Gardening with Tropical Fruit

February 2006

By Gene Joyner, Extension Agent
Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service

This month we may see temperatures low enough to do damage to tender tropical plants so make sure that you protect plants with coverings or if they are in containers moving them to more protected locations if freezing temperatures threaten.

Towards the end of this month is the time to begin fertilizing to encourage rapid spring growth. If we have mild conditions some plants may already be putting out signs of life and new spring foliage.

If you have mangoes and avocados that are getting ready to bloom, remember to protect the blossoms with fungicide sprays in order to get a good set of fruit this year. If you have trees in containers that are ready to go into the landscape, at the end of this month it’s safe to go ahead and begin planting operations of all types.

I would not do digging up and transplanting though of most fruit plants until mid March to be sure of not getting any additional damaging low temperatures. Container things though could safely be planted and you wouldn’t run the risk of them getting damaged.

As we get further into our dry season make sure that plants are irrigated regularly and about once or twice is an average for this time of year. With container plants, depending on the container size watering might be required more often.