alright! this is john kohler with growingyourgreens.com! today we have another exciting episode for you. and where we’re at today is a specialplace here in lake worth, florida in south florida. so if you live in south florida,you’re going to want to come to this place to buy your fruit trees and some other veryimportant crops that you will want to grow in your home garden. and so i’ve been tothis place, excalibur fruit trees, probably like 10 years ago when my friend who livesin the area was buying some trees. and i came with them and i really loved the place backthen. but i don’t think i was making any videos then. but i’m back here today to share with youguys what excalibur fruit tree nursery does,
because it’s a lot different than most ofthe nurseries that you may, you know, see in in ad or over on craig’s list or hereor there or whatever, you know. and i always encourage you guys to support local familyowned businesses and excalibur nursery, fruit tree nursery, is a family owned business.now the other thing that is cool about excalibur is that they’ve been doing this for 35 yearsnow. so that’s a long time. they have special genetics of different fruit trees that you’rereally not going to find anywhere else. in addition, one of the things that i like aboutexcalibur is that you could come here and actually buy the fruit, and to try it beforeyou buy the tree. and they also have some samples available too. and they are open basicallyevery day except sunday, from 8 to 4. and
i always encourage you guys to get, you know,to one of these places early because you don’t want to be coming at 3:45 because this placeyou know, is large, they’re going to show you around, give you a personal tour and helpyou select the right plants for you. one of the questions i get a lot is, johnwhat fruit trees do i buy? so in this episode, what i’m going to share with you guys ismy 10 top favorite fruit trees i would buy if i lived here in florida, south florida,to plant and to grow. and i have very specific reasons for the ones i’m choosing that you’lllearn about in just a little bit. so once you get here, this is like a residential housewith the nursery attached. you’re going to park against the rock wall. it says excaliburparking. once you park you’re going to get
out your car and then you’re going to walkup over to the tent. so once you get here you walk across the street from the parkingarea, you’re going to walk actually into this tent and there’ll be a person hangingout there ready to answer all you questions and help you out. they also have some golfcarts ready and waiting so that you can jump on the golf cart and be taken to the differentfruit trees you’re interested in. now it’s very important that you know whatyou’re interested in, because they, they will be helpful and help you select the rightones, but it’s always best to know what you want so they could take you there to itand they could show you the different trees that are available. they have many differentsizes and the costs vary depending on, you
know, the size and the specific variety oftree. what i want to do next is actually reallycool. we’re going to go ahead and go into the tent and show you guys some of the fruitsthat they have available this time of year so that you could buy some to eat for laterbefore your fruit trees start actually fruiting. so one of the cool things about excaliburfruit tree nursery is that they will offer some fruits during different times of theyear, you know. the fruits that they’re offering here are all grown on the site andactually they’re from some of the trees that you would buy if you came here. i mean,some of the trees and small pots are already producing, you know, and that’s really importantbecause this is going to save you time. so
you could be eating sooner off the fruit treesyou’re growing instead of later. so at this time of the year right now they got some ofthese guys. these are known as black sapote’s. and these are related to the persimmons. they’rejust black and dark inside. they also have, of course, the jackfruit, which i love a lot,as well as some avocados and some papayas. and, you know, the fruits that they sell here,both the fresh fruits and also the trees, you know, they taste way different than thestore one. you go buy produce at the store, say you’re buying papayas. you’re gettingpapayas that are, you know, picked unripe, they’re shipped unripe, you know, and theflavor is greatly diminished and the varieties you’re buying in a store are very limited,you know. many papaya varieties are grown
because they store and ship well. and whenyou grow ones at home you have a wider selection that you could choose from because they maynot store as well. but let me tell you, they’re going to taste much better. so what i’m going to do next actually i’mgoing to go ahead and get on a little golf cart, get a tour. and i’m going to sharewith you guys my top 10 fruit trees that i would buy if i lived in this area. but alsowe’re going to go ahead before we do the fruit trees, we’re going to do 3 bonus plantsthat you guys should grow even before you start growing the fruit trees. so now i’m with rudy and he’s my personalchauffeur or tour guide today at excalibur.
and whenever you come to excalibur, each oneof you guys is going to get a personal tour of the place to get the trees that you want.so we’re going to go ahead and take off on this golf cart that’s actually poweredby electricity, electric baby. so before i get into the fruit trees thati’m going to recommend to you guys and the ones that i would actually plant, i want totalk about this plant first. and actually it’s coming up first because it’s actuallythe most important plant you need to purchase and grow if you own a place here in southflorida. this is known as the katuk. they might mispronounce it here in the south calledkay-tack or kay-tuk or something, but it’s katuk. and it’s also known as sauropus.and it’s quite a delicious edible leafy
green vegetable. so you guys could see thisis in a 3 gallon pot and these guys are standing, i don’t know, like four feet, four and ahalf feet tall, really nice. this would be great to make a hedge out of. so just planta bunch, you know, i don’t know, about every four feet and it will actually fill out. youcould actually take cuttings of this, stick it back in the ground or stick in water. itwill root out, and you could actually have some more. they’ve done al the hard workfor you. so you just got to come here, pluck down your catch and take these babies home.so this is the standard green katuk here. and you could just basically just pick andeat the leaves off these guys. and if you do that, what you’re going to be rewardedwith is like, it’s like the leafy green
doesn’t taste like lettuce, it kind of tasteslike peanut butter, and i’m not kidding. this is so incredible. so like if you’remaking a salad, you could use like, i don’t know, 50% lettuce, 50% of this, and it’sgoing to taste like you got peanut butter lettuce. so the green katuk that they havehere is a standard variety. but, you know, here at excalibur they’ve got all kindsof cool different varieties that you can’t find anywhere else, you know. matter of fact,all the trees and plants that they’re offering here, they propagate here except for the citrus.i guess there’s special requirements for citrus. but they do it all in house. so that’sactually quite unique and rare, because you know, most nurseries these days are just simplyresellers.
so i’m going to go ahead and show you twomore different kinds of katuk that they have here that you’re not going to find anywhereelse. and i’ve actually never seen them anywhere else myself. so the special kind of katuk that they havehere that you’re not going to see anywhere else is actually a beautiful katuk. well,they’re all beautiful. but they have actually two different kinds of variegated katuk, youknow. you get it over in south east asia or you could get it here. and i think it’sa lot easier to just buy your plants here instead of going all the way to asia to smugglethese guys back. so i’m glad they have these. i’ve never seen them anywhere else. andi saw these like first like ten years ago.
and since all my travels i’ve never seenthe variegated anywhere else. so that’s definitely really cool. the variegated, youknow, it’s just you know the leaves are a little bit different. they have two differentvariegated kinds. they have like a strongly variegated, you know, mostly variegated ormostly white, and then they have a generally or mild variegated kind. and let me tell you,mmm, they both taste like peanut butter. so the next plant i want to share with youguys that you guys should also grow if you live here in south florida like for sure,is this guy. this guy is known as the malabar spinach. and there’s a green malabar spinach,they also have a red malabar spinach. i actually grew the red malabar this past year, and theberries are just simple amazing. they’re
like super rich in antioxidants. and yeahi’ll post a link down below to a video i did when i juiced my malabar spinach berries.and this guy also is going to do great here, even in the summer heat, no problem. i mean,this guy took a hundred plus degree weather in my garden. and i’m sure it will be finehere. the thing it doesn’t like is the frost. another one that i’m not showing today thatthey also may have here is also known as the water spinach, another leafy green you guysshould grow as well. it’s going to do amazing in this climate. so the third bonus plant i want you guys toplant if you have space available. like if you’re on a small residential lot don’tplant this one. but if you got acreage, this
is something you’re definitely going towant to plant in your space. because it’s going to provide you guys a year round foodsource. and it’s one of the most delicious things in the world. it’s these guys. it’sa grass. and it’s known as sugarcane. sugarcane grows in the tropics. it takes about, i don’tknow, 18 months to fully mature. so when i’ve grown it in a non-tropical environment, itreally hasn’t produced well for me. but here it’s going to be great. invest in asugarcane juicer once you’ve got a lot of cane going on, and you’re going to thankme for it. because it’s going to be one of the best things you ever did. now the sugarcanebecause it is a grass, can absorb up to 90 different trace minerals. so it’s very nutritious.plus there’s other plant polyphenols and
antioxidants in there that there’s a lotof research on. and it’s actually quite healthy for you. and one of the latest crazesthese days is going on like a sugarcane juice detox, right. and if you might think, butjohn you’re drinking sugar water man when you drink the sugarcane juice right? well,let me tell you guys. you guys probably had for breakfast something that had more sugarin it than the sugarcane juice you’d make. the orange juice has way more sugar than thesugarcane juice. because sugarcane juice, unlike refined white sugar, is mostly water,with some added sugar but also a lot of extra nutrition. and that’s why it’s reallygood for you and you guys should include some every day if you had a you know, cane orchard.and if you do get one, you get a juicer, let
me know when you’re at full production,i’ll come down and visit you. so now i’m going to go ahead and share withyou guys the fruit trees that i would get on my property here in south florida, right.and the first tree is actually not a tree at all. it’s a papaya plant. it’s notreally a tree because it’s not really wood here. but the papaya is an amazing fruit.and the variety i would get in this area is this guy. this is known as the red lady. theyalso have different varieties. but i like the red lady because it’s a nice deep darkrich red flesh. it’s actually quite sweet. actually i had one for lunch today. and thepapayas they’ll basically produce year round for you, you know. and this will serve a purposefor me because i need to eat every day. the
papayas are going to produce all the time.so, you know, get a couple dozen papaya plants and always have a papaya ripening and goingoff, so that you have it available to eat. so yeah, grow some papaya. now, i’m getting specifically the red ladyvariety because it is from thailand. so you could eat actually thai tropical fruits herein south florida without having to go to thailand. they have many other varieties. of courseyou could take papaya seeds from a grocery store, buy a papaya, and sprout those andgrow those. but then the quality of the fruit may not be that good. and excalibur nurseryfruit tree nursery, has gone through a lot of links to get, you know, some of the besttasting best fruit trees around.
so the next fruit that i would grow is nota tree at all. it’s a banana. and a banana is an herbaceous shrub, not a tree, but peoplecall them banana trees. but they’re not really a tree, they’re just like the papaya.but this is another one that i would grow, because you know, they’re going to produceyear round for you. and here they have, i don’t know, at least over a dozen differentvarieties of bananas. and the one that i personally would get is actually called the lakatan.and this is a special banana from the philippines that actually is high in beta carotene , andalso i’ve heard has an excellent taste. i haven’t yet tasted that one. but, youknow, i want to encourage you guys to just grow anything but the kind you get in thestore. because those taste terrible, right.
and when you grow your own bananas they’regoing to taste amazing, right. there’s like ice-cream bananas and so many different kinds.they also have a red skin banana. that’s probably another one that i’d get, it’sa dwarf red skin variety. and the skin is like really almost like black before you eatit. and then the skin has like a tinge of like reddish pigments. and i really want toencourage you guys to grow fruit trees that actually have high antioxidant propertiesbecause i think they can and are healthier than just like standard white banana fruits. so the next tree that i would actually growis right here. this is known as the black sapote. it’s related to the persimmon. butthese guys are quite unique. this is in a
3 gallon, as you guys could see, it’s already,actually already fruiting. and they got larger sizes that have lots of fruits on the tree.and i always want to encourage you guys to get the largest size pot that you can afford.and then when you get that size pot, then pick out the largest tree, the healthiestlooking tree, the tree that has the most fruits, you know, in that pot size. so you’re goingto get the best value, right. and you know, by buying a tree that’s actually larger,you know, you’re going to be more bountiful and it’s going to produce fruit sooner foryou. now the black sapote, you know, one of the things about it is it’s not necessarilya sweet fruit, right. but this can be a good thing. i mean, people are really concernedabout sugar and all these things these days.
and, you know to me, because it’s not assweet, it’s more of a wild type fruit. and one of the things that you get when you buyyour black sapote at excalibur fruit tree nursery, is you’re going to get the varietycalled excalibur. and this is their special variety that in the first of the season itmay have some seeds. but later in the season these will be seedless fruits so that youguys don’t have to deal with it. so that’s really cool. but yeah, grow some black sapotesif you live here in south florida, and you could make some amazing puddings with likeblack sapote fruit blended up with some dates. that stuff is real good. so the next fruit tree i would grow is actuallynot a fruit, it’s a berry. i guess berries
are fruits too, let’s not discriminate here.but this guy is the thai dwarf everbearing mulberry. so everbearing means produces allyear round. so to me, you know, producing all year round is better than producing likeonce a year. and that’s what you’re going to get with the thai dwarf mulberry here.and as you guys could see, here’s actually a little mulberry right here. mulberries arereally great because this is one of the foods actually that money can’t buy. it’s veryrare to find mulberries for sale in the store. you might find it at a farmer’s market occasionally.but most of the time if you don’t have your own tree, the bird get them, the birds getthem. and you know, to get have optimal ripeness, you know, you need to really grow them yourselfand pick them yourself at peak ripeness, otherwise
they’re just not going to be the same. it’slike store bought raspberries versus home grown raspberries, you know, major difference.yeah so grow some mulberries for the deep rich highly pigmented delicious fruit. so the next fruit tree i would grow is probablybecause of my girlfriend. this is one of her top favorite fruits, as it is mine. i lovethis fruit and i wish i could just grow it instead of having to keep buying it. but thisis actually known as the jackfruit. now these trees look small now but they’ll get gigantic.and jackfruits, certain varieties can get to a 100 pounds in one fruit. that might weighmore than your baby. well, it will weigh more than your baby, maybe more than you. but itcan make an incredible amounts of fruit. and
they have some very special varieties here.besides the standard, you know, yellow and orange kind of jackfruit on the inside, theyhave red varieties. and that’s the kind i would encourage you to buy, because it hasa rich deep red pigment. i really like to get unique fruits, you know. most people haveseen like a yellow jackfruit. maybe some people have seen an orange. but it’s very rareto see the red jackfruit. and it’s more of a crunchy kind, the varieties here, themorning. and it’s really sweet and super delicious. so that’s the one i would get.i’d get a red jackfruit, quite rare, quite unique, available here at excalibur fruittree nursery. so the next fruit tree that i personally wouldget is this guy right here. and it’s also
because of my girlfriend. she loves this fruit,probably even more than me. this is known as mamey sapote. and the particular varietyi would get is known as the pantin. and it actually has a nice dark deep rich orangecolor. and actually the fruits are rather large. and they have almost a dozen differentvarieties of the mamey sapotes. and i think one of the things that’s really sad is whenyou go to the store and buy the mamey sapote, it’s just labelled mamey sapote, and youdon’t know what variety. and each variety is unique and tastes different than the other.plus some may grow better. and they will have different characteristics than others, youknow. some are like kind of like long and skinny, and some are kind of like shorterand fatter, you know. they’re kind of like
dropping off all over the ground here becausei think they’re like immature fruits. but some of these trees, even in just the pots,are like twenty feet tall and have a bunch of mameys on there already. so yeah come duringmamey season, i’m sure they’ll have samples out, so you could try all the different varieties. so the next fruit that i would grow is thisguy right here. this is known as sapodilla or chico sapote. and i just talked about themamey sapote, which i didn’t describe how it tastes actually. a ripe mamey sapote tasteslike pumpkin pie. like the pumpkin pie you had on thanksgiving, that’s what it tasteslike but in a fruit that’s naturally ripened, you know. they do need to be soft and ripenedto perfection for them to taste good.
now these guy, the sapodilla or chico sapote,you know, these are also known as brown sugar fruit. and actually they have a variety ofthe chico sapote called brown sugar. but the variety i would get is actually known as thealano, and that’s this guy right here. and this produces a nice sized, fairly large,fairly sweet fruit with nice like dark brown texture on the inside. and there is some sapin the sapodillas , and you know, which is known as chiclete or like it’s like chewinggum. but that stuff when you eat it, it will get stuck to the top of your mouth and thenyou won’t be able to get it off. so it’s probably best not to eat the white sap. andthese guys also once again, they need to be ripened to perfection, you know. many placesi go to buy the chico sapotes, it’s quite
unfortunate that actually they pick the fruitstoo early. and when they do that, the fruit will never get the optimal level of ripeness, it will never get the optimal level of sugar content.. and it’s just to going to tasteas good as it should. so just yet another reason to buy your own fruit tree. so thatyou could grow it yourself and harvest them when they’re completely ripe. so another fruit that actually i would plantis not a tree either. it’s this guy. this is called the jade pineapple. it’s a whitepineapple that the core that you normally cut out and discard is edible because it’snice and soft. so i had a variety in hawaii that was actually like this, you know. itwas amazing. so maybe this is the same variety.
on this guy, you know, there’s no serratededges on the edge. so it’s a smooth kind. so it’s not quite as dangerous as standardpineapples. and i’d probably have like a whole patch of pineapples because let me tellyou, the pineapples you get in the store half the time they’re not even ripe. and youknow, these sweet white pines are absolutely delicious. i have videos where i show andsample white pines, you know, on the camera and they taste like nothing else. so yeahgrow one of these guys. you won’t regret it. and once you got one going, you couldjust take the top off and then replant it and you know, get a whole patch sooner orlater. so the next fruit tree that i’d plant isonce again not a tree at all. i like these
non-tree fruits. but it’s these guys righthere. they’re palm, and palms are not trees. but this palm is known as the acai berry palm.and if you guys, you know, go to your local health food store you could get like acaiberry powder or frozen acai. it’s actually very high in antioxidants. and this is whyi would grow it. it probably is going to make a million little small berries and you justcan’t find these guys fresh, because they are highly perishable. but here at excaliburthey offer really rare things that you’re not going to find anywhere else like the acai.so get one so you can be antioxidant rich and have your own fresh acai berries. so now i’m going to share with you guysthe last fruit tree that i would purchase.
and of course it has to be the mango. hereat excalibur fruit tree nursery they have nearly a 100 different unique varieties ofmangoes. mangoes is something that’s very easy to grow here. and it’s something ithink everybody should grow. and there’s many different kinds. and the kinds unfortunatelythe handful of varieties you could buy in the store and the ones from the store areusually imported, and they’re hot water dipped and they’re picked unripe. so youjust don’t get the full flavor on how a mango should taste. and some of them tasteamazing. the one that i would choose, although it’s very difficult and i haven’t tastedthem all. but of the ones i have tasted to date, this is one of my favorites. it’sactually called the namdokmai. and actually
has a really floral kind of flavor insteadof just like an overwhelming sweetness. and it’s just like it trips you out when youeat it because you do not think that you’re actually eating a mango. but yeah, i’m surethey have, you know, ripe mangoes in season so that can try them and also go to a mangotasting. i think they do have one here in south florida and it’s on my list to getto a mango tasting so i could taste all the different varieties of mangoes. so now that you guys heard all my ten fruitsthat i would buy if i had a place here in south florida, you know. one of the thingsyou might be thinking, john why didn’t you say citrus,why won’t you grow citrus fruitsman? well, like to me citrus is like a semi
or sub-tropical tree and actually i’d preferto grow full on tropicals. because i have eaten enough citrus in my life. and some ofthese other trees that i have shared with you guys today are quite unique and different.and, you know, why not grow what is unique and different and what’s not widely available.i mean if you go to the local store you could often find citrus. everybody seems to growcitrus, right. but people do not grow some of the, you know, unique and rare fruits andmore specifically some of the varieties that i’ve been able to share with you guys today. i want to thank excalibur nursery for allowingme to make this episode. and if you live here in south florida and you were from you knowmiami, west palm, wherever, you want to definitely
come to excalibur nursery and support themso that they could continue to be in business, and you know, bring in rare plants from allover the world that have been in quarantine. and they have you know tropical fruit trees,rare, that are not even up for sale yet, that they are propagating in their greenhouses.and if you’re looking for something, you know, give them a call. and be sure to checktheir website. i’ll post a link down below, excalibur fruit trees nursery. and yeah i’vehad a really fun time. if you’ve enjoyed this style format, heyplease give me a thumbs up to let me know. also be sure to click that subscribe buttonright down below. i have some more episodes still coming up here while on my visit insouth florida. and also be sure to check my
past episodes. i have over eleven hundredepisodes now, to share with you guys about all aspects of not only fruits, growing fruits,but also growing vegetables and how you can grow your food for you and your family athome. so i’m glad excalibur is here as a great resource for all of south florida. soonce again, my name is john kohler with growingyourgreens.com . we’ll see you next time and until thenremember - keep on growing.
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