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Tropical Fruits

Tropical fruits for northern climate?

17 years ago

I have always been very interested in tropical fruits and am familiar with many of them from travels in tropical countries as well as from living in south Florida for some time. Since moving to St. Louis, Missouri, a few years ago, I have not really considered growing any of these unusual fruits up here. I did have a mango at one time that grew nicely in a pot until I sold it to a friend who promptly killed it. I would love to try growing some unusual tropical fruits in containers, any suggestions?? I am looking for something that will produce edible fruit at a small size as well as adapt to winter storage in a basement growth chamber. Mangosteens, lychee, rambutans and mangos all sound great. Any advice on where to get plants would also be welcome since it is difficult to even find the fruits here in St. Louis much less tropical fruit plants. Thanks for any advice!!

Steve

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Comments (4)

User
17 years ago
Cannaz, scroll down to the "Favorite Tropical Fruits for Northern Growers" thread. Some of us are making a go of it. Helps to have a greenhouse!

SB
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gonebananas_gw
17 years ago
I grow a tropical guava in a 10 gallon pot, which stays unhappy but alive all winter at about 40 degrees on a glassed porch. I eat a fair number of guavas most years. This species is apparently used to partially defoliating and being stressed in one season (presumably a dry season in their native habitat).
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Here I am! I've been catching up on my repotting. I'm going to have to invest in a machine to mix up my soil. The ol "fill up the wheel barrow and mix with a hoe" is killing me! I'm buying spag peat several bales at a time now. Here's my list...if I can remember them all: Growing: Garcinia Livingstonei(Imbe(5)), Mangosteens(9), Garcinia Madrono(2), Garcinia Brasiliensis(AchachairÃº), cacao, pineapple(2), Feijoa(pineapple guava(12)), dragon fruit(red and white fleshed), papaya(dwarf and full(2 each), sugar apples(2), grumichama(cherry of rio grande), Jit Lee Rambutan, rambutan root stock(rongrien graft died), staghorn fern, maprang(mayong chid), miracle fruit(always blooming, always dropping), carambola, bananas(nam wa, super drarf cavendish), plumeria, passiflora, longan(kohala), tamarind, lychee(sweetheart), mango(nam doc mai-fruiting and loaded right now), sapodilla(alano-blooming for first time), orange, lemon, lime, key lime. Native grown: apples, pear, cherry(5 grafted varieties on one tree!), paw paws, peach(currently hit with a nasty fungal disease. Will probably yank it.) That's it! Can ya tell I'm partial to the Garcinias/Rheedia's?? Obviously in the future, this list will need trimmed down quite a bit keeping only the highly desirable. I wanted a jaboticaba and jak fruit but it just doesn't make sense right now. Besides, my wife won't let me..... :(
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User
17 years ago
Cannaz, since OJ's thread malfunctioned, may we use this thread to continue our tropical fruit/cool climate database discussion?

We had just started talking about compiling a record of fruits suitable for northern climates, including growing medium, pH requirements, size, and size at fruiting. I would also suggest that we include "prunability" (how well the plant tolerates pruning) and in-ground versus container comments. What we need is Wikipedia on a spread sheet!

Right now, I have the following in GH ground beds (growing in loam amended with peat or composted manure):
Mango 'Cogshall' doing very well
Mango 'Carrie' doing not-so-well, but I question the graft union
Lychee 'Brewster' fair
Lychee 'Sweetheart' fair to good
Bananas 'Dw. Orinoco,' 'DC,' 'Dw Red' all growing too well. I had to dig out some last weekend, growing through the roof of the GH.
Dwarf Pom growing MUCH better in the bed than in the container.
Psidium 'Lemon' 'Dwarf' and 'Strawberry' all growing very well, much better than in containers. 'Lemon has flowered and fruited at Cherimoya - too early to tell

My others are all in containers: Wax jambu, tamarind, fig, citrus (7), Sugar apple, Jaboticaba, Macadamia, Aust. brush cherry. Working on papaya seedlings right now, too!
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farmfreedom
17 years ago
There are pomgranates that are hardy to zone 6 Burgess carries them I think ; and a citrus hardy to zone 6 exists.
"One green world carries an nonedible Banana that is hardy to zone 4 with protection .
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