Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 16 Nov 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Charlie, the Indoor Hunter

Carlie was a kitty drop off with LadyBug, Rickie, and Purry.
Charlie is Jamie's baby. She has an attitude of a teenager, one minute she loves you and the next - wants nothing to do with you. Carlie stays with the inside PeopleCats, she says it's too big in the outside world for her and she gets scared. Carlie has a fun game (fun to her): she plays around 2:00 am in the morning, she loves to drag random items down the hall (socks, toys, shirts, even blankets) in her mouth MEOOOWWWING as loud as she can. She then sets the items down on her human's bedroom rug and waits for her human to say thank you. We're pretty sure her hunting instinct is off...

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2019, from Top to Bottom: Moe, Charlie, Bagheera, and Snitch. 2016: Charlie

From left to right: Purry, LadyBug, Charlie, and Ricki - 2016

Date: 16 Nov 2019

When to apply super boost?

Sunshine Boosters: a breakthrough in Winter fertilizing

In the photo: plants are tough survivors. Life can't be stopped even by a brick road!

Q: Just wanted to know best time of day to apply super boost as spray and watering? Only listed to make sure night temp doesn't drop below 65F...

A: As a rule of thumb, plant's needs in fertilizers are very low in the cold season because they consume less nutrients during dormancy. For tropical plants, when minimum temperatures drop below 65F - we stop applications of dry (granulated) fertilizers until spring, to avoid root burn.
Liquid Sunshine Boosters are exceptions from this rule to a certain extent, for 2 reasons:
- they are amino-acid based which means, salts do not build up in the soil, and thus will not burn the roots even with slower plant metabolism.
- concentrations/formulas are mild and designed for as frequent as daily watering

Tips for winter fertilizing:

1) When a plant goes into full dormancy (drops leaves and does not show any new growth), you may stop fertilizing with any Macro NPK products (both dry and liquid)

2) If a plant is evergreen and continues growing during the cooler period, and especially if it is a winter bloomer, mild liquid fertilizers can be applied, depending on the stage of plant development.
Robusta and TotalFeed are used for vegetative growth and pre-flower.
Megaflor and C-Cibus are used for winter flowering/ fruiting plants during the bloom stage.

See full list of liquid boosters

3) Micro-elements can be used all year round for all plants that are not dormant (do not drop leaves)

4) Always use Sunshine-Epi as a foliar spray to activate immune system and unlock protective mechanisms, BEFORE applying other boosters. It is especially important during Fall-Winter for improving cold tolerance and disease resistance.

5) Always apply foliar spray and/or drench the soil with solutions in morning hours so the plant has time to process the nutrients during daylight when metabolism is the most active.

6) Avoid any dry fertilizers during winter

Date: 9 Nov 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Gordon Freeman: the Veteran, son of the Veteran

Gordon Freeman is one of the oldest cats, a True Veteran, and a Son of the Veteran. He was born at our old location back in Punta Gorda on November 11, 2008, when our son Alex just came back from Iraq, where he was on a military mission. So Gordon adopted him! Along with Alex, Gordon Freeman is taking care of our Country security, and is an active supporter of our Troops. This Veterans Day, his daddy Alex is again on a mission overseas, protecting our Freedom. Gordon Freeman is waiting for him to come back soon.

Our prayers are with our Soldiers. Stay safe and sound, and get back home soon!

Happy Birthday, Gordon! Happy Veterans Day!

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Gordon 2008

Gordon today

Date: 9 Nov 2019

Saving Fallen Papaya Tree

Q: Hope there is help for my beautiful amazing papaya tree! There where a loooooooot of fruits on it, but it broke! First of all, it was leaning and friends tried to straight my beautiful tree. What can I do? Will it get fruits again?

A: A couple months ago we also had a Papaya tree loaded with fruit that fell down (see photos). It was heart-breaking. We secured it and it continued growing for a couple of weeks but unfortunately, at the end the tree still died, leaving us a million fruit. The Papaya tree has a very sensitive root system and is hard to re-establish once the roots are damaged.
However, if it just has a broken top, it has a good chance to grow back from the side shoots.
Of course, remove all the fruit so they don't take energy from the recovering tree.
When a tree is loaded with fruit, it is important to provide support for heavy branches and for the trunk if needed. Always support the fruiting tree to prevent from possible falling BEFORE it starts leaning down and may become broken by even a light wind.
In the photo, you can see how we fixed boards around, but it was already after the tree fell. Unfortunately, it was too late since the roots got damaged. Always need to stake the tree up before the branches get too heavy!

RECOMMENDED FERTILIZERS:
Fruit Festival Plant Food - Super Crop Booster
Mango-Food - Smart Release Fruit Tree Booster
SUNSHINE-Honey - sugar booster

Maradol Papaya $10 Hot Sale

Only local pick up from our Garden Center
Hurry up, while supply lasts!

Date: 8 Nov 2019

Meet PeopleCats of TopTropicals. Mommy Moe, meep-meep!

Moe is the oldest of the indoor PeopleCats. She came to us six years ago. She is a Siberian, these are sold as hypoallergenic cats... Unfortunately for Moe's previous owner, she is not hypoallergenic! Lucky for us she is a purrrrfect fit.
Moe is the mommy cat to all others. She takes all new People under her wing and shows them around. She is a very sweet purrrson, and very smart. She loves turning lights off on you and playing fetch with her toy mouse. Siberian cats have a very unique meow. It is actually more of a "meep-meep", there is no eowww part!

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Keeping us clean and happy!

Moe raising Bagheera and Mowgli