Gardening with Tropical Fruit

September 2006

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

This month expect to get a lot of rainfall since historically September has been our wettest month of the year due to the close passage of tropical storms and hurricanes. Because of that you shouldn’t have to worry about irrigation, however, if you have things in containers that don’t have good drainage you might run the risk of increased diseases showing up especially in a nursery setting.

If you have had a lot of rain over the last month or two, you might want to do a general light fertilizing on your tropical fruits to get them going up until our fall feeding at the end of October or early November.

This is also a good time for installing all types of plants into the ground and they should establish quickly with the good growing conditions.

If you want to do grafting or air layering, this is a good time for that, too. Of course, seeds can be planted at any season and this time of year seeds do well, but make sure they are planted in well drained materials so you don’t run the risk of them damping off or having various soil rots.

Some tropical fruits that like dry conditions might react to the increased wet weather by discoloring or losing some foliage, but this happens every year at this time and once we get into our dry season in October the plants re-foliate and make a complete recovery.

If you have questions about tropical fruit care in your landscape at this time of year, check with fellow members at monthly meetings or contact your local county Extension office.