Q: What fruit trees do you recommend that will start fruiting right away? I am 84 and I would really love to see the fruit sooner than later!
A: Most of grafted fruit trees will start producing the same year - such as Mango, Avocado, Peaches and other grafted trees. Besides, these are several garden favorites that start fruiting right in 1-3 gal container.
B-Farm in Sebring is now open!
Every Friday and Saturday
Thank you everyone for visiting us this weekend at new Top Tropicals
location in Sebring (B-Farm)! We met many new friends as well as old friends
that now are closer.
Local gardeners in Central Florida are now excited to have a special place
for their needs in rare tropical plants.
Many guests also purchased Sunshine Boosters liquid fertilizers. Sunshine Boosters are safe for
daily use year around and ensure that you will have happy and healthy plants.
Stash up for feeding your plants during the winter to make them strong, hardy
and healthy!
At B-Farm, we offer free consultations on Sunshine Boosters. We can help
you select proper combinations of fertilizers, micro-elements and special
plant supplements, including those that improve cold hardiness of tropical
plants.
This Friday:Green Friday...
and every Friday and Saturday!
Welcome to TopTropicals B-Farm in Sebring
FL
Starting this coming Friday, November 25, our farm in Sebring (B-Farm)
will be open to the public every Friday and Saturday.
B-Farm is a 10-acre growing facility with hundreds of varieties of rare and
much wanted tropical plants. Fruit trees, flowering trees, shrubs, vines,
fragrant plants and rare collectibles - we grow the biggest selection of
tropical plants known in cultivation.
Come over to select the best Mango, Avocado, any other fruit tree or rare
spice for your edible landscape. Shop our biggest in the world variety of
flowering and fragrant tropical plants - directly from our growing farm!
Conveniently located right in the heart of Florida, Highlands County,
Top Tropicals B-Farm is within about an hour from most Florida destinations.
Get your plants ready for winter:
Just spray this to improve cold hardiness...
How to improve plant cold hardiness?
Pland cold hardiness depends on several factors,
including:
genetics of specific species
maturity of the plant, size of root system, stems and branches
plant health and vigor which is supported by proper nutrition program
and adding special plant hormones.
While 1) and 2) may be out of our control, the 3rd factor is something
that can be easily improved! It is important to feed plants during the season
of active growth on regular basis by applying macro- and micro- elements.
Liquid fertilizers and especially natural plant food like Sunshine Boosters can be applied year around to keep plants healthy and
strong.
Besides the routine fertilizing program, just a few applications of special
plant hormones can increase tropical plant hardiness big time! Before the
cold is coming, spray your plants with these 3 magic potions and they will gain
a few degrees in low temperature tolerance! It is recommended to make 2-3
applications.
I got an Akee tree from you last year for my tropical fruit garden
collection and honestly didn't know much about what it was. This year it started
growing real fast and branched out. In spring it was flowering like crazy and now I have about 20 bright coral fruit hanging off the tree that look like Christmas decorations. They are extremely
showy and can be seen from far away, I have neighbors stopping by asking what
kind of tree it is. I finally did more research on it and found a recipe how to cook the fruit. Only a few had ripened and
opened so far, but I already had a chance to try the meal. Cooked the arils and fried in a pan
with some butter. What a delicious surprise! To my taste, it is like a mix
of potatoes and eggs. Just through in some bacon and it will make a complete
breakfast! One of the coolest fruit I've tasted. Just wanted to share this with you.
About Akee (Blighia
sapida)
This showy fruit, a close relative of Lychee, Longan, and Rambutan, is a
National fruit of Jamaica. It is indeed very exciting one, and what is also
important, the tree is easy in cultivation, fast growing and can be maintained compact. I it is
not bugsy or picky about soil/water conditions, and is relatively cold tolerant for
being a tropical tree. You can find delicious akee meals only in Jamaican restaurants. But no
need to search for it - grow your own tree, it can't be easier. It will start
fruiting for you the next season, you don't have to wait long. Sometimes it
fruits twice a year! However, remember, the fruit is used as a vegetable, and is not eaten raw. It must be
picked after the fruit has opened naturally so the flesh is fully exposed to
light. When the fruit has "yawned", discard the seeds (or better plant them to
grow more trees - to share with your friends!). The arils, while still fresh
and firm, are best parboiled in salted water or milk and then lightly fried in
butter. Then they are really delicious! Read
more about this tree...
Q: I know that I am not supposed to fertilize plants in winter.
But I just bought several ground orchids from you, they are blooming now and I wonder if I can
give them some food to support their bloom energy? When should I do the last
application of fertilizer? I will keep them in a sun room during Winter until
Spring.
A: Traditionally, end of October to November is the time when we
give the last dose of fertilizer to our tropical plants. Liquid fertilizers,
and especially amino-acid based Sunshine Boosters, are safe to apply year around. This means, you can
continue feeding your plants with Sunshine Boosters through the Winter without
risk of over-feeding or burning roots. Why?
The answer is very simple: even with their metabolism slowed down in
Winter, plants will use all that food.
Sunshine Boosters have special mild formulas that are scientifically
designed and based on Amino Acids. Plants will use all essential elements from the
solution as needed.
Liquid fertilizer is diluted in water, and will be applied only when you
water the plant. During Winter, water needs are lowered = watering times are
less frequent, with less amount of water = the plants will get less water and
less fertilizer accordingly.
Importance of micro elements
in combination with plant food during winter
In the photo: winter chlorosis on Kumquat
leaves that is very hard to treat and should be prevented instead
Keep in mind that feeding your plants regularly during Winter will help
to avoid "winter chlorosis" and other deficiency problems. So called
"cool-temperature-induced chlorosis" (CTIC) is especially common in Spring on young,
actively growing leaves. Unless chlorosis is prevented by micro-element
applications, affected leaves may remain in this condition for the rest of the
growing season.
Make sure to select proper type of fertilizer for your over-wintering plants. We have
special formulas for foliage, flowering plants, fruit trees, young seedlings, even
for for orchids and bromeliads. Check out our selection!
A Miracle for every special
garden:
Synsepalum - Miracle Fruit
...Every tropical plant lover wants to have this plant in their collection. And there are at least three good
reasons for it:
it is a true miracle fruit
It enjoys growing in a pot, stays compact and brings you miracle berries nearly year
around
it can be grown indoors as it has very low water and light needs.
Miracle fruit is one of the strangest tropical fruits. The most unusual thing about it is the
effect it has on one's taste after this miraculous berry has been consumed. The
"miracle" is that if lemon or other sour food is eaten after the miracle
fruit, the sour tastes sweet, as if sugar has been added. That kind of magical
experience is unforgettable! The interest in this plant is so high that anyone who has a plant always finds eager volunteers to test its sweetening
properties. A natural chemical in the fruit masks the tongue's sour taste buds so that lemons taste like lemonade or lemon pie, or lemon candy; beer
tastes like Malta drink, sour strawberries taste super sweet, and a grapfruit
tastes delicions and not bitter! What causes the miracle? The fruit has a unique taste changing glycoprotein that inhibits tastebuds' perception of
sour taste. The sweet sensation lasts for half an hour to a few hours...
We've been here before, storms are not new to us, and each time, as we
survey the damage, start the clean-up process, and prepare to move forward, we are asked the same question by our friends and
neighbors, "You must really love what you do to deal with the drought, floods,
freezes and storms and pick yourself up and do it all over again?!"
Well, the answer is yes; yes we do love this way of life. Bringing the beauty and vitality of tropical plants to thousands of
customers, many of which have been with us since the beginning 20 years ago, is our
purpose. It is a labor of love and our reward is seeing so many people discover
their joy in and with our plants!
So we will put it all back together, we will continue to do what we love and we hope to continue to have your
support along the way.
Next Saturday, October 8 is our October Fall Festival. We have spent weeks planning this special
event and the show will go on! For you, that means continued specials all week, a chance to attend in person or participate virtually in our event on Saturday, and the ability to help us as we get set to do it all over again!
Guava is one of the most popular and well-known tropical fruit because
it is so tasty, sweet, juicy and flavorful! Many people are familiar with it
because of the large number of products made from this aromatic fruit. But
very few people know that Guava tree culture is very easy and this plant can
fruit in a pot right away. Guava tree start blooming and producing fruit as
small as 1 gal pot size. It can be kept in compact shape, responds well to pruning, stays bushy and grows very fast. It
is a perfect container fruit tree or a specimen for a tropical garden of any
size.
Upon ripening, the fruit becomes soft and juicy. It may be eaten fresh,
made into a juice or nectar contain fruit pulp, or made into preserves, jam,
jelly, or paste. A distinctive, savory-fresh aroma of fruit is thermo-stable,
thus survives processing. The guava is an excellent source of vitamins C and
A.
The plant is relatively cold hardy. Our young trees, 3 months after being
planted in the ground were exposed to a short period of freeze last winter
(mid-20's) but they grew back without significant damage. Try to keep Guava
cold-protected for the first winter, then it will be much hardier once
established.
Guavas are fast growers and heavy feeders, and benefit from regular
applications of fertilizer. Make sure to get some Sunshine Boosters fertilizer: Sunshine
C-Cibus - Crop Booster, and feed them your round.
Ceiba pentandra, Kapok Tree:
Maya's Sacred Tree at the Center of the Earth
by Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats
...Everybody who sees this tree for the first time, always says "What's
THAT???" And everybody wants to have one! Kapok Tree is a large, magestic,
gorgeous shade tree that just requires a little bit of space in your garden! It
is definitely a conversation piece and is a must for every botanical garden
or a large private tropical tree collection. Kapok is a fast growing tree,
however, it may take many years to reach its mature size. It is worth the wait
though!..
