The avocado trees have only started to grow well quite recently so I will keep your pruning tip in mind for next season. They are where the afternoon sun hits badly. If we had a large yard I would definitely have put them in a morning sun spot only.
Achacha tree - I had to Google it, so no. It looks nice though.
We also have a lychee tree, grumichama seedling, 2 jaboticabas, dragonfruit plants (very successful once grown into sun), strawberry guava, macadamia nut tree (still nothing), 2 fejoias trees (too hot climate for fruit I think).
I wanted interesting plants for a hedge you see. The less water that horrible bamboo gets below us the better.
avocados need full sun. if they get part shade, they wont bear as good as they should. i still keep the younger ones in part shade until theyre about 3 feet tall (they grow fast, as you know).
youll pull your hair out waiting for the jaboticaba. did you get the early bearing variety? otherwise youre waiting for about 16 years. the early bearing gives in 5, i read.
the achacha is in the
eugenia family-- great taste, but like a mangosteen, SLOW growing. theyre popular in australia-- check the nursery to see if they have them.
dragonfruit are a pain-- you need a specialized trellis to get them to fruit well. theyre a bit finicky with water, too. the one to get is actually the yellow dragonfruit-- its supposedly far sweeter than the bland red and white varieties (really overrated fruit, if you ask me).
ive got grumichama, but fruit flies will ruin the fruit-- a factor to consider if you are in a fruit fly zone. mine hasnt bore fruit yet, even though im pampering it. the guava is a primary host for fruit flies. i have yet to have one thats 100% clean.
ive got no experience with lychee. diamond river is the cultivar to get from what ive read about it. i think i have the feijoa... its like a guava. not a favorite. the macadamia nut tree is slow bearing. no experience with that tree, either.
hedge plant: you can try cocoplum (slow growing, though, but bears fruit), carissa (also bears a fruit). pride of barbados has a nice flower with thorns. grows fast, drought resistant, and makes a decent hedge if pruned into one. added benefit: nitrogen giver. this will give you a hedge in the shortest time, IMO. ive got a sweet tamarind tree that hasnt fruited yet-- nitrogen giving with small thorns. i suppose that could be trimmed to a hedge on a fence line. ketembilla is a tree that has pretty good fruit. very drought resistant. its got some serious compound spines on it if you want to keep animals out. that could also be trimmed into a hedge, since it has a tendency to sucker. ever see how the english used to do hedges hundreds of years ago? they would bend over the saplings and pin them down. then the trees would sucker and create a thick, dense hedge. same could be done with these trees.
other drought resistant fruiting trees to consider: jujube (indian for hot climates; chinese for cooler), barbados gooseberry (low growing plant; fruits), bael fruit (have one- no fruit yet), tamarind (nitrogen giver; bees love the flowers), marula (south african tree, very drought resistant, long lived, slow growing, lots of uses for the fruit).
