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Off the top of my head I think of my old house that had english ivy growing up the southern wall, given that it's only a one story house what do you think of a vining plant like passionfruit? Good for your area, One vine gets up to 50 feet, fruits aren't too heavy and can be picked with those fruit picking poles pretty easily, + beautiful flowers
I'm growing passion fruit at my house. I have 3 vines that covered my entire fence. They are very vigorous and went into my neighbor's side of the fence too - didn't know that would happen - oops.. In order to get fruit you have to do hand pollination, so you would have to be able to reach the vine. No need to pick the fruits, they drop from the vine when they are ready. It's a bad idea to plant a large tree too close to your house. Think about when we have a hurricane and the heavy branches fall on your roof, and the roots can damage your foundation/plumbing/etc. I honestly wouldn't plant passionfruit on your house either, not sure if it would have the same effect of shade as a tree.
Consider a pecan tree spaced up to 20’ from your house on the south side. They grow into stately shad trees, provide delicious nuts, and are deciduous so in the winter they allow sun to warm your buns. Idk if you can grow persimmons there, but same attributes but in a smaller tree closer to the house
You can use most of the common tropical fruit trees for this purpose.Just don't get a dwarf varieties.Mango, Jackfruit, and avocado should all be pretty easy.I would consider mammea americana or starapple, they are pretty trees and the fruit don't make a huge mess.I'm doing the same in front of my western-facing windows, I try to keep the canopy level with my roof, I don't let the branches hang over though.
I'm in SE FL. Interested in adding a shade tree to the south of my house to help to keep my living room a bit cooler. I like for all of the trees I grow to serve a purpose and producing food is the most appealing purpose. However, I'd want to let the tree grow tall to shade as much of the home as possible (1 story only). So harvesting the fruit would be a pain. Perhaps something that drops fruits (such as macadamia) would be worthwhile? Or maybe something that I can trellis yams up. Any recommendations?
Quote from: TheVeggieProfessor on September 17, 2022, 03:06:09 PMI'm in SE FL. Interested in adding a shade tree to the south of my house to help to keep my living room a bit cooler. I like for all of the trees I grow to serve a purpose and producing food is the most appealing purpose. However, I'd want to let the tree grow tall to shade as much of the home as possible (1 story only). So harvesting the fruit would be a pain. Perhaps something that drops fruits (such as macadamia) would be worthwhile? Or maybe something that I can trellis yams up. Any recommendations?I’ve done this in multiple locations, despite having heard similar concerns to those expressed in this thread. What changed my mind was seeing the 100+ year old original Pantin mamey tree planted feet from the fire fire station (see pic) and talking to the guy there who said as far as he knows it’s never been a problem. Most of my trees are just getting to the point of passing the roof, so I can’t say if there will an effect from increased humidity but as far as wind concerns my idea is to keep the branches over the roof low and small and just cut them off if we have an impending storm. This will also allow me to pick the fruit from the top of the roof. I think if I were to pick 1 tree that would be ideal for this it would be a Sri Chompoo longan or maybe a breadfruit. The breadfruit for me has been more vigorous so you’ll have to work hard to control it, plus the fruit is bigger so it may be more of an issue if it drops on your roof. The SC grows a little slower (but still fast enough) and more upright, plus the fruit is small so less of a concern if it falls on your roof. My thought.