in the desert now, or just en route....via climate change and no one, i checked - said ziziphus jujube. "so what planet is this and how do i get back home?" where were capers, also missing. prickly pear? santalum spicatum ....ok it is a nut....but one hell of a feed. the design brief was 10 critical fruit trees, location - hot dry desert - who has bulk sustainable water amid hot and dry?,,,,therefore by extension 'desert'. so any and all fruit becomes a critical addition due to climatic limitations and water awareness. if you have for ever; dates figs and pomegranate, sure, but i'm not about doing things the 'same'. i am growing apples in the desert. i can do this only on MM111 rootstock, internationally renown,,,,it facilitates out of place apples. my list of species would include rootstock's that enable a broader range.
why do people always include Avacado and Banana in fruit trees for sub-tropic? I live in sub-tropic and unless you grow under plastic they won't produce anything edible?
Avos are grown up into Northern California, though not commercially up there. They also do fine in sub-tropical Florida, where more tropical trees won't. Here we get several frosts a year- even a dusting of snow last winter - bumper crop of haas on our young tree this year - and they are tasty. I know nothing of bananas.
maybe it's just lousyana itself. But I tell ya, no one I've talked to here has successfully grown avocado nor banana unless under plastic. The banana produces, but there v/small and unpalitable. They freeze back every year.
In Western Australia, the banana growing region is Carnarvon - which technically is a semi-arid region with a wet monsoonal season, but many people would call it a "sub-tropical" region here because if you drive towards the equator, you end up in a tropical climate region. Maybe bananas need a period of dry warmth to thrive? I live in a Mediterranean region - plenty of fruit trees that grow without irrigation here: - Figs - Olives - Citrus - Apples - Peaches - Lilly pilly - Pears - Stone fruits etc I would assume that most areas would be able to grow fruit trees without extensive irrigation, yes? The Mediterranean region has long hot dry summers and almost everything does well except things that needs a nice cold frost.
Much of Zone 9 is too cold for bananas many or most years. San Antonio TX is Zone 9 and most years the bananas freeze back. I don't know of anyone growing avocado there.
https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1939805.htm Great information about different varieties and what they require. Hass isn't ideal - my bad.
Yeah, Bacon is also preferred for frost tolerance in California. I have only haas at this point, am going to add reed & pinkerton. Supposedly those 3 will keep me in avocados year-round. Maybe add a fuerte or bacon later. But we have only light frosts here, so cold tolerance is not the biggest concern.
Fig varieties Black Genoa and Brown Turkey-quite often get two crops. Persimmon- just a Japanese non-astringent variety.
Site selling cold-hardy avos in your neck of woods, Cajun: https://www.citrustreesnola.com/catalog_1.html