Thanks... perhaps Randia aculeata. Now I have another one to post...

Hi, I’m in Palm Beach Gardens (Zone 10B) There are three varietals in this bed, the two taller ones are Mammoths. The one on the right is 10ft. This is my first try at Mammoths but, I’ll share what I did and what I think worked well. Planting Time: Direct sow in February, thin out slow growers to prevent crowding. Two seeds every 30”. Soil Prep: Dug a 2ft deep trench, 1ft wide. I have sand as well so I amended the soil with a compost/top soil mix from HD and granulated fertilizer for shrubs. Next go around I‘m going to add bone meal earlier, probably around thinning. Watering: Water in the morning daily until they get about 1ft tall, then I typically water every other day if there’s no rain. Important to make sure soil dries a bit between waterings and very important to give them a slow deep soak to encourage good root growth. These just survived a severe storm with 40mph+ gusts and hail. I think the care to the root system helped them. Feeding: Liquid fish fertilizer heavy nitrogen every 14 days. Added an inch of manure on the surface when they got about 2ft tall and dug out a 3” deep moat, 1ft radius around the stalks. This really helped to direct the fert and water to the roots. Added bone meal to the surface around the stocks in mid April, I’m going to do this earlier next time. Although it seemed to really help with producing new buds on the Autumn Sun varietal. I applied neem oil at night a couple times early on, soak the leaves on top and bottom as well as spray the soil surface. Also I had to apply copper fungicide early on to fight leaf rot. Got a little lazy and the Jerusalem Golds suffered. These get great morning light, slight shade in midday from a palm. The shed in the background blocks a significant portion of direct afternoon light and there’s a row of Autumn Suns on that side as well. I think they’d be taller with more light but, that’s a guess. I also, didn’t apply liquid fertilizer as regular as I could/should have. I think they could’ve benefited from a couple more feedings. Next go around, I’ll experiment with the feedings. I hope this helps.

The plant is definitely a clusia guttifera (a small leaf clusia which is related to the larger leaf clusia rosea). Another common name for this is a pitch apple. I have one in my garden in Sarasota florida which is about 100 miles north of naples.

This is my first time attempting, I have planted it into the soil after root developed from my tubers. My current problems is with either snails or iguanas eating the leaves and even stalk. Has anyone had success with Dahlias in Florida?