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12:05 AM 13th November 2021
nature

Grow Your Own Tropical TikTok Fruit At Home

 
Image by Susann Weiss from Pixabay
Image by Susann Weiss from Pixabay
Green-fingered people living in the UK are turning to social media for ideas with ‘Grow your own fruit’ - the latest TikTok trend to inspire budding gardeners.

The gardening experts at GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk say growing fruit at home can have a positive environmental impact and is a great activity to get the kids involved in.

Growing exotic fruits in the UK isn’t impossible and it doesn’t have to be limited to those with special equipment, as many TikTok users have recently found.

Recreating the climates in which these tropical fruits are grown can be done with everyday household items, enabling enthusiasts to grow tropical fruits from the comfort of their own home.

For example you can mimic the effects of a greenhouse by simply placing a plastic sandwich bag over the plants, to create a humid environment.

The gardening experts at GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk said:

“There are many fruits which are easy to grow for first time gardeners, and growing from home is a great alternative to buying fruits flown in from around the world.

“Because not only does growing your own fruit reduce packaging, but it also reduces your carbon footprint.

“Turning to social media sites such as TikTok for gardening tips can be a great source of inspiration and can be really helpful.

“As long as the plants are kept in a warm place, recreating the necessary conditions for tropical fruits to thrive really can be as simple as that.”

Here is GardenBuildingsDirect.co.uk's handy guide to growing tropical fruits at home.

Dragon fruit
Dragon fruit
Dragon fruit

Perhaps surprisingly one of the most popular fruits to capture the imagination of TikTok users are dragon fruits, also known as pitahayas. You can buy a dragon fruit to start off, and use the seeds in the fruit to grow your own.

Many TikTok users put the seeds in tissue paper and leave them in the garden, watering them regularly for optimal growth. However, the dragon fruit is certainly for the more patient gardeners among us, taking around six months to grow from seed to fruit.

Photo by Kateryna T on Unsplash
Photo by Kateryna T on Unsplash
Persimmons

Persimmons are a hardy plant and will grow in temperatures down to 15 degrees. Perseverance is needed with this plant as the fruits can take a while to mature and the tree may not start bearing fruits for several years in some cases.

Photo by Zeynep Açıktepe on Unsplash
Photo by Zeynep Açıktepe on Unsplash
Pomegranate

Just like the other fruits on the list, pomegranates are usually associated with warmer climes; however, if kept in the right conditions they can survive in the UK. If you’re lucky enough to find the dwarf variety of pomegranate then these can easily be grown in plastic containers without much maintenance.

Photo by Vlad Kiselov on Unsplash
Photo by Vlad Kiselov on Unsplash
Apricot

Although apricots aren’t traditionally tropical, they do need warmer temperatures in order to grow. And If you want to reap the benefits of your green-fingered endeavours sooner rather than later, then a great fruit for you is the apricot - if you decide to plant this, you could be enjoying the fruits of your labour within three weeks.

Photo by Yeon Li on Unsplash
Photo by Yeon Li on Unsplash
Pineapple

Another exotic fruit you can grow from home is the pineapple. It might shock you to learn that you can grow a mini pineapple from the spiky bit at the end of a larger pineapple. Simply cut off the top of your fruit, place it in a pot of damp soil with the spiky bit sticking out, and cover the fruit with a plastic sandwich bag or bubble wrap for that greenhouse effect. Like the dragon fruit, this will also take a while to make fruit - up to two years.

Photo by Snejina Nikolova on Unsplash
Photo by Snejina Nikolova on Unsplash
Mango

If you’d rather stick to a familiar favourite, then mangoes are very easy to grow from the seed. You can use a yoghurt pot filled with soil to grow your mangoes - embed your seeds in the soil, again cover the plant with a plastic bag, and you’ll have your fruit in three months.