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It's said that the best time to plant a fruit tree was 7 years ago. The next time is today. In Perth with our witheringly hot summers my usual advice is to wait till autumn for evergreens or winter for deciduous fruit.
However, if it's tropical fruit trees you are thinking about, then right now is actually perfect. The reason is these trees are used to heat all year round, so by planting now you can catch the growth train and get them rapidly established. The big proviso is they need plenty of water so they don't suffer any setbacks.
What to plant now? Popular varieties that have fruited in Perth gardens include:
mango,
avocado,
lychee,
longan,
rosewater apple,
banana,
Australian finger limes,
custard apple,
Barbados cherry or acerola,
Brazilian tree grape (jaboticaba),
passion fruit and dragon fruit (ok these are vines),
Aztec fruit (white sapote),
tamarillo or tree tomato,
jelly palm or butia, feijoa (pineapple guava),
cherry guava,
tropical guava,
macadamia,
papaya,
pomelo,
sapodilla and ice cream bean.
To learn more, simply Google the names.
How to start these successfully?
Our sandy soils are free draining and this is a virtue for most tropical trees, however, the lack of fertility needs to be addressed. This is best achieved by adding Baileys Soil Improver Plus to the soil before planting and Baileys Moisture Mulch as a 10cm thick layer after planting.
