Growing and Shaping my Barbados Cherry Tree

Here is the most current picture of my Barbados cherry tree.

Oviedo, Florida, 10A: This is my on-going documentary of my experiences growing and shaping Barbados cherry trees.

Barbados Cherry Tree: Malpighia emarginata is a natural bushing perennial tropical fruit bearing shrub but I prefer to prune it to have a lollipop shape or at least a tree shape with a single trunk.

Fruit taste:

Barbados cherries has multiple three or four seeds, red skin, golden yellow flesh, juicy, and tart. It’s a common fruit in Vietnam and people commonly dip the fruits in a hot chili pepper and salt mix to balance out the fruit’s sourness. I had a chance to eat a Miracle Berry Fruit followed by Barbados cherries and these tart Barbados cherries become one of the sweetest cherries ever! So yes! The Barbados cherry tree is officially a keeper in my garden as long I live on my property.

Pruning, Trimming, Shaping : For this section, I am just going to post before and after pictures.

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Soil preference: Barbados cherry likes rich organic well draining loamy soil.

Planting in ground: I officially planted my Barbados cherry tree into the ground on 12/16/24.

12/14/24: I am determined to plant my potted Barbados cherry tree into the ground as a long term growing experiment.

12/16/24: My previous Barbados cherry tree was not very happy with me since I just planted straight into the dirt in the ground. The tree keeps getting pest issues like aphids and the flowers keep aborting. This time, I am going to replace the dirt with my rich organic soil mix.

First, I dug out a big 4 by 4 feet by 2 feet deep hole. My little man was excited to help me. It’s his version of “mining”.

Next, I filled the big hole with rich organic living soil.

Potting Mix:

1 part perlite
1 part compost (Black Kow)
1 part peat moss or coco coir
1 2-cu. ft. bag of Sta Green potting soil
Optional: Blend in with 1 part Fine Pine mulch or top off with fine pines. Fine pine mulch are pine mulch that has been shredded into very small pieces so that it can decompose quickly within months. Never use bulky pine mulch to mix into the soil. So do not even think about substituting fine pines with bulky mulch folks.
Fertilizer options: Miracle Grow fertilizer for fruits and flowers or Berry Tone, avocado and citrus fertilizer

If you have horrible sandy soil, try growing your Barbados cherry tree in a pot from a 3-gallon potted tree can be transplanted into a 15-gallon pot for a few years.

Root system: Barbados cherry trees have thin hairy and shallow roots. The shallow roots system has a depth of two to three feet deep of given the right soil median.

When I transplanted my Barbados Cherry trees, I experienced trimming and cutting the hairy roots off and so far, none of the trees died. So I can conclude that the root system of Barbados cherry trees can be trimmed at least while it’s still a young tree. I am not sure of mature trees though.

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Life span of my Barbados cherry tree: Created in 2022 and died in TBA.

Will my Barbados cherry tree fruit nicely planting ten feet away from my Mahachanok Mango tree? – I will have to find out about that and for how long once my mango tree becomes a shade tree.

Is Barbados cherry trees prone to root knot Nematode? – TBD

Propagation experiments: TBD

Seller: My current Barbados cherry tree was gifted by Nick Finan from Nick’s Edibles in St. Cloud, Florida. Nick Finan is one of my favorite fruit tree seller.

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