Beautiful amazing subtropical fruit trees

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

If you take an interest in sub-tropical fruit trees you might remember that a while ago we visited sub-tropical experts Daleys Nursery.

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Then we were lucky enough to secure Paul Daley (who showed us around the nursery when we were there) and Andre Madeira (who is a long-time employee and also a family member) to do a Masterclass on How to Grow Subtropical Fruit for us!

Subtropical fruit flavours

One of the things we were most keen to do on our visit was actually tasting some of the fruit. Most of the subtropical fruits seem exotic to us. They’re unfamiliar because they’re not easy to grow in our arid, temperate climate without some special care (which is one of the topics Paul and Andre will be talking about in the masterclass).

We hadn’t even heard of a Peanut Butter tree (Bunchosia glandulifera) before our visit. We were incredibly lucky they were in season while we were there. As you can see from Hugh’s face, they’re delicious (and yes – amazingly – they taste like peanut butter!)

*Paul and Hugh hoeing into some peanut butter fruit*

Tamarillo is something that we can grow relatively easily in temperate zones, and in fact we grow it here on the farm. However, we had no idea there are different types! We’ve only grown red tamarillos before, so Katie jumped at the chance to try a grafted tamarillo, which is milder and sweeter than the red (seedling) type. They’re also very juicy!

Growing subtropical fruit trees outside their comfort zone

One of the features of the nursery we were most intrigued by was the Biodome. This is a project that Paul and Andre established a few years ago.

*Andre and Paul planting out the Biodome at Daleys Nursery*

The concept draws on an understanding of original food forest cultures to establish a very special type of growing environment. As Paul and Andre will explain in the Masterclass, “modern” systems like permaculture, syntropic agriculture, and successional agroforestry all have their roots in indigenous food forest cultures.

A biodome is just one way you can aim to recreate forest conditions in a modern setting. It cleverly uses a few different elements to make it work on a small scale, such as using dwarf trees like this cute little Irwin mango tree.

*Hugh admiring a dwarf Irwin mango tree*

Another concept that’s integral to a biodome is the idea of layering the plants. You can think of it as 7 discrete layers:

Canopy
Sub-canopy
Shrubs
Herbaceous layer
Rhizome and root layer
Soil cover
Creepers

One of the things we’re most excited about in the upcoming Masterclass is that Paul and Andre are going to give us extensive plant suggestions for each layer!

Techniques for managing the height of trees

A lot of people are put off subtropicals because of the height that some of the trees can reach.

Considering many subtropical fruit trees have their origins in rainforest, it’s really not surprising they are genetically designed to be very tall. It’s the only way to compete for sunshine and nutrient within a very dense forest.

However that doesn’t mean they can’t be grown at a much smaller height. That’s one of the reason dwarf trees are so often used in urban settings. Not all subtropicals are available as dwarf trees, but many are.

We were also fascinated to see a range of techniques in use at Daleys like pruning and cincturing to try to keep trees to a more manageable height.

A technique called 'cincturing' being used to reduce the vigour of a white sapote tree — *A technique called ‘cincturing’ being used to reduce the vigour of a white sapote tree*

We feel like we’re just entering the new and exciting world of subtropical fruit trees. We’ve learnt so much already, but can’t wait to learn a whole lot more on May 23!