Author Topic: Looking for good fruit trees and fruiting bushes for FL panhandle  (Read 1917 times)

D-Grower

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May I start by saying it can get as cold as 15°f here where I am though very rare. This year it hasn't got colder than 30° but last year got 19° one night and was in the mid to low 20s for many many successive nights. Willing to try pushing things a bit but it's better when you know something can certainly handle the environment. I have thick not well draining clay like soil on my property in particular. Very wet winter seasons and also summer season sometimes.

What are your recommendations for not only types of fruits but cultivars of those as well? Have some cash to spend if anyone has things available to buy at a fair price. Do know about just fruits and exotics and I have gone there and bought stuff and plan to go back. However I like the idea of trading, bartering, and supporting personal people's efforts if I can. We all should be growing and exchanging various plants and even creating new varieties to pass around. I know many here do just that too. So what you recommend and or got!?!

Some interests(but open to anything hardy to area):

Cold hardy avocado
Pears
Citrus
Apples
Nut trees
Berry bushes
Stone fruits
Exotic temperate fruits
Kiwi
Grapes
Mulberries
Persimmons
Pomegranate
Mandarin melon berry tree
Pawpaw
Japanese raisin tree
Jujube
Any hardy passionfruit other than Maypop?
Medicinal or otherwise useful trees, shrubs, herbs
Perennial veggies

I'm not picky really open to anything fairly productive, hardy to area, can be neglected is always good, etc.

Thanks! DG
« Last Edit: February 11, 2019, 08:03:49 PM by D-Grower »
Trying to grow it all!

Triloba Tracker

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Re: Looking for good fruit trees and fruiting bushes for FL panhandle
« Reply #1 on: February 15, 2019, 04:46:26 PM »
Pawpaw would be an interesting experiment. I have seen at least Asimina species, can't confirm Asimina triloba, in Santa Rosa Beach/Watercolor, etc.
You may not get enough chill hours there for fruit, but hard to say.
If you can get any of Peterson Pawpaw's varieties, or Overleese, KSU-Chappell, Sunflower.  Mango purportedly does well in hotter climates but i don't know if that's true.
G2gardens.com sells Peterson varieties and Mango and Overleese and more.
Hidden Springs Nursery sells the KSU varieties, Mango, Overleese, Sunflower and more.

Secondly, i'm not really aware of any other cold-hardy passiflora that has fruit worth eating. Maypop is your best bet and I think very tasty.

D-Grower

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Re: Looking for good fruit trees and fruiting bushes for FL panhandle
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2019, 08:34:08 AM »
Hello! Thanks for the reply!

As for A. triloba I don't think I've ever seen any here. The small bush like pawpaw do grow here in places such as cow fields or whatever and I've seen them with fruit as far down as Sarasota FL. Riding down hwy 27 near and past cheifland FL I have seen tall tree like pawpaw out in the fields. Just can't pull over and jump onto people's property. I would have to assume due to size they are triloba. Santa Rosa Beach is like 2 hr drive west of me and roughly at the same position across so I'd figure if they fruit there they could here. Just fruits and exotics sells some but can't remember what varieties. They are 2+ hrs East of me. Don't much mind what varieties I can gather as long as I can eventually try one! The few times I've seen fruit on the bush types by the time I'd come back to see if they are ripe something had already got them. There's a lady here in FL that specializes in the native small types. Cannot remember her name or business name but I'd emailed her before with no reply in the distant past.

I agree maypop is tasty and I do like them. Miss my P. edulis from down south though. I like the tartness. A friend is sending banana passionfruit seeds but I don't know if I can get fruit set and ripening before cold wipes them out.
Trying to grow it all!

Triloba Tracker

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Re: Looking for good fruit trees and fruiting bushes for FL panhandle
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2019, 02:00:39 PM »
Good deal! And good luck!

It’s exciting to try a fruit for the first time, especially when it’s a native like pawpaw. I remember early in my obsession with them how stoked I was.
It’s a very interesting fruit, pretty unique. But for someone spoiled on the great exotics, it might not be too exciting. Still, it’s amazing considering it’s native and temperate.

D-Grower

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Re: Looking for good fruit trees and fruiting bushes for FL panhandle
« Reply #4 on: February 17, 2019, 02:14:46 PM »
I'm not super picky flavor wise. I've got one of those palates that can eat about anything. Very intrigued to try pawpaw that is for sure!

I've tried most of the exotic fruits and like many of them but white sapote is my favorite so far and perhaps some of the exotic mango flavors. The annonas are good too and jackfruit as well. Wasn't crazy about jackfruits texture though.
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Triloba Tracker

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Re: Looking for good fruit trees and fruiting bushes for FL panhandle
« Reply #5 on: February 17, 2019, 03:13:19 PM »
Cool!
If you like white sapote you will like pawpaw. Pawpaw is very custardy (though some are firmer like a great mango). And it can have vanilla/caramel flavors. I have even thought at times there’s a jackfruit resemblance but not so sure.
I have had ones that taste like durian too, and others have reported this. Durian is one of my absolute favorite fruits.
Pawpaws are cool because they’re 2 fruits in one: they start off fruity, but if you let it ripen longer, get very dark, the flavor changes to an amazing caramel/butterscotch/flan. I like them more on this end.

D-Grower

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Re: Looking for good fruit trees and fruiting bushes for FL panhandle
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2019, 09:49:34 AM »
Never tried durian wonder where I might be able to make that happen. Imagine people grow them somewhere in extreme South FL. Think I saw a documentary about a place down south with one in a greenhouse or something but said it's never fruited??? Could be recalling wrong though. Maybe it was that "fruit hunters" documentary.

Your making a wonderful case for pawpaw! I'm certainly buying some at just fruits next time I go!
Trying to grow it all!

Triloba Tracker

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Re: Looking for good fruit trees and fruiting bushes for FL panhandle
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2019, 09:58:56 AM »
Yes you’re thinking of Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Miami area. They have a durian tree in the Whitman pavilion. I don’t think anyone has fruited durian in the US. But, you can usually find frozen durian at Asian markets, either whole fruits or small packages of seedless flesh. It’s not as good as fresh but it’s still fun. Like any fruit, sometimes you get a dud.