Gardening with Tropical Fruit

November 2005

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

This month many trees will start to slow down their growth for the upcoming winter season, but you should have fertilized trees last month to get them in good health. If you forgot to fertilize, you can still apply a light fertilizer this month, but don’t provide excessive quantities since the trees won’t be able to use large amounts this late in the season.

Any pruning that hasn’t been finished prior to now should be completed and if you’re doing propagation after this month when trees really slow down their growth it will be much harder to bud, graft, or do air layering.

This is a good time still to put out seedling trees that might be in containers or to buy additional trees from local tropical fruit nurseries.

Some trees that drop leaves in the winter months will be starting to shed older mature leaves very shortly so some thinning out of trees is normal as we move further towards our winter season.

Usually insects and diseases should not be a problem this late in the season, but it’s still a good idea to inspect tropical fruits on a weekly basis throughout the year to check for any potential problems that might arise.