- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Louisiana Tropical Fruit Gardening - Experiences and Updates
Posted on 2/4/26 at 7:15 pm to Loup
Posted on 2/4/26 at 7:15 pm to Loup
quote:
What about Everglades? Any luck with theirs?
In general, Everglades is usually very expensive and small plants. They also deceptively advertise. They will tell you that something is great for container growing or represent something as a specific cultivar that is actually a random seedling. For example, they sell "yellow grumichama" which is rare and more expensive than regular purple grumichama. But when you contact them about it, they'll admit that it's a seedling of a yellow tree and that there is no guarantee that it will eventually bear yellow fruit.
I will say this: they have probably the best inventory of any online nursery that ships. Sometimes they will be the only place you can find something specific or uncommon. I use them for that purpose. If I'm buying something common like a Glenn mango or a pink guava, I am going to Lara Farms, Top Tropicals, or Etsy, not Everglades.
1
Posted on 2/4/26 at 7:31 pm to Tigerlaff
quote:.
If I'm buying something common like a Glenn mango or a pink guava, I am going to Lara Farms, Top Tropicals, or Etsy, not Everglades
Thanks, the Everglades Pickering was advertised as being in a 4" pot I think. Just ordered one for cheaper total with shipping from Top Tropical in a 3 gallon pot. Lara Farms was out of stock on the Pickering.
Posted on 2/4/26 at 8:02 pm to Loup
Good choice. I have had good success with top tropicals.
Posted on 2/5/26 at 6:43 am to Tigerlaff
If I plan on keeping my guava trees pruned small. how close can I plant them together without issues? Google is all over the place on this one. I'd like to plant them 3-4 ft apart in a small raised bed that I can put my greenhouse over.
Posted on 2/5/26 at 7:30 am to Loup
I would say 4 feet would be fine. I wouldn't go any closer. You might want to consider growing them in their natural bushy form instead of pruning them into standard trees. Might make more use of the small available space.
Also remember that guava (even the tropical guava but especially the cattley guava) will come back from the roots in 9a even if frozen all the way to the ground. They just won't fruit the next spring as they recover. So you have more flexibility than you think in terms of placement. For the cattley guava, the greenhouse is honestly overkill. Frost bag and c9 xmas lights and you're good for all but the most freak single digit cold events.
Also remember that guava (even the tropical guava but especially the cattley guava) will come back from the roots in 9a even if frozen all the way to the ground. They just won't fruit the next spring as they recover. So you have more flexibility than you think in terms of placement. For the cattley guava, the greenhouse is honestly overkill. Frost bag and c9 xmas lights and you're good for all but the most freak single digit cold events.
This post was edited on 2/5/26 at 7:36 am
Posted on 2/5/26 at 10:31 am to Tigerlaff
quote:
right here boss
Well shite
This post was edited on 2/5/26 at 10:32 am
Posted on 2/5/26 at 8:27 pm to Neauxla
THE RAJAPURI BANANA LIVES! LONG LIVE RAJAPURI!
Posted on 2/6/26 at 6:46 am to Tigerlaff
quote:
THE RAJAPURI BANANA LIVES! LONG LIVE RAJAPURI!
Hell yeah! I'm anxiously watching my Ice Cream. The trunk feels solid but it looks ROUGH.
I was in my greenhouse yesterday and it looks like the dragonfruit plant is handling the winter better than any of my other plants in there. It's put on 6" to 1' of new growth since November.
Posted on 2/6/26 at 9:32 am to Loup
Cannot wait to see if you harvest some dragonfruit. My kids want me to grow it but haven't taken the plunge.
Posted on 2/6/26 at 9:46 am to Tigerlaff
quote:
Cannot wait to see if you harvest some dragonfruit.
I'll call it a success if I just get it to flower. I'm not staying up all night to pollinate
. I'm in a few FB groups for it and folks go through some shi*t to make sure all the buds get pollinated. 
Posted on 2/6/26 at 4:08 pm to Tigerlaff
Do you guys think it would be safe for me to do my spring pruning next week in my yards? Its typically when I would do it and our upcoming weather looks great. Also, My plants and trees are not showing any damage from the cold that we had a week ago. Id like to spend a few days trimming and cutting back along with adding some new mulch and doing some irrigation upgrades
The plants I need to trim are Bird of paradise, croatens, some hibiscus bushes, Tie plants, shrubs and I need to remove a few lower yellow limbs off my pigmy date palms that were starting to turn before the cold. I also have a few potted Desert Roses that need some trimming and one small one that needs to be repotted.
I know a lot of people say not to cut things that were damaged because you dont know the extent but mine all look fine and the weather here seems to be stabilizing.
I am just going to have a few open days in the middle of next week and it would be great timing. I also plan on planting some shell ginger plants (about 20 of them) under and around my pool cage for lower cover under my pygmy date palms.
Thoughts? Cautions? Dont do it? Cut away?
The plants I need to trim are Bird of paradise, croatens, some hibiscus bushes, Tie plants, shrubs and I need to remove a few lower yellow limbs off my pigmy date palms that were starting to turn before the cold. I also have a few potted Desert Roses that need some trimming and one small one that needs to be repotted.
I know a lot of people say not to cut things that were damaged because you dont know the extent but mine all look fine and the weather here seems to be stabilizing.
I am just going to have a few open days in the middle of next week and it would be great timing. I also plan on planting some shell ginger plants (about 20 of them) under and around my pool cage for lower cover under my pygmy date palms.
Thoughts? Cautions? Dont do it? Cut away?
This post was edited on 2/6/26 at 4:10 pm
Posted on 2/6/26 at 5:50 pm to LanierSpots
Yeah it'll be fine. I really only stick to strict pruning schedules for certain fruit trees with specific cycles that have to be accounted for (lychee, mango, loquat, etc.)
Posted on 2/6/26 at 9:59 pm to Tigerlaff
Got some new stuff in the ground today.
Susquehanna and mango variety pawpaws to go next to my sunflower pawpaw for pollination. I'm growing all 3 right next to each other just like you would find in a wild pawpaw patch. Dormant now of course. These two little pawpaws are only about 20 inches tall, but their taproots had already grown down to the bottom of their 14 inch 7gal pots. Had to dig these holes deep to get those roots in.
Mule palm to replace my Mexican fan palm. I accidentally planted Mexican fan (Washingtonia robusta) instead of California fan (Washingtonia filifera). Robusta gets extremely tall and is less cold hardy than filifera. Got some burn when we went below 20F and I didn't want a 50 foot palm tree in my front yard anyway. Transplanted the robusta to my backyard to see if it will make it. Mule palm is absolutely my very favorite palm that will survive in 9a. Very hard to find these days and happened to find one at a great price.
Cara cara navel orange. I have another one of these in the ground that I planted a year ago that just failed to take off. Too much shade. This one will get much better sun and has better branch structure. Planted on a big mound. "Plant high never die."
This one is going in tomorrow. The greatest fig variety I have ever tasted: Prosciutto unknown. Once I've got this established I'm going to take cuttings and spam this variety all over the state of Louisiana.
I realize none of these are tropical, but definitely tropical adjacent. Pawpaw is more tropical tasting than half of my actual tropical fruits and mule palm looks a lot like a coconut palm.
Susquehanna and mango variety pawpaws to go next to my sunflower pawpaw for pollination. I'm growing all 3 right next to each other just like you would find in a wild pawpaw patch. Dormant now of course. These two little pawpaws are only about 20 inches tall, but their taproots had already grown down to the bottom of their 14 inch 7gal pots. Had to dig these holes deep to get those roots in.
Mule palm to replace my Mexican fan palm. I accidentally planted Mexican fan (Washingtonia robusta) instead of California fan (Washingtonia filifera). Robusta gets extremely tall and is less cold hardy than filifera. Got some burn when we went below 20F and I didn't want a 50 foot palm tree in my front yard anyway. Transplanted the robusta to my backyard to see if it will make it. Mule palm is absolutely my very favorite palm that will survive in 9a. Very hard to find these days and happened to find one at a great price.
Cara cara navel orange. I have another one of these in the ground that I planted a year ago that just failed to take off. Too much shade. This one will get much better sun and has better branch structure. Planted on a big mound. "Plant high never die."
This one is going in tomorrow. The greatest fig variety I have ever tasted: Prosciutto unknown. Once I've got this established I'm going to take cuttings and spam this variety all over the state of Louisiana.
I realize none of these are tropical, but definitely tropical adjacent. Pawpaw is more tropical tasting than half of my actual tropical fruits and mule palm looks a lot like a coconut palm.
This post was edited on 2/6/26 at 10:11 pm
Posted on 2/7/26 at 7:54 am to Tigerlaff
Very interesting report from Florida.
Looks like star fruit could be a good candidate to zone push in ground. I know Chapple farms is growing them with protection.
https://youtu.be/gr9KFLHF5ME
Looks like star fruit could be a good candidate to zone push in ground. I know Chapple farms is growing them with protection.
https://youtu.be/gr9KFLHF5ME
Posted on 2/7/26 at 7:58 am to Tigerlaff
quote:
I realize none of these are tropical, but definitely tropical adjacent.
Maybe it’s time to start a sister thread for ‘Louisiana Temperate Fruit Gardening’
If I get some free time maybe I’ll get it going. I’m not the best reference as my method of fruit gardening leans more towards permaculture and survival of the fittest, but it would be good to share experiences in this climate.
Posted on 2/7/26 at 8:27 am to audioguy
quote:
Looks like star fruit could be a good candidate to zone push in ground.
I have a friend in New Orleans who has a 15 foot starfruit tree in his yard. But it froze back years ago and killed the graft so it only produces sour fruit from the root stock.
IMO, the number 1 candidate to zone push in south Louisiana should be white sapote. They are citrus relatives and take cold weather extremely well for a subtropical. I have one in a pot but I would love to see someone in this thread take a crack at it. I'd get a variety that can be kept pruned short enough to cover like Suebelle. Younghans is probably the best one but it's a big vigorous tree.
This post was edited on 2/7/26 at 8:29 am
Posted on 2/7/26 at 9:26 am to Tigerlaff
quote:
I have a friend in New Orleans who has a 15 foot starfruit tree in his yard. But it froze back years ago and killed the graft so it only produces sour fruit from the root stock.
Do you know if they protected at all? Seems like keeping one pruned and protecting similar to citrus could work. I may end up giving it a try since I enjoy the flavor of star fruit.
Jaboticaba was mentioned in that video as well. What’s your experience with its cold tolerance?
Posted on 2/7/26 at 1:55 pm to audioguy
quote:
Seems like keeping one pruned and protecting similar to citrus could work.
If you are willing to do this, then yes it is absolutely possible. I would plant under the canopy of a big oak or magnolia as they tolerate shade very well. I would cover anytime a freeze is expected. You'll want to look at Kari, Fwang Tung, Sri Kembangan, and Bell. Forget about Arkin. All my homies hate Arkin.
quote:
Jaboticaba was mentioned in that video as well. What’s your experience with its cold tolerance?
Very cold tolerant. I say "very" in the specific context of this tropical fruit thread. It's not surviving 18F. But it can take high 20's without issue. Here's the thing though, jabos do better in containers than in the ground. They will happily live their entire lives in pots and produce tons of fruit almost year round. They need acidic soil and lots of water, which are easy to provide in a pot. They also take shade extremely well. If you're thinking about jabos let me know and we can talk about varieties, grafted vs seedling vs root sucker vs air layer, care requirements, etc. There is a lot of variety-specific things to know about them.
I have two jabos, a big red hybrid that is fruiting and a grafted sabara that is not yet fruiting. They are beautiful trees and make incredible container specimens.
This post was edited on 2/7/26 at 2:24 pm
Posted on 2/8/26 at 11:12 am to Tigerlaff
I got some outdoor work done today. I started to trim everything except a couple plants that I want to give another couple of weeks before I chop them up. Fertilized and used a small little rake to turn all my mulch over. Not my favorite part but it really looks better after.
Our HOA is supposed to take care of our yards, but I like taking care of mine and when they come around and fertilize, they just throw the shite out on top of the mulch. Which they did Friday. So I turned the mulch over to get the fertilizer down to the ground and also make the mulch look a little fresh.
Looks like most things made it through OK. A few things got stressed but other than that not so bad in my yard. I will surprise, however that some Foxtail palms in my neighborhood are totally brown. Mine have a couple of brown limbs on the bottom, but they were that way before the cold came. I left them on for protection. Going to work on the back yard this afternoon and then next weekend, I plant a bunch of things. I am going to plant Shell Ginger all around my pool cage on the sides under my pygmy palms. Will look great and give me some lower coverage for privacy. Then a few palms that I need to locate this week if I can
I also noticed that a couple of my Christmas Tree palms have one or more brown "stalks" in the crown area. I have seen a little of that before but never to this extent. I am assuming that when the next frown falls off, the next layer will be green. Hoping. I see it on both the palms that I have planted in the yard and one of them that I moved and kept inside. Any thoughts?
Our HOA is supposed to take care of our yards, but I like taking care of mine and when they come around and fertilize, they just throw the shite out on top of the mulch. Which they did Friday. So I turned the mulch over to get the fertilizer down to the ground and also make the mulch look a little fresh.
Looks like most things made it through OK. A few things got stressed but other than that not so bad in my yard. I will surprise, however that some Foxtail palms in my neighborhood are totally brown. Mine have a couple of brown limbs on the bottom, but they were that way before the cold came. I left them on for protection. Going to work on the back yard this afternoon and then next weekend, I plant a bunch of things. I am going to plant Shell Ginger all around my pool cage on the sides under my pygmy palms. Will look great and give me some lower coverage for privacy. Then a few palms that I need to locate this week if I can
I also noticed that a couple of my Christmas Tree palms have one or more brown "stalks" in the crown area. I have seen a little of that before but never to this extent. I am assuming that when the next frown falls off, the next layer will be green. Hoping. I see it on both the palms that I have planted in the yard and one of them that I moved and kept inside. Any thoughts?
This post was edited on 2/8/26 at 3:22 pm
Posted on 2/8/26 at 7:49 pm to LanierSpots
Nice, looks like you made it out pretty good with the cold. Everything looking basically fine. Such a relief when you don't get nuked.
Up potted my jalisco red guava from a 15g to a 25g today. Roots filled the entire 15g pot in 6 months. Can't wait to try the fruit of this one. Mealy bugs and being inside my shed for 3 months was stressing it out so I decided to free it today. Got the mealy bugs under control and gave it a dose of brassinolide to help with the stress.
Up potted my jalisco red guava from a 15g to a 25g today. Roots filled the entire 15g pot in 6 months. Can't wait to try the fruit of this one. Mealy bugs and being inside my shed for 3 months was stressing it out so I decided to free it today. Got the mealy bugs under control and gave it a dose of brassinolide to help with the stress.
This post was edited on 2/8/26 at 7:52 pm
Page 62 of 72
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News