Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 29 Nov 2016

December Fest on Dec 10, mark your calendars!

Topic: Edible landscape. 10:00am - 2:00pm. Agenda:

Class @ 11:00am by Robert Riefer. How to keep pests off of maturing fruit.
Class @12:00pm Super foods by Zoe Merring. Benefits of Soursop, barbados cherry, goji, moringa. Benefits and recipes.

Discounts on all edibles
Prize giveaways at 12:00pm and 2:00pm (must be present to win)

20% off After-Cyber-Monday sale! Now that everybody is done with shopping for monitors and speakers, it is time to get some happy stuff! 20% off on all fruit trees, 1 day only! Enjoy your shopping and get the plants you always wanted at a low price!

Date: 31 Aug 2016

Hardy avocados

Q: I intend to gift three avocados, at least one type A and one type B, to a friend who lives in an area where the temperature never goes below 25F. The idea is to give them a ripening season as long as possible. Which combinations do you suggest, and which are the A and B?

A: When talking about "A" type and "B" type in Avocados, it is referring to the flowers. An avocado will produce both male and female flowers on the same plant. "A" type means that the flowers are female in the morning and male at afternoon. "B" type means that the flowers are male in the morning and female in the afternoon. If you plant to start a commercial growth, then it's important to create a proper mix of both types. However, in hot and humid climate a single tree produces flowers of both types, so it is not necessary to have both A- and B- types planted together in backyard. Even a single tree produces enough fruits for home gardener.

It is also important to know that while there are more cold hardy avocados, it refers to a full grown established tree. They will still need protection from the cold until they are bigger and more established. One can not expect a small tree, which was planted in June, to survive the first winter. It'll take few years until the tree is "harden" enough.

Wurtz Avocado: Fruits from May to Sept. Dwarf hybrid. It is very compact and slow growing, reaching only about 8-12 feet at maturity. Distinctive weeping growth habit. Suited for planters, containers, patios, greenhouse use. Great for dooryard or container growing. The tree can handle temperatures to 25(F) degrees. Production is good and it is a consistent bearer.

Day Avocado: Fruits July to Sept. Day avocado is green, smooth skin and is shaped like a club. The fruit is of very good quality and has a nice buttery consistency. The slender tree is relatively cold tolerant and produces July through September.

Fuerte Avocado: Fruits Nov to June. Relatively cold hardy variety. Green fruit, elongated,flavor excellent, buttery. Vigorous compact tree with decidedly alternate year bearing habit. Ripens November to June.

These three will provide you with fruit ripening during the whole warm season. For the most cold hardy avocado varieties, see this info sheet.

Date: 8 Aug 2016

Growing mango in hot Arizona

By Mike D, Mesa, AZ. Despite to what you may think, mango can be successfully grown in desert Arizona climate. It has good heat and drought tolerance. It's possible providing the following:
1) Winter protection of a young plant when temperature goes around or below freezing. Try to plant trees in locations where they're protected from cold wind. Minimal temperatures vary widely. Areas which are closer to downtown are few degrees warmer, while outskirts can be very cold.
2) Some people are lucky enough to live in areas with good soil. However, most of us will have a so-called hardpan (extremely compacted desert) or caliche (layers of soil cemented together by calcium carbonate). Check with your local county extension office to determine how to deal with such conditions. Gypsum is usually used to loosen compacted soil.
3) When planting, dig a large hole making sure it has good drainage. Plant tree as usual, add mulch around it. It helps to conserve moisture.
4) Best time to plant is late Fall or early Spring, so mango can get established before Summer heat.
5) Plant where tree gets few hours of sun.
5) Water a lot until established. Once established, water when soil is dry.
6) Small plant may need protection from summer heat. Use shade cloth.
7) Mango requires very little nitrogen fertilizer. In hot climate, overdosing nitrogen may result in quick plant decline. Use balanced low nitrogen slow release fertilizer or avoid nitrogen completely. If you use mulch, then decomposing mulch provides enough nitrogen. Foliar spray of micronutrient solution is recommended during active growing period. Read more...

Date: 2 May 2026

What makes Sunshine Boosters different

What makes Sunshine Boosters different

What makes Sunshine Boosters different



If your plants look stressed, slow, or inconsistent, the issue might not be your care - it might be how you’re feeding them. Most fertilizers are harder to use than they should be. Once you understand why, everything starts to make sense.

  • ☘️ Why fertilizers are so confusing?


If you’ve ever stood in front of a shelf full of fertilizers thinking "what do I even pick?" - you’re not alone.
Most feeding programs are a mess. Different brands, different formulas, different schedules. One for growth, one for bloom, one for micros, one more "just in case".
And somehow it still feels like guesswork.
Easy to overfeed. Easy to underfeed. Easy to waste money.
That’s exactly the problem Sunshine Boosters were built to solve.
The formulas are balanced and mild, so you can use them regularly without stressing about mistakes.
Now here’s where it gets interesting.

  • ☘️ The problem with traditional fertilizers


Most traditional fertilizers weren’t made for how we actually grow plants today. Dry fertilizers are built for large field use. They often carry excess salts and don’t work well in containers or soilless mixes. Many don’t even include enough trace elements.
And over time, they can build up in the soil.
Sunshine Boosters works differently.

  • ☘️ Why liquid feeding wins


First - it’s liquid.
Plants don’t eat nutrients, they drink them. Liquid feeding means nutrients are available right away. Every watering becomes feeding. No waiting, no uneven supply.

  • ☘️ Amino-acid chelation - the real difference


Second - the way nutrients are delivered is completely different.
Most fertilizers use synthetic chelators like EDTA. They keep nutrients stable, but plants have to spend energy to use them.
Sunshine Boosters use amino-acid chelation instead.
That means nutrients come in a form plants already recognize and use naturally. Less effort for the plant, more energy for growth, flowers, and fruit.
And there’s no salt buildup over time.

  • ☘️ Low salt index - better water uptake


Speaking of salts - this is a big one.
High salt levels in fertilizers actually make it harder for plants to absorb water. That’s why plants can look stressed even when the soil is wet.
Sunshine Boosters has a low salt index.
Less resistance, better water flow into the roots, better hydration, stronger plants.

  • ☘️ Faster growth without the risk


Put it all together and you get faster growth, stronger structure, more flowers and fruit - without the usual risk of burning or overdoing it.
Because the nutrient levels are balanced and not overly concentrated, they do not affect the natural taste of fruits and edibles.
The products are also safe for regular use and friendly to pollinating insects, which is important for fruit production.

☘️ Feeding made simple



And the best part?
It’s simple.
Mix Sunshine Boosters with water. Use it when you water. That’s it.

  • 👉 Stay with us - next we’ll break down how different formulas match different plant needs, so you can get even better results. 👉 More...


🛒
Get your plants real food

📚
Learn more:
📱 What are Sunshine Boosters

#Discover #Fertilizers #How_to
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Date: 3 May 2026

Mango Rainbow: a miniature Angie

Mango Rainbow: a miniature Angie
Mango Rainbow: a miniature Angie 🌈

  • 🥭 Angie mango is a South Florida selection named after Angie Whitman, wife of the legendary mango collector Bill Whitman and a trustee of Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden.

  • 🥭 It is prized for its rich, complex flavor in the Alphonso class, with deep sweetness and layered apricot notes. The fruit is oblong, about 1 lb on average, with smooth yellow to orange skin and an Indian-orange blush on sun-exposed shoulders. The flesh is deep tangerine orange, fiberless, and intensely flavorful.

  • 🥭 Trees are semi-dwarf, good as Condo Mango, highly manageable with pruning, and known for excellent disease resistance. Its early season is another major advantage in South Florida, often allowing fruit to mature before the heavy summer rains. More 👉


🛒 Shop Mango varieties

📚 Learn more:
#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

Plant Facts

Mangifera indica
Mango
USDA Zone: 9-11
Large tree taller than 20 ftSmall tree 10-20 ftFull sunModerate waterYellow, orange flowersPink flowersEdible plantSeaside, salt tolerant plant
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