Thanks for sharing pictures. You really have a nice variety of trees. They all look very healthy and should grow and fruit pretty soon. You really going to have a forest soon. :)

I am speechless. Everything is so lush and green. They almost look like different plants than mine in containers.
When I read "Small Jabotacaba", I cried. I always believed I had a "Big" tree.

pj - I don't know where to begin. SUPER collection! And well spaced as you said. I like the way you tucked the right plants into the right places.....the dragon fruit and the berry plants....its a clean layout for sure.

Truly will be a wondrous jungle in 20 years - keep us posted on the first fruits.....

mangodog

Very nice. Everything looks very healthy and well cared for. Lots of space too.

You are well ahead of me when compared to my "two year into the hobby" progress. You have a very nice selection of well cared for trees. Great work! Keep it up.

Harry

Only two years, what an amazing collection you've amassed in such a short time. No fair planning ahead and actually spacing your trees right from the beginning. You'll miss all the fun of digging out and moving them trees around.

thanks for posting,
-Ethan

Very nice! I can see a lot of thought and care invested.

-Tom

Great collection! We'll be interested in knowing how some of those fruits taste as time goes on. My fina sodea died before it could fruit.

I had no idea Concord grapes could grow in south Florida.
It looks like you could squeeze in an atemoya, and maybe some bananas?

Nice collection!

How do you keep the bay tree so healthy looking? Is it in full sun? Do you do anything special with it? I have one, but it really doesn't seem to like the FL climate very much. I grew them in Seattle, and they were effortless there. But here, the leaves on mine get all attacked by numerous diseases. I haven't ever heard of air layering them before. What purpose does that serve? Does it just help you get a bigger plant sooner?

Very nice looking concord grapes. I used to eat them really sugary and delicious after a light freeze or two. (up North)

When do they ripen for you and how do you counteract diseases? I never heard of anyone growing them in Florida. Thanks!

Another question is--- did you diversify to concord grapes after dealing with the thick astringent skins on Muscadines?

WOW!

Thanks everyone for the kind words..
I spend almost all my free time tending to my yard, I have quite a bit of other tropicals (non-fruiting) as well. I use the "Fruitilizer" that I buy locally with all the minors. I foliar feed with Phyto-Fos, Sequestrine 138, and Southern AG's Citrus Nutritional spray monthly (soil drench same stuff three times a year). I use pest controls only when needed (mostly the citrus) The Concord Grapes ripen in the spring, they are fairly seedy, but are a nice contrast to the Muscadines.. The Bay leaf is in partial shade, and gets infested with scale (Hort Oil). I assume you are correct about the Bay Leaf Air Layering for size mostly (@Sun Worshiper).

PJ, excellent pictures of a future fruit forest. I see you have a prickly pear, do you use it for Nopales?

I've heard of using the pads as a vegetable, but was worried about the spine removal process! Any ideas?

Great collection you have there! :)

Thanks for the info on your bay tree. Mine has scale too, and I've been contemplating how to treat it. Mine is in full sun after advice from another FL grower. It seems to like it better in the full sun than it did in the shade, but not by much.

PJ,

The pads of the nopales variety, taste great raw or cooked. How spiny is your Nopales? If its a spineless variety it should only have a few small spines (mostly located around the edges). If its not a spineless variety, I could share some pads of Nopales spineless varieties I have.

What I do to remove the spines, is take a sharp knife and skin the spine bud locations off under running water. I then skin around the pad edges. I finish with a light scrub with a brush under running water. After this, I eat out of hand raw or dice up for smaller pieces to cook.

The pads selected for eating should have not hardened off yet. New growth green color and a little on the tender side, is what you are looking for. The taste of pads from one of my varieties taste great, like lemony green beans.

Your trees look great. Makes me tempted to actually plant a tree in my yard.

I burn the needles off over a stove top flame and just scrape along with a knife just in case I missed some. Lemony green beans is a very good way to describe them!

melikeeatplants,

I use the stove as well (most of the time), I hold the pad with tongs over the flame for about 30 seconds.