Building a house...Fruit trees wanted

[TonyB]

Aloha,
We are building a home in Vacationland and had to practically clear the small lot. I would like to purchase and install mature coconut, papaya, and guava trees. Any suggestions or ideas?

[janeadams]

Tony,

Contact Jan Anderson near you at Kapoho Kai Nursery for palms of all sorts and other cool stuff. She's also at the farmer's market in Pahoa on Sundays. For Papayas, check Macu'u -- lots of stuff there of that type. Oscar Jaitt at Fruit Lovers Nursery could also probably steer you towards Papaya varieties that will do well on the coastline.

... and I hope you're not looking to plant strawberry guava! your neighbors will not be pleased!

Jane Adams

[TonyB]

Thanks Jane,
What's wrong with Strawberry Guava?

[riverwolf]

strawberry guava is very invasive and spreads easily (birds), it chokes out native plants.

riverwolf

[Carey]

Another thing with both guavas, they easily spread through root suckers.... & chopping & herbicides are not overly effective...they keep coming back! (we have a common guava that had to be cut down due to overhead lines, ten years ago... the roots still shoot up little suckers all over the yard (even across the street!) We use heavy duty systemic & still they come....)
ETA we also have one that we keep, & it also has suckers that need to be clipped

[csgray]

Don't worry about planting mature trees, stuff grows astoundingly fast here and larger specimens often don't recover well from the trauma of either transplanting or being root bound in a pot. You could easily end up with just as big of trees in two years if you plant younger trees now in good holes with room to grow out their roots. I would make sure that whoever you get plants from knows just how close you are to the ocean, some varieties are better at handling salt air than others. Also make sure you know the mature size of the tree (both height and diameter) before you plant, it is easy to forget that those cute little baby trees can end up being 50 ft. tall and grow right into your house.

Have fun and don't forget to plant some good smelling flowering trees too!

Carol

[TonyB]

Aloha,
Has anyone had good luck with mango Trees?
Mahalo

[riverwolf]

Mangoes are easy to get started and grow. They are prolific bearers so best to pick your favorite type. One tree will feed you enough.
Fruit Tree Lovers website used to have a great list and descriptions of different types . They may still have that list available.
enjoy.


riverwolf

[robguz]

The plant it Hawaii site is a great source of info. http://plantithawaii.com/ Mango should do well, better in dry years like this one. Have 2 grafted mangos that have been in the ground two years and they're both bearing fruit this year on trees under 5' tall. You can also get already fruit bearing citrus trees from them. I wouldn't buy mature papaya. I've got some growing as volunteers with no soil producing fruit in 6 months. Seaview is very similar to Vacationland in terms of climate. I'm probably at 100'. Almost everything I've planted has done well. Naranjilla is the only thing that hasn't, although I've never even tasted one so I don't know what I'm missing. My rambutan and longan haven't been too happy, but I think I could have planted them in less windy spots. My lychee I was ready to give up on is fruiting now after 5 years. Carey and Carol gave great advice. I'd avoid guava of any kind. I don't know where one gets mature coconuts but that's one you'd definitely not just want to plant a sprout and wait for. They take years.

[Frankie Stapleton]

I have several good papaya and coconut juvenile starts, if you'd like them. Gimme a call at 965-8945.