Hi there, I found this site several times when searching for info. and had gradually started reading more of it in the last few weeks, so I thought I'd come out of the computer closet and free myself by declaring that yes, I'm another tropical fruit lover as well. (And yes, I'm another Aussie, a Queenslander too!)
I'm trying my hand at growing many things at the moment, but no ultra-tropicals. I live in an elevated area (440m), and my climate is a cooler sub-tropical one. No frosts here, but with winter mins 6-10c overnight I do accumulate some chill hours. I only moved here 3 1/2 years ago, so all my plants are young - am getting my first decent crops off the older trees this year.
Some of the trees I have are Mango, Avocado, Lychee, Longan, Persimmon, various Citrus, Jakfruit, Wampee, Sapodilla, Sapote (Black, White, Green, Mammey), Atemoya, Cherimoya, Rollinia, Peach, Pomegranate, Fig, Guava, Passionfruit, various Eugenia,various Jaboticaba, Canistel, Wax Jambu, Apple, Papaya, Blueberry, Babaco and more. I'm finding my ripening times are about a 4 week lag behind Brisbane fruits.
I'd been growing fruit trees for about 16 years, but after I moved I started growing a wider range, so I'm having to re-learn everything again - lots of trial and error, and alot of fun. Guess learning never stops anyway. (Still make odd rookie errors occassionally - last month I was so excited that my Sapodilla's had set fruit, I fertilised and had the whole lot aborted. I'm still kicking myself!) I take all the advice I can get, hence stretching to this forum. I hope I can make some positive contributions, but I'll probably be mainly asking for advice (apologies in advance if my Q's are too dumb and I shame myself.) Thanks for making this forum available, I'm happy to now being part of it, and look forward to 'meeting' you all.
Veronica