What It Takes To Maintain 200+ Tropical Fruit Trees in California’s Central Valley

Good afternoon. So I feel like fall temperature is finally here. It's actually been cool at night and in the morning, which would mean right around this time at about six o'clock every single morning, I wake up to lawn mowers. Yes, that's my lawn clock. So neighbors mow the lawn. In fact, it's actually not neighbors. Oftentimes it's actually the landscaping company that just comes and mows the lawn like twice a month. But that's besides the point. Today I want to talk about how much effort on my part it takes to maintain all the tropical foot trees in my tiny little yard. So I will say just off the bat, right now with all this in my yard, I'm spending way less time in the yard maintaining them than when I had lawn. When I had lawn, I was mowing the lawn twice a month just like everybody else. And that process, front and back, along with the trimming of the edging, because you got to do it, takes me generally a good hour and a half per session. But with tropical foot trees, I've gotten them down to a stage. My yard is about six years old. Almost everything in my yard is going about six years old. So most of them are well-acclimated, which would mean I've got them now to a stage where they require practically no maintenance whatsoever. So I'm literally just sitting back and just enjoying the growth and the flowers and the fruits. So they're at this point essentially self-sustaining. So look at it, store fruits, okay? I mean, yeah, like look at this, look at the insane amount of flowers. I mean, this is the Kerry variety, but it is just crazy, crazy. Now, here's the sad thing though, because I've got so many trees in the yard. Sadly, if you come here, I would estimate about 90% of the fruits get recycled to the ground. So I'm really, me along with neighbors, families, friends, whomever that wants to come and pick the fruits, we can only get about 10% of them. The rest, just unfortunate because again, I mean, you've seen the amount of flowers that that store fruit has. If you come here, this is just from one tree, okay? Look, I mean, I can't eat all of this and I've got like five longan, Kala longan varieties just in the yard. And this is just from one tree. I can't eat all of this. So if you come here, let me see if I can find some examples. Most of my fruits, they unfortunately get, well, I guess that's a good one right there. Most of the fruits get recycled back into the ground, getting eaten up by the worms, insects, and in turn, recycling their nutrients back into the yard. Yeah, I mean, it's, yeah, it sounds bad, but that is like, yeah, it's starting to fall because well, I've not been able to pick this on time. But with the fruits falling and getting recycled, it also translates into me not having to fertilize them as often. Yeah, this is what I mean. It is just falling left and right. And I just, again, I can't pick them. I mean, there's only so much food that I can eat. So as I was saying, because of the fruits falling and getting recycled back into the ground, over a period of time, I'm having to fertilize them less and less and less. It sounds like it's opposite. It seems like as the trees mature, you should be feeding them more, but that's not really the case just because as they mature, they essentially reach a point of self-sustainability. So let's go back to the yard. Yeah, I mean, because I live in California. Space is a premium. Alleyway. Cement. Yeah. Look at that. Saw apple. I'm sorry, not sorry. Wax apple. Wax jambo. Yeah. So the difference, okay, between the trees that are in ground versus the ones that are in container. The ones in the container, unfortunately, they're never going to reach the point of self-sustainability. You're going to still want to fertilize them on a scheduled basis. Whereas the ones in the ground, because they are plugged into the mycorrhizal network and the Wood-Rite web, these guys, I don't really have to fertilize them as much. I still do. I mean, I still fertilize them three times a year, but the frequency is becoming less and less and less. So yeah, I mean, this is what I mean by in containers. If you want them to fruit, you're going to need to be consistent with fertilizing. And in this case, this is actually my chicken bed for nutritious chicken poop. The trees love the stuff. And this is what you're getting. Of course, it also gets consistent watering as well, especially for container trees. So now the neat thing about my situation, if you come here, is I've got the entire front yard, as well as the container trees, such as these guys right here, as well as the containers, all on an automatic irrigation system. Look, every single tree that is in the ground and in containers, I've got a bubbler system or a sprinkler system nearby them, watering it once an hour, actually, 12 times a day. So basically every hour, every single day. And that's what it takes. So essentially, I've got the foundation already built. I mean, I've got irrigation there that allows me a hands-off approach when it comes to watering. And look at the amount of mulch. This is the cement brick. This originally was ground level. And yeah, that's, well, I would say that's a good maybe eight inches worth of mulch. So mulching is what you want as well. You are going to want to have a good foundation in terms of accommodating your insects, the worms, more importantly, the fungus and the bacteria that's helping to break all this down. And in turn, turn them into just, you know, like this nutritious soil. Yeah. Look at this little grub here. I'm sorry. It's not a grub. It's just a rock. But anyway, you get, you get the gist of it. So yeah, because of the foundation that I've got there, just about anything that I put it around, it has been thriving. Lychee, Kamana lychee. Yeah, this guy is supposed to die out when the temperature drops below like 30 degrees. And we very oftentimes drop below 28 degrees. Still looking great though. As well as some of the newer mangoes that I put in the ground. Let's check it out. This is what I mean by once you get the foundation down, once you've got your soil, which thanks to the chicken, they've been scratching it. But this is what it should look like once you've got your soil down. It should be nice and dark like this. What you see here is just actually broken down wood chip over years and years and years. I mean, wood chip is something that I have to reapply every single year and it breaks down that quick. And during that process, of course, the nutrient from the wood chip gets recycled back into the ground and being then uptaken by the trees. So look, some of the newer mangoes that I want to say were put in the ground just last month. Yeah, I mean, look at the new growth. This is how you know they are just really enjoying the climate. Granted, they've not been through a winter yet. But yeah, look at them. So impressed that I put the other tree here. From that angle, you can't tell, but there exist three additional mangoes here. And this leads me to another thing, okay? Spacing. Because of our clay soil in the Central Valley, we're actually able to get away with putting them close together. And that's really needed because of the microclimate that the nearby trees produce to protect these guys. I mean, the closeness to the wall is on purpose. As the wind blows from the west, I mean, it's not going to get a whole lot of wind because it's blocked. It's nice and blocked. So now notice the young trees, the new trees that I've got anyway, are more on the small side. It is my recommendation, just personal recommendation, if you are getting a grafted or aeolian tree from a nursery, for the most part, get the smaller one. Because what happens is, in an extreme freeze, it doesn't take much for me to put maybe a 5-gallon bucket on top of it. That's sufficient. Yeah. So it's just easier for you to protect if need to. So now that's getting a new tree, mature tree that is. Alternatively, there is also nothing wrong with germinating them from seed. Coriander mango seeds, four of them. These guys are ready to be popped in the container or in the ground. But there is just so much benefit to growing these from seeds rather than getting a mature one, which can take some time to acclimate. Granted, there are some downsides, but in my opinion, the benefits far outweigh the downsides. Look at this. A tree seed, something, something, I can't pronounce the name, starfruit. Planted in the ground, I want to say three years ago. It's taking off. Look at the amount of flowers. And he's, I mean, he's young compared to the, you know, two trees in the front. But yeah. So now, going back to replanting or germinating them from seed. Okay. For the most part, I would say for the majority of tropical trees, you can definitely, you'll want to grow them from seed. There are some that you, you can, there's nothing wrong with growing them from seed, such as the jamun here. The, there are, the only downside in my opinion, when it comes to growing these from seeds, it's my new favorite fruit now. If you've not had a fresh jamun, it is hard to describe the taste. A slight taste of stringent at the end, very chewy, just the right amount of sweetness, very small hint of sour, but I mean, I can literally eat this the whole day. It's really good. I like it. So now the only problem with growing this guy from seed, okay, is the fact that, I mean, they definitely grow. The downside of course is it's going to take you forever, 25 years, maybe, before it starts producing fruits. This guy was actually grafted when I got him five years ago. Maybe this tall, but it took him like four years, even though it's grafted, before it started producing fruits. So there are some trees that you definitely can grow from seed, but if you want to, if you go to get fruits, 25 years, maybe a long time, same with the lychees. I mean, yeah, these guys you definitely can grow from seed, but you're going to wait a while. For that purpose, there are some trees that I just get air layered in this case and grafted in that case. So now you will encounter some setbacks, okay? If it's not because of the intense summer, or if it's not because of the frosty winters, it is going to be the soil. Case in point, check it out. From that angle, this Miracle Berry looks like crap. Look at him. He is basically dying, right? Now I planted him last April, so a year ago. So what he's doing now is, because of the intense heat wave that we had a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago, I think, he is struggling because at this point, the roots are encountering my native dirt. And knowing that this particular tree needs very, very acidic soil, you're talking four and a half, and mine is maybe six and a half or so, which is good for most tropical trees, but this guy needs again, four and a half. It freaked out, of course. However, if you come here, actually, let me see if I can show it to you. Here's the deal. Upon close inspection, he's making a comeback. He's essentially acclimating to my climate, specifically the clay soil, the alkaline clay soil. And yeah, this is what is happening. He's going to make it. He went through his drama, and now that he's cool with my alkaline soil, he's going to be okay. Same with the Gamboge here. I mean, look at him. The new growth, super, super chlorotic. And that's not because there's not a chelated iron in there. It's just because the roots are reaching the clay soil now. So it's essentially expanding beyond the original amended soil. So that's what you're seeing. However, when I look at some of the other new growth, they look fine. So they will, over a period of time, acclimate. So that's really the gist of it, is at this point, I mean, I'm just literally just sitting back and just chilling. I mean, I'm just waiting for these guys to grow, produce fruit. And for the most part, for me, it's really been just a hands-off approach. I mean, because again, I've got the foundation already set up, automatic irrigation, mulching, which generally takes me maybe a day or so. Of course, I break it down into multiple days. So that's done one time a year. Fertilizing them, that's three times a year. That generally takes me maybe like an hour and a half, front and back, pruning here and there. But besides that, yeah, I just sit back and enjoy the show. Yeah, look at the banana. Two of them actually. So fun fact, in most Asian cuisines, the flower portion is actually edible. I know a lot of times these are cooked. So I'm going to take out the bottom section as I did with the other one. And I don't know, maybe try to cook them, but it is edible. So yeah, the neat thing too, obviously, is when it comes to the fruits, I don't need to eat it all at once. I just come out here and pick on the ones that I feel are ripe and then just pick and eat this one. So yeah, that's really it. At this point, I mean, winter isn't really an issue for me at all. I mean, all the trees have gone through many, many years of our blossom winter, same with our summer. I mean, of course, it helps too that I've got a pretty nice microclimate system happening. Speaking of which, I mean, this is the ultimate in the microclimate. So, all right. Have a good afternoon.