Phoenix Tropicals Gardening

[Troys123]

(1) Pomegranates can be grown as 3 in 1 hole and succeed and fruit against a west facing block wall (with adequate water and half a foot mulch)

(2)My orange tree (cara cara) grow best flood irrigated every week and a half to 2 weeks then allowed to dry out.

(3) Atemoyas are slooooooooooow grooooooowers when young!

(4)Young plants still need time for good root development even when planted in the best spot in your yard. ( my honeyheart cherimoya planted in Ne side of my house its first summer in dappled sun saw very little growth)

(5) Mulch Disappears fast especially in summer.
(6) Seedling trees especially mangoes grow faster than the grafted ones.
(my seedling mango growth started in late june and and the last of the growth finished 2 weeks ago and now is hardening off/ grafted tree- nothing since summer)

(7)Trust your instincts when you are looking / waiting for a sale for a particular fertilizer/plant at your local store. Mine told me to go to my lowes and check for the Chelated Iron these are usually $14-$15 I found 8 old bottles each slashed to $5.00 . I bought 3.

(8)Good source of free mulch- neighbors. Watch when they are pruning there trees/ grass clippings and ask em for it. They will be happy to give you.

(9)Don't plant your best trees in a dubious spot; its not worth it.
(was stubborn and kept planting in a spot that i think now has contaminated soil- plants kept dying) Will try a cheap native next year there as an experiment

(10) I love the taste of soft Persimmons a lot. (got some from Doug's trees in Mesa week ago) Will never replace my favorite mango but they are close.

(11)Persimmons will burn up in full sun when young ; you have to protect.

(12) Leaves will adapt to our sun by getting smaller when new growth appears.

(13)Be very careful not to mix too much "hot materials" ex: cow manure and goat manure to new soil they will burn and kill your fruit tree.
(did that this spring and killed my longan tree)$$$$ lost

(14) Small bugs can cause havoc and death to trees. (something ate the leaves of my small apple seedlings and killed em; also my pepper plants)

(15) A beach umbrella over your small new plantings go along way to get them through the hot summer.
Thats it for now . Share your observations. Mike

[ajbcirc]

Here are mine:

1. A combination of 1/2 miracle gro potting, 1/2 cactus potting mix works with every plant for container growing, including mango.

2. In order to avoid salt burn in container growing, you need to flood a container with water at least once a week, especially if you're using drip in the summer.

3. Composted chicken manure is the only fertilizer you ever need for container plant growing. I tried them all, osmocote, slow release, fish emulsion, no fertilizer, et al. Nothing beat chicken manure.

4. Every young tree in Phoenix needs a shade structure if they don't get at least 3 hours of afternoon shade in the summer. That includes citrus.

5. Apples behave like mesquites out here, especially Golden Dorsetts on M111. They seem indestructable.

6. Peaches and nectarines are high maintenance trees, despite what people say. So are some types of citrus.

7. ...except grapefruit and trovita orange.

8. Don't buy citrus on anything other than Flying Dragon and Sour Orange rootstock.

9. Don't buy any stone fruit on nemaguard. The trees can't take the salinity.

10. Mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch.

11. Put your plant in the ground by March if you want to improve the odds of surviving the summer.

12. Soak all bare root trees in Superthrive prior to planting.

[phoenixtropicals]

Awesome info. Thanks!

[Troys123]

Thanks ajbcirc i learned a lot from your post i sure appreciate it.
Thanks Matt
Anyone else out there ?
Let's keep this going , i know there is more to share and learn.