Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Mystery Dragon Fruit Growth

I brought my tropicals indoors on October 17. Most times, my plants don't grow well indoors despite being in front of a south-facing window. I decided to ditch my 5000K lights and get 6500K lights. I also placed more lights on each plant. As a result, my mystery dragon fruit plant has grown greatly even though it is indoors. Below is a before-and-after picture on 10/17 and 11/24.

Mango Mania

I started buying freeze-dried mango chips from my grocer. Man! Those things are expensive but good. I regularly buy fresh mangoes from the market, but they taste bland at best. I decided to try growing my own.

My Mallika mango pictured below arrived November 11, 2015. I pruned it pretty severely because I must train it to stay small and compact. It was about 5' tall when it arrived. It's been about 2 weeks, and I am anxiously awaiting to see when it will flush new vegetative growth. I am using a water meter to test the soil before watering. If my meter reads wet or even moist, I don't water. If it reads dry, I water. Since it is late fall and nearly winter, I must keep the tree indoors. I have it positioned at a south-facing window and I am running 2 grow lights. I just ordered a Pickering mango, and it should arrive Saturday.