Best Fruit Trees for Guerilla Gardening? (SoFlo Edition)

[johnb51]

So...this 55+ community has stupid rules against fruit trees but plenty of space for additional trees.  I say F 'em!  The ex-New Yorkers who currently sit on the HOA board wouldn't know a fruit tree until the fruit is actually staring them in the face (by which time there will be a new board), and I don't think the gardeners from Mexico/Central America would remove them. There are already many mature mango trees and quite a few avocado trees.  I don't see most of the avos with fruit, however.  I've already mentioned wanting to surreptitiously plant a sapodilla tree.  What other suggestions do you have?  White sapote, caimito, tamarind, mamey sapote, carambola, guava all seem like worthy candidates.  I wouldn't try to plant everything at once.  Sneak a few in per year.  See how it goes.

[Bush2Beach]

Best of luck on this noble endeavor.
Eugenia’s because they are bushes and good for ornamental value  . Either way keep trying !

[fliptop]

I've not seen fruiting trees of all you've listed, johnb51, but from what I've seen of Carambola trees, their productivity would give them away. Perhaps plant something that camouflages the fruit better and is less productive (so the excessive spoiling fruit doesn't further the anti-fruit tree bias). I saw a Black Sapote tree in my girlfriend's neighborhood, and we had to visually hunt to find the fruits--their color blended in well with the foliage. P.S. I couldn't live in an HOA community, especially one that forbade fruit trees. I feel for ya.

[Yook]

Lots of Eugenia species are attractive bushes with small fruits that look much like the little red berries on landscaping hedges. Might be a good bet. Loquats also look a bit like a magnolia tree and may not catch attention. They also don’t seem to drop their fruit but instead let it dry on the tree.

[mango_kush]

If they are in view eugenias and loquats are both very ornamental specimens

I'd go with mangoes and banana though, once established in one season they can be almost completely ignored

[skhan]

I'd plant seedlings of vigorous species in little spaces between bushes and shrubs.
Sprout them in pots or ask around the forum and get ready to plant them in the rainy season.

Ideally, they will grow up and out of the shrubs before a weed puller has time to get them and hopefully the seedlings get nice and big before fruiting.
That way the HOA has to pay money if they want to take it down. (They'll have to think twice)

Mangos, Mulberrys, Jackfruits, White Sapote, Avocados, loquat, and soursop are the easiest things I can think of.
Jabos will require you to keep watering them.
Eugenias could work but it would need to mix in well with the existing landscaping or it might get noticed.

I can get some random mango seedlings ready by August for this great cause.

[mango_kush]

Yeah thats what I would do, plant out mango seedlings and the ones that get established graft onto

[John B]

Feijoa and strawberry guava's can be trained as great ornamental hedges.

[johnb51]

Feijoa and strawberry guava's can be trained as great ornamental hedges.

I saw them a lot (and ate them) in my youthful SoCal days.  Do they grow here?  I haven't seen them.

I forgot to mention there are some loquat trees, but the fruit quality on all of them is poor for some reason. 

Since there are a lot of mature mango trees, I don't think I'd plant any additional ones in the open spaces.  I've watched many greedy morons stripping the trees of the green undeveloped fruit starting about two weeks ago.  (Now that's been a real WTF experience!  When I've questioned them about their reason for doing that, they've gotten hostile and said, "They're not your trees.")  Any mango trees I'll have to plant next to my house to keep an eye on them.  In spite of the ban people keep planting mango trees next to their houses, which is a good thing.  I'd also keep jabos and soursop close to the house.

[John B]

Feijoa and strawberry guava's can be trained as great ornamental hedges.

I saw them a lot (and ate them) in my youthful SoCal days.  Do they grow here?  I haven't seen them.

I forgot to mention there are some loquat trees, but the fruit quality on all of them is poor for some reason. 

Since there are a lot of mature mango trees, I don't think I'd plant any additional ones in the open spaces.  I've watched many greedy morons stripping the trees starting two weeks ago of the green undeveloped fruit.  (Now that's been a real WTF experience!  When I've questioned them about their reason for doing that, they've gotten hostile and said, "They're not your trees.")  Any mango trees I'll have to plant next to my house to keep an eye on them.  In spite of the ban people keep planting mango trees next to their houses, which is a good thing.  I'll also keep jabos and soursop close to the house.

Both should have no problems. Here is an article from Univ. of Florida. BUT it looks like strawberry guava is considered invasive in some areas....yikes!

https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/trees-and-shrubs/shrubs/pineapple-guava.html

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/st529

[W.]

Jaboticabas are quite ornamental. They also do not fruit for several years, so are basically just an ornamental plant for quite a while. I do not believe watering them would be an issue though, if you could plant them near a sprinkler system. But, they might grow too slowly for this particular gardening regimen. Perhaps mix one Sabara in with your other guerilla plantings.

You might want to try planting some sugar apples. I think their foliage is attractive. They grow and fruit relatively fast from seed, so they might be good to use as a way of testing whether the HOA people will notice fruit trees in their midst.

[johnb51]

You might want to try planting some sugar apples. I think their foliage is attractive. They grow and fruit relatively fast from seed, so they might be good to use as a way of testing whether the HOA people will notice fruit trees in their midst.

Sugar apples, check.

[bsbullie]

Why waste time with seedlings?  Will take too long and might be garbage.  You want a mango, get a grafted tree, plant and take your chances.  Since there is the chance you may have to remove it, just plant what you want and rake your chances.

I havent seen Feijoa thrive and fruit down here (central and northern Florida, yes but PBC and South, nope) and strawberry guava just plain suck.

[JoeP450]

I liked your original idea with sapodilla. Specifically Alano. Easy to maintain, leaves look great, Alano grows slow and compact, fruits are low key brown color, most people have no idea what it is (sadly).

If you are growing something with large or eye catching colorful fruit it’s a give away. Jaboticaba you could probably get away with planting in a shady corner of house like near an A/C and rig a drip irrigation line on a timer to outside hose spicket if nearby to keep it watered.  https://www.amazon.com/Raindrip-R560DP-Automatic-Container-Hanging/dp/B00J2NRUBI

-joe

[skhan]

My above response was gear more to guerilla planting in areas you have no control over, meaning any extra water would need to be bucketed in.
I do realize that seedlings will more than likely be inferior to our selected trees but under the above assumption they will take less care to establish. Once people start seeing you running out to a random spot with a orange bucket you've already been found out. (Not to mention going out with a 3g tree and a shovel)
Pulling out a 3g tree from the ground is pretty easy, I wouldn't want John to spend money on something that will easily get trashed.

There are some other good suggestion on the thread but in any case the logistics are the main issue. (Shovel and bucket vs trowel and water bottle vs throwing a seed)

John will have to see how much wiggle room he has with this HOA, Should be fun either way. I'm looking forward to updated

[bovine421]

John 51 maybe you should use a different tactic first give them a few mangoes and ask them to review it.Then give them maybe a different variety and ask them to review it and once you got them in addicted to mangoes offer them a small 3 gallon tree that fell off the back of a truck. Then you can say. You know growing that in a pot it will never produce more than one or two mangoes but if you put it in the ground which I can assist you in doing so you may have a really nice crop. It's called greasing the wheels you have to remember their big city

[Mike T]

Sapodillas would the ideal tree to use in my home town. Cairns floral emblem is the magnificent Golden Penda which when not in bloom looks remarkably like a sapodilla. They are in parks and around the streets all over the place. If I has sapodilla seedlings I would be tempted to do a swap over of young ones in the dead of the night.

[johnb51]

I liked your original idea with sapodilla. Specifically Alano. Easy to maintain, leaves look great, Alano grows slow and compact, fruits are low key brown color, most people have no idea what it is (sadly).
-joe

I found one sapodilla here growing as a shade tree.  It doesn't have much fruit, just a few little round ones high up.  When I planted an Alano sapodilla next to the street at my last house, the tree was admired and commented upon by all.  In 8 years only 2 or 3 people knew what it was.  Many incorrect guesses!

[FLnative]

If you have a little green space + can grow fruiting plants in pots, maybe a mango, like Pickering or Dwarf Hawaiian in a pot with the bottom cut out.

[bovine421]

If you have a little green space + can grow fruiting plants in pots, maybe a mango, like Pickering or Dwarf Hawaiian in a pot with the bottom cut out.

That's a great idea just grow them in pots with the bottom cut out. Thier from New York and they won't know the difference

[bsbullie]

Growing in pot with the bottom cut out is an utter waste of time.   Roots will head straight into the ground and also be restricted by the pot.  Not a good thing for the health of the tree.

There is far too much being put into this.  In a pit, seedling or grafted tree...look, either they will let it go or harass you and send to their attorney if you dont comply.  Just plant what you want, and a grafted tree if the variety you want.  If they say anything, in this case its best to ask for forgiveness than permission.  Planting too much is taking advantage and send a bad message where they will use you to make a point.