Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 3 Mar 2025

What Fertilizer to Use Now and How?

Sunshine Megaflor - Bloom Booster

Sunshine Megaflor - Bloom Booster

Sunshine C-Cibus - Crop Booster

Sunshine C-Cibus - Crop Booster

Sunshine Pikake - Fragrant Plant Booster

Sunshine Pikake - Fragrant Plant Booster

Sunshine Mango Tango for Mango and Avocado trees

Sunshine Mango Tango for Mango and Avocado trees

Sunshine Robusta - Rapid Growth Booster

Sunshine Robusta - Rapid Growth Booster

🍲 What Fertilizer to Use Now and How?
Part 2. Macro elements, or everyday plant food



Sunshine Booster for different types of plants can be applied as often as with every watering.
  • ✔️ For Rapid Growth


    Sunshine Robusta - Rapid Growth Booster: general fertilizer for both foliage plants and small starters that need an extra boost.
  • ✔️ For Flowers


    Sunshine Megaflor - Bloom Booster: boosts flowers on established plants; and Sunshine Pikake - Fragrant Plant Booster: best for fragrant flowers.
  • ✔️ For Fruit Trees


    Sunshine C-Cibus - Crop Booster: contains all necessary elements for fruit trees and their production.
    Sunshine Mango Tango - specifically formulated for Mango and Avocado trees, and Sunshine Citron - ideal for citrus trees.
  • ✔️ For Tender Perennials


    Sunshine Orchidasm - Orchid Total Feed and Sunshine Ananas - Pineapple and Bromeliad Booster: mild formulas for these tender perennials.
  • ✔️ Microelement Supplements Are a Must



    Besides macronutrients, plants need additional microelements, just like humans need vitamins. We will explain in details about micro-elements in our next post 🔽


🛍 Shop Sunshine Boosters

#Fertilizers #How_to

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Date: 30 Mar 2025

How Mangoes can help with diabetes

Colorful Mango fruit on a tray

❤️ How Mangoes can help with diabetes

  • 🥭 A new study shows that eating fresh mangoes may support better blood sugar control. Researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology found that overweight adults who ate mangoes daily experienced significant reductions in insulin resistance - a key factor in preventing type 2 diabetes.
  • 🥭 Mangoes also improved beta-cell function, helping the pancreas produce and release insulin more effectively. After just four weeks, participants had noticeably lower insulin levels, with no changes in the control group.
  • 🥭 While mangoes are naturally sweet and rich in fiber, portion control and balanced carbs are still important. But when enjoyed as part of a healthy diet, mangoes could be a tasty way to support blood sugar balance and metabolic health.


📚Learn more about #Mango

🛒 Plant a Mango tree and grow your own healthy fruit

#Food_Forest #Mango #Fun_Facts #Discover

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Date: 22 Aug 2025

Helicopter flower Madhavi - the Spring Herald that clings to a Mango Tree

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower close up

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower close up

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flower

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, seeds

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, seeds

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flowers on the bush

Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower, Madhavi, Spring Herald, flowers on the bush

🚁 Helicopter flower Madhavi - the Spring Herald that clings to a Mango Tree
  • 🍥 Hiptage benghalensis - Helicopter Flower: during TopTropicals plant trip to Thailand, this was one of the first discoveries that caught our attention. We were suddenly stopped by an incredible, sweet perfume drifting through the air. Following the scent, we found its source - a dense, vigorous vine covered in unusual, eye-catching flowers.
  • 🍥 Helicopter Flower? The name comes from its funny three-winged seed pods that spin like little helicopters. But the real show happens when it blooms. Clusters of pink-white-and-yellow flowers appear in profusion, with frilly petals and a fruity perfume that can stop you in your tracks. Best of all, it flowers in winter and early spring, just when most other plants are quiet, so it fills the air with fragrance at a time you need it most.
  • 🍥 Hiptage is easy-going and adaptable. It can be trimmed as a shrub, trained into a small tree, or let go as a climber, but be ready to give it space and strong support if you let it vine. It's fast-growing, tolerant of different soils, and happy in either sun or part shade. You can even keep it in a container and trim it into a rounded bush. It's pretty cold hardy too - can take some light frost.
  • 🍥 In India, the Helicopter Flower is called Madhavi - the Spring Herald, and often paired with mango trees in stories and gardens - the sturdy mango holding up this vigorous fragrant vine, symbolizing love, devotion, and the union of strength with beauty. Planting the two together makes for a striking, symbolic pair!
  • 🍥 For gardeners, it's the rare combination of beauty, fragrance, adaptability, and a good story to tell. A plant that not only perfumes your garden but also brings a touch of legend to it.
  • 🍥 Used medicinally in India.


🛒 Bring Perfume Spring Herald to your garden

#Perfume_Plants #Hedges_with_benefits

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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: 22 Feb 2023

Benefits of growing your own tropical fruit

"The fruit of the mango tree is no longer forbidden. Indeed, it has been recommended to me by the physicians as an antidote to the plague."
- Louis IX, King of France -

Fluffy  cat  with  a  tray  of  tropical  fruit

Q: Why do you want to grow your own tropical fruit tree?

A: Growing your own tropical fruit tree can have many benefits. Here are a few reasons why someone might choose to grow their own tropical fruit tree:

1. Fresh, flavorful fruit: When you grow your own tropical fruit tree, you have access to fresh, flavorful fruit that you may not be able to find at your local grocery store. Tropical fruit, like avocado, mangoes, papayas, and passionfruit, jackfruit, Dragon Fruit, Annona have a short shelf life, and the fruit you find at the store may have been harvested weeks ago. When you grow your own fruit tree, you can pick the fruit when it's fully ripe and enjoy it at its peak flavor. Besides, some rare fruit like Akee or Sapodilla simply never offered from the store.

2. Environmental benefits: Growing your own fruit trees can have environmental benefits. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen, which can help reduce your carbon footprint. Additionally, growing your own fruit trees reduces the need to transport fruit long distances, which can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

3. Cost savings: Depending on where you live and the availability of tropical fruit, growing your own fruit tree can be a cost-effective way to enjoy your favorite tropical fruits.

4. Gardening and outdoor hobby: Growing a fruit tree can be a fulfilling and rewarding outdoor hobby. It can also be a great way to teach children about where their food comes from and the importance of taking care of the environment.

Overall, growing your own tropical fruit tree can be a great way to enjoy fresh, flavorful fruit, reduce your carbon footprint, save money, and enjoy a fulfilling outdoor hobby.

Taking  a  picture  of  a  mango  tree  loaded  with  fruit

In the photo: Mango tree in Top Tropicals garden.