Question: I find about six avocado fruits on my 8-year-old tree. How do I know when they are ripe as I don't want them to drop to the ground?
Answer: Determining when an avocado is ripe is a real puzzle that could be fun solving but you only have six fruits. When you know the variety, you can narrow the ripening period to a few months. If your tree was grown from seed, it makes ripening time much more of a mystery. Different avocado varieties ripen between July and February.
Perhaps the best way to determine harvest time of an unknown variety is to wait until the fruits are plump and about the size of those in grocery stores or at fruit stands. Then harvest a fruit and let it ripen indoors. The color should lighten and the fruit soften. Then give it the taste test.
If your first fruit is not very tasty, wait a few more weeks to a month and try again. When you have a fruit with the right taste, mark the date on the calendar. Avocados should ripen each year at about this time. You are correct in noting fruits should not be allowed to fall to the ground as they bruise and are not normally useable when they ripen.
Q: Our banana tree has a stalk of bananas that has been growing for four weeks and the fruits are very green. Should I cut them off or leave them on the tree to turn yellow?
A: Many Florida residents should be singing "yes, we do have bananas" but not until fall. Plantings that survived the winter with little damage flowered during spring or early summer and now need five months to produce the harvest.
Wait until the first hand of bananas formed starts to turn yellow then harvest the stalk and hang it in a shady spot to ripen. Cut the fruit off as they yellow to enjoy a real Florida treat.
Q: A gardening friend wants to plant a beautyberry. Is this plant too aggressive for a medium-size yard?
A: Tell your friend this is a good selection for any landscape growing in sunny to shady locations. Plants can be a bit untidy but you can help keep them more compact. Beautyberry shrubs grow to about 5 feet high and wide but keep them in bounds with a late winter pruning and some periodic grooming. Plantings are known for drought tolerance, light lavender late-spring blooms and magenta-colored fruit clusters for fall. Butterflies visit the spring blooms and there are few pests.
Q: Our landscaper suggests planting our new trees and shrubs so the top of the root balls are 2 inches above the ground. Is this the proper planting technique?
A: Many local horticulturists are recommending new trees, shrubs and other woody ornamentals be set with the top of the root balls a few inches above soil level. Florida sands often settle during the first year or two of growth and the trunks and crowns of the plants can sink into the ground. Sinking below the soil line can encourage trunk and root rot problems which results in the loss of the plants.
New plants set with the top of their root balls above the ground line can settle into the soil a few inches and not be affected by root rot. Small shrubs are set with the top of their root balls two inches above the soil line and big trees up to six inches. Mulch or soil is then be pulled up to edge of the root ball to provide protection from drying.
Q: I read clear plastic should be used for soil solarization. Why does it have to be clear plastic instead of black plastic?
A: Soil solarization is the process of heating the ground with the summer sun to as high a temperature as possible to control nematodes, fungal organisms and similar pests. Clear plastic is preferred because it lets the sun through to strike and warm the soil while holding in the heat. Black plastic does not let the sun penetrate to the ground level and appears to be less effective.
Good soil solarization also depends on having the soil loose and moist as if ready to plant. This helps the heat penetrate deeper in the ground to give the best pest control. The clear cover is left on the ground for six to eight weeks. When the treatment is complete, the cover is removed and the garden planted with minimal disturbance to the soil.