Drat and darn! I thought you could grow anything in FL so I moved here. Haha! I am not a gardening newbie; I used to raise figs and other oddities besides normal veggies/fruits. But here my tomato plants have yet to bloom! And I've about decided I have no pollinators because the eggplant flowers happily but that's that. What a change from DC and Akron, OH.

I do have about 45 "supermarket" lemon seedlings that I planted all wrong (let about 60 of them ferment for 2 weeks in their own juice on the counter before tossing them in a couple of pots). And the dwarf Cavendish I purchased on Mother's Day (didn't plant right away) has doubled in size and is a virtual green tree frog magnet.

I am very interested in learning more about growing citrus and, since members cannot see pictures or links, I came out of lurkdom.

Kat

Welcome to the forum Kat, you are on the right track.

Welcome from the other side of Florida in Pensacola.

Ask questions and you will get your answers for sure.

With your tomatoes you may have set them too late. Most of them won't set fruit when the night time temps exceed 70 degrees.

Thanks for the welcome. I misspoke/mistyped--only MEMBERS can see links and pictures so thus I'm here. I honestly want to find some clippings to root; I do that pretty good with herbs figs and many plants. But all the canker/greening stuff scares me about even trying. I'm even a bit timid about buying "inspected" trees. Guess I need to read more here and on the Net.

Welcome to the forum. Sorry about your tomatoes. They need all the sun you can give them. They do not want to be in the shade 1/2 day. Tom

Welcome from Minnesota great site here!

Hello and welcome. Regarding your tomatoes, I second Darkman's comments regarding temperatures, but as long as they are otherwise healthy don't pull them out, because a fall crop is possible. There are also some varieties that tend to produce despite the heat. Here in Tallahassee, Fl, I put in a "Stupice" a few weeks ago that is setting well (it has been relatively cool here - days in the high 80's to mid 90's, nights ranging the 70's). "Matt's wild cherry tomato" has also been producing abundantly throughout the summer, which I hear is characteristic of it. Great flavor and very prolific, though small. The only problem, other than keeping the long, rangy vines off the azaleas, has been that they do not keep; within 24 hours, about 3/4 split (perhaps it is a function of all the rain; perhaps it is an issue with the variety). My "Jaune Flamme", though recommended by a local nursery, never really did much this year - although the fruit has been setting right along, most of it goes soft before ripening (not blossom end rot - it could, again, be our wet summer).
With all respect to Tom, I'd disagree on the issue of sun in N. FL. I moved from VA recently and initially sited my garden in full all-day sun (plopped down in the middle of a horse pasture) and everything but the okra and eggplant were burnt out by midsummer. The next garden was in part sun, with ~4-5 hours of full sun and diffuse light throughout the day, and fared much better overall. It seems like a scattered, tall pine canopy would be optimal for a lot of plants around here (citrus included, although more for frost protection than sun protection).
This year, my eggplant and cucurbits have had trouble setting. I've had some of each, but many fewer than last year. It may be the rain and humidity - those in airier locations are doing slightly better than those in tight spots.

Most tomatoes will not set fruit at high or low temperatures. The heat causes problems with the pollen. The varieties mentioned must have more robust pollen as they will also set fruit at cold temperatures.

Heavy rain will cause cracking in tomatoes, especially if the are almost ripe.

There are more diseases in Florida too. When I first moved to Florida I was very disappointed in how badly my northern varieties did. Find out what the locals are growing and copy them.

I knew there would be huge differences here which is why I purchased plants from local nurseries as opposed to starting my own from my seed stash (actually, they were still in storage up north) or heading to a big box store for universal tomato starts. My garden gets afternoon dappled sun; the butternut squash which has died 3 times but is now sprawling everywhere is in the shadiest spot. But everything seems to have rust--something I have never encountered before even when raising figs.

The soil looked great--okay, not too bad--quite sandy but black sand yet apparently that wasn't enough. Finding compost materials hasn't been easy for me but I'm working on it. There are absolutely no flowers around me thus pollinators are not drawn to my little experiment. And nor are any beneficials--toads, lizards and frogs don't seem to be keeping up. I could dump a lot of chemicals and black cow in but I have never gardened that way so will give this a little more time.

So why is my banana doing so well? It's in a ditch of sorts where falling leaves from 30 years have broken down thus she sits in a 1' layer of "great dirt". Perhaps 2' tall when planted in late May, even without fertilizer she's putting out 3' long leaves weekly. I can't put my hand around her base--and I have big hands. No, I can't garden in that area; it tends to flood. My pomegranate further up the slope is not thriving even in the same dirt.

Definitely different gardening here.