SUNSHINE Epi - plant booster, 100 ml
100 ml
In stock
$29.95
SUNSHINE Epi - plant booster, 50 ml
50 ml
In stock
$19.95

Date:

Sunshine Boosters Winter Use

The magic fertilizer in action

Crazy banana with Sunshine boosters

Do you remember that Sunshine Boosters fertilizers can be applied year-round?

As natural fertilizers, their scientifically created formulas provide perfectly balanced nutrition for your plants throughout the year. Follow the instructions on the labels and apply Sunshine Boosters with every watering. Give your plants extra boost during winter months! The fertilizer amount is balanced, adjusting proportionally to the water amount, which is tailored to the plant's winter needs. Unlike dry fertilizers, Sunshine Boosters can be used all year without fear of burning plants with excessive nutrient lockup.

Those who visited on B-Farm in Sebring, have noticed our little garden by the office, with plants that are always happy and vigorous - year around. They are irrigated automatically with Sunshine Boosters using the Robuster injector. We are proud of our "crazy banana", it is taller than the building, we honestly have never seen a banana of that size! The solution we are using there is Sunshine Robusta (also available for pick up in 2.5 gal jugs).

Save on Sunshine Boosters with the discount code above!

your plant needs food - sunshine boosters

Date:

What is your favorite Pineapple variety?

Pineapple Florida Special

Pineapple Florida Special

🌞 What is your favorite Pineapple variety? A Sunshine State Delight: Florida Special!
  • 🍍 One of our favorites here in Sunshine State is Pineapple Florida Special
  • 🍍 Bred by the Libby fruit company for Florida's unique climate, the Florida Special Pineapple once thrived across 240 acres in Immokalee before Libby sold to Nestle.
  • 🍍 This variety produces medium to large, golden-yellow fruits with a perfect balance of sweetness and tang. Known for its resilience, it can withstand temperatures down to the mid-30s without internal damage, making it a great choice for subtropical gardeners.
  • 🍍The plant's compact size, reaching 2-3 feet, makes it perfect for containers, patios, or garden beds. Its spiny green leaves form a striking rosette, adding tropical flair to any space. Whether grown for its juicy fruit or ornamental appeal, the Florida Special brings a slice of paradise to your garden!
  • 🍍 Enjoy it fresh, in smoothies, or as a tasty addition to tropical dishes.


📚 Learn more about pineapples from previous posts:
Three must-have fruit for every tropical garden
The most luscious Hospitality Fruit

🛒 Order Pineapple Florida Special

#Food_Forest

🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals

Date:

How much water is too much?

Cat in the pool with umbrella

"Always over-water your plants: just improve their soil drainage!" - Murray Corman, horticulturist, rare tropical fruit tree expert.

Q: I always tend to overwater my plants. How often should I water container plants and how to determine if it's too much water?

A: One of the most common challenges in tropical plant care, including houseplants, is overwatering, particularly in container gardening. So, how much water is too much?

The rule of thumb: let the soil dry out a bit before watering again, and never water if the soil feels wet to the touch. For indoor plants with saucers underneath, ensure they don't sit in standing water by removing any excess from the saucer after watering. However, remember that the watering schedule alone isn't the only key to success!

Improve drainage. Surprisingly, water itself isn't harmful to plants, no matter how generous your watering is. The real issue is poor drainage, which leads to stagnation and bacterial buildup, ultimately causing root rot.

In the nature. If you've traveled to places like Hawaii or explored tropical jungles, you might have noticed plants thriving between rocks with minimal soil, receiving a near-constant fine mist of rain. Conversely, swamps support very few trees - only bog or water plants adapted to wet conditions can survive there. The lesson? It's not the water, it's the growing medium!

The Soil Solution: for potted plants, always use a high-quality potting mix with excellent drainage properties. This should include ample "soil conditioners" such as perlite, vermiculite, and pine bark. At our nursery, we use a professional soil mix called Abundance. Learn more about potting soil.

Pot size matters. And the last but not least: if you tend to overwater your potted plants, consider using the smallest container size that comfortably fits the root system. A pot that's too large can mean excess wet soil, increasing the risk of root rot. With proper fertilizer program, container plants don't need to much soil to thrive.

Datura Metel - Horn-of-Plenty

Photo above: Datura Metel - Horn-of-Plenty - doesn't need a large container for happy blooming indoors!

Date:

10 key tips for successful overwintering of tropical plants indoors

10 key tips for successful overwintering of tropical plants indoors
🥶 10 key tips for successful overwintering of tropical plants indoors
  1. Maximize Light: The more light, the better. There's no such thing as too much indoor light. If windows aren't enough, use LED grow lights, which stay cool and won't dry the air. Rotate plants every few days to prevent uneven leaf loss.
  2. Reduce Watering: Less light and cooler temperatures mean plants need less water. Allow the soil to dry between waterings, and avoid overwatering - combination of cold + wet is especially harmful.
  3. Maintain Moderate Temperatures: Most tropicals are happy with daytime temperatures around 75F and nights at 50-60F. In sunrooms or greenhouses, some can handle 45F if watering is kept to a minimum.
  4. Boost Humidity: Avoid placing plants near heaters or vents that dry the air. Misting daily helps, or place pots on trays filled with water and pebbles to raise humidity around them.
  5. Monitor for Pests: Check leaves weekly to catch insect problems early, as pests can cause serious damage or even kill the plant indoors.
  6. Fertilize Smart: Use ONLY liquid, amino-acid-based fertilizers like Sunshine Boosters throughout winter; they won't burn roots since their dosage adjusts with reduced watering. Avoid dry, granulated, and EDTA-based fertilizers during winter and dormancy.
  7. Use Micro-Nutrients: Along with macro-elements (fertilizers), supplement with micro-elements like Sunshine Superfood and bio-stimulants such as Sunshine Epi to build strong plants with robust immune systems, better able to withstand unfavorable conditions and resist diseases.
  8. Hold Off on Pruning: Leaf drop and leggy growth are normal responses to winter. Wait until spring to prune, when new growth starts, to encourage branching and healthy foliage.
  9. Don't Repot Yet: During dormancy, roots slow their growth. Repotting too soon risks root rot. Wait until spring when new growth appears to transplant into a larger container. Typically, roots grow in proportion to the above-ground parts.
  10. Let Them Rest: Winter is a natural resting period. Avoid forcing growth - your plants will reward your patience with vibrant leaves and flowers when spring returns.


  11. 🛒 Shop Indoor plants

    #How_to

    🔴 Join 👉 TopTropicals



Detailed plant profiles: 3 plants found

Plant Boosters, SUNSHINE in a Bottle
Plant Boosters
SUNSHINE in a Bottle

See SUNSHINE BOOSTERS PAGE

When people purchase plants and trees either on-line, or from their local nursery, expectation and anticipation for their new find is high. Many times, however, disappointment is encountered due to a variety of reasons. These reasons include changes in light, temperature, water, soil conditions and transportation; just to name a few. So how can the stress on newly transported and transplanted plants be mitigated? Easy! There are plant stimulators able to reduce the shock encountered.

One such plant stimulator is SUNSHINE Epi, a revolutionary, broad spectrum, plant stress reliever, originally developed by innovative Russian scientists. Extracted initially from plant pollen, SUNSHINE Epi can bring back and keep the vigor to stressed plants in both the home and garden. Sunshine is indeed a plant stimulator on the cutting edge of plant care technology. Reasonably priced, and easy to use, Sunshine will be your plants' best friend, next to yourself, of course.

SUNSHINE Epi is a natural plant growth hormone and the first representative of a new generation of agricultural chemicals. It has a broad spectrum of stimulative and protective activities. Synthetically prepared epibrassinolide, active ingredient of SUNSHINE Epi, belongs to a class of brassinosteroids and is identical in all respects to naturally occurring plant hormone.

See also Overview of fertilizers.



See detailed plant profile in new window: https://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/epin.htm
Fertilizers, Macro and Micro elements
Fertilizers
Macro and Micro elements

Plants, like living organisms, require adequate nutrition for grown. The concept of plant nutrition includes the following substances:

Carbon dioxide. In the process of photosynthesis with the participation of chlorophyll, in the leaves of plants from water, carbon dioxide and light, organic compounds are formed that participate in the construction of the organism. This is the main and only significant source of organic matter for plants.

MACRO-elements. The macroelements include inorganic compounds necessary for the vital activity of a living organism. The prefix macro-means a relatively high content of these elements in the composition of plants, respectively, their high demand. The macroelements include: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sodium, potassium, chlorine, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, nitrogen and phosphorus.

Liquid Sunshine Boosters - Mild stable formulas, can be used year-around. Organic acid-based, Sunshine Boosters are perfect for organic gardens, edibles and do not affect crop pure taste. Amino-acid stable formulas have NO EDTA chelators to eliminate nutrients lockup in soil. Pollinating insects friendly. Designed for continuous use, Sunshine Boosters contain no excess salts, maintain soil pH at optimal level (5.5-6.5) and do not require soil flushing or additional pH regulators. They can be use with every watering, year around.

Water-soluble fertilizers - dry (powdered) fertilizers that must be diluted in water before use. EDTA-chelated. Can be used only during hot weather, during active growth season.

Smart release (granulated) fertilizers - Slow-release during 1-3-6-12 month period. EDTA-chelated. Can be used only during hot weather, during active growth season.

MICROelements. Microelements are inorganic compounds involved in the synthesis of enzymes and biologically active substances. The content in a living organism is very low, but they play a vital role in the life of plants. The microelements include: iron, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, molybdenum, cobalt.

ULTRA-microelements. Very small amounts of almost all elements of the periodic table are contained in all organisms. They fall into plants with root nutrition from the soil. The necessity for the life of ultramicroelements is not fully proved. Of more or less necessary are considered: vanadium, iodine, nickel, titanium, aluminum, cadmium, fluorine (for plants).

See full article: The role of elements in plant nutrition.

Fertilizers, or Plant Food, contain macro- and micro-elements, for example:

Macro-elements: Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P), Potassium (K).

Micro-elements: Boron (B), Molybdenum (Mo), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Zink (Zn), Sulfur (S).

Application: Follow directions on the labels. Do not exceed the recommended dose. Less concentration is always better than overdose. Generally, for tropical plants, dry fertilizers should be used only during the growth period when temperatures are above 65F, and Amino-acid based liquid fertilizers can be used year around.

See also: Plant Growth Hormones

For more information about Sunshine Boosters, see SUNSHINE BOOSTERS PAGE and learn more about Essential Nutrients.



See detailed plant profile in new window: https://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/fertilizers.htm
Tillandsia xerographica, Xerographica
Tillandsia xerographica
Family:Bromeliaceae
Subfamily:Tillandsioideae
Xerographica
Groundcover and low-growing 2ft plantSemi-shadeFull sunDry conditionsEpiphyte plantRed, crimson, vinous flowers

Beautiful species, very slow growing, but is easy to take care of. It loves sunshine and will take regular watering as long as the water won't stand in rosette, but can stand some drought quite well. This plant grows epiphytically on trees and on rocks in at elevations of 600 to 1,800 feet. Its silvery gray leaves, sometimes almost white, wide at the base and tapering to a point, make an attractive, sculptural rosette, 3 feet or more in diameter and 3 feet high in flower. The inflorescence, on a thick, green stem, from 6 to 15 inches in height, densely branched. The leaf bracts are rosy red; the floral bracts are chartreuse; and the petals of the tubular flowers are red to purple. Xerographica is a slow growing species with very long lasting blooms (months). The plant is currently on the CITES list of endangered species, therefore import/export restrictions apply.



See detailed plant profile in new window: https://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/tillandsia_xerographica.htm
Detailed plant profiles: 3 plants found