The Tropical Fruit Forum

Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: Cloneit on April 17, 2018, 10:54:26 AM

Title: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: Cloneit on April 17, 2018, 10:54:26 AM
Anyone have any idea where the best climate is in Southern Californian to grow tropical fruits?
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: fyliu on April 17, 2018, 11:29:59 AM
Coastal areas like Santa Monica, Chula Vista, Huntington Beach. Maybe peninsula areas like Palos Verdes is best since they're surrounded by ocean. Salt spray might not be desirable though.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: barath on April 17, 2018, 11:56:35 AM
Coastal areas like Santa Monica, Chula Vista, Huntington Beach. Maybe peninsula areas like Palos Verdes is best since they're surrounded by ocean. Salt spray might not be desirable though.

I'm not in SoCal yet so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but the coastal areas, while mild, suffer from the same problem as the coastal areas here in the bay area -- they don't have enough heat.

So my answer is, from what I've seen, hillside locations between 500 and 1200 feet in elevation that are between 5 and 15 miles from the coast -- the Hollywood Hills and many places along the West side of the San Gabriel Mountains.  There's also a warm pocket in Fallbrook that is similar in terms of topography and climate.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: Mando408 on April 17, 2018, 02:39:58 PM
San Diego? Seems like growers there have no problem growing everything that struggles everywhere else.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: alangr088 on April 17, 2018, 02:50:01 PM
I'm about 6 miles from the beach and could use some more heat in the summers. When everyone is suffering during heat waves in the summer my trees flourish. I would say maybe 10-15 miles from the beach.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: spaugh on April 17, 2018, 02:53:02 PM
Best place is a greenhouse. 

Really its not tropical here.  Its cold/mild the first half of the year then its hot and dry the other half.  And if you are too close to the beach its cool all year and some fog.

Barath has a good idea though.  5-15 miles inland and 500 to 1200ft elevation is pretty ideal. 

Really depends on what you want to grow.  Things like banana would be better near the coast and things like mango do better a little more inland.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: barath on April 17, 2018, 04:22:51 PM
San Diego? Seems like growers there have no problem growing everything that struggles everywhere else.

There are some great climate pockets in San Diego proper, like canyon-facing backyards in Normal Heights, College Heights, etc. -- pretty much Zone 11a plus decent warmth.  They do suffer from a bit less heat than the areas that are a bit more inland, but for whatever reason inland San Diego county gets more frost than inland areas of LA and OC.  (Edited to add: probably because LA and OC have a significant urban heat island effect.)
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: fyliu on April 17, 2018, 07:25:09 PM
You're right. The coastal areas don't get very warm. I notice though that I have to protect my pineapples from the cold in LA while several of my San Diego friends don't have any problem just growing them in full sun and open sky.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: barath on April 17, 2018, 11:09:41 PM
You're right. The coastal areas don't get very warm. I notice though that I have to protect my pineapples from the cold in LA while several of my San Diego friends don't have any problem just growing them in full sun and open sky.

That's surprising to me -- here in the East Bay I don't have to protect pineapples in the winter.  (The leaves do get a bit yellow but they bounce back quickly in the spring.)  But it might be more of the "no frost, no heat" sort of situation here, because I haven't seen frost here in any of the places I've gardened but tropicals grow at a snail's pace.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: marklee on April 17, 2018, 11:27:11 PM
If I wasn't in Chula Vista then I would grow in the high areas of Vista, they get the warmer summers and the winters are real mild. Paul Thomson had his "Edgehill" place near Vista.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: fruitlovers on April 18, 2018, 12:23:37 AM
Tropicals like high humidity and liittle variation between daytime and night time temperatures. Most of southern California has extremely low humidity, almost no rain for most of the year. Areas that have higher humidity, like coastal areas suffer from coastal fog and cool temperatures for a few months. Still remember the so called "June gloom" from having lived there in San Diego coast. So California is far from ideal for most tropicals. Some of the hardier, widely adapted ones can just squeeze by with a little extra care, especially in winters when temperatures can easily stay at 50F for long time, and often dips below 45F.
I seem to recall that people in Vista, San Marcos, and Fallbrook had especially good luck growing tropicals that would not survive elsewhere.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: fyliu on April 18, 2018, 02:14:32 AM
You're right. The coastal areas don't get very warm. I notice though that I have to protect my pineapples from the cold in LA while several of my San Diego friends don't have any problem just growing them in full sun and open sky.

That's surprising to me -- here in the East Bay I don't have to protect pineapples in the winter.  (The leaves do get a bit yellow but they bounce back quickly in the spring.)  But it might be more of the "no frost, no heat" sort of situation here, because I haven't seen frost here in any of the places I've gardened but tropicals grow at a snail's pace.

It went to the high 30s on maybe 4 nights this winter here in Burbank. Pineapple leaves got frost damage and the green turned white. That griffith park hills blocked the coastal fogs from reaching me so there's no sky cover.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: JF on April 18, 2018, 09:33:50 AM
It depends what you mean by tropicals. Mangos, sapodillas canistel, anonas, litchis, Longan and others are easily grown thru out the LA basin and Orange County. San Diego is a bit cooler but all the above tropicals do great there.  I refer you to Simon’s, behlgarden and my post about California mangos and anonas there are tons of information on this forums archives.
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Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: OCchris1 on April 19, 2018, 02:30:21 AM
It's a bit off topic but I wanted to clarify the ongoing thought that California is "humidity free". I find it annoying as hell to constantly read about our "zero" humidity. Extremely low humidity is found in Death Valley...on the occasion we get some Santa Ana winds in LA/OC then our relative humidity drops into the teens or single digits even down to the coast. At my location (about 9-10 bird miles) I have an average of 50% humidity in my yard (over the year/quite a bit more in the summer). Granted my yard is lush but I planned it that way, and isn't far off the data I read about other locations close by. I realize that 50% humidity isn't considered humid but it isn't the Mongolian desert either. I realize our sporadic rainfall might lead to the misconception that we are drier than we are...air wise. The driest place on earth in the Atacama desert in Chile has close to zero rainfall but it is humid FYI. I grew up in Denver and often times the humidity was close to zero...not always of course...but it happens. Just an illustration. Go on about your day/night. Peace. Chris
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: fruitlovers on April 19, 2018, 03:43:09 AM
It's a bit off topic but I wanted to clarify the ongoing thought that California is "humidity free". I find it annoying as hell to constantly read about our "zero" humidity. Extremely low humidity is found in Death Valley...on the occasion we get some Santa Ana winds in LA/OC then our relative humidity drops into the teens or single digits even down to the coast. At my location (about 9-10 bird miles) I have an average of 50% humidity in my yard (over the year/quite a bit more in the summer). Granted my yard is lush but I planned it that way, and isn't far off the data I read about other locations close by. I realize that 50% humidity isn't considered humid but it isn't the Mongolian desert either. I realize our sporadic rainfall might lead to the misconception that we are drier than we are...air wise. The driest place on earth in the Atacama desert in Chile has close to zero rainfall but it is humid FYI. I grew up in Denver and often times the humidity was close to zero...not always of course...but it happens. Just an illustration. Go on about your day/night. Peace. Chris
Great you were able to achieve 50 percent humidity. Probably introducing a pond would raise it even higher. I've lived in southern California, and believe me, compared to anywhere in true tropics it really is LOW humidity. So yeah, it's all relative. But many tropicals really thrive  much better when they have above 80 percent humidity. So it all depends on what exactly you are trying to grow?
As side note: true tropics is usually defined as lowland areas in equator to 23 degrees. So plants originating above 23 degrees are usually considered sub tropical, not tropical. For example, lychee and longans are really a sub tropical plants. That is why it is hard to get them to fruit in the tropics.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: barath on April 19, 2018, 10:40:43 AM
It's a bit off topic but I wanted to clarify the ongoing thought that California is "humidity free". I find it annoying as hell to constantly read about our "zero" humidity. Extremely low humidity is found in Death Valley...on the occasion we get some Santa Ana winds in LA/OC then our relative humidity drops into the teens or single digits even down to the coast. At my location (about 9-10 bird miles) I have an average of 50% humidity in my yard (over the year/quite a bit more in the summer). Granted my yard is lush but I planned it that way, and isn't far off the data I read about other locations close by. I realize that 50% humidity isn't considered humid but it isn't the Mongolian desert either. I realize our sporadic rainfall might lead to the misconception that we are drier than we are...air wise. The driest place on earth in the Atacama desert in Chile has close to zero rainfall but it is humid FYI. I grew up in Denver and often times the humidity was close to zero...not always of course...but it happens. Just an illustration. Go on about your day/night. Peace. Chris

Chris, I'm curious if you did any landscaping tricks to raise the humidity level in your yard.  Did you put in ponds, windbreaks, canopy trees, etc.?  Or something else?
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: Bush2Beach on April 19, 2018, 12:19:52 PM
California humidity free? Where , the desert ? Yes. By the Ocean with Coastal fog , No. Not in the forest either.
There is lots of desert in LA and SD county , cactus and rocks, and the desert is typically drier air so.... There's ton's of microclimates, but where it's desert , it is desert, 100 year old water rights channeled from afar can't change that.
California is obviously a large state , a 10 hour drive to traverse. So many microclimates and differences in humidity in my town, and county , much less the state. Lumping all of California into one of anything often does not work.
Fallbrook and Vista you have military drills and really loud helicopter's and planes to contend with with the base right there. I've spent a little sliver of time there and had several unnerving flyover's I was not used to , probly not a big deal if your used to it. Orange county growing conditions seem ideal from the members showing fruit tree pics from there but you have to be down with living in Orange county, A dream for some. You've got to balance enjoying where you live with what you can grow.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: JF on April 19, 2018, 02:22:20 PM
It's a bit off topic but I wanted to clarify the ongoing thought that California is "humidity free". I find it annoying as hell to constantly read about our "zero" humidity. Extremely low humidity is found in Death Valley...on the occasion we get some Santa Ana winds in LA/OC then our relative humidity drops into the teens or single digits even down to the coast. At my location (about 9-10 bird miles) I have an average of 50% humidity in my yard (over the year/quite a bit more in the summer). Granted my yard is lush but I planned it that way, and isn't far off the data I read about other locations close by. I realize that 50% humidity isn't considered humid but it isn't the Mongolian desert either. I realize our sporadic rainfall might lead to the misconception that we are drier than we are...air wise. The driest place on earth in the Atacama desert in Chile has close to zero rainfall but it is humid FYI. I grew up in Denver and often times the humidity was close to zero...not always of course...but it happens. Just an illustration. Go on about your day/night. Peace. Chris

Hi Chris

I am lucky to travel every 5 weeks or so to the tropics and I can tell you first hand even in their dry season SoCal feels like a desert. Reason we can’t grow coconut palm is because of the lack of humidity in the air having said that, I can tell you we can grow almost anything Miami can grow in Orange County....clearly the best growing zone for tropicals in SoCal.  All newbies from SoCal should take a look in this forum archives at some of my post thru the years
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Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: gozp on April 19, 2018, 03:13:59 PM
U cud grow almost anything in SoCal.

I have tropical fruit trees growing no problem for 2 years in the ground unprotected & tasted 117 temp highest & 28 temp lowest with no problems. Except killed a few due to root rot.

Probably brewing compost tea, organic fert, mulch & foliar feeding them made a huge difference on plants resistance.

It is possible that Hawaii have a better chance on successfully growing tropical treees due to high humidity, better rainfall & mild cold weather compare to SoCal, but hey they still do grow here no problems.

I live 25 miles away, west of LA. We tend to be hotter & colder than metro LA.
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: OCchris1 on April 20, 2018, 03:11:10 AM
Hey everyone, I understand the Dif between sub and tropical. I was just pointing out that, despite the lack of reliable rainfall, we have a fair bit of humidity near the coast. That's all. I didn't intend to ruffle people's feathers. I understand it gets dry here...its the other 333 days I was concerned with.

Hey Barath! I am situated on a 90 year old lot in Orange County. My house is a full two story "Eclectic Cape cod Revival" and has a detached two car garage with workshop. A 40 ft. Magnolia to the southeast and a 2 story house plus offset garage/ fencing diverts a vast majority of the wind. I forgot to mention a 35+ ft. jacaranda and 25 ft. avocado in the front yard. The back perimeter is surrounded by 7-12 feet of creeping fig, various palms, podocarpus (25ft.), My back yard is cut in two by a 15-20 ft hedge. Back yard is my main growing area and the second half is pool and guesthouse. My sprinklers run every other day coupled with all the greenery keeps a nice growing area. I face east to west btw. Thanks Frank! I know you're the man...I wasn't intending to spout off on our "high" humidity...just pointing out that, while we are not Borneo...we are not the Sahara. Love what you do. Take care, Chris
Title: Re: Best place in Southern California for tropical fruits?
Post by: barath on April 20, 2018, 10:45:14 AM
Thanks Chris -- that sounds like an ideal setup!