Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 31 Jan 2017

Plants of Love. TopTropicals Webinars

Plants of Love - Valentines Day Sale. For Valentines day, look beyond roses for a plant that will last a lifetime! It is not a surprise that the most popular plants that has been ordered from TopTropicals for Valentines day for the past 3 years, are: Vanilla, Chocolate, Grape, Strawberry tree, Rose apple - all things you get for your Valentines!

This year we are celebrating Valentines day with our special local event - "Aphrodisiacs, or Plants of Love".

When: Saturday, February 11, 2017, from 10 am to 2 pm
Where: Toptropicals Garden Center, 13890 Orange River Blvd, Ft Myers, FL 33905
Agenda:
10:00 am - Explore the grounds: Customers can come in to look through the nursery and guided tours through gardens.
12:00 pm - Aphrodisiac plants. Class on plants used for aphrodisiacs throughout history.
1:00 pm - Plant giveaway. Must be present to win one of the aphrodisiac plants in lecture.
2:00 pm - sale ends.
Special Love Discounts for local visitors! Snacks and drinks.

Just a few examples of the most famous plants of love that we will be talking about -
Coffea arabica - in East Africa and Arabia it was a sacred beverage to African sufis. For aphrodisiac results mix in cardamom and honey.
Banisteriopsis caapi, Ayahuasca - giant liana from tropical Amazon forests psychedelic, ritual inebriant that promotes potency. Drink is made from the bark and is taken in love rituals to revive the mythical past of the tribe.
Areca catechu, Betel Nut - seeds have stimulating effect on the entire body and eros. It's a traditional aphrodosiac in Ayurvedic medicine and is counted among the eight types of pleasure in the Brahmanic tradition. It has magical and religious properties and used as an offering to the Gods.
Theobroma cacao, Chocolate - mild stimulant, beans contain aphrodisiac. Antient Indian "recipe of chocolati" will be shared at the event! Cocoa was considered the "food of gods".
Cinnamon - in Southern Asia used as stimulant, in food or massage oil for erotic stimulation.
Cola nitida, Cola nut - used in love magic, was used as currency in W Africa.
Cananga odorata, Ylang-Ylang - increases eroticism with oil inhaled. Prescribed to treat impotency and frigidity.
Butea monosperma, Flame of The Forest - is traditionally used to manage male sexual disorders.
Mimosa pudica, Sensitive Plant - significantly increases the libido and hormonal levels of testosterone.
Satureja Viminea, Kama Sutra Mint Tree - used for love gel...
- and much more!

TopTropicals Webinars. Welcome to Top Tropicals Webinar! Discover the world of Rare Plants and surround yourself with a Tropical Paradise! Our plant experts will be answering your garden questions. Our next LIVE air time is just before Valentines Day - Saturday February 11, at 2 pm ET, with a topic of... of course, Aphrodisiac Plants! Get your questions ready!

Date: 24 Jun 2018

TopTropicals

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:
1) 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.
2) 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.
3) 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.
4) Apply SUNSHINE SuperFood micro-element booster to keep fruit trees vigorous, develop strong root system and avoid deficiencies.
5) 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.

Date: 21 Apr 2017

Radio TT secret discount code

Radio Top Tropicals Live Webcast upcoming event: Saturday April 22, at 11 am EST.
Topic: Eat me! Discussing lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in diet. Herbivore=Plants, Carnivore=Meat, Technovore=Pre-processed, synthetic, MANUFACTURED food. Soylent Green Anyone? Our Host Robert Riefer - Internationally Certified Crop Adviser and Weed Scientist - answering all your gardening questions.

Watch for Discount code for shopping at TopTropicals.com - during first 15 min of the webcast!
For the special secret code for 20% off - listen to this radio show. We will give the code within the first 15 minutes of the webcast!

Listen to Radio Top Tropicals, every Saturday, at 11 am EST! You may use our website radio player DURING AIR TIME. To ask questions using live chat, you need to log in at Mixlr.com or simply call our office 239-887-3323 during air time!
If you missed a live webcast, you may listen to recording by following Showreel item link.

Check out our upcoming radio shows and get your gardening questions ready!

Date: 24 Dec 2016

Plant Horoscope. Capricorn Zodiac lucky plants: Bamboo and Peach

Capricorn - 12/22 - 1/19. An EARTH sign ruled by the planet Saturn. Capricorn's plants usually have few flowers, or small flowers, are knobby or woody, and may have an unpleasant smell or taste. Saturn rules plants with long lives and slow growth, so plants with annual rings are also associated with the Goat.
Physiologically, Saturn rules the systems that give the body its structure and form: the skeletal system, and the skin, teeth, joints, and knees, so plants that are high in calcium can be very beneficial. Those can be woody plants and shrubs that show annual rings, as well as some poisonous or narcotic plants. Saturn plants are useful in treating arthritis and rheumatism. Traditional Capricorn appreciates a spice that is powerful but familiar. Black pepper adds flavor and a bit of heat to both food and life, creating movement without too much change.

Capricorn Zodiac lucky plants: Baobab, Peach Palm, Patchouli, Bamboo, Cordyline, Spider Lily, Serissa, Desert Rose, Croton, Aloe, Palms, Giraffe knee plant - Gonatopus boivinii, Adenanthera, Black Pepper, Solanums, Loquat, Aglaonema, Jacaranda, Rosemary, Shisham - Dalbergia sissoo, Neem Tree, Calendula, Brugmansia, Cannabis, Coca, Kava-Kava, Root Beer plant, Kratom, Banesteriopsis, Psychotria, Quince, Almonds, Ginkgo, Olive, Strophanthus, Bread Flower, Amorphophallus, Areca Palm, Anadenanthera, all Pipers, Brunfelsia, Chaya, Persimmons, Surinam Cherry, Bel Fruit, Ashoka Tree, Calla Lily.

For other signs information, see full Plant Horoscope.

Date: 15 Nov 2016

SUNSHINE in a bottle - your help during winter

Q: I have been using your new plant hormone SUNSHINE for plants after shipping, and I must admit it does make a big difference! They recover right away. I order plants online very often, and usually it takes up to a week or more until they start showing new growth. After SUNSHINE treatments, they look fresh within a day or two. My question would be, for improving cold tolerance, what do you recommend? I live in Florida and it is still warm here, should I start spraying my garden now or should I wait until cold spells?

A: SUNSHINE is very effective plant stimulant that helps tropical plants survive different kinds of stress, including cold, heat, drought, low light, etc. At TopTropicals gardens and nursery, we have been using this hormone for many years to protect our plants from unfavorable conditions, and it saved us many rare tender species, and lots of money!
The sooner in Fall you start treatments, the better. Don't wait until cold spell. SUNSHINE works slowly and in very low doses. The mechanism is actually about boosting, building up the plant's own immune system. Low doses once a week, even every other week will work just fine, so you will need very little of the product. For less than $5 you can help expensive rare plants to go through winter painlessly. Recommended application is only 2.5 ml/1 gal of water, to spray every 1-2 weeks throughout winter period.

Start spraying your plants with SUNSHINE now, to help them survive short winter days, build up insect resistance (especially for plants indoors), and what is most important, to remain strong through lower temperatures. These are our suggestions:

- SUNSHINE-T - thermo-protection booster. It is specially formulated for winter protection of tropical plants. To improve cold hardiness even more, spray 1-2 days prior to cold with 5 ml/1 gal solution and after that, continue applications with 2.5 ml/1 gal solution every 10-15 days throughout winter period.
- For large plant collections, and in-ground gardens in subtropical areas, take advantage of very cost effective bulk items 50 ml and 100 ml bottles of SUNSHINE.
- Don't forget that SUNSHINE is only a stimulant, and not a plant food. While regular fertilizer should be avoided during winter months, it is always beneficial to apply microelements through foliar spray. During cooler period, chances of chlorosis increase, because at low temperatures iron is difficult so absorb by roots especially in moist soil, hence iron deficiency! Our new Iron supplement SUNSHINE-Super-Iron microelement booster will help to avoid yellowing leaves and to maintain your plants strong and healthy during slow growth period. Ultra-potent, highly absorbable iron mix, with chelated Iron with DTPA (instead of usual EDTA) that is better soluble in hard water and more effective for chlorosis. This mix contains both EDTA + DTPA chelated iron in higher concentration than regular micro-elements mixes.

See all SUNSHINE booster products in our store. For advanced information on SUNSHINE plant boosters, history of use, formulation, and frequently asked questions, visit our manufacturer's website TTLaboratories.com.

Best plants suitable for containers. Check out our large selection of plants that are easily grown in containers. This week only, 20% off!