Grow your own food:
Tropical Asparagus (Katuk)

By Alex Butova, the Witch of Herbs and Cats

...One of the most popular leaf vegetables in South Asia and Southeast Asia, the Tropical Asparagus (Katuk) - Sauropus androgynus, is notable for its high yields and palatability. Cooked Tropical Asparagus is great with crab meat, minced pork, dried shrimp, or in a soup...
Katuk is one of the most popular leaf vegetables in Southeast Asia. It is among only a few flora containing vitamin K. Leaves and stemmed can be cooked as vegetable; the plant has many medicinal properties.
Katuk is fast growing and keeps growing as you trim it for your kitchen needs. Multiple upright stems can reach 6-7 ft high. It has great ornamental value, has pretty red flowers and ornamental fruit showing shiny black seeds when they crack open. Varieties with green leaves and variegated leaves have slightly different flavor but are equally good for your healthy, fiber-rich diet... CONTINUE READING >>

Tropical analogies of non-tropicals

By Kristi, the Florida girl...

...When I first started working at Top Tropicals eight years ago I knew nothing about plants. I didn't even know which ones I liked. Over the first few months I took in information on plants like I was a starving kitten who had just gotten its first meal in weeks...

...What I started to notice was that the plants I tended to gravitate to were more cold weather plants. Plants that couldn't be grown in the hot summers in Florida, and vines. Seemed like everything I set my sites on was a large vine or couldn't grow in the heat...

...Many of our local customers are from up North as well and are used to these colder weather plants too. This got me thinking, I wonder how many of these people are missing the plants they grew up knowing and loving. I know there are at least a few from the conversations I have had with some of you at the nursery. So, I decided to make a list of a few of the plants that will grow here that are similar but not the same and, in some instances, even better!..

CONTINUE READING >>

When to fertilize and prune tropical fruit trees?

Q: Can tropical fruit trees (Soursop, Mango, Star fruit, etc) be given plant food any time of year? Also can they be trimmed this time of year/summer?

A: True tropical plants (including fruit trees) need plant food most of the year in real Tropics, where temperatures have very little fluctuations, and active growth season is close to 12 months a year. In subtropical areas when temperatures in winter drop below 65F, plant metabolism slows down, so it is recommended to fertilize only during the warmest period (March through November). So yes, Summer is the perfect time for fertilizing your trees; their metabolism is at the highest point and they can use more food!

Trim your fruit trees right after harvesting. Obviously, you don't want to prune branches before or during flowering or fruiting. The specific time of the year for pruning depends on the plant - every tree has its own flowering/fruiting season. However, avoid pruning right before winter: young shoots promoted by pruning are tender and can be cold damaged.

Recommended fertilizers for fruit trees:

Fruit Festival Plant Food - Super Crop Booster
Mango-Food - Smart Release Fruit Tree Booster
SUNSHINE-Honey - for sweeter fruit
SUNSHINE SuperFood - microelement supplement

Seven rules of cold protection for tropicals

Q: I was always wondering how you guys manage to grow true tropical trees in Florida? I live in Puerto Rico and we have Breadfruit trees growing here in a wild... but my sister lives not far away from you, in Orlando, which is much colder, and I wonder if I can get her a Breadfruit tree for Christmas?

A: Your sister can grow a Breadfruit tree in Orlando either in a pot (and bring it indoors during cold periods) or in the ground inside a structure (an elclosed conservatory with heating system). See our customer's Greenhouse in Virginia. Cold protection of tropical plants is a lengthy subject and we have many interesting publications about it in our managine Tropical Treasures and on the website. In a nutshell, when growing tropicals outside of tropical climate, you need to follow these 7 rules:
1. Cut watering to a minimum. Cold+wet kills tropical roots.
2. Water thirsty plants before a cold night. Jucy leaves have fewer chances to be cold-zapped.
3. Wind protection is more important than a temperature drop. Plant tropicals close to a house or surrounded by other trees.
4. Duration of a cold period is more critical than the cold itself. If expecting long cold hours, bring up all available protection resources. Christmas lights or propane heaters - as long as there is a heat source, everything helps!
5. Remove plastic covers during the daytime so plants don't get "cooked" in the sun. Fabric covers are better than plastic.
6. Grow ultra-tropicals in containers and bring them inside the garage or even indoors during the cold.
7. Use SUNSHINE plant boosters and feed your plants well during Summer to improve cold hardiness.

Related topics:
About Cold Protection
Cold protection - winter action for your plant collection
Improving cold hardiness before winter: fertilizer and micro-elements
Cold hardy tropical fruit trees

Care for ultra-tropical plants

Some tropical plants like Durian, Breadfruit, Cacao are rare in plant collections and require true tropical environment for successful growing and most likely greenhouse conditions unless you live in mild tropical climate like Hawaii. These plants are hard to find and are not cheap. They can be shipped to you in original containers via Express mail and usually take trip well as long as there are no delays or overheating (or cold) during transportation. To enjoy your rare plant collection gem, please make sure to follow these recommendations:
- Keep your eye on delivery, track the shipment and make sure package is not left outside in the heat or cold.
- Unpack immediately and put plant in humid, warm environment with filtered light. Remember, "warm" for tropical plant means 78-85F.
- If a plant is wilted, put clear plastic bag over leaves to increase humidity for a few days. Keep the branches covered with clear plastic, in shade only - to avoid overheating.
- Keep soil slightly moist and don't let dry out. These plants like water as well as good drainage.
- Keep plant in original container until recovers from shipping stress. If necessary, re-pot in 2-3 weeks in bigger pot with rich organic potting mix, containing a lot of peat moss, and perlite or bark for good drainage.
- Grow these plants in warm and mild conditions, in filtered light, high humidity, with no temperature extremes. Remember to keep these plants at temperatures above 50F at all times.