Garden Blog - Top Tropicals
Date: 19 Jun 2025
Sushi the Cat finding her sushi dinner in refrigerator
Date: 1 Feb 2021
...There was an unexpected confusion with the name of this plant. Most
people understand its name literally: passiflora - a flower of passion, and
its fruits - the fruits of passion, implying human, earthly passions.
Nevertheless, the passion fruit is so called because it is one of the
many species of passion flower, the English translation of the Latin genus
name, PassiFlora.
Learn more about this delicious, flavorful fruit and how to grow it in your
own garden in no time...
SUNSHINE C-Cibus - Crop Booster, an ultimate natural plant food for fruit and edibles.
Date: 15 Nov 2016
SUNSHINE in a bottle - your help during winter
Q: I have been using your new plant hormone SUNSHINE for plants after shipping, and I must admit it does make a big difference! They recover right away. I order plants online very often, and usually it takes up to a week or more until they start showing new growth. After SUNSHINE treatments, they look fresh within a day or two. My question would be, for improving cold tolerance, what do you recommend? I live in Florida and it is still warm here, should I start spraying my garden now or should I wait until cold spells?
A:
SUNSHINE
is very effective plant stimulant that helps tropical
plants survive different kinds of stress, including
cold, heat, drought, low light, etc. At TopTropicals
gardens and nursery, we have been using this hormone for
many years to protect our plants from unfavorable
conditions, and it saved us many rare tender species,
and lots of money!
The sooner in Fall you start treatments, the better.
Don't wait until cold spell. SUNSHINE works slowly and
in very low doses. The mechanism is actually about
boosting, building up the plant's own immune system. Low
doses once a week, even every other week will work just
fine, so you will need very little of the product. For
less than $5 you can help expensive rare plants to go
through winter painlessly. Recommended application is
only 2.5 ml/1 gal of water, to spray every 1-2 weeks
throughout winter period.
Start spraying your plants with SUNSHINE now, to help
them survive short winter days, build up insect
resistance (especially for plants indoors), and what is
most important, to remain strong through lower
temperatures. These are our suggestions:
- SUNSHINE-T
- thermo-protection booster. It is specially
formulated for winter protection of tropical plants. To
improve cold hardiness even more, spray 1-2 days prior
to cold with 5 ml/1 gal solution and after that,
continue applications with 2.5 ml/1 gal solution every
10-15 days throughout winter period.
- For large plant collections, and in-ground gardens in
subtropical areas, take advantage of very cost effective
bulk items 50
ml and 100
ml bottles of SUNSHINE.
- Don't forget that SUNSHINE is only a stimulant, and
not a plant food. While regular fertilizer should be
avoided during winter months, it is always beneficial to
apply microelements through foliar spray. During cooler
period, chances of chlorosis increase, because at low
temperatures iron is difficult so absorb by roots
especially in moist soil, hence iron deficiency! Our new
Iron supplement SUNSHINE-Super-Iron
microelement booster will help to avoid yellowing leaves
and to maintain your plants strong and healthy during
slow growth period. Ultra-potent, highly absorbable iron
mix, with chelated Iron with DTPA (instead of usual
EDTA) that is better soluble in hard water and more
effective for chlorosis. This mix contains both EDTA +
DTPA chelated iron in higher concentration than regular
micro-elements mixes.
See all SUNSHINE
booster products in our store. For advanced
information on SUNSHINE plant boosters, history of use,
formulation, and frequently asked questions, visit our
manufacturer's website TTLaboratories.com.
Best plants suitable for containers. Check out our large selection of plants that are easily grown in containers
Date: 5 Sep 2016
Planting instructions for bare-rooted succulent plants
Q: I would like to order a few Adeniums from your selection. You website says "shipped barerooted". What do I need to know about potting these plants before I order?
A: Adeniums do not require much soil; large 4-5"wide caudex plant can be grown in 1 gal pot. After unpacking the plants, position it in a pot, size of root system. Use only well-drained soil with high content of perlite and/or sand. Cactus mix can be used too, although we recommend using our special TopTropicals professional soilless potting mix. Water once and keep in warm (75-80F) place in filtered light. Do not water again until soil dries on surface. Once the plant is established and starts growing new leaves (may take a few weeks), gradually move it into brighter light. Then you can start fertilizing it. You may place shells and lime rocks on top of adenium planting, as these plants benefit from slightly alkaline soils.
See Info sheet on Adenium care.
See full list of Adeniums.
See full list of Plumerias.
See full list of Euphorbias
Date: 31 Aug 2016
Hardy avocados
Q: I intend to gift three avocados, at least one type A and one type B, to a friend who lives in an area where the temperature never goes below 25F. The idea is to give them a ripening season as long as possible. Which combinations do you suggest, and which are the A and B?
A: When talking about "A" type and "B" type in Avocados, it is referring to the flowers. An avocado will produce both male and female flowers on the same plant. "A" type means that the flowers are female in the morning and male at afternoon. "B" type means that the flowers are male in the morning and female in the afternoon. If you plant to start a commercial growth, then it's important to create a proper mix of both types. However, in hot and humid climate a single tree produces flowers of both types, so it is not necessary to have both A- and B- types planted together in backyard. Even a single tree produces enough fruits for home gardener.
It is also important to know that while there are more cold hardy avocados, it refers to a full grown established tree. They will still need protection from the cold until they are bigger and more established. One can not expect a small tree, which was planted in June, to survive the first winter. It'll take few years until the tree is "harden" enough.
Wurtz Avocado: Fruits from May to Sept.
Dwarf hybrid. It is very compact and slow growing, reaching only about 8-12 feet at maturity. Distinctive weeping growth habit. Suited for planters, containers, patios, greenhouse use. Great for dooryard or container growing. The tree can handle temperatures to 25(F) degrees. Production is good and it is a consistent bearer.
Day Avocado: Fruits July to Sept.
Day avocado is green, smooth skin and is shaped like a club. The fruit is of very good quality and has a nice buttery consistency. The slender tree is relatively cold tolerant and produces July through September.
Fuerte Avocado: Fruits Nov to June.
Relatively cold hardy variety. Green fruit, elongated,flavor excellent, buttery. Vigorous compact tree with decidedly alternate year bearing habit. Ripens November to June.
These three will provide you with fruit ripening during the whole warm season.
For the most cold hardy avocado varieties, see this info sheet