Second Year of Gardening -- Fruit Trees

TREE TOMATO
The award for our best fruit tree has to go, so far, to the tomate de palo, or tree tomato. We initially planted two of them, and later a third. One was planted on a site with good soil and drainage. It did very well, but was unfortunately chewed down by a gopher, who went into a fit of rage after we disturbed one of his tunnels. The one planted in the location with poor soil and drainage has done pretty well, regardless. The third one, is by far the best. It was planted in a location where we had a truck-load of topsoil dumped, and later a load of compost.

Tree tomatoes are fast growing (and, we assume, short-lived) and begin producing fruit within a year. The leaves and fruit look more like egg plant, and so I like to call it an egg tree. The fruit is produced in clusters, and each fruit is about the size of a hen's egg, and orange, when ripe. We had heard the fruit can be used to make jam or chutney, which my wife did, but after her first attempt she reported they were very hard to peel, and there was very little meat in the fruit. The seeds have to be removed because they are very hard and could break a tooth. So, they are a lot of work for little results.

CAS
The only fruit tree we have not had a problem with is the cas, a relative of the guava. It is a slow grower, but looks good so far. We have high hopes for it.

AVOCADO
Avocados have been a problem. We planted a Hass avocado. It was a large one, complete with avocados, and we paid good money for it. It became sick from the high rainfall and the heavy soil. So, I eventually tore it out, dug a much larger hole, complete with drainage ditches, gave it a lot of really good soil, and planted a new Hass avocado. It's not looking good either. Later an expert told me that Hass is good for cool weather, but not for high rainfall, and that it will probably never do well in our location. Since then I have planted a third avocado tree, a Simpson. I've been told it can handle our wet conditions. It looks good so far. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

BANANAS & PLANTAINS
We planted a plantain tree as soon as we arrived. It was doing extremely well. Then the gophers discovered it and ate the roots. Gophers just looove plantain and banana roots. Later we planted a banana tree in a location where there are no gophers. It is looking good so far.

FIG
We planted a fig tree in a bad location -- lots of heavy soil and rocks. We have improved the soil, but the tree is not looking good.

ORANGES
Oranges do well around here.  We planted three -- two criollos and a Washington.
One was planted in an area of very good soil, and it is looking good and has actually produced three oranges. Another one was planted in an area of poor soil, but we worked hard on improving the soil and creating good drainage. It is doing well, but has produced no oranges yet. The third one was planted in an area of extremely bad soil, and even though we did a lot to improve the soil and the drainage,
it is doing just so-so.

GRAPEFRUIT
We planted one grapefruit tree. It was not doing well, and showed signs of calcium-magnesium deficiency. We finally gave it some Epsom salts (which is high in magnesium), and it seems to have turned the corner.
It has put out a new flush of healthy-looking leaves.

LEMON
We planted our lemon tree in an area that was too low and wet. We have since relocated it and it is looking a little better now.

MANGO
Mangoes like hot weather, and generally do not do well at our elevation. We purchased one mango tree which is supposed to do well at high elevations and cool temperatures. It was kind of an experiment (like everything else). At times it has seemed to struggle, and at other times it seems to do just fine. The jury is still out.

JOCOTE
We planted one Jocote tree. It seems to be doing just fine. However, since planting it we learned that our location is just a little too cool for them, and although it looks good, the locals tell us that it will probably not produce any fruit.

Happy gardening!