Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 13 Oct 2025

How long does it take for a mango tree to bear fruit?

How long does it take for a mango tree to bear fruit? How long does it take for a mango tree to bear fruit? How long does it take for a mango tree to bear fruit? How long does it take for a mango tree to bear fruit?
How long does it take for a mango tree to bear fruit?

  • A Mango tree (Mangifera indica) grown from seed can take anywhere from 7 to 10 years to start fruiting, depending on conditions. Doesn’t sound too exciting, ah? Besides such a long wait, you never know how good the fruit will be – most likely it'll taste fibrous and not very sweet. Unless your cross-pollination was perfectly set between some top-notch parent cultivars, it's a gamble. Seedling results are always hit or miss.

  • That's why you need a grafted tree – it fruits soon (in the ground or in a large container) and guarantees the quality of the fruit. There are hundreds of cultivated varieties to choose from: juicy, sweet, and flavorful. Some taste like pina colada, pineapple, or lemon meringue pie, others like peach sherbet or even guava! The mango flavor spectrum is broader than that of apples!

  • So, you’ve got yourself a nice mango tree in a container and can’t wait for your first harvest. How soon?

  • Mango trees start flowering from early winter (early cultivars like Nam Doc Mai) to early spring (late cultivars like Keitt). One little tree can produce hundreds, even thousands of tiny flowers, but not all will set fruit. The younger the tree, the fewer fruits it can hold. Expect just a few the first year. Even if your mango sets a lot, don’t keep them all - let the young tree focus on establishing roots and strong growth. Leave 1-2 fruits and remove the rest. Your tree will thank you and grow fast and sturdy.

  • By the second year, you can let your tree keep a bit more fruit. Young trees usually know their limits and will naturally drop any extra fruit they can’t support. Within 2–3 years, you’ll be harvesting good crops – enough to enjoy yourself and share with friends!

  • Remember, a strong, healthy tree produces sooner and more. Feed it with Sunshine Mango Tango liquid booster or Green Magic controlled-release fertilizer, and protect it from frost, especially while young. Once established, your mango will reward you with reliable, abundant harvests year after year.


📸 In the photos: the trees in 7 gal pots are 2 years from grafting, and the trees in the ground are 1 year from the time of planting and 3 years from grafting.

🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Learn more about #Mango and different varieties: #Mango_Rainbow

#Food_Forest #Mango

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Date: 13 Oct 2025

Sweet and crunchy fruit with a rose fragrance

🌹 Sweet and crunchy fruit with a rose fragrance

  • 🌹Syzygium jambos - Rose Apple - is a fragrant delight fruit! Also known as Malabar Plum or Pomme Rosa, the Rose Apple produces crisp, juicy fruits with a distinct rose scent, highly prized for jellies and confections.

  • 🌹This easy-to-grow plant is moderately cold-hardy and can tolerate poor soils.

  • 🌹 Rose Apple trees are versatile – they make attractive, wide-spreading shade trees and can also thrive as compact, bushy fruiting plants in containers. Watch the video:


📱

🛒 Enjoy rose-smelling fruit in your garden

📚 Learn more:
What fruit smells like roses?

Date: 12 Oct 2025

Do what you feel in your heart

Do what you feel in your heart
🎤 Do what you feel in your heart

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you’ll be criticized anyway." - Eleanor Roosevelt

🐈📸 Cash the Cat has his ways at TopTropicals PeopleCats.Garden.

#PeopleCats #Quotes

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Date: 12 Oct 2025

You wont believe what glows in the shade: the rare blue ginger

Dichorisandra thyrsiflora - Blue Ginger

💎You won't believe what glows in the shade: the rare blue ginger
  • 💎 If you ever spot a flash of electric blue in the tropical shade, you might think your eyes are playing tricks on you, but that vivid color belongs to a rare Dichorisandra thyrsiflora - Blue Ginger.
  • 💎 Despite its name, this isn’t a true ginger at all. It’s actually related to Tradescantia, the same family as familiar houseplants like the Wandering Jew and Spiderwort. Native to Brazil, Blue Ginger thrives in warm, humid shade, making it a perfect choice for patios, screened porches, garden corners, or indoor collections.
  • 💎 Its glossy leaves and tall stems topped with clusters of sapphire-blue blooms create a tropical jewel effect. The flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies, adding life and motion to shady areas where few other plants bloom so brightly.
  • 💎 Give it rich, well-drained soil, steady moisture, and partial shade - and enjoy one of the rarest colors in the tropical plant world.


🛒 Get your own exotic Blue Ginger

📚 Learn more:
Is Sapphire Gem really a ginger?

#Container_Garden #Shade_Garden

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Date: 12 Oct 2025

Sweetleaf tea: quick-n-fun exotic recipes

Sweetleaf tea with Mexican Aztec sweet herb (Lippia dulcis)

Sweetleaf tea with Mexican Aztec sweet herb (Lippia dulcis)

🍴 Sweetleaf tea: quick-n-fun exotic recipes
  • 🟢Delicious Sweetleaf tea can be made with Mexican Aztec sweet herb (Lippia dulcis).
  • 🟢Steep Aztec sweet herb leaves in hot water with lime peel.
  • 🟢Naturally sweet, no sugar needed!


Sweetleaf tea: quick-n-fun

Ingredients

  • Fresh or dried Aztec sweet herb (Lippia dulcis) leaves
  • Hot water
  • Lime peel or a slice of lime

Instructions

  1. Bring water to a boil and pour over Lippia dulcis leaves.
  2. Add lime peel or a slice of lime.
  3. Let steep for 5–10 minutes.
  4. Enjoy this naturally sweet tea—no sugar needed!


🛒 Add sugar-free Mexican Sweetleaf (Lippia dulcis) to your herb garden

#Food_Forest #Recipes

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