and leaf drop. Try to stay away from that fertilizer for a month and let the
rains and/or irrigation water flush the soil for a couple of weeks.
3) Red Jade vine is a very sensitive species. Normally, during hot season
it is safe to use traditional fertilizers, especially slow-release granulated.
However, with this plant we recommend you to switch to more delicate formula
and use only liquid fertilizer. SUNSHINE Megaflor - Bloom Nutrition Booster will be the best. It is
safe to use it as frequent as with every watering! It is amino-acid
based, and will be totally consumed by the plant without nutrient lockup.
4) Another cause of dry leaf tips may be micro-element deficiency.
Megaflor booster already has all necessary micro-nutrients in it, plus you
may apply some extra: SUNSHINE Superfood.
5) You may continue using regular water for watering (including city water)
as long as you use amino-acid based plant food and supplements: they improve
soil acidity (what tropical plants like is acidic soil, and Florida soils
are alkaline). Additionally, to improve soil acidity which can be critical for
this Mucuna species, you may add 1" layer of pure peat moss on top of the
soil around the plant. Please keep us in loop how the plant is doing. It is
pretty rare species in cultivation and we will be happy to help you to keep it
thriving.
Q: I bought from you 3 plants Stephanotis How do I protect them from this low temperature now? I live in Ft Myers Beach.
A: In Ft Myers Beach, you have frost-free winters. You don't have to worry about cold protection for the Stephanotis. It is pretty cold hardy plant in spite of being a true tropical (it enjoys Hawaii environment for example). From our own experience, Stephanotis can even take a light frost for a short period of time without any damage.
You can keep this plant either in a pot or plant in the ground in a nice
sunny location for more profuse flowering. It can climb a tree, a fence, or a pagoda.
However, keep in mind that during cool weather you need to reduce amount of watering. Wet + cold is a bad combination for plants. Water
again only when the soil gets slightly dry. In summer time, extra water is not critical because it evaporates quickly with high temperatures.
Q: As the World's Leading Authority on Tropical Plants, I hope you can help us out. We obtained a mango tree from a City giveaway, and planted it a few years ago. This is the
1st year it has produced fruit.
They are almost all green color, & range from 6-7 inches in length. Attached are a few photos of the tree & its fruit. Please help to identify the type, and how to determine when they would be ready to pick. Or should we just wait until they fall off of the tree?
A: If the tree is grafted, it normally starts flowering within a year after planting. If
the tree is over 6 years old and just now started fruiting - chances are, this is a seedling (possible at giveaways)
without specific variety. However the fruit looks pretty good size and shape, hopefully it tastes great. You will find out soon!
Based on the pictures, there maybe a few possible choices, including
varieties (or their seedlings) Keitt, Rosigold, it can be even Lancetilla if fruit grows bigger than 7" long. The next step would be, wait until the fruit get some color, then it will be easier to narrow down the variety.
Also see if there is a lot of fiber or no fiber.
You may wait until at least one fruit ripens on the tree and let it fall naturally - that
will be the color (can be all green, but in your case it looks like it's turning yellow blush). After that, you may pick full size fruit before they fall and let them
ripen on a kitchen table. Usually once the fruit starts showing color, it is close to ripening. For all-green varieties, just wait till fruit grows to maximum full
size. You may also check if the fruit gets softer to touch, then it's ready.
Q: A few years ago, I purchased a Barbie Loquat from you, and I'm pleased to say it's been growing very well. I
now have several loquat seedlings. I have read that a well-draining medium
should be used, and I have found that the various formulations provided on the
web for such medium seem vaguely reminiscent of the recipe provided in your
transplanting instructions. Therefore, I would like to retrieve your recipe,
unless you could recommend an even better one?
A: The main requirements for a good potting mix are:
- perfect drainage, allowing air circulation that is so necessary for
healthy roots; oxygen circulation helps to avoid root rot
- water retention: to keep nutrients in soil
- low pH (soil acidity) which is important for most tropical plants
- adequate amount of organic matter in the mix, in combination with proper
fertilizer program
In our nursery we experimented with many different potting mixes for the
past couple decades. We ended up with an ultimate mix for tropical container
plants that we designed ourselves. This custom mix is called -
It meets all the requirements above which makes it a perfect mix. All
our plants are happy with it.
Abundance is a professional quality (nursery-grade) potting mix with great
drainage characteristics, ideal for any tropical plants. It is organically
derived soil-less mix, free of any additives.
Ingredients are:
- fine Canadian peat moss
- coconut coir
- perlite
- aged pine bark (soil conditioner).
See more info on
soil mixes.
We have this mix available for purchase in different packaging sizes - 2, 3, and 7 gal
bags.
Besides proper potting mix, all container plants require regular
fertilizing. We recommend the newest, scientifically balanced fertilizers Sunshine Boosters that are natural, eco-safe, great for all edibles and
organic gardening. They are safe to use with every watering, provide all
necessary elements for plant daily needs, and won't burn the roots.
For your loquat tree, consider Sunshine C-Cibus, it boosts both flowering and fruit production. Loquat
is Winter-Spring bloomer, hopefully you will get some crop soon!
Every tropical gardener wants to have a Dombeya (a.k.a. Tropical Hydrangea) in their collection - an easy to
grow, fast growing winter bloomer. These plants don't require any special care,
thrive in neglect in both sun or shade, and flower profusely during
Fall-Winter months - what an awesome treat! Dombeyas are also wanted for their
vigorous growth habit - they can cover unwanted view in no time, fill and empty
corner in your yard, create a colorful tropical display, and attract lots of
butterflies and bees. They are not afraid of water logging, in fact the more you
water them, the faster they grow. The large tropical leaves are beautiful -
soft, fuzzy, with shallow, maple-like lobes. This plant is tolerant to both
light frost and periods of drought.
Most Dombeyas grow into round, dense bushes, but this one variety of is
very special. Dombeya burgessiae from South Africa actually grows into a small (10-15
ft), pretty, upright tree that is covered with beautiful blossoms during
winter. The flowers are creme color with raspberry centers, attracting lots of
pollinators, and what is the most special - they are sweetly fragrant! What a
beauty!
Surround yourself with aromatic cloud of Dombeya winter
blooms!
Q: I am looking for a colorful, tropical plant with in
particular, coarser texture, to add to planting beds next to my decks and around my
swimming pool. Any suggestions? I am located in St. Petersburg, FL.
A: Consider incorporating some fast growing Red Abyssinian
Banana, also known as wild banana or Ethiopian banana. This is a fantastic
ornamental from East Africa and an excellent choice to create a tropical feel and to
add coarse-textured foliage. This plant is not a true banana and therefore
does not produce any edible fruit. American gardeners were rather slow to
discover this enormous perennial, but finally woke up to them over the last decade
to a point where they now are considered to be one the most beautiful ornamental banana plants for the landscape and for good reason...
Q: I am long time customer of yours, I live in San Diego
California and while the summer and Fall temperatures are warm to mild, the winter
temperatures dip to a point where some tropicals die off. We are experimenting
with different variations of way to heat and insulate the pots we have the
tropicals planted in as a way to keep them alive during the colder winter
months. I was wondering if you knew of the ideal soil temperature for these
tropical in order to look their best year round. All of the heaters we have
installed have thermostats and temperature adjustments so we can now keep the soil
anywhere between a range of between 65-75 degrees. Any advise you can provide
would be greatly appreciated.
A: This is a very interesting concept you are working with.
Indeed, keeping pots/roots warm, may help a lot! We've been experimenting with
cold protection for a long time - for the above-ground plant parts. For sure
keeping roots protected (even with a thick layer of mulch) will benefit tropical
plants during winter. In case with container plants, this may help
dramatically.
The guideline is, tropical plants slow down or stop their metabolism at
65F. As long as you can keep soil above that temperature - this should work
great. Of course, the higher the better.
Optimum temperature for growing tropical plants in general - 70-85F.
Above 90F, metabolism stops too, unless it's a heat tolerant, desert
plant.
More information on winter cold protection of tropical plants and
zone pushing:
The biggest Garden Event in TopTropicals history just happened! (and
bigger event yet to come!) Fall Garden Festival on Saturday 11/21/20 was a blast! We had so many
amazing vendors with cool, sunny, happy products.
We would like to thank everyone who brought their arts, crafts, and their
LOVE to our gardens, and to all the guests who really enjoyed the show!
As always, Pros and Congas live jazz set a tropical tune to the day.
Please come again to our future events and share your talents with the
World!
Special thanks to our vendors:
Izzy Baquerizo - Graphic Artist (Fort Myers)
Tony Campo Gallery
Homegrown - tropical oils, creams and blends by Rebekah Bunting
Sara's Stowers Jewelry - Resin and Clay Jewelry (Naples)
Kelsey's Treasure - Macrame & Wire Jewelry (Fort Myers)
Cinthya Celeste - with her Moonlight Gypsy Tarot Card Readings
Twain's Tye Dye @asmrdotcommunity @twains.tyedye (Spark Twain)
Elijam Adams - Hoop Flow (St. Petersburg, FL)
Someuglyrugs
See all participants with links to their businesses
When I stumbled upon my first Pink Silk Floss tree at the Naples Botanical Garden in Florida, it
stopped me in my tracks. It was in full bloom and one of the most beautiful
flowering trees I had ever laid my eyes upon. This tree has so much wow factor.
Not only are the flowers of this native from the Amazon Rain Forest in South
America spectacular, but the trunk, seeds and attractive, umbrella-like crown
makes it exceptionally unique and interesting. This tree will stand out in any
garden....
