Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

Date: 13 Aug 2020

Healthy Plant Food

Q&A from Mr Booster

Establishing Avocado Tree

Q: I received my avocado Wurtz tree yesterday. Per instructions I have put the tree in a pot first. However I am having difficulty deciding what to trim off. Yesterday I removed obvious damaged leaves. However as you can see, the leaves are lighter in some areas and contain yellow and red in some spots. What would you advise? Given this is a critical state as I do not want to shock the tree after the trip, I would like to do everything possible to protect it and ensure viability.

A: Your Avocado tree looks great and healthy overall. You've done excellent job planting it. Wurtz is a good, vigorous variety, while the tree is somewhat dwarf, great for containers.
You are right, it is the best for the tree to leave it alone and do not trim or remove leaves any more, until it starts showing new growth. Then it will be obvious what needs to be trimmed. Reddish/orange color of young leaves is normal. If any spots or dots - no need to remove those leaves yet. Wait until the plant grows more leaves. It needs them for photosynthesis, in order to become stronger.

Keep the tree in bright shade and gradually move from filtered sun to full sun. Water daily. Within a week or two after planting, you can start applying mild fertilizer and micro-elements. We recommend at this growth stage:
SUNSHINE C-Cibus - Crop Nutrition Booster
SUNSHINE SuperFood - Micro-element Plant Booster

SUNSHINE C-Cibus - Crop Nutrition Booster from Garden Series, or Combo Total Feed Collection - all nutrients in just one bottle, for fruit trees and edibles.

Date: 18 Feb 2021

Healthy Plants - Q&A from Mr Booster: Feeding Avocado Tree

Q:We bought one of your avocado grafts and it's doing great, lots of buds for fruit. It's still in a pot and fertilizing with the Sunshine Boosters. Should we continue with this product? We'll plant it in the ground in March. Thought you'd enjoy pictures of our wonderful tree. No freezing temperatures in Riverview, but when it got down into the 30s, the plant came in. One good thing about growing in the pot. I'll be buying some more Sunshine Boosters. This stuff is working great on all our plants.

A: Congratulations with a good job on growing avocado over winter. Avocado trees are not easy, we are happy to hear that your plant is ready for production, this is amazing! We've noticed that Sunshine Boosters perform miracles. Here are some suggestions for you:
1) Continue fertilizing with Sunshine Boosters according to the feeding chart
2) When ready to plant, dig a large hole and fill it with good soil full of organic matter (compost mixed with existing sandy soil will be good). Make sure to plant the tree on 3-4"high elevation, like on a little hill. Avocados need perfect drainage and can't tolerate wet feet. See more info on planting and planting instructions (pdf).
3) Water daily with a hose, do not rely on sprinklers. Avocados like water (considering perfect drainage)
4) Continue applications of Sunshine Boosters at least until the tree is established and starts growing new branches with lots of leaves. After that, you can switch to slow-release fertilizers once a month if it makes it easier, but if you can, continue Sunshine Boosters at least on weekly basis - they really boost plant growth!

Date: 28 Nov 2022

B-Farm in Sebring is now open!
Every Friday and Saturday

B-Farm office entrance

Thank you everyone for visiting us this weekend at new Top Tropicals location in Sebring (B-Farm)! We met many new friends as well as old friends that now are closer.
Local gardeners in Central Florida are now excited to have a special place for their needs in rare tropical plants.

B-Farm banners on corner of FL 66 and McRoy Rd

Top Tropicals B-Farm conveniently located at the corner of FL-66 highway and McRoy Rd.

Visit B-Farm

Parking at B-Farm

Sunshine Boosters at B-Farm

Many guests also purchased Sunshine Boosters liquid fertilizers. Sunshine Boosters are safe for daily use year around and ensure that you will have happy and healthy plants. Stash up for feeding your plants during the winter to make them strong, hardy and healthy!

At B-Farm, we offer free consultations on Sunshine Boosters. We can help you select proper combinations of fertilizers, micro-elements and special plant supplements, including those that improve cold hardiness of tropical plants.

Sunshine Boosters display at B-Farm

Select Sunshine Boosters

B-Farm Team

B-Farm Team

Date: 17 Nov 2022

Get your plants ready for winter:
Just spray this to improve cold hardiness...

Sunshine Plant Supplement Kit

How to improve plant cold hardiness?

Pland cold hardiness depends on several factors, including:
1) genetics of specific species
2) maturity of the plant, size of root system, stems and branches
3) plant health and vigor which is supported by proper nutrition program and adding special plant hormones.

While 1) and 2) may be out of our control, the 3rd factor is something that can be easily improved! It is important to feed plants during the season of active growth on regular basis by applying macro- and micro- elements. Liquid fertilizers and especially natural plant food like Sunshine Boosters can be applied year around to keep plants healthy and strong.
Besides the routine fertilizing program, just a few applications of special plant hormones can increase tropical plant hardiness big time! Before the cold is coming, spray your plants with these 3 magic potions and they will gain a few degrees in low temperature tolerance! It is recommended to make 2-3 applications.

- Sunshine Superfood
- Sunshine Epi
- Sunshine Power-Si

Read more about this special treatment plan

Cat staying warm on a stove

Buy Cold Hardiness Improvement Kit

Date: 11 Oct 2022

Fertilizing in Fall:
Plants need food too!

Sunshine boosters products collage

Q: I know that I am not supposed to fertilize plants in winter. But I just bought several ground orchids from you, they are blooming now and I wonder if I can give them some food to support their bloom energy? When should I do the last application of fertilizer? I will keep them in a sun room during Winter until Spring.

A: Traditionally, end of October to November is the time when we give the last dose of fertilizer to our tropical plants. Liquid fertilizers, and especially amino-acid based Sunshine Boosters, are safe to apply year around. This means, you can continue feeding your plants with Sunshine Boosters through the Winter without risk of over-feeding or burning roots. Why?
The answer is very simple: even with their metabolism slowed down in Winter, plants will use all that food.
Sunshine Boosters have special mild formulas that are scientifically designed and based on Amino Acids. Plants will use all essential elements from the solution as needed.
Liquid fertilizer is diluted in water, and will be applied only when you water the plant. During Winter, water needs are lowered = watering times are less frequent, with less amount of water = the plants will get less water and less fertilizer accordingly.

Read more

Importance of micro elements
in combination with plant food during winter

winter chlorosis on Kumquat leaves

In the photo: winter chlorosis on Kumquat leaves that is very hard to treat and should be prevented instead

Keep in mind that feeding your plants regularly during Winter will help to avoid "winter chlorosis" and other deficiency problems. So called "cool-temperature-induced chlorosis" (CTIC) is especially common in Spring on young, actively growing leaves. Unless chlorosis is prevented by micro-element applications, affected leaves may remain in this condition for the rest of the growing season.

Make sure to select proper type of fertilizer for your over-wintering plants. We have special formulas for foliage, flowering plants, fruit trees, young seedlings, even for for orchids and bromeliads. Check out our selection!

Shop Plant Food and Supplements

Cats looking for food in grocery bags

◂ Previous pageNext page ▸Most recent entry ▴Blog table of contents