Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

18 ft 1 in

In-row spacing

18 ft 1 in

Between rows

21 ft 4 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Growing

Type

Fruit · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Sunlight

Full sun, under heated glass wherever winter bites.

Watering

Keep it consistently moist, and the air reasonably humid.

Feeding

A monthly liquid feed — a hungry tree, with extra potash for the fruit.

Frost tolerant

Yes

Flowering

April

Pruning

Prune in late winter; it takes size reduction well.

Overwintering

Keep it above 12°C, and extra light through winter helps.

Through the year

• May–May Flowering
• May–Aug Fruit Set
• Aug–Dec Harvest
• Jan–May Harvest

Pests & problems

• Mealybugs Mealybugs in the leaf axils and on the stems
• Scale insects Scale insects on the stems and older wood
• Spider mites Red spider mite under glass, the commonest of its troubles — stippled leaves and fine webbing
• Anthracnose Anthracnose on fruit and leaves where humid air cannot move
• Root & crown rot Root rot from overwatering, especially over winter

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Ladybird (lady beetle) Coccinellidae
  Hunts Scale insectsMealybugsSpider mites

  The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCilantroCosmosDillFennelYarrow
• Green lacewing Chrysoperla carnea
  Hunts MealybugsSpider mites

  Its bristly larvae — "aphid lions" — impale aphids, mealybugs, thrips, and mite colonies, eating hundreds a week. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from small open flowers and overwinter in hollow stems left standing.

  Plant nearby CilantroCosmosDillSunflowerYarrow
• Hoverfly Syrphidae
  Hunts Scale insectsMealybugs

  Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.

  Plant nearby CalendulaChamomileFennelFrench marigoldPhaceliaSweet alyssum
• Big-eyed bug Geocoris spp.
  Hunts Spider mites

  A stubby 3 mm bug with enormous wrap-around eyes, working the soil surface and the low foliage for aphids, mites, thrips and insect eggs. It is the main natural check on chinch bugs in a lawn and it is killed outright by insecticide.

  Plant nearby CalendulaCloverCosmosGoldenrodSweet alyssum
• Minute pirate bug Orius spp.
  Hunts Spider mites

  A pinhead-sized true bug that is the best natural check on thrips, and happily spears aphids, mites, and insect eggs too. It needs pollen when prey is scarce, so keep something flowering nearby.

  Plant nearby CosmosFennelFrench marigoldSweet alyssum
• Predatory mites Phytoseiulus & Amblyseius
  Hunts Spider mites

  Fast orange mites that hunt spider mites egg-by-egg, and cousins that clear thrips and fungus-gnat larvae. Sold as a biological control for greenhouses; outdoors they follow humidity — mist and mulch, don’t dust with sulfur.

• Rove beetle Staphylinidae
  Hunts Spider mites

  Slim, quick beetles with short wing cases that hunt in soil and litter, taking root-fly eggs and larvae, fungus-gnat larvae, and mites. Mulch and undisturbed ground keep them resident year-round.

  Plant nearby MintThyme