There are some bits of advice that I'm primarily looking for, which are probably the most basic to be asking for:
On the roof:
All of the plants/trees are connected to a 55 gallon drum with a solar powered drip pump that charges the batteries while the sun is up and runs every three hours until the batteries are low. When its cloudy of course, they get little charge and hence it doesn't run. I've mixed in at the manufacturer's recommendation liquid Miracle Grow at a 1/4 dose (1/4 cup mixed in to 28 gallons of water)
Mango: I fully intend to keep it potted and hope for fruit someday. Should I at this point be "topping" or "pugging" the tree so that it branches out? I'm guessing I should only be watering it using the dripper (the pump is solar and charges for 3 hours then runs until low, I have it at 100% charge rate)
Annon: Again, fully intend to keep it potted. Also sitting with one dripper that runs every 3 hours. Any other care tips?
Lychee: Another 1 dripper tree at the moment, although I try to come up every morning and drown it with a watering can. I would like to see it branch out more, but I've noticed it likes to reach out all string-like. Any other tips to make it get bushier?
Lemon: I bought this at Home Depot as a Cocktail set (with Key Lime) and last year when we left for vacation, I didn't have any watering system implemented. I came home to what I thought were two dead trees. With daily watering, the Meyer lemon managed to come back, better I thought than ever just shorter. I had a full bloom last month, but even after several lemons got about 3/4 inch diameter, they turned yellow and fell off. I'm wondering if the tree is still too young or if I'm doing something wrong? It's blooming again, and I'm giving it water daily, still no edible fruit
Habanero Pepper: This has always been on my balcony and has fruited aplenty, but I figured it would like living on the roof more so I moved it. The peppers growing on it at this time appear MUCH larger than before, so I'm guessing it liked the move although I have to be much more careful about the water it gets. I definitely have to water it in the morning every day. It is also currently attached with one dripper, I might have to give it two to keep it happy.
Big Bertha Pepper: Poor guy, after it was flowering I moved it to the roof, and during the move I broke off half the plant while moving the hose around. I had to fashion the sad braces it has to help it come back. This one has 1 dripper and so far today has not needed any additional water to keep it perky.
Romaine Lettuce: Too small and too new as of yet to tell if its doing okay. It has one dripper as well, and hasn't looked anything but perky every day when I check on it.
Patio Tomato: I picked this up last week at the Home Depot because I was looking for something in one of the pots with the growing cage attached. This was the only tomato they had in such a cage. It looked practically dead, leaved rounded and crunchy, browned etc. but I cut off all of the sick looking growth and put it up on the roof with one dripper to see how it would do. 1 week later you have the current pic.
Some things I'd like to add upstairs: Guava (Ruby Red I think, I tried the Thai variety and didn't like it, it wasn't sweet at all), Longan (my neighbor is Philippino and mentioned it was in the Lychee family, figured I'd give that a try as well), as well as some more veggies for a fresh rooftop salad once in a while for two. Again, any more suggestions?
On the balcony:
The only real issue I've come across is Whitefly. With my peppers on the balcony, they feasted on them. I've used some oil my mother-in-law recommended mixed with water to spray down all of the infected leaves several times to get the problem under control and it worked, so I tried moving the clean plants to the roof and apparently the whiteflies can't stand full beach sun. Unfortunately, I still have them attacking the Mexican Petunias. I'm regularly spraying them to try to get rid of them. I'm also wondering about the Passion Fruit where it is because I can't think of another place to put it. Its only been a couple of months, and its growing like mad so I assume it likes its spot?
Thanks in advance,
Charlie