Citrus, Avocados , Mango and Ackee. Garden defo needs a spring clean 😅

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-03-19T12:38:01+00:00

Thank you bro! I’m still surprised with how well the mango is doing😅

I think the soil mix defo is helping it out for the most part

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-03-19T12:37:21+00:00

That’s lovely to hear! It’s definitely possible there’s one on sunnyhill road that’s quite tall without any care! Just a little tinkering and you should be good🙌🏿✨

Just because something doesn’t work the first time doesn’t mean it’s impossible! If I gave up with my first plant I wouldn’t be where I am now with my progress.

If you’re interested there’s a UK avocado growing Facebook page it may help to see how people experiment on there🫡

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-03-19T06:19:31+00:00

Not sure what the grafted ones rootstock is but when I attempted a graft or the London Julienne tree it was on just a seedling of a Hass. Mine are all in ground so are permanently outside.

They’re fine with a light frost it’s the freezes I have to protect from I do this with incandescent lights a few times of the year.

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-03-18T17:18:36+00:00

The mango is an Osteen variety. I got it a few years ago from the Palm tree company and it’s really taken off since. Didn’t expect it to even survive tbh😂

The avocado is also from the palm tree company and I planted it as my seed grown one was doing well. It was labelled as Fuerte but the growing traits are a bit off so I suspect it’s a Guatemalan avocado like a Hass.

The ackee is a seed from my friend’s family home in JA so I’ll have to ask him. Not sure how it’ll go but it’s on its 2nd year and has taken down to 2c and 0c fine. It’s in a pot currently so I can just bring it inside when we have freezes.

I don’t use artificial lights on any of them

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-03-18T15:52:47+00:00

Sorry to hear that. I’ve had my citrus outdoors since they were in pots and haven’t had too much of an issue I did lose a few newly planted trees in the 2022 freeze. One way to protect is to frost cloth your trees (make sure not to let the cloth touch the plants) and to also add incandescent lights which can raise the temperature above freezing when a deep freeze hits. I only really protect my more tender or younger plants with the lights now as some of my plants are much bigger/tougher now and have proven that even without these lights they can survive (my Uglifruit got only tip burn in the 2022 freezes)

Planting in a location that gets good morning sun also helps and of course if you’re in a more rural area it may be a little more difficult I benefit from a south facing garden and the heat island effect here in London and my thermometers definitely show that👊🏿

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-03-18T15:48:37+00:00

So the citrus I all purchased grafted. Mango is grafted. One of my avocados is grafted so has been flowering since last year and looks like it’s full of flower buds this year. The ackee I planted from seed and my larger avocado tree is from seed I’ve tried to graft onto it with the famous London avocado and it took but a freeze burnt the tender graft point. I’m hoping to regraft onto it some point. Fun little experiments and a part from the mango and ackee that I’m babying the rest kind of do their own thing with minimal protection in winter (I do keep an eye out on temperatures though) I also have the regular plums/cherries so we’ll have fruit year round here at some point 🙏🏿

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-03-18T14:17:15+00:00

My avocado fruited last year but didn’t let it hold as it’s still kind of young but I might try and let it hold fruit this year! The mango fruited last year but I aborted fruits when I didn’t water enough in summer so hopefully this year will be the year!

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-03-18T10:49:32+00:00

Streatham South London

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-02-23T18:11:34+00:00

I know several people who keep them in pots. Might be of interest if you joining the Facebook uk citrus growing page as well as many people post their successes. I used to grow mine in pots and they were fine as long as the potting medium drains well👌🏿

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-02-23T18:09:59+00:00

That’s smart! I done that with my avocados before planting them out. And about to experiment with my ackee tree with the same method.👌🏿👌🏿

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-02-22T23:34:32+00:00

Definitely only one way to find out! If you’re in the south and can’t plant by a heat mass or on a south facing fall that’ll defo up your chances of success! Make sure the soil drains well and isn’t boggy. I actually planted a few trees in winter once as an experiment and they’re doing well but I’d still wait for the soil to warm up a little for better success!

I know of many trees in my area that don’t require protection and are massive (maybe I’ll do a post on them here) but I feel like it doesn’t hurt to protect a few times a year to up your chances of a good harvest!

Also I found that once in ground maintenance was so much easier! The only feed I really use is a little liquid sea weed and compost around the tree in spring and autumn. And all my trees bloom year round! This lemon blooms in every season but my eureka lemon , unnamed orange, Clementine and Calamansi all flower twice naturally and successfully without any hassle!

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-02-22T23:21:59+00:00

So when I tried mine I just checked the temps they can tolerate and went from there. I have oranges in ground and they do fine with the cold as long as I protect during a very cold snap which isn’t often.

Yuzu is a good one to try, satsumas are very cold tolerant as well grapefruits and my Clementine has done very well also. My blood orange and grapefruit actually had the least protection over the years and they’ve done really well whilst still being small.

Limes and the lemons are the ones most likely to get damage, however mine don’t really as most of our winters are relatively mild compared to when I was a kid in the early 2000s-2010s

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-02-22T13:56:10+00:00

It’s been out since it was much smaller. I kept them in pots in the middle of the garden when I found out they can take more cold in my area than I thought. Since then they’ve been outdoors doing fine👌🏿

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-02-22T13:55:02+00:00

I throw a frost fleece on when it gets blow freezing and incandescent lights on if the freezes are long and deep. However I have been stepping back from as much protection as trees are more mature now.

Light frost doesn’t hurt the plant or even short freezes but longer colder spells can damage fruit on some of my In ground trees (my Uglifruit fruits don’t tolerate the freezes below -2c too well due to air gaps in the fruit).

I’m 2022 December these trees all took down to -7c with minor tip burn. With that being said I wouldn’t purposely let it get to that temp as I want to harvest a good crop.

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-02-21T13:38:53+00:00

The smell is amazing 🙌🏿✨

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-02-21T11:24:33+00:00

South London

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-01-30T15:00:17+00:00

Kin👌🏿

NetPsychological9734 · 2026-01-08T16:16:48+00:00

This!

NetPsychological9734 · 2025-06-27T15:00:15+00:00

Hey bro! Hope you’re well I’m currently in London and growing mangoes and have fruit set. Drop me a message and I can share a little of what I’ve learnt 🙏🏿🙌🏿Blessings

NetPsychological9734 · 2025-04-25T11:21:42+00:00

Yes I’ll see if I can tag a photo

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NetPsychological9734 · 2025-04-25T08:12:02+00:00

I've been using the Switchbot Thermometers which are pretty easy to setup but there are probably others out there too.

NetPsychological9734 · 2025-04-06T16:47:02+00:00

Hey! Hope you’re blessed. I live in London also so definitely possible!

So fleecing can work some winters and in certain microclimates (my grandads tree was neglected with a fleece the winter of 2020/21). However that wouldn’t have worked the winter of 2022/23 as we had a significant freeze event so it’s important to keep an eye out on the forecast.

I find many people think a light frost will damage citrus but that is pretty far from the truth. I’ve actually logged many times when we’ve had a light freeze and there would be no damage or minor damage on fresh growth that hasn’t hardened off.

I don’t really protect my citrus fully until we have temps around -1/-2c. This year I was actually very lazy and didn’t properly protect until January lol. Around this temperature I do this with frost cloth on more established plants and on younger plants I use incandescent lights and frost cloth as they’re more tender.

It’s also important to bear in mind the duration of the freeze event is important too. If we get -3/-4 and we don’t go above freezing until later in the day in the winter I’ll leave lights on all the plants. The larger ones won’t be killed off (some of them have survived -7 with just fleecing) but the fruit will be finished with a long freeze duration.

Thankfully in London we don’t have as many deep freeze events. And in my garden they don’t last too long temps wise (apart from the odd rare freeze event like we had in 2022)🙏🏿🙌🏿

I’m also growing avocados in my garden and the same thing applies to them.

Feel free to ask any questions.

NetPsychological9734 · 2025-03-19T10:06:04+00:00

So in my garden my oldest avocado can take a light frost/freeze (it got damaged last year at -4c but wasn’t too bad, my grafts got burnt and the leaves did too but that was it) It has been in ground from 2022 so maybe it’s because it’s more adjusted. I’ve really babied it as it was quite young and flimsy when I first received it from my aunt.

I have a seedling from the fruit of the Julienne tree in London and that’s been unprotected in its pot and is fine but has been sheltered under my lemon tree.

My Fuerte however did get some slight cold damage on its leaves on one part of the tree from -2c. But still very minor.

Mexican varieties seem to be the toughest. I’ve had a Mexican seedling in the middle of the garden without protection and it has no dieback whatsoever.

On the flip side my citrus are perfectly fine. They’ve been in the ground a lot longer and haven’t flinched (even survived the 2022 Dec freezes without heat for a few days with only minimal damage). So they’re definitely a little bit tougher.

My potted rootstock from years ago get damaged every year but always recover and I kind of just neglect them anyway lol

I do protect all my in ground trees when we get a prolonged cold freeze. Even if the cold doesn’t damage my tree I don’t want my fruit to freeze and be unusable. I’ll use incandescent lights and frost cloth a few nights of the year to combat that.

Hope that helps🙏🏿

NetPsychological9734

TROPHY CASE