Hi there!

Hope you guys can give me some advice. So this is my first year growing tropicals/sub tropicals/hardy fruit trees here in Rome, Italy (zone 9-10). I'll tell you what I did and what went good/bad. So I purchased many (way too many) fruit trees + seeds of all kind from a-z during the winter 2015.

In August 2015 I came back to my apartment and I had a jungle in my balcony... Almost every tropical from a-z and other fruit trees. First I repotted some in a good sterile soil with drainage matter on bottom and natural fertiliser and then I brought the light sensible plants (cocoa) inside a small pvc greenhouse. Second I took my car and brought a major of those plants (only the grafted trees, not the seedlings) to my house near the beach which has a big soil space available. I used the soil that was already there (unfortunately) and planted them.

In November 2015 I came back and placed some mulch + frost cloth protection only on the tropicals. In February 2016 I came back and 1 cocoa, 14 papayas and 2 cherry plants were dead. I brought more plants + seedlings and planted them everywhere in the garden. So far everything is good, the plants in my apartment where brought outside in the balcony since the colder months have passed and the frost protection was removed from the plants in the garden.

What in my opinion went wrong was: the transplant in the ground, in the wrong moment and with no fresh soil with beneficial fungus. The cherries died since I think the soil was very heavy and they suffocated... It's strange that the tropicals look more healthy in this ground than hardy fruit trees like cherries and apples. Whilst the papayas and cocoa died for insufficient protection. The plants in pot all survived, another cocoa was in danger because of pests (now it's recovering).

The plants in pot are all doing pretty well, I add fertiliser once a month and some acidity to the soil in order to bring the ph to 6.5-7. I offer each plant the proffered exposure, e.g. Bananas are placed all near to increase humidity and in full sun whilst cocoas are placed in a small greenhouse with 80% humidity and small direct sunlight only during the morning (no burned tips! Pretty healthy except one). I use neem oil to control pests. The only problem is that this year I can't recover them anymore inside, not all only the soursop and cocoa. I plan to protect them next winter with a structure around each pot of frost cloth and pvc on top whilst the pot wrapped in a plastic bubble film.

I brought many more plants to the garden planted in soil, the pros are: huge canopy all around providing heat in the winter and cold in the summer + walls + automatic watering system. Cons are: very old compacted soil, there are 4-5 giant trees that yes provide a tropical microclimate that is beneficial for the tropicals but I wonder if planting plants near by is a problem. Since these trees are huge (the trunk is thick tree times my size, they are half a giant sequoia practically. Because of these most of the garden is shaded and only half of it receives direct sunlight. This year I plan to prune some fruit trees to keep them 1.8m high (I know that the small they are the more hardy they are in winter), spread some mycorrhiza (beneficial fungus), protect plants next winter by creating a structure around each of frost cloth and pvc on top + mulch on the ground.

My questions are:

1. Should I move the plants that I already planted/change the soil/what type of winter protection should I use/etc? Hardiness zone: 9-10, Plants list: (there are more plants of each type) black sapote, jackfruit, mango, carambola, lychee, longan, cherimoya, sugar Apple, graviola, pitanga, eugenia brasilensis, eugenia aggregata, musa gran nain, musa jamaican red, musa sikkimensis, apple banana, papaya, cacao, peach, apricot, cherry, Apple, figs.

2. Can I plant already the seedlings in the ground or should I keep them in pots longer? (less than one year old)

3. Can I retry planting cocoa + papayas? I now they are zone 10 plants and they can't take any frost but since papayas grow best in ground and cocoa are full of I pollinators (mosquitoes) + they can grow in the shaded spots of the garden I want to still do this!

4. Best protection from frost for tropicals in pot? Should I bring the seedling inside for the winter (unfortunately I really can't but if there is no other way to protect them I'll save 2-3...

5. How much repotting?

6. Can I plant fruit trees near each other like banana plants? Or does it diminish fruit production too much + makes too much competition for the plants to survive?

7. Which plants of the ones I have together with cocoa are suitable for a shade/humid location?

8. What am I doing wrong + what didn't I do?

I know from reading on the Internet + seeing other people experiences that I was very lucky (I have to say I prayed a lot, I was really afraid that all tropicals would have been dead when I came back) but it went very good! Especially since I planted them in the wrong moment and in old/heavy soil.

I will upload some photos of all plants when I come back to Rome, thank you all for helping me out!