Grafted or seedling?

Photo: Mr Barcy meditating before planting Nutmeg seeds

Q: I planted an avocado seed and it sprouted quickly, it has been only a couple months and I already have a small plant. How soon will it produce fruit? Can I grow other tropical fruit from seed?

A: Unfortunately, some fruit trees, including varieties of avocado, mango, lychee, as well as apples and peaches - must be either grafted or air-layered in order to produce, for 2 main reasons:
- seedlings may take a very long time until fruiting, up to 10-15 years
- seedling gives no guarantee on the quality of the fruit or variety
These fruit trees should be propagated as "clones" - both grafted material or cuttings are actually copies of the mother plant and will keep the same fruit qualities. Grafted trees usually start producing immediately.
However there is a number of fruit trees that come true from seed, and take a very short time to start flowering. Jackfruit, Annonas (Sugar Apple, Guanabana, etc), Papaya, Icecream Bean, Eugenias start producing at a young age (3-4 years from seed).

Recommended fertilizers for fruit trees:

Fruit Festival Plant Food - Super Crop Booster
Mango-Food - Smart Release Fruit Tree Booster
SUNSHINE-Honey - for sweeter fruit
SUNSHINE SuperFood - microelement supplement

How to get mango trees to bloom and set fruit

URBAN TROPICAL GARDENING:
10 secrets of successful Container Mango growing on a balcony.

Q: I live in Miami in apartment on a second floor, and I have a balcony with SE exposure. I wonder if I can grow a mango tree in a pot? Will it fruit for me? I recently moved to South Florida and I don't know much about tropical plants; but I tasted real fiberless mangos from someone's garden - it was so delicious and different from those in the grocery store. I wonder if I can have a fruiting tree on my balcony? And if yes, how do I plant and take care of it?

A: Yes, you can! Here is what you need to do:
1) Temperature. You are lucky to live in Tropics, keep it on a balcony year round.
2) Light. Position the pot in a spot with the most sun exposure. Mango trees can take filtered light too, but the less sun, the less fruit you will get.
3) Soil and Container. Use only well drained potting mix. Step up the purchased plant into next size container (3 gal into 7 gal, 7 gal into 15 gal). When transplanting, make sure to keep growth point (where roots meet the trunk) just at the top of the soil. Covering base of the trunk with soil may kill the plant.
4) Water. Water daily during hot season, but only if top of soil gets dry. If it still moist, skip that day. Mangoes (unlike Avocados!) prefer to stay on a dry side.
5) Fertilizer. Use balanced fertilizer once a month, 1 tsp per 1 gal of soil. Do not fertilize during fruiting - this may cause fruit cracks.
6) Microelements. Apply SUNSHINE-Superfood once a month. This will help your mango healthy, vigorous, and resistant to diseases. Use SUNSHINE-Honey to make your fruit sweeter.
7) Insect control. Watch for scales and mealybugs, clean with solution of soapy water + vegetable oil (may need to repeat 2-3 times with 10 days interval), or with systemic insecticide like imidacloprid only as needed (if non-harsh treatment didn't help). Most Flea shampoo for dogs contain that chemical, you may try that shampoo solution.
8) Trimming. Once potted, do not remove leaves that are discolored or have spots until new growth appears. Dark dots on mango leaves, especially in humid climate like Florida, may be signs of fungus. Treat with fungicide according to label, and remove only badly damaged leaves. Trim crown as needed after flowering and fruiting (by Fall). Train into a small tree, and you may remove some lower branches eventually.
9) Flower and fruit. Mangoes are winter bloomers with bunches of tiny flowers coming in thousands. Many of them set fruit (if pollinating insects present). Keep in mind that young trees can only bare a few fruit. Normally a tree will drop excessive fruit and keep only a few that it can manage. To save the young tree some energy, remove fruit if too many and leave only 2-3 for the first year. It will pay you next year with more abundant crop.
10) Variety. Last but not least: Choose the right variety for container culture! Pick from "condo" dwarf varieties such as Icecream, Nam Doc Mai, Carrie, Cogshall, Julie, Fairchild, Pickering, Graham, Mallika, and a few others - check out Mango Chart pdf and full list of our Mango varieties.

Golden Sugar Apple and Jackedak Cheena
50% OFF and MORE!

We've combined the exotic fruit of this rare Annona from Costa Rica - Golden Sugar Apple with the sweet, crunchy and excellent flavor of the Jackedak Cheena. Both rare and unique plants can be yours at considerable savings, but don't delay as there are limited quantities in stock.

Rare Fruit Collection:
two Jackfruit-textured rare fruit!

For this Easy Sunday we have priced these at incredible savings:
The Golden Sugar Apple regularly $39, is on Easy Sunday sale for only $19
The Jackedak Cheena, regularly $49, is on Easy Sunday Sale for only $24 .
Combine the two for your own Rare Fruit Collection and save even more, only $39 for the set!

Jackedak Cheena

Artocarpus x integer (Jackfruit x Chempedak) - Jackedak Cheena has been grown in TopTropicals garden from a seedling and fruited within 3 years from planting. The fruit is the best we ever tasted! It is super sweet, crunchy, with a rich, excellent flavor, with very little latex which makes it easy to handle when cutting up. Our tree survived light frosts as well as 48 hours of 3 ft flooding, with no damage! Cheena is a natural hybrid between Jackfruit and Chempedak with low and spreading growth habit, can be maintained at 8 ft with annual pruning.

Picture of 3 y.o. Cheena at Top Tropicals garden, loaded with fruit:

Golden Sugar Apple

The Golden Sugar Apple or Pineapple Annona originally was brought to us by our customer from Costa Rica. We believe it to be a natural hybrid between A. muricata and A. glabra. It is a very ornamental small tree similar in growth habit to A. muricata, A. montana or Rollinia. Fast growing, forms nice bushy specimen. Fruit is very large, up to 1 lb, golden to orange when ripe, with strong Pineapple scent, and resembling Jackfruit in texture, with pineapple, papaya, apricot and melon overtones. The tree tolerates flooding and is cold hardy at least to upper 20's. Very interesting for rare fruit collectors as much more hardy and water tolerant alternative to its sensitive relatives Soursop and Rollinia.

Picture of 3 y.o. tree full of fruit:

Remember, the Easy Sunday special has been extended through Wednesday, December 15th. Limited availability, hurry up! All orders over $75 (excluding S&H) are eligible for 20% off!

For 20% off - use code YEAREND20

Min. order $75 (excluding S&H). Good through December 15th

Enjoy your Holiday Tropical Fruit!

Photo above: Jim is Holiday decorating with super-sweet tropical fruit balls - Pom-Poms!