The Tropical Fruit Forum

You can plant banana close to the young trees, 12ft is ok in my opinion and once tree grows big remove the bananas, as it will shade the banana and won’t produce well. Black sapote, Mamey, avocado all will grow into huge trees. I have been growing banans for last three years here in south florida, lot of mulch, chop and drop, never fertilized or watered snd they are disease free and very good tasting.

https://youtu.be/Wk8ibxAAqr4

You don't fertilize or water and they still grow and produce!? I doubt that would work in my sandy soil. Would be cool though! I'm not too worried about shading. They'll be at the eastern edge of my property, should get plenty of sun most of the year and I will keep the fruit tree at a manageable size. I'm moreso thinking about the quantity and type of fertilizer required for the bananas. Since I'll be feeding the bananas every month, and they require nitrogen, 12 ft is too close for a mango, since I don't want to fertilize those with nitrogen. Conversely, an avocado takes nitrogen, so it may grow pretty big being close to the bananas if I don't stay on top of it, but will at least still produce well. Not sure about other fruits though like mamey, black sapote, sapodilla, etc.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

Quote from: TheVeggieProfessor on September 02, 2020, 11:55:44 AM

I have a full sun spot at my fence (13-14 ft gap between 2 white birds of paradise) and I'd like to plant a fruit tree. I'm looking for something that will offer privacy above the 6ft fence. I was going to plant a mango, but with weavels and iguanas going after my leaves... I'm not sure how consistent the privacy will be! Any ideas for fruit trees that would work for 10b (south Florida)? I've got squirrels too, but I think they will go after whatever fruit I grow - I'll see how I'm able to cope with it next summer when my mango fruits! Thanks a lot for your ideas.

My vote is mango or avocado. My backyard is on a canal, we have TONS of iguanas of all sizes, I haven’t had an issue with them bothering the leaves of either. Weevils will go after anything, but they haven’t impeded either in my yard. They are decimating my young mamey, ate their way through my black sapote, they also seem to love Barbados cherry, jabo and star fruit leaves. As far as fruit, seems to me the smaller the fruit, the less chance you have of getting any after the iguanas and squirrels (and birds) have had their fill. Good luck!

Great insight - thank you!

If you are looking for fruiting plants,  Banana is a good choice as it will grow fast and reach 10-12 ft and different pups grow at different stages to provide a thick hedge. Downside is that the leaves dry off and fall and make the floor look dirty. We like to keep the fallen leaves as compost feed for the plant but many people remove for giving yard a clean look. Plus the whole plant will lean sideways if the fruit set is too heavy.
Another fruiting hedge is a row of surinam cherry trees, the black variety is sweeter.
Katuk is another option, grows fast into a thick hedge and useful plant if you want to use leaves for soup, very nutritional.
Some bamboo varieties have edible young shoots and they are clumping and look ornamental.

Thanks for your thoughts! I can't do a banana in that spot. I'm really looking for a tree, though. I've seen mangoes work pretty well for that purpose, but I don't think that's the best for my situation.

As the OS and avocado get taller they will get more sun, don't think it will be a huge problem. Don't wanna start a war with the neighbor. They are already planted.
I'm always impressed with how much my Keitt produces despite my neighbors huge Live Oak that towers over the east side of my yard and shades the Keitt the whole morning until 10:30 and competes again for the west sun from a tall Gumbo Limbo. The Keitt is tall though and still gets some sun.

Bruce

Interesting, thanks Bruce. I'll at least plant as far from the fence as is possible and I guess I won't alter my plans based on the palms. My neighbors are pretty good, so I bet that if some of those other palms happen to be aurea and grow over the fence line too much, we could address neighborly.

Hi all. Below is a photo of my yard to the north where I'd like to plant mangoes and avocados. I have an orange sherbet already that can be seen in the photo in the middle of the yard there. I planted a super haas 6' off the fence line, which you can see in the photo on the right.



My neighbors to the north have a lot of palm trees. The closer we are to the summer solstice, as the sun moves overhead and sets to the north, the more shade I get from them. In the photo, beginning on the left, there is a cluster of aerica palms (these are planted further back from the fence than the others; I don't know how far). Then there are larger palms to the right of those. If you look closely, though, you can see the tops of more palms (can't tell what they are) peeking out between the aericas and the larger palms. There are more larger palms to the right of that (I don't know if there will be anything planned for between these larger palms - these people like their privacy). Then finally what appears to be more aerica palms at the right most edge (I don't think that those will affect me, though).

Could this row of palms be a problem for growing mangoes and avocados (or anything else) down that fence line? If so, other than growing fruit trees that are tolerant or shade, are there any other means for coping with this? For instance, getting further from the fence than 6 ft (and if so how far)? Maybe scrapping the mangoes and going with avocado varieties and other trees that flower and fruit when the spot will get full sun?

Thanks for your help - I really appreciate it.

Quote from: TheVeggieProfessor on August 24, 2020, 07:35:09 AM

Quote from: BoBiscuit on August 23, 2020, 11:50:20 PM

A row of short banana plants (dwarf Brazillian or Namwah) would do the trick in a matter of months.

Chris from Truly Tropical has a video where they show a Bay Rum privacy hedge that looks really nice.

Great point. I have some bananas in my hedge and was thinking of more, as they do make for a quick privacy screen. Though, Har told me that I'd want to keep my bananas and mangoes apart (at least 6 ft between edges of canopies) due to different fertilization requirements. Putting a namwa in the hedge would be great, but it would then limit the ability to have a mango nearby, which would be a shame. As it stands, I have a mango about 16-18 feet from the open spot in the hedge.

Yes i agree, bananas love water and chop and drop, heavy feeders and though there are some dwarf varieties most of them tend to grow tall and lean sideways when they get top heavy with fruits. Plus i am not sure if bananas will flower/fruit in the shade of the mango tree. Surinam cherry does well in neglect , has been flowering without any watering for me, so water requirements aren't different from mango, and you can plant it very close to the fence and let it bush up. Then plant mango 6ft away from fence.

Thanks - great idea! This could work well. The mango can provide privacy first and then the surinam cherries could provide privacy as the mango got taller. Maybe the way to get privacy quicker is to plant pigeon pea where the cherries will ultimately go, let them provide some privacy until the mango is the right size for that, then replace the pigeon pea with the surinam cherries so that they can provide privacy by the time the mango is taller. I really appreciate the comments that I am getting here. Lots of great ideas.

I have the space for another mango tree by my back fence. I'd like complete privacy though from the neighbors behind me (i.e., would like to not know that they even exist). The mango would provide good privacy for a while, but as it grows, its privacy producing effect might diminish. Would avocado be better? Would I be better off planting a shrub that I will maintain at around 10 feet and plant the mango next to it? If so, is there a particular distance that I should aim for between a shrub and mango?

Thanks in advance.

What variety is it? Nice-looking tree! I wouldn't fertilize it or prune it. Just let it flower and produce fruit next season. Then prune after harvest.

Thanks so much for you help, everyone. It's an Orange Sherbet, btw. I guess I will push my continuous questioning of the pruning process back another year - haha. I'm happy I posted this. It's bulk trash weekend and I was going to cut a bit out of the top of the center of the tree to let in some light and air. Instead, I'll just leave it be (you can see why I'm in need of expertise!). Thanks again.

Hi all. I have a mango and avocado tree and am planning for many more! I've done a ton of reading and watched a ton of videos on pruning. Based one the first video I watched and the decision to no longer research, I did some stupid things to my mango to say the least! (haha). After watching more videos, I think I have a clearer idea, but still really not sure... I've been trying to find someone for the longest time with expertise in mango and avocado trees who I can pay to come to my house to give me a "lesson" but haven't had much luck. I tried reaching out to local nurseries but hard to find someone who I really trust as an expert. Any ideas? Any members of this forum interested? Thanks!

Make a mango hedge like Truly Tropical Chris with Dwarf Hawaiian NDM Neelam. I like Calypso Oleander or Dwarf Clump Arrow Bamboo

I saw that truly tropical video lately and I am jealous - looks awesome! With the BoP 13-14 feet apart, I was hoping to be able to fit a mango in between here and there, but since the BoP grow so big and wide, I don't think it's possible. A pure mango hedge wouldn't necessarily provide the privacy I am looking for either.

The bamboo looks great, but it would be a major bitch to dig all of the BoP up. There's 5 of them I think and they're all over 6 feet by now. Hoping to be able to manage their size, but if I can't I'll have to consider other options.

Hi all. Last year we had landscapers do some work to promote privacy between ourselves and neighbors. They recommended and planted white birds of paradise all down our eastern fence about 13 feet apart from one another. They said that they get about 15 ft tall, but from what I see, they can easily double that. Now knowing that they get so big, we're going to get a lot more shade than what we were hoping for and it will limit where we can grow more fruit trees. Is anyone knowledgeable concerning white birds of paradise and have any insights concerning how we can manage the height? Removing would be a pain and still leave us in need of privacy, but would that be the best option? Thanks!

Hi all. I planted an orange sherbet about a year and a half ago. It was large-ish at the time and, as of a few days ago, was already about 9 feet tall. I had never pruned it before though. There were flowers this year, but just two, and it didn't fruit. I wanted to learn about pruning, as I know it's good for the tree and I wanted to manage the size. So just recently - after when my harvest would have been - I followed what was noted in this video: https://youtu.be/H7SN7nvVk-0 featuring Dr. Richard Campbell. He essentially said don't really pay attention to any details, just go around cutting. Though after doing more research, I noticed that, although I never tipped my tree before, the branches had been breaking all on their own as they grew. So some of the new growth that I tipped was maybe only a few inches long, some longer. I'm just trying to understand if this will make my tree grow wonky? Learning about pruning has been very tough! I'm open to screwing things up, because I think I have to learn some time. I just want to avoid ending up with a massive tree with a weird shape. Thanks for your help.

What kind of fruit trees were you thinking?  In my opinion, it really comes down to the type of tree and where IT wants to be. Also, some of the less cold tolerant trees benefit from being placed on a north wall so they get more sun in the winter to keep them warm, while potentially better protecting them from the sun in the summer (if they have overhead protection).  One thing to keep in mind is that the type of sun is important as well. 5 hours of morning sun is very different from 5 hours of afternoon sun. The afternoon sun can be brutal to some trees.

Thanks for your reply. I'm planting east to west along the north fence. The source of shade is just on the other side of that fence (and extends overhead, since palm fronds are growing into my yard, which I can have cut). Around 2:30/3:00, some of the space gets shadowed by palms, then a little later I lose sun in other places due to my neighbor's house (they have a high gable); at that point, the sun has cleared the palms and I get a bit more light in the previously shaded spot. I just planted a super haas. I intend on doing another avocado variety, another mango variety (I have one elsewhere on the property), probably a loquat, and then see how it goes. Mamey sapote is on my list too, but that's a pretty tree, so maybe for the front yard. I'm also willing to choose species based upon what will work best with the light that we have. I don't know if I've ever met a fruit I didn't like, so not a problem!