I love all trees that bear fruit however I hate rats! I mean, who doesn't? Our neighbors have lots of citrus trees and inevitably we see them (the rats, not the neighbors) running across the electrical wires during the winter months. I would love to find a fruit bearing tree that rats/squirrels, etc.. would want to leave alone.
On another note, a must-have fruit-type tree I have and love is a miracle fruit bush. I have it potted and it's full of berries right now. If you don't have one of those, Jene's Tropicals on Pasadena Ave and Central carry them. If you're not familiar with miracle fruit, you have to check out this site.........
http://quisqualis.com/mirfrtdmc!b.html
or look in the "Tropicals" section on this same site.
A real conversation piece and a very cool berry few people are aware of.

Ariel, how cold do your winters get?

My brogdon avocado was been wonderful, this was its first year of production. Its cold tolerant. I'd recommend TropicBeauty or TropicSnow for peaches, they are fantastic. Lychees and Longans are top notch, along with mangos and jakfruit if you don't freeze hardly. Persimmons and figs are wonderful and are tolerant. Try to grow things which produce in the various seasons, since most things will want to produce in summer to early fall.

Gary

Ariel, you are absolutely right, and I wish more people grew more edibles here! I have around 400 fruiting plants, and yet still am interested in adding more. As Gary said, look for varieties that fruit at different times, so you are always able to harvest something. Rats are not much of an issue here, even though I live in a wooded area. The rats prefer stealing grain from the poultry, and our Jack Russell Terrier kills any that venture away from the shed. We have lost *no* fruits or veggies to rats. Most vermin issues are caused when people don't pick the fruit, let it fall, and the rotting fruits attract them. What a waste!

My "must-haves" are Persian Limes, Bearss Lemons, Peaches, Bananas and Barbados Cherries. I get the most from these hard workers!

Muscadine grapes are easy and delicious, I grow mine on the fenceline. Blueberries, Mulberries, Blackberries are productive and fun.

For beauty, I adore my Tamarind and Jackfruits. Figs are always welcomed, and the only downside to the Sapotes/Macadamias/Sapodillas is that they take too long to bear (IMO). I'm very fond of my dwarf Mangoes, and Sugar Apples.

There are just too many wonderful fruits to list!!

Can you have poultry where you are? They will happily eat any flawed fruits/veggies and give you delicious eggs.

I'm attempting to keep a Lula Avocado alive. For some reason, Avo trees do not survive my care.. So I'm forced to pay $2.50 each fruit..

Hope you have better luck with Avocados!

Lisa

Ariel,
I feel the same way you do! My goal is to buy as little as possible and to grow most of fruits and vegetable my self.
That said: I love my avocado tree Simmonds, my mango tree (hayden). Most of my other trees are still to small to kick into regular production (any day now ;-). I love my mulberry, I have the dwarf ever bearing variety, and we always pick a handful each day. My son loves dark zill surinam cherry tree, which is producing 5th time this year.
I second Garry on the jaboticaba (does not get affected by fruit fly), star fruit is also our favorite: you can dry it, juice it, or just eat it out of hand. Another my favorite is Key lime, it produces all year long.
I am also looking into replacing one of my dead citrus with something, probably this spring. Jackfruit sounds really interesting along with canistel. I still have time to decide.(But oh boy, it is one of my favorite thing to think about).
Veronika

I actually have alot of fruit trees but they are all young and my budget does not allow for my to buy large specimens (I wish!)
Anyways Here are some of the fruit trees I already have
Citrus- Honey murcott, Honey bell, valencia, Myers, navel, sanbokan, key lime And another one can't remember
Bananas- praying hands, ice cream, raji puri, apple, brazilian, saba, goldfinger, Mua Moa, Misi Luki, & Nino
Miricle fruit- my kids love this
Jaboticaba- can't wait till it starts fruiting!
Blueberries- need more
Pineapples
Mulberries- tice and dwarf- my pakistan died I want another one!
Blackberries- apache, aparaho, and triple crown.
nectarine.
Mango, I can't remember which one
That all I can think of at the momment.
I know it sounds like alot but I really don't get much from them since they are smaller.
And like someone mentioned I want to spread out the harvesting times.

Ariel-

Have you been to Kerbies? They have a pretty good selection of tropical fruit trees, prices arent too bad. USF has their Fall sale in a couple weeks, the Tampa Rare Fruit club has a table and a good selection at good prices. I have gotten some 4-5' trees there for $5-15.

I have been going to Kerby's for years. They are great!
I was just wanting some opinions of fruits they like or don't like and why.
I plan on going to tropifloras on friday. And I plan on going to the USF sale. I love plant sales!!!

I want a Jamaican Cherry.

Sad. Florida used to be a "huge" state for Agriculture. One of the reasons I feel in love with Florida as a kid. I get excited when I see an Orange Grove. They seem so rare now.

Tropicalfreak

If anyone who likes pink grapefruit and nice juicy tangerines can come pick my trees clean if they would like. I live in St Pete I also have a peach that has never given anything bigger than a golf ball. I also give away my bananas

Tropicalfreak-

I have a Jamaican cherry, they are awesome trees. Grow very fast, flowers and fruits almost constantly. Love the taste of the fruit too. Very pretty tree, somewhat of a weeping habit. I highly recommend that one.

Lisa

I see you are Zone 10 as I am also. I have room for maybe 1 or 2 berry bushes (if I use them in my hedge) I'd like a berry that is dependable for my low low chill zone.

Which one do you recommend? Blackberry? Raspberry? I'd love blueberry but think it wouldn't be reliable here.

Anyone else is zone 10 please chime in too. Thanks.

Denise

Denise, I love my Thornless Apachee Blackberries. There is only one Raspberry (Dorman Red)that does well here, I have it, but won't recommend it because the thorns are terrible!

Blueberries do just fine, produce well, and are easy to grow. They like acidic conditions, so mine are in a raised bed filled with peat and pine bark. Just choose low-chill varieties, and get more plants than you think you will need. I have around 15 Blues, and would like more. The berries are so good that they never make it into the house!

Winter is the time to prepare a Blueberry bed, and order bare-root plants. They will leaf out in spring and depending on age, you should have berries the following year. Buying potted Blues can be expensive- I've seen them here in 3 gallon pots for $45.

As a hedge, Blues would be better than either Blackberries or Raspberries. But they all are leafless in winter.

Lisa

thanks Lisa for such a complete answer. I will take your advice and get the bluberries this January and try to hide them in the hedge when leafless.

Denise

Ariel if you only have one mango, you're not spreading your mango season. There are early, mid late season mangos, say Florigon, Mallika and Keitt for one for each season (pretty sure Mallika is mid). Same deal for avocados.

Gary

I used to have 3 mangos but I lost 2 of them during a but the both died- one from storm damage the other from water damage. The water damage was my fault. I had it in a pot and it didn't have good enough drainage and the roots rotted away.
I do want to get another mango. I have just been haven't done it yet.

I have to 2nd what Lisa said, I love my apachee blackberries.

Hey Ariel-

Did you get anything new and exciting and Tropiflora's sale over the weekend??

Hi Ariel. I have tropic beauty peach trees. They are easier to grow than I thought they would be. Try a couple as one is just not enough :) Plums do well here also. I noticed no one recommended sugar apples. I love my sugar apples, the fruit is great and the plants don't take that much room. I would also recommend figs. I have a few varieties but only a noid and black turkey are large enough to have produced fruit. They do really well in containers.

I sent you an email about shipping your plant, did you get it? Are you ready for me to ship?

Popper, I got a couple of no-ids on the bargin table and thats about it.

Lady,
I didn't get your email. Did I ever give you my address? If so, you can ship anytime. Is there anything I can send you?
What do sugar apples taste like?

Sugar apples are sweet and melt in your mouth. Not at all like an apple. I can't think of a way to describe it better than yummy. Everyone I have shared fruit with has enjoyed it.

I do have your addy and will most likely ship on Saturday so look for it Monday.

Thank you!!!!! I am very excited!!!

Maybe the rare fruit club will have a sugar apple that I can sample at the usf sale this weekend.

I luv my jaboticabas and my dovyalis- dovyalis makes a great spiced peach tasting jam or chutney. Usually get 3 crops a year of that and jaboticaba. PB county, coastal.(10)

Ariel your box was mailed yesterady. I hope it does really well for you. Did you try a sugar apple? If so did you like it?

GMB, is your dovialis that hybrid X something else? I'd love to get seeds if so.

Gary

Lady,

The box arrived yesterday. Thank you so much. It is all potted up until I can figure out where his permanent place will be.
No one had any sugar apples I could try. But I will be keeping a look out.

Thank you!!!!!
Ariel

i haven't been following this conversation, but read thru it quicklike. has anyone out there tried true blue propagation?

http://www.trueblueplants.com/blueberries/home.php

they're a tarpon springs based outfit. they have several low-chill varietals:
Emerald
Jewel
Princess
Saphire
Star
Windsor

their prices are REALLY low -- $6/plant. i haven't bought from them (mine came from just fruits -- great, but pricey), but plan to do so.