Greenhouse Kept Above 32F: What sub-tropicals/tropicals would you try overwintering in a zone 7a summer?

General Fruit Growing
#21

Were the trees suffering from scale in a greenhouse 12 months of the year?

I’ve seen youtube videos of people fruiting banana, sapodilla in greenhouses in Canada without supplemental lighting. Not sure what the heat is kept at.

30’s/40’s at night is essentially what we have in Nor Cal. Citrus does great with it (and is much better than store IMO) . Frederick Passionfruit, Feijoa (fruits in fall, nice to have), and Guava should do good in his greenhouse I think.

#22

Yes the last few yrs I couldn’t knock it out completely. So it kept coming back. That included dosing the tree repeatedly with the systemic insecticides. Oil and an insecticide knocks out 99%. But it always seems to come back even when I was pretty sure I’d gotten it all. I don’t know how it keeps getting back into the greenhouse, maybe on my clothing?

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#23

thanks! you be the trailblazer!

#24

a few things that did very well in the heated greenhouse over winter were pineapples, passion vines and bananas.

#25

Loquat & Sugar apple seem like good choices. I’ve got to call Logee’s to see if they have any info. They’ve got some nice tropicals to choose from.

I wonder about Pineapple Guava though because it is quite hardy. Again, no idea if it’ll get enough heat/sun.

#26

Is it warm enough for avocados? I’d love to grow them.

#27

It’s hard to fruit avocados as small trees, they usually need more height than a 8 ft greenhouse.

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#28

Starfruit never gets much better, plus it is somewhat toxic. Citrus, white sapotes and guavas would do well.

#29

Looks like Loquat & Pineapple Guava are definite choices.

I’m slightly straying away from Sugar Apple because my greenhouse may dip below 32 in a freak accident of heater malfunction. That may limit my choices a bit, but I think that’s good.

#30

Here is a new Dave Wilson Nursery video showing their new 150K sf. greenhouse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDFC7E-OmR4

#31

I ordered a starfruit & lychee from Pine Island Nursery… Lets hope these work, haha.

#32

Also will be trying Loquat, Pineapple Guava & Sapodilla.

Atemoya or the different types of Sugar Apple I’m on the fence about. Also curious to know how Sapotes do in containers.

#33

Ross, read up everything you can on lychees, you will need to do lots of extra things to get them to grow well. They really dislike pots and you need to prune the roots regularly to compensate. They need max sun as well, 8 hours a day.

#34

Will do, Scott. Out of the 7 tropicals I was considering, Lychee was one I was on the fence about. I think I’ve heard too many good things about the fruit to not try it myself.

#35

Mangoes & Avocados I’m also considering, but if I go that route… I’ll overwinter them indoors. One step at a time.

#36

Just don’t plan on eating much star fruit. It really can be toxic. Luckily it doesn’t taste very good so most people are not inclined to overindulge.

#37

Castanea,
Good to know. Fortunately, it is not on my “like” list. Aside from being juicy, nothing much I like about it. Starfruit has certain taste and aroma to it, some like it, others don’t.

#38

My mother suffered from renal disease for 15 years and was on a special renal diet. I always remember there were two things on the “Do not eat” list that stood out to me. One was Star Fruit and the other was grapefruit. I bought s tart fruit earlier this spring becuase my daughter seen it in the store and thought it was neat looking. I actually thought it tasted pretty good. It was not complex at all but kind of a refreshing citrus flavor. We both liked it. But not well enough to purchase it again.

#39

I just ordered the following from Logees:

Pineapple Guava
Nam Doc Mai Mango for indoors
Christmas Loquat
Barbados Cherry
Strawberry Tree
Australian Beach Cherry

I also picked up a lemon gauva from Raintree.

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#40

Still looking for a Sapodilla and I’m still considering growing some kind of Sapote & Sugar Apple.