Hi Dennis,

Please tell us where you are from so we can make comparisons.
Growing anything other than native plants in Florida is not as easy as one supposes.
The combination of heat & humidity plus a short day sun puts stresses on the plants.
The lack of chill hours and low elevation also limits us to only certain plants.
Growing old is about the easiest thing to grow in Florida.

Lou

Hi Dennis,

I see you are from Finland? Our climate lets us grow just about any fruit or veg. as long as it doesn't need a low chill. They have developed peaches and apples that we can now grow here. Ofcourse Fla. is a long state and has different zones. How long have you grown your sugar apple in a pot?

Finland thats awesome welcome!!!

welcome...
Citrus is out biggest fruit crop. But depending where you live in the state there are all kinds of fruits we can grow.
Vegetables are big growers too. We have to grow based on the season but can grow various vegetables most all year long.

Hi

Loufloralcityz9 i live in Finland. I guess every place has it's own challenges growing plants. Short day? Yes in summer more northern you go longer the day, but you still have more than 12 hours day and Florida sun is stronger. What kind of stress you mean? Peaches need chill hours, but this varies by places in Florida. Growing old? You mean plants that people are already growing there?

Stuartwanda i live in Finland. I do have Florida's best fruiting plants book which have fruit plants which grow in Florida. I know there is low chill peaches which might work in Florida. Mine sugar apple is maybe 1 month old, i am growing it from seed. It don't yet have leaves, but i think it is trying to open first leaves. I think i didn't put planting date on paper.

Zoo-katie Yes i live in Finland. Thanks, looks like you are surprised.

Starryrider thanks, i know you can grow citrus in Florida and grow them in Florida. I am not much into vegetables. I think you are right you grow what you can in growing season.

Looks like i need to tell more about this. You told quite generally things. I have family who live in U.S.A. I have grandmother, grandfather living in Charlotte, North Carolina U.S.A. 1 Aunt lives in too there. Another aunt lives in Atlanta, Georgia U.S.A. I say Atlanta, but it is actually Kennesaw, i think Atlanta is not so big city itself i think, most people live in metropolitan area i guess. I have visited Florida when i was visiting Walt Disney Word in Orlando. So i know something about Florida plants.

I meant do you grow any fruits in your garden when i wrote "do you grow any fruits there in Florida"? Sorry for confusion, i should have wrote it more specific way, but i said i was busy.

I meant to ask do you grow any fruit in your garden? Tell us what fruit you grow in your garden. Peaches? Some tropical fruits? Pineapple? Strawberries? strawberry tree? How did it go? Did you get any fruit? Or is it young tree? Is your fruit tree doing good? Tell us how your fruit tree growing is going? Berries would also good to tell us.

I am thinking if i buy peach tree. Peaches are so good. I am growing now in pot sugar apple. Sugar apple is Annona Squamosa in latin name and is from annonaceae family. i grow them from seeds. I have tried to get Saurauia Madrensis and Saurauia Zahlbruckneri Butterscotch bush seeds to germinate, but they didn't germinate so i don't have those plants. Those were from actinidiaceae family so there were relative to kiwi, so they might had been nice to grow and try to eat them but can't do much now as they didn't germinate, at least i tried. Do you have some tips of germinating strawberry tree Muntingia Calabura seeds? I tried to germinate those, but they didn't germinate. I put them on glass water for 24 hours as suggested. Those seeds are small, so i can't take them out of soil. I have now ordered new packet of strawberry tree seeds. I now see they said 12 hours need of light is needed, i didn't notice this before. So first 24 hours of soaking in water and then 12 hours light of per day then they germinate in soil? Strawberry tree is sweet fruit and i like sweet fruits. I think i need to stop now, but i think i can be back here.

Hi There,
I have mainly ornamental tropical plants but do have a small veggie garden. I have 5 different kinds of bananas, a peach tree, a fig tree, lime tree, meyer lemon, and sweet lemon called samboken, Thai ginger, an assortment of herbs, and pineapples that grow all year. The veggies change from season to season. In the cooler months and winter I grow tomatoes, but now I have yard long beans, hot peppers and eggplant growing. I am in S. Fl, so my growing season is a bit different then the people in the northern part of the state.

I am getting ready to plant a lemon seed to see if I can get it to grow. I do have pineapple growing in my yard and a Mango in a vacant lot next to me.

Hello! I grow lots of fruit in south FL. It can be challanging but fun and tastey.

I am currently growing
10 varieties of bananas
dwarf ambarella
anna apple
blueberry
carambola kary
figs: green ischia, brown turkey, black mission and noid
citrus: key lime, honeybell orange, darcey tanerine, sambo lemon, moro orange
jabticaba
NS1 jackfruit
honey jackfruit
blackberry
hayden mango
lemon drop mangosteen
muscadine doreen and noble
mulberry everberrying
papayas
tropic beauty peach
nectarine
pitaya phusical graffitti
yellow pitaya
pineapples: spanish red, variegated, sugar loaf, noids
pitomba
pomegranate vietnamse
alano sapodilla
sugar apple - green
sugar apple - red
raspberry
passion fruit
Then there are herbs and spices like vanilla vine, black pepper vine, bay tree etc.

There is probably more out there, so as you see many things can be grown here. Most of my things are in the ground but I do have some potted as well. Kiwi doesn't grow this far south, but I think it grows in the northern part of the state.

Hi

Looks like i need to make correction to orginal message. I wrote "I wanted to say Florida people here." should have been I wanted to say hi to Florida people here.

Katkin what variety of peach tree you have? Did you buy it from shop? Or planted from seed? You said you have pineapple, did you took pineapple from shop and cut the top of it and put it on the ground? I have read pineapple can be grown this way. Hopefully you know that pineapple dies after it has made fruit, but it put small plants next to mother plant. That way i have understood it. Pineapples are sweet fruits.

Stuartwanda you said you have pineapple, did you took it from shop and cut the top of it and put in the ground?

Keiki you have a lot of fruits growing there. You said you have Tropic beauty peach, has it growing good way there? How about your pineapples? Are those you wrote leaf color or what? You wrote you have blackberry, raspberry growing there. How they are doing there? Did you have variety suitable for you? I think it is quite warm there for those. But it is good you to try them if it works for you, you don't know if you don't try. I think blackberry might work, is the raspberry the normal raspberry or mysore raspberry? I think normal as you didn't mention it is not normal. I meant mysore raspberry is different specie. Is your blackberry thornless or thory variety? Remember cut (down) blackberries and raspberries if you got berries. I know raspberries need to cut, but not sure about blackberry. I need to check. I checked i think blackberry needs to cut down too. It is in same genus Rubus plant. I guess you knew this already, but i said it any way. How is your sugar apple growing? Did you grow it from seed? I guess you have bought it from shop as you wrote color.

I cut the tops off of the pineapple and plant in the ground. Very easy to grow. It takes about 2 years to get more fruit but well worth it.
Is the sugar apple the only fruit you have growing?

Yes Dennis, that is exactly what I did with the pineapple. They do die off after fruiting but not before producing more pups. When ever I buy one at the store, I plant the tops. My peach tree was given to my by a friend and was grafted with 5 different peaches on it. Sadly some of the grafts died off and the tags came off, so I don't know which are left. But they are really good whatever they are. :o)

Hi Dennis,

Tropic beauty peach grows very well here! I have 2 trees and they produce more fruit than we can eat. My friends are happy about this. My nectarine also produces tons of fruit. Both are grafted varieties.

Spanish red pineapple is a wonderful huge variety with big thorny leaves and some red coloration. Very tasty. The variegated is a beautiful plant with smaller but tasty fruit. I started these with babies from a friend. The sugarloaf I got from trading, good fruit common looking plant. I also have a smooth something (I forget the name) I got in a trade which I like as it is less thorny also with good fruit. The no ids are from fruit I bought and cut off the tops to start the plants.

The anna apple is a funny story. I bought it and another variety to polinate it but the polinator died. I left it alone and almost forgot about it. I went to remove it this year and it bloomed so pretty I said ok after your done blooming. I was happily surprised to find fruit on it this year for the first time. Needless to say it has earned its spot in the garden now. The fruit was better than I expected.

The raspberry was given to me and has yet to fruit. I am not sure it will ever fruit but I am going to try as it is one of my favorite fruits.

Sugar apples grow great down here. My red one is full of fruit right now. The green one I grew from seed. It is not fruiting right now as I had to move it this year and it is being stubborn.

Many fruit trees do not produce well from seed. That said I have friends who wanted my peach tree seedlings.

Stuartwanda good to know pineapple is easy to grow. I think that way pineapple grows you took top of pineapple and plant it to the ground. I have kepel plant growing too from seed, latin name is Stelechocarpus Burahol. It don't have leaves yet. Seed planting instruction says it is very slow growing.

Yes Dennis there is other fairly regular contributers from Pakistan I believe and from England! I work in the Hort. Dept. of the Palm Beach Zoo I am trying to create gardens of sustainable crops to feed out to our animals, as for tropical fruits we grow Jackfruit, Black Sapote, Macadamaia, Avacadoes Pineapples, Mangosteen, Guava, Lychee, Longan, Bananas (obviously) Wild Coffee, Sugarcane, Cactus (fruits and pads) we have 2 'Sausage trees' haven't gotten to using that apparently not good tastening to humans, we also use Tropical Almonds (for the animals only) Dragon fruit, Vanilla bean vines, Bitter Orange (name escapes me now) other Citrus can't think of anything else its late here but I am always open to try new things :)
Katie

Zookatie, what is your fertilizer regimen for those fruits?

Mostly synthesized salts or composts/manures?

Hi

Kepel is from Annonaceae family, sugar apple family. I have some fruit tree seeds. Now i try to grow from seed mangosteen latin name Garcinia Mangostana, mysore raspberry latin name Rubus Niveus and biriba latin name Rollinia Deliciosa. Now my sugar apple has 1 leave. Kepel has not made growth. I don't grow much fruit, i am not much into gardening. I think i don't have that interesting thing, i try to grow something fruit trees. Little hard to explain... I guess you know what i mean.

Katkin hi yes i got it right about pineapple. Was your peach varieties on your yellow or white fleshed peaches? What happened to your peach tree as you said grafts died? I think you don't get enough cold to kill peach tree. Did some animal bite it? Rabbit maybe? Or was it wind? Any idea?

Keiki hi yes Tropic Beuaty is low chill peach, that might work for you. I think that variety might be from university of Florida so it is native area peach, which might be beneficial to peach tree. Good you like your peach tree. You told about pineapple varieties, i think Florida's best fruiting plants book had some pineapple varieties. Yes pineapple is sweet fruit. You might be little warm for raspberries, but sure try if it works. You don't know if you don't try. Do you have raspberry variety that produce same year or next year? You are probably right about that growing from seeds is not easy, but i don't have much choices.

Zoo-katie hi i have read mangosteen take long time to get fruit, 10 years i think i have read. Mangosteen taste good. Lychee taste too good. Rambutan taste good too if i remember right. Rambutan and lychee are relatives both are from Sapindaceae family.

Hi Dennis,

I have some new Mexican avocado trees (1 year) bought from a nursery. Having some issues with them so, will see if they make it.

Strawberries are the only things I seem to have regular success with, but I don't start from seed. I started with runners donated by a friend and have clipped runners off of those to enlarge my patch. I went with runners because I read seeds were very difficult, even the folks in Plant City use root stock and not seeds. From what I understand, they need chilling in order to germinate and once they do, they won't end up developing the same berries the seed came from. It's very unlikely, at least, was the way I understood it. But if you start with runners or root stock then you will get the same berries as the mother. Which is why the Plant City folks do it that way.

Chrissy

Yme45 hi strawberries are good. What you mean by regular success? Having strawberries every year? I don't know about strawberry seeds, but i think you got it about right. I think strawberries is bought strawberry plants. I think strawberry plants can be called runners. At least here strawberries are sold strawberry plants. I am not expert about strawberries, but have seen strawberries and strawberry plants here. About strawberry seeds not sure about chilling, but many cold hardy fruit seeds needs chilling (Actually chilling means chill hour under some temperature in peaches.) to germinate seeds for example peaches. So i think that might be case for strawberry too. Your text about strawberry quality looks O.K. for me.

By regular success, I mean I can usually keep them alive and thriving and have a harvest is spring and fall each year. That's the only thing I grow that I can say that about. I'm still learning about veggie gardening here.

I started with four strawberry plants and they shoot vines off in all directions. I have clipped a lot of those, rooted them and now have at least 15 seperate plants from the first four. A friend brought me a bunch of his runners and from those I now have 14 more plants. I just potted those about a week ago and they are already shooting off small vines, so I will have a very large patch this year. The berries straight from the plants are incredible, I hate buying in the store in our off season, just so bland.

Yme405 hi it is start at least. Strawberries are good tasting. You mean your strawberries are sweet? I think strawberries should be sweet. When they are ripe yes. I have seen in shop strawberries, but i think i haven't ever bought them they might have not (sweet) taste. Yes just like you said bland, no taste. You know fruits looks good, they are big, in shop and then they don't have taste/flavor. I think some fruits are picked before they are ripe so they don't have flavor. So your strawberry growing sounds good, if you got good strawberries.

Hi all,
Growing peaches in south florida? where do I get one of those plants? and sugar apples? are they really apples? I'm so shocked...I'd never heard of them! if so, where do I get them!!!!!! I'm looking all over to find out what tomatoes and cucumbers I can grow now in the fall.....

H.s.soly hi

Yes i have read peaches can grow south Florida. If you choose right variety. I take your task and tell you where you can get peaches. I think you need low chill variety, so you can get peaches. You asked source of those peaches. Just fruits and exotics have peaches available. Their internet site says they are taking orders for fall 2011 and 2012 spring season. Shipping starts mid october 2011 according their internet site. You show you are in zone 10. They have Tropic Beauty peach, which has 150 chill hour requirement. It is yellow flesh peach, soft, melting, excellent flavor peach. I have found here Gardenweb message of Tropic Beauty peach, one people said they are very sweet juicy peach. Another said great producer of wonderful fruit, another said it is very delicious. In another message one said it works in 10a and been a round for some years. Another message said it is winner had it for about 5 years and the fruit is delicious. People who wrote it was in deep zone 10 and it thrive tere. Could this peach work for you? What you think? That shop has also Florida Prince, Tropic Snow, Uf2000, Uf Beauty, Uf Sun and Ufo peach varieties. As Tropic Beauty has received some positive comments on it would it good peach to you to start with? I would think so. Just fruits and exotics is located in Florida, you can order them by shipping or you can pick up peaches. You asked about southern Florida peaches, so i think you are in south Florida. That shop is in northern Florida, so i think going there is not so good idea, long travelling trip to go there so shipping peach to you might be good idea. I think you need to pay sales tax as you are in Florida. You can ask them if they have Tropic Beauty peach available. Now i mean. Or some other peaches they have in their internet site. Take a look at their internet site of their peaches and tell what you think about those peaches, is there any peach you would want. Here is the link :

http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/Peaches.htm

Also here is messages about Tropic Beauty peaches which you might want to read to get some grower experience about that peach :

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flgard/msg0508373527148.html?16

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flgard/msg0415571617080.html

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/flgard/msg0508552313959.html

Sugar Apples are not apples. It is not from same family. I grow them from seed. Sugar apple is tropical fruit. Not related to apple. I think sugar apples are sweet fruit. Do you want plant or grow from seed. Pine island nursery has sugar apple on their internet site. They are in Miami, Florida. Take a look at their internet site at this link :

http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/fruitproducts_sw.htm

I told you where to get peaches and sugar apple. Hopefully this helps and good that i could help someone. Come back and tell what you think.