Growing Fruit in Ft. Meyers

[forumfool]

My wife and I are taking a trip in January to Ft. Meyers, FL with the intention of maybe moving there later in 2016.

I'm curious what grows successfully in that region. Some "light" internet research shows mangoes are growing there.

Any members from Ft. Meyer's on here?
Anyone know what subtropical/tropical/deciduous fruiting plants do well?

Thanks....

[ftmyersfruit]

Just about anything you want depending on your microclimate. I have mango, lychee, jaboticaba, canistel, mamey, tamarind, achachairu, atemoya, Rollinia, sapodilla, and just about everything else. Even experimenting with breadfruit and some other ultra tropicals in very protected locations. The further away from the ocean the less you can grow.

Also north of the river and east of the interstate tend to be colder. Cape Coral is a nice place to grow, but you can't as much due to city restrictions. Pine island is a great place to grow. Anything south of the city limits of Ft Myers is good.

[demingcr]

Cape Coral is a nice place to grow, but you can't as much due to city restrictions.

What restrictions? Other than the city being split into 10k sqft lots, that is.

I've completely planted out two different houses now in the cape (NE, SE) and a friend has as well (SW) and never had a mention of code violations or anything else.

[ftmyersfruit]

I have heard about a lot of code enforcement issues. I have always considered it a huge neighborhood association. But yeah the lots are small in general. The climate is great.

[ftmyersfruit]

I chose to stay out of any city limits for those reasons. Although I personally have not seen many, if any, extensive fruit/food plantings in cape.

[bsbullie]

I am sure whatever may be available is more expensive however your best area of "Ft. Meyers" for growing tropical fruit is Bokeelia.

[treefrog]

i spent six years in ft myers in the '60s and '70s.  i agree that almost anything can be grown there without much danger of frosts or freezing.  anyplace that has an expanse of water to the north and west of it has additional protection from cold snaps which usually come from those directions.  cold winds blowing over water have their coldness moderated.  i particularly like the suggestion of pine island.  out of much of the city congestion, easier to find something larger than a postage stamp city lot, water to the north and west, but close enough to the city for those occasions when you need a city - libraries, airport, shopping, etc.

[ftmyersfruit]

Only slight drawbacks of Pine Island are how far away you are from town, lack of good well water due to salt contamination, and that prices have increased tremendously since the recession. Everything else about it is positive.

[bsbullie]

Only slight drawbacks of Pine Island are how far away you are from town, lack of good well water due to salt contamination, and that prices have increased tremendously since the recession. Everything else about it is positive.

Is everything on Pine Island welll water?  What if you put a high quality liner in the well?  Is the contamination from below or leeching through the sides?

[ftmyersfruit]

There is city water for some if not all of the island. I only know what Steve from FruitScapes said recently about the well problems in the area.

[TheDom]

Only slight drawbacks of Pine Island are how far away you are from town, lack of good well water due to salt contamination, and that prices have increased tremendously since the recession. Everything else about it is positive.

Is everything on Pine Island welll water?  What if you put a high quality liner in the well?  Is the contamination from below or leeching through the sides?

The way Steve described it there are 3 or 4 aquifers on Pine Island, the top two having been salty for a while. When they drilled some of the first wells out there into the deeper (fresh) aquifers they used iron pipe to case the well, which corroded over time leading to salt intruding into the fresh ones. He said some people still have fresh deep wells, but there aren't many.

[bsbullie]

You would have to periodically replace the well liners to prevent leeching of any kind, whether on Pine Island or the mainland.