Tropical fruit bush options

[EnglewoodFlorida]

North Florida but we have room in a heated (zone 9a) greenhouse for in ground bushes about 6' tall 4' wide max spaces between a few trees. We want decent producers with decent fruits. No need for novelty fruit, we want to easily use and consume whatever it produces.. Any suggestions?

[Coconut Cream]

Ground cherry would probably be perfect. Super productive and delicious, fun to eat. You can shape the bushes however you want. I have this growing under my mangoes and loquats, it just fills whatever space is available.

I was going to say Yellow Jaboticaba but they can get pretty big and the fruit is mostly seed. Maybe more of a novelty.

[MadFarm]

Pitanga

[Tropicaltoba]

Cattley guava is bonzaiable, pretty with peeling bark and glossy foliage, greenhouse pest immune and fruits and flowers continuously. The fruit is superior to ruby supreme guava, but in my opinion that doesn’t mean much.

Only problem is Caribbean fruit fly which lays maggots in the fruit. I don’t know much about the habitat in which it grows. It I know it is an issue for some parts of Florida.

Is your room isolated from outside? I think it would be worth to try.

[EnglewoodFlorida]

We actually have pineapple guava, cattley red and yellow guava outside in protected areas that are growing great. Looking for something tropical so 32F'ish and up plants. If I can grow it outside (we are say 28F low's range on average each year) we prefer outside due to large acreage.

Pitanga I would consider if I can find a cultivated sweet variety, I've had them down south and they are seed grown and not good at all.

[Galatians522]

Cherapu? You would need a male and female branch, though.

[Tropicaltoba]

How about a true mangosteen, this sounds like the perfect environment?

[EnglewoodFlorida]

We have Garcinia Sp. Achachairu and Garcinia Brasiliensis already. I wonder if there is anyone grafting the Cherapu, mangosteen or imbe so that I would have a known male/female combo. I don't have the room to plant to many more "bushes"

[EnglewoodFlorida]

Ground cherry would probably be perfect. Super productive and delicious, fun to eat. You can shape the bushes however you want. I have this growing under my mangoes and loquats, it just fills whatever space is available.

I was going to say Yellow Jaboticaba but they can get pretty big and the fruit is mostly seed. Maybe more of a novelty.

Definitely gonna get some ground cherry or inca berry plants going, thanks for that suggestion. 

[strom]

Blackberry jam fruit?

[elouicious]

Acerola

[Tropicaltoba]

Sounds like u already have the best stuff, just let them get bigger

[BloomAndSprout]

Acerola

Agreed, acerola is above and beyond a novelty fruit due to its huge and underappreciated status as the vitamin c king. Never get scurvy again!

[EnglewoodFlorida]

Acerola

Agreed, acerola is above and beyond a novelty fruit due to its huge and underappreciated status as the vitamin c king. Never get scurvy again!

We have it here, Its been kept potted and pruned. 25 gallon pot, probably 4 years old. Flowers ok, fruit set is poor. Maybe a dozen fruit a year? We also had it outside down south and fruit production compared to size of plant was still poor in my opinion. I'll keep it potted here, but don't want to waste the ground space on it.

[Coconut Cream]

We have it here, Its been kept potted and pruned. 25 gallon pot, probably 4 years old. Flowers ok, fruit set is poor. Maybe a dozen fruit a year? We also had it outside down south and fruit production compared to size of plant was still poor in my opinion. I'll keep it potted here, but don't want to waste the ground potting space on it.

Acerola needs a full day of direct Florida sunlight to flower and fruit, at least the ones I have tried to grow.