Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 21 Feb 2026

The best time to plant a fruit tree was 20 years ago - here is why you need to plant it now

Litchi chinensis - Smiles under the Lychee tree

Litchi chinensis - Smiles under the Lychee tree

🍑 The best time to plant a fruit tree was 20 years ago - here is why you need to plant it now



They say the best time to plant a fruit tree was 20 years ago.
The second best time is today.

A fruit tree is not a seasonal purchase. It is not a decoration. It is a decision that stretches far beyond you.

When you plant a mango, an avocado, a loquat, a lychee tree - you are not just planting for this summer. You are planting for children who will climb that tree. For neighbors who will ask for a basket of fruit. For someone who may live in your house long after you are gone.

Mango Plant Facts

Botanical name: Mangifera indica
Also known as: Mango
USDA Zone: 9 - 11
Highligths Large tree taller than 20 ftSmall tree 10-20 ftFull sunWatering: Moderate. Water when top soil feels dryYellow, orange flowersPink flowersEdible plantSeaside, salt tolerant plant
Get personalized tips for your region

Avocado Plant Facts

Botanical name: Persea americana, Persea gratissima
Also known as: Avocado, Alligator Pear, Aguacate, Abacate
USDA Zone: 9 - 11
Highligths Large tree taller than 20 ftSmall tree 10-20 ftFull sunWatering: Regular. Let topsoil dry slightlyEdible plantSubtropical plant. Mature plant cold hardy at least to 30s F for a short time
Get personalized tips for your region


Fruit trees are quiet investments in the future.
Unlike annual crops that come and go, a tree deepens its roots every year. Many fruit trees - especially mangoes - can live for decades, even a century. They outlive trends, owners, renovations, even mortgages. They stand there, steady, producing.

Even if you sell the house, the tree remains.
The next family will walk into the yard and discover fruit hanging overhead. Imagine buying a home and realizing someone before you planted abundance!

That is a gift.

In many parts of the world, mango trees are called generational crops. One farmer plants them. His children harvest them. His grandchildren sell the fruit. A single decision continues to feed and support a family long after the planter is gone.
There is something deeply grounding about that.

We live in a fast world. Quick returns. Quick moves. Quick upgrades.
A fruit tree moves at a different pace. It asks for patience. It rewards consistency. It teaches you to think long term.

Planting a fruit tree says:
I believe in tomorrow.
I believe this land will matter.
I believe someone will stand here after me.

And even if you never taste the fullest harvest, someone will.
Passing fruit trees through generations is more than horticulture - it is legacy. It is continuity. It is resilience. It is saying that this space, this soil, this home will keep giving.

So plant it now.
Plant it for your children.
Plant it for the next homeowner.
Plant it for shade you may never sit under.
Plant it for fruit you may never pick.
Because one day, someone will walk into that yard, look up, and thank the person who thought ahead.
Let that person be you.

🛒 Explore fruit trees for your orchard

👉 Tropical Fruit favorites:



🥭 Mango
Avocado
🍒 Cherry
🍊 Loquat
🍈 Jackfruit
🍑 Peach tree
🍉 Guava
🍏 Sugar apple
🍇 Mulberry
🍐 Sapodilla

#Food_Forest #Discover

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 12 Jul 2024

How to protect fruit in your garden from greedy competitors

Mango Orange Essence fruiting

Fruit bags

Fruit bags

Squirrel

Squirrel

🐰🐁🐿 How to protect fruit in your garden from greedy competitors

🥭
Mango season is here, and so are squirrels, bunnies, birds, rats, and raccoons... They also love the delicious fruit but don't like to share. So you may end up getting their leftovers if anything!

Here is how we protect our mango and avocado fruit - so far it works great:

💰💰💰 Fruit Protection Bags


These mesh netting bags/covers are made of strong nylon and have an easy drawstring, helping to protect developing fruit on a tree from insects, birds, and rodents. With drawstring closures on both ends, you can easily tighten bag around the fruit. Available from Amazon for only 15 cents a piece.

🥭🍒 Enjoy your fruit!

🛒 Dont's have your own mango tree? Plant one now to enjoy fruit tomorrow.

📚 Fun reading: Penelope, the Squirrel Cat

#How_to #Food_Forest

🏵 TopTropicals

Date: 30 Jul 2025

Why tipping mango trees makes them fruiting machines (DIY Garden Tip)

🥭 Why tipping mango trees makes them fruiting machines (DIY Garden Tip)



📱

🌳 Want more mangoes from your backyard tree?
In this step-by-step guide, Ed from Top Tropicals in Fort Myers, Florida, shows how to tip mango trees to boost branching, improve structure, and increase fruit production. Whether you're growing Valencia Pride, Orange Sherbet, or Glen mangoes - this method works!

✔️ You'll learn:



When and how to tip branches
What tools to use (and how to clean them)
Real before-and-after results from trees in our Florida garden
Tips for shaping young trees for long-term success

🛒 Get your own mango trees

🌱 More garden tips and tropical fruit care

#Food_Forest #Mango #Mango_Rainbow

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date: 24 Jun 2018

TopTropicals

How to make a Mango tree bloom and fruit

Mango trees are especially beautiful during spring time when they flush out multi-color new leaves! But you want your mango be not only beautiful but fruitful as well. Here are some tips:

1) Fertilize Mango tree with a balanced slow release fertilizer starting March. Use 1 tsp of granulated fertilizer per 1 gal of soil, or a handful or two for an in-ground tree. You may add one application of foliar spray of a water-soluble bloom booster fertilizer (the one for Roses or Azaleas will work). This will give your tree a good macro-nutrient kick-start.

2) Spray entire tree with SUNSHINE-Superfood solution. This will provide all necessary micro-elements and keep the plant healthy and strong throughout the season. Repeat treatment once a month until harvest time.

3) For sweeter fruit, apply SUNSHINE-Honey solution several times:
- early spring before flowering
- at setting buds
- right at the beginning of setting fruit
- after harvesting, to provide the tree with all good micro-nutrients before resting season.

Date: 1 Apr 2026

Happy Passover!

Cats Smokey and Sunshine celebrating Passover

Cats Smokey and Sunshine celebrating Passover

Happy Passover!

Sunshine: I fixed the donut problem. And I brought mango.
Smokey: Non-traditional. Compliant. Happy Passover.

🥭 Some traditions stay exactly as they are. Others - adapt. On our patio this Passover, Smokey kept things properly grounded (wine in hand), watching closely as the table filled with familiar symbols. Sunshine, meanwhile, solved a practical problem the only way he knows how: creatively. No leavened donuts allowed? Fine. Matzah donuts it is. And since no celebration should be short on sweetness, a plate of fresh mango quietly found its place at the table.

Mango Plant Facts

Botanical name: Mangifera indica
Also known as: Mango
USDA Zone: 9 - 11
Highligths Large tree taller than 20 ftSmall tree 10-20 ftFull sunWatering: Moderate. Water when top soil feels dryYellow, orange flowersPink flowersEdible plantSeaside, salt tolerant plant
Get personalized tips for your region


🥭 That is gardening in a nutshell. You respect the rules, but you work with what grows, what thrives, and what brings joy. A tropical garden teaches the same lesson every day: conditions change, but abundance is always possible if you choose the right plants.

🥭 This season, whether you are planting something new or enjoying the fruits already within reach, take a note from Smokey and Sunshine. Stay within the rules - but do not be afraid to make them work for you.

🛒 Explore Mango varieties · Shop fruit trees

#Mango #Food_Forest

🟢 Join 👉 TopTropicals