1. It ain't easy.
2. Having a greenhouse doesn't necessarily mean you've recreated the rainforest.
3. When you think things are going well...take a closer look. Mr. Murphy is always watching...and waiting.
4. Dem bees and other insects sure know what they are doing.
5. No matter how much you plead and beg, dance and scream...that seedling is still far from producing any fruit.
6. Aphids and mites are smarter and tougher than I am.
7. Clay is heavy.
8. PH is NOT constant.
9. There are reasons for failures as well as successes. The trick is figuring out which was which.

10. Your friends and family just don't have the same excitement for your hobby as you do. Still trying to figure this one out.
11. A 30 gallon trash can will generally only hold, you guessed it, 30 gallons of water. The rest will find the next lowest point...which turns out to be the hole you that took you two days to dig out.
12. A single, small triumph can usually overshadow several small failures.
13. Don't oversize your containers.
14. Pruning citrus grown from seed is a no-no.
15. I suck at grafting.
16. Trying to grow a Mangosteen will be the death of me.
17. Don't keep making the same mistake again and again and again. The phrase "learning curve" was coined for a reason.
18. Sneaking a plant purchase is impossible when your wife keeps a daily tab on the online statements for fear of identity theft, credit card theft, and other...and the fear of her husband buying more plants. She's taken the "sneak" right out of sneaky.
19. The greenhouse is NOT infinity enclosed in glass.
20. And just learned....talking to your wife about a possible Hawaiian vacation and saying the following is NOT a smart idea..."Yeah...there's lots of fruit places and nurseries to visit over there!".

lol Jay especially number 20.

5)Tastes is very visual especially when it comes to the unusual and tropical. Some people will say that lychees and longans reminds them of eyeballs. I said to them, have you ever had "eyeballs?"

6)Cherimoyas so far seemed to be universally loved by the mainstream normal fruit eaters. Only complaint has been the seeds.

7)Who knew? I'm actually pretty good at grafting. Razor blades are sharp and it hurts. =)

8)You will obsess. I've started with Garcinias, then moved on to Anonas, and now bananas. Start slow. Really do you want 20 seedlings going of a fruit you never tasted before.

In zone 7b or below (besides the few) buy grafted trees only!

Better a house full of plants than an unfinished greenhouse. Those people who "just don't understand" and complain will have to deal.

Mist like crazy.

Add plenty of mulch to your soil mixtures. Then mulch on top as well.

Try to plant other things that will fruit fast. It will give some encouragement.

eggo, I can have any seedling you don´t want anyday!!! I should have got one durian seedling of yours before they frozen to death. At least those pitaya cuttings you sent me are thriving.

I discovered ornamental plants (bromeliad, heliconia, anthurium, philodendron, amorphophallus, croton, etc, usually instant reward) while waiting fruit trees to bear anything!!!.

I would like to heartily second Jay's #10. Also, while patusho was discovering ornamentals, I discovered herbs and vegetables!

1 That collecting fruit trees is an addiction that soothes the soul. Sometimes..

2. Avocado trees hate me.

3. The more $$$ a plant costs, the more finicky and likely to die it is.

4. I lust over a greenhouse, but after going through the hurricanes, I won't get one. But I still want one..

5. I have no patience or talent with rare, expensive Palms. They grow excruciatingly slowly, but die in an instant!

6. Sugar Apples RULE!!!! Easy, pretty, delicious!

7. One Carambola tree is too many. If you know someone who has one, get fruit from them, they will gladly give you more than you can use.

8. One can never have enough Citrus. I have 44, and hubby says we need to round the number up to 50(G).

9. A husband who likes to eat healthy, is a big help!

10. A hand truck is priceless when you have to move all your potted trees due to cold or storms.

11. Fruit trees/shrubs make very nice landscape plants.

12. In 10 years, this place should look pretty good...

Lisa

1. Try to pick plants that can actually be found at a nursery. No sense getting your heart set on something only to have to hunt it down. But then again there is the thrill of the hunt.

2.Wait until your overstory is firmly in place before buying the delicate babies. The overstory doesn't always grow as fast as indicated in the literature.

3.Keep a journal of what you plant and where it is, and even where you got it. Sometimes things that you thought were long dead resurrect and become real headscratchers.

4.Learn to say goodbye to the pups and volunteers. Your wife won't let you keep infinite numbers of pots hidden in all the borders forever.

Ohiojay: What exactly do you mean by your containers advice? Is that only for the trees whose roots aren't sensitive? Should grafted trees apply to this advice too? Basically, elaborate please :)

I guess I should have clarified a bit. If you plan on leaving the plant in the current container until it completely outgrows it or just leaving it indefinitely, then it's probably okay.

What I did was put my mango in an overly large container a while back...before I got the bright idea to plant it directly into the ground inside the greenhouse. When I went to remove it from the container...well there was more moist dirt than roots and the result was the tearing of some of the roots and generally stressing the absolute hell out of the plant. I lost all flowers/developing fruit and I'm still losing some older leaves. Hopefully the mango will treat the leaf loss as a pruning and start a branch!

On the flip side of this. When I transplanted the tamarind. I sort of knew that it had pretty much taken up all of the container it could take. It slipped out in a nice, dry, container-shaped mass.

So what I learned from this was that the plant better be darn good and ready to get out of its current home first.

Ah okay, that does clarify things!