Organic Living for All -- Fruit Trees

Moringa is probably the most useful plant in the entire world. Every part of plant can be used for eating, herbal remedies and many other practical applications. For more click here.

Height: Up to 30 feet tall. 
Trunk: 3 to 12 inches in diameter with a a corky bark
Flowers: Fragrant, white to creamy - white, about one inch in diameter, borne in sprays,
Blooming Time: April - September.
Seeds: Seedpods pendulous, green to brown, triangular, splitting lengthwise into 3 parts when dry, 15 – 30 inches long, 1 3/4 inches in diameter, containing about 20 seeds; the seeds are dark brown.

These trees are over 8 feet tall already which gives them a head start.  We have several varieties:

Tropic Snow is white with an outstanding flavour. 

Tropic Beauty is yellow, firm and large in size.  One of the best. 

Florida Glo is an amazing white fleshed peach that is even sweeter than the Georgia peaches and has an awesome flavour. 

Florida Prince is aromatic with very large, sweet, golden flesh produced on strong, vigorous trees.  

All these trees grow quickly and bear loads of fruit from May to June within 2 years under proper care and are self pollinating.

You will need two different plum trees to cross pollinate so they will bear fruit.

The Gulf Gold Plum has excellent flavour and yellow flesh, ripening in May. The flower display in Spring is spectacular.

The Gulf Ruby Plum is more of an earlier ripening fruit with yellow flesh, also with excellent flavour, having gorgeous white spring bloom.

The Sunmist Nectarine is a delicious, white-flesh fruit with a semi-free stone that grows well in Florida.

The Sunraycer Nectarine has yellow flesh and a semi-free stone. It is delicious in flavor, disease resistant and great for central and south Florida.

The Ouachita (wash-uh-taw) Blackberry is the newest, large, sweet, thornless blackberry. It has very upright and erect canes and excellent flavor and is very high yielding. The Ouachita Blackberry's fruiting extends for about five weeks.

You will need two different kinds of apple trees in order for them to cross pollinate and bear fruit. We have three kinds that grow well in Florida:

The Dorsett Apple has an unique and delicious flavor with yellow fruit and a delightful pink blush. The flesh is white and sweet. It is the choice fruit to be eaten fresh, used for juice or processing and maintains a delicious flavor through cooking which makes it great for apple pies.

The Anna Apple is similar to the Red Delicious in that it is crunchy and sweet, but slightly tart. It's flesh is creamy white and good for eating fresh as well as used for sauce or pies. Ripening early in late June, it is a good choice of apple tree and pollinates well with the Dorsett Apple.

Delicious and crunchy, similar to the Jonathon Apple, the Tropic Sweet Apple is super sweet, low-acid and an excellent producer, ripening late in June two weeks before Anna. The Anna and Dorsett Apples are great to pollinate with this one.

There are two varieties of pear trees that do well in our area.

The Floridahome Pear ripens in late July with a sweet, juicy fruit, good for eating fresh or to be used in cooking. It can grow up to 30 feet tall and likes full sun and sandy loam or clay loam that is well-drained. Because it is tolerant of heat and humidity, this pear will not need much pruning, but does require some maintenance.

The Orient Pear is more round in shape, ripens in August and is a high producer of fairly large fruit. It generally grows 20 feet tall and offers summer shade. It loves well-drained sandy loam soils and is well suited for the soil around Clearwater. With full sun, this tree will produce more fruit. It is self pollinating. This fruit is great for use in cooking.

The Florida Fry grapes produces large bronze fruit that is super sweet, of excellent quality, and grow in very large clusters, ripening in early to mid to late September. Self fertile.

The Scuppernong have excellent flavor, ripens in mid September and produces well. Needs pollination.

The Summit is red-bronze and is an excellent frest eating grape and sweet. It ripens early to mid September. Needs polination.

The Jaboticaba is well-suited to the Clearwater area soil in that it can grow on very sandy soil, but it prefers moist, lightly-acidic soils for best growth and is a very slow growing tree, and in time can reach 10 to 12 feet although it can easily be pruned to keep fruit within reach. Since it doesn't mind being in wet areas for a short time, the Jaboticaba can be planted along with the bananas in areas that hold water for a while. It just cannot be planted in areas that are always wet.

It fruits once or twice a year naturally, but if irrigated continuously, it can produce fruit year round. The purple, grape-like fruit grows closely attached to the main trunks and branches, and has a sweet gelatinous flesh with a thick, purple, astringent skin. They are largely eaten fresh (avoid eating in huge amounts over a long period of time because of the tannin content), but are often used to make jams, tarts, delicious strong wines and liqueurs. Several potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer compounds have been isolated from the fruit, one of which is called jaboticabin.

The Grumichama, or sometimes known as the Brazil Cherry, is a slower-growing, medium-sized tree that may be pruned to be more of a bush. It produces round, purple-black, cherry-like fruits with deliciously-sweet, soft flesh. It grows well in most types of soil but prefers acid conditions and can be grown in sun or shade. It does not do well in drought conditions so requires frequent watering.

Guavas are adapted to a wide range of soil types and so are well suited for this area. They prefer being in full sun and may grow up to 20 feet tall.

The Sharpblue Blueberries ripens early in late April and early May with very large, sweet berries. Bush grows to 5 or 6 feet tall.

The Gulf Coast Blueberries also ripens early in May and is of great quality.

Misty Blueberries ripens shortly after the Sharp blue with large berries of high quality. Yields are high. Bushes grow up to 6 feet high.

The Dwarf Black Mulberry Tree is a smaller variety of mulberry and is one of the fastest growing trees known in the U.S. and bears a high yield of tasty fruit from as early as April to December. The berries are smaller than regular mulberries and tastes like seedless blackberries. It likes full sun and well-drained soil, and is easy to grow.

The Brogdon Avocado prefers full sun, adequate moisture and good drainage, and is cold hardy, delivering fruit of excellent quality from July through September during the third year.

The Starfruit Tree is a medium to fast growing tree and can grow up to 30 feet tall and bears magnificent fruit which may be 1 to 6 inches long. It likes to grow in well drained areas.

Fleishman Pomegranate grows from five to ten feet tall and has large round and sweet fruits. They are self-pollinating and bears fruit in July to December in about 1 to 2 years. It needs full sun but does better in partial shade during the colder months.

The Mission Black Fig tree produces large, dark-colored figs with a sweet, light pulp. They can grow to between 25 and 30 feet tall. Growing fig trees requires a warm, arid climate and at least eight hours of sunlight daily. Does not require pruning.

The Brown Turkey Fig has purplish brown, flesh pinkish amber fruit, good flavor and best when eaten fresh. This is a small, hardy and vigorous tree and produces best when pruned severely.

The Monstera Deliciosa is actually a creeping vine that will grow up a large tree, and so they make great landscape plants as well as delicious fruits. They are shade lovers and can grow in the shade of the oak trees.

It requires high humidity and needs shade. The fruit looks like a green ear of corn lined with hexagonal scales. When it first flowers, the fruit contains so much oxalic acid that it is poisonous, causing immediate and painful blistering and loss of voice.

It flowers 3 years after it is planted in ideal conditions, and takes 1 year longer for the fruit to ripen, at which point it is safe to eat. The fruit has a fruity taste similar to a combination of banana, mango and pineapple.

The Carrie Mango is the one that is most suited for the Clearwater area. It is fiberless, very sweet and delicious in flavor and compact in size, ripening from June to July. The tree is semi-dwarf and only grows to 12 - 15 feet being ideal for small backyards.

The Dwarf Cavendish Banana bear 6-inch fruit with an excellent sweet flavor. It likes full sun to shade and grows up to 6 feet tall. they need plenty of water.

They need well drained soil, warm temperatures and to be mulched heavily . They need extra nitrogen for fruiting. It is a self-fertile plant.

The Orinoco Banana, also called the finger banana, is the most commonly grown banana in this area. It is a solid green plant that grows to about 12 feet. If it is crowded it can achieve 20 feet. The fruit is about 3 inches long and is very delicious when ripe, but is often cooked when green - either fried or sometimes boiled. The 'Orinoco' is a hardy plant, withstands cold temperatures well and does best in full sun.

The American Beautyberry is a shrub that grows up to 8 feet tall and produces small pink flowers which develop into large clusters of fushia-colored berries close to the stem from August to November. These berries are great for attracting birds of all sorts to the garden as well as other animals. They are sweet and juicy, and good for making jelly. Many years ago, the indians would boil up the roots and leaves to treat fever, dysentery, and many other illnesses .

This plant enjoys full sun but can be grown in partial shade.

The Strawberry Tree thrives is soil that is poor and can tolerate acidic and alkaline conditions and even drought. It grows fast and is everbearing which means it continues to bear fruit continuously all year log. It's fruit is very sweet and is said to taste much like strawberry shortcake.

The Surinam Cherry is a shrub that can reach a height of about 25 feet and, with pruning, can be used as a dense hedge. The fruit is about the size of an ordinary cherry, is juicy and aromatic and has a sharp, but pleasant, acid flavor. It is high in vitamin C and has a lot of Lycopene, an antioxidant, and is commonly used in preserves and jelly. It is also called the Brazil Cherry as is the Grumichama, but is a totally different type of cherry.

The Passion Fruit (either yellow or dark purple) is round to oval with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit can be grown to eat or for its juice.

The bright yellow variety of passion fruit, the Golden Passion Fruit or Granadilla, can grow up to the size of a grapefruit and has a smooth, glossy skin.

The dark purple passion fruit is smaller than a lemon, is less acidic than the yellow passion fruit, and has a richer aroma and flavor.

Both are a vigorous, climbing vine that can grow 15 to 20 ft. per year once established and must have strong support. It is generally short-lived (5 to 7 years).

Plant passion fruit vines in full sun except in very hot areas where partial shade is preferable.