Gardening with Tropical Fruit

October 2005

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

This month we should see an end to our heavy rains as we begin our dry season which will last until mid May. Plants will start a gradual slow down in growth and it’s time for our fall fertilization. Use good quality complete fertilizers and especially make sure they contain good sources of micro nutrients. Otherwise deficiency symptoms could soon appear.

Hopefully we’ll go the remainder of the hurricane season without any major storm damage, but keep an eye out for changing weather patterns.

This is a good time of year to complete any last minute chores in the landscape such as pruning or shaping and, of course, if you have container plants that need to be set out it’s still OK to do that as well.

Make sure though that if you’re not getting regular rainfall that newly installed plants are watered thoroughly the first several weeks until they become established.

It’s still not too late to do grafting, budding, or air layering or planting some of your favorite seeds to get new plants ready for next year. Check plants on new growth that should be emerging to insure that you’re not getting any insect or disease buildups. If so, take appropriate control measures if necessary.

It’s also normal at this time of year for you to start seeing increases in leaf loss as plants begin to shed older leaves going into the winter season. If it’s only old leaves that are dropping off it’s usually no problem. If you see yellowing and discoloration on new growth though, that usually indicates nutritional problems or diseases.