Weekly Garden Tip

November 12, 2006

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

If you love eating fruit, you’re living in one of the best areas of the country to grow your own. With our subtropical climate we can grow well over 200 types of tropical fruits and the only limitation is the size of your property. Many people that have settled into Florida from other regions of the world grew up on tropical fruits and find that they just have to have some of these if they can grow here in their own landscape.

There are many types of tropical fruits that are very easy to grow and don’t take up a lot of space in the landscape. Good examples would be things like papaya which has a melon like fruit and pineapple which you can grow in a container on a porch or patio if you with rather than growing them in the ground.

Bananas are another favorite that can be grown in small spaces and there are over 100 varieties of bananas from little 3 to 4 foot trees to giants that reach 30 feet. Also the size of the bunch is variable with some having short stubby fruit while others have the big long familiar type fruit like you see in the supermarket. If you like cooking type bananas or plantains, they grow well here, too, so you can have virtually any type of banana that you wish in your landscape.

Other fruits that are popular include mango and avocado which come in hundreds of varieties and things that have unusual shapes like carambola or star fruit. If you want to grow the biggest fruit in the world, grow a jackfruit which can weigh up to 100 pounds and be twice the size of a large watermelon.

Information on growing tropical fruits is available from the Palm Beach County Extension Service and they have publications on most of the fruits grown in our area. The Mounts Botanical Garden operated by the Extension Service also has a collection of tropical fruits which have been growing there for over 50 years.
The botanical garden is open seven days a week and is located at 531 North Military Trail in West Palm Beach, halfway between Belvedere Road and Southern Boulevard.

If you have tropical fruits already and wish information on fertilizing, pest management or how to utilize the fruit, that information can also be gotten from the Extension office during normal business hours. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.

You may also want to attend one of the monthly meetings of the Rare Fruit Council which meets at the Extension office the second Friday of each month at 8 p.m in the evening at the Mounts Auditorium at 531 North Military Trail in West Palm Beach.