The Tropical Fruit Forum

It has been unusually warm for about 10 years. Mangos don't grow in Tampa normally. Seems avocados are slightly more cold hardy and the size of the tree is a big factor

Also bananas need to drink from their leaves and stems. So high humidity is desirable. Or when you water them spray the leaves. This could be stressing them too. Low humidity in winter no morning dew or rain on the leaves. That's one problem I had in winter which also led to spider mites from leaves not being sprayed enough. But I mist them or run a humidifier at least a little.

Id say it was stressed due to cold which in it's weakened state a fungus like anthracnose got it even though normally it would be immune. I have seen bananas thrive in drainage ditches. Wet soil usually isn't a problem.

I suggest getting the most cold tolerant banana varieties you can find they will be a lot less stressed. My favorite variety raja puri has good tolerance and there's some with even better tolerance.

My bananas would grow better in the summer up north than in Florida. They just went crazy outside. Indoors during winter they never did well for me spider mites not enough light. But they never rotted or died.

They naturally die at the end of their life cycle usually after having bananas then new pups pop up from the corm. So the older one is probably more seceptible to death than a younger one.

Maybe try Orinoco or raja puri

My main problem with concentrate juice is the disgusting tap water they rehydrate it with. There are some ok concentrated juices though most are garbage. Ocean spray is good. Their grapefruit juice is good and various cranberries. Not the best but decent. The store brand knock off oceansprays I can't even drink. It's disgusting like the tap water here.

A lot of concentrated juices here is straight tap water which comes out of the river here. But yeah I heard that too they add flavoring.

Like bottled coke is pretty good they use good Georgia water but local fountain coke is the local tap water and syrup. Doesn't taste the same. This tap water gives me headaches or I feel sluggish if I drink too much too. Also McDonald's I feel lethargic if I eat a lot of it due to preservatives I guess.

It should work well but peroxide is toxic to living tissue so too much could be harmful. When peroxide bubbles and fizzes that's due to an enzyme humans have which breaks peroxide down which it turns to water and oxygen which it will also slowly do with time. That's why it doesn't really harm humans. But when sprayed on leaves it will be more toxic to fungus than the leaf. Almost all fungicides are like that and can harm the plant in large doses but don't think peroxide is any different.

This is why I mix a small amount of clay. Portions of dirt with clay retain water for a long time. A lot of times clay may ball up you may not see it. Not too much clay maybe 5% just enough to keep it from drying out too bad.

At the same time I have good drainage. Miracle grow plus a little sand maybe 5%. The miracle grow is mostly peat moss and perlite with good drainage and good water retention already but this improved the two. Though in the summer they need watered almost every day. Mulch on top of my grapes also keeps it from drying. Can be used on citron if you know it will dry out enough.

Meyer is best. It blooms and ripens year round though most blooms are in spring and ripen during late fall. You will get some any time of year.

Sand is silicone dioxide. There's nematodes and stuff that live in pure sand and eat the plant. In small doses they seem to like sand but in large doses it seems terrible for growing stuff except cactus.

I feel healthy when eating oranges and orange juice. Mostly not from concentrate most concentrate is nasty. But the quality has gone down and price up so I don't drink as much. Grapefruit juice lemon and lime aid, it's all good. A little too much sugar though. The non red grapefruit juice is the only one with a good sugar level. Or homemade lemon aid not using much sugar.

Plants have done well for me both with rocks and without but often without rocks when I remove the plant there's a soggy layer of soil at the bottom like swampy. With the rocks even if there's water at the bottom it's clean it has air it's not all rotten boggy like. But I'm in Florida now so it isn't a concern everything dries out pretty quickly in the heat but in a cool damp environment I would do rocks or sand.

25% perlite, sand, compost, husk is a good mix as long as you fertilize.

Most of the sand where I live is sugar sand very small. Some larger particles but mostly small. It works well in a mix but over waterings it settles downward until.the roots are dense enough to hold it in place. I sprinkle some on the top of the dirt and it makes it's way down. But we also have a lot of small shells that are larger than the sand particles.

Citrus don't like mulch generally. But it also depends how hot it is and how much you water. If you have good drainage you will need to water more often. That's ideal, really good drainage let it dry between watering but in the hot summer probably water almost every day. If you are going to be gone for a long time you might need to add clay or something that will hold water. Otherwise perlite with a small amount of sand and compost is pretty good. The perlite floats upward and the sand downward.and the perlite is bigger. If it's not hot perlite can get soggy but in hot weather dries really fast. In Europe with cooler weather I would go heavier on sand and only a small amount of perlite perhaps. Though sand will make it heavy and perlite is light. Citrus grows in Florida in almost pure sand so it won't hurt it just moving the pots is more difficult with more weight. Even small rocks at the bottom of the pot can be good. There is no perfect soil because you have to consider the temperature how frequently watered etc. Just keep the dirt from staying wet for prolonged period because citrus doesn't like wet roots though they like a lot of water as long as they can dry between watering

Water moderates temperature. It will absorb heat in the day cooling it then release heat at night. Plants do the same to a lesser extent. Large buckets or tubs of water can mitigate the day night extremes a bit. You will need some kind of window or door to leave it open during the summer so it doesn't cook in the summer but winter won't have much sun up north so shouldn't be much of a problem.

Florida has a lot of sun even in winter so yeah down south you might need to block sun. New Jersey in fall, spring, winter I don't think so.