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 -
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.
In the photo: Mango
Date: 7 Aug 2020
Healthy Plant Food
Q&A from Mr Booster
Plant food for a Star Fruit
Q: I have 2 Starfruit plants from you. One on the left is B10 has a lot of flowers but no fruit is developing. On the rite is Kenjeng. This one has no flowers at all. Both plants are growing very well. Plenty of sun and water. I am located in Boynton Beach Florida. So what to do?
A: Your trees on the pictures look very healthy, congratulations
with a great care!
Starfruit, as well as other grafted fruit trees (like mango, avocado, etc)
usually flower/fruit easily and readily while in pots in the nursery.
Sometimes, once planted in the ground, they may reduce flowering or even stop
flowering. What happened?
The answer is simple. In pots, we fertilize them on regular basis. In our
nursery, we have fertilizer injector inline with irrigation system that dozes
plant food with EVERY watering. In other nurseries, they may also use
slow-release fertilizers, but it is still a regular routine to provide plant food to
potted plants.
In the ground, especially in Florida poor soils, fruit trees may stop
flowering or delay fruiting due to lack of nutrients, or dis-balance of elements
in the ground. Without fertilizer, a tree may take extra time to develop
bigger root system to reach out for necessary elements, and eventually will start
fruiting anyway.
But we want it to fruit soon! The only way to fix the problem is to provide
fertilizer on regular basis for a young tree. It is especially important
during hot summer months when plant metabolism is fast due to high temperatures,
plus nutrients may get washed away with frequent summer rains (like we have
in Florida) even if you've added some fertilizer at time of planting.
You can use smart release fertilizer once a month during hot season,
this one or similar:
Mango-Food - Smart Release Fruit Tree Booster.
But the most effective way to get a tropical tree to flowering and
fruiting, is frequent applications of liquid fertilizer. We use Sunshine Boosters
with every watering on our plants. They work great even on hard cases and
weak plants, and you see the difference in a matter of weeks, sometimes even
days.
We recommend the following fertilizer that contains all necessary elements
for young fruit trees:
SUNSHINE C-Cibus - Crop Nutrition 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: 26 May 2021
Jasmine for a fence
In the photo: Jasmine Maid of Orleans
Q:We are looking for a jasmine variety without thorns that we can grow on a wire fence...
A: All true jasmines (Jasminum spp.) are thornless. So you are safe to get anyone you like. The most vigorous, fast growing jasmines that grow into a vine, are:
Jasminum dichotomum
Jasminum pubescens
Jasminum nitidum
Jasminum officinale
Jasminum sambac Maid of Orleans - the
most fragrant!
In the photos: Jasminum nitidum (Star Jasmine)
Date: 30 Aug 2020
Healthy Plant Food
Q&A from Mr Booster
How to make Mango tree fruit
Q: Hello, I have a five-year-old Lemon Meringue tree that has only given me fruit one year. It put out about 50 mangoes and has done nothing for the past three years. Do you recommend any vitamins or any of the nutrients that you guys sell to help with this for next season?
A: We've had very similar problem with our Nam Doc Mai Mango tree, fruited once and no more next year. Usually the reason is nutrients deficiency, here in Florida we have poor soils.
We applied Mango-Tango tree booster and it
started flowering within a couple of weeks.
Generally, Mango flowering season is over by now, however, we recommend to
feed the tree starting now, during active growth season. This way it will get
better established before winter and also will store away all elements
necessary for triggering flowering and fruiting. So by late Fall through Winter it
will be ready to flower.
Along with the fertilizer, additional micro-element supplements will be
beneficial. For improving fruit quality and increasing number of flowers, we
also recommend to use
SUNSHINE-Honey - sugar booster
SUNSHINE Mango Tango - Mango Tree Booster, for healthy mango trees and profuse fruit production.
SUNSHINE Honey - a natural supplements that makes fruit sweeter, and increases fruit quantity and quality.
Date: 18 Oct 2019
Using SUNSHINE Complete Nutrition System
For hydroponics and potted plants
Q: I recently bought both the 5ml of the sunshine epi and the 100 ml advanced nutrition kit. I read on the paper for the Epi not to use any other strong fertilizers along with this but I was wondering if it'd be alright to use both this foliar spray and nutrition watering together?
A: All solutions in SUNSHINE Booster Nutrition System (NPK-macro and micro-boosters) are
compatible.
The only exception is Sunshine-Epi - brassinosteroid bio-stimulant. Epi
should be mixed with distilled water separately from other boosters. The
reason is, it is very bio-active, and if mixed with other compounds, oxidizes
quickly which may affect its performance.
Sunshine-Epi solution must be prepared using distilled water and applied as foliar spray only (it only works on contact with leaves and not through the root system). Epi shows extremely impressive results when you apply it before the application of other nutrients because it increases plant metabolism; so all boosters become even more effective if you spray Epi the day before.
When using Micro- and Macro-boosters, you may mix all components in one watering can/tank (except for Epi), using regular tap water. Besides watering root ball, the macro-micro solution can be also used for foliar spray. It is optional, as in some circumstances growers prefer to keep leaves dry at all times: to stay away from mold, fungus and other issues caused by the wet environment.
Here is an example of Sunshine Boosters Nutrition System application:
1. Daily watering in one can: NPK 25 ml/gal (one of 5, depending on growth stage) + Constanta 5 ml/gal + Ca-Support 5 ml/gal, mixed in tap water
2. Every 2 weeks: spray Sunshine-Epi 2.5 ml/gal - to boost the immune system and growth rate,
mixed in distilled water
3. From daily to every 2 weeks: Sunshine-Power-Si 25 ml/gal to protect from diseases and keep pH at
5.5-6.5. Can be used as often as daily and mixed with a daily watering solution
(1)
4. As needed: Sunshine SuperFood and GreenLeaf - for correcting deficiencies. Can be also mixed with the
daily solution (1)
Make sure to prepare a solution right before use and do not store solution for more than 1 day. Keep concentrates and solutions protected from bright sunlight.
Here is also advanced information on Sunshine Boosters compatibility.
