Gardening with Tropical Fruit

May 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

If you like to do grafting or other forms of plant propagation, this is an excellent time of year to do so and also adding plants to the landscape for the upcoming summer season. Dry conditions still persist in many areas, but within a few weeks the summer rainy season will arrive and everything should get back to normal.

Tropical fruits that bloomed earlier in the year are now maturing their crop, however, many people did not get a good bloom this year because of hurricane damage to trees last fall.

Next month hurricane season will officially start and if you have trees that still haven’t been pruned the way you would like, complete that process as quickly as possible. Hopefully we won’t get hit again this year, but predictions are otherwise.

If you’re thinking about starting any tropical fruit seeds, this is an excellent time for sowing seeds and just make sure that they are kept moist and not allowed to dry out during the germination process.

Air layering is also an activity many people do this time of year and air layers put on now can usually be taken off by mid summer if not sooner.

If you have questions about garden activities relating to tropical fruits, check with fellow members at monthly meetings or contact your county Extension office.