Manatee’s popular fruit tree sale returns with rare plants ‘the big-box stores won’t have’
When the annual Rare Fruit Tree Sale was held at the Manatee County Convention Center in Palmetto, a crowd of several hundred would line up well before the doors opened.
There was always something of a stampede when the doors swung open as buyers rushed in, looking to snap up a coveted mango, guava or other fruit tree before someone else grabbed it.
Two years ago, the sale was canceled because of the pandemic, and last year it returned at a new location: Premier Sports Campus, 5895 Post Blvd., Lakewood Ranch.
When the sale again returns Saturday to Premier Sports Campus from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., it promises to be more popular than ever.
Why is that? No. 1, there has been an influx of new residents who want to grow something tropical and tasty in their yards.
No. 2, Florida tropical fruit trees are popular in other states, including Texas and California, causing a shortage of trees.
Saturday’s sale, organized by the Manatee Rare Fruit Council, provides an opportunity to local residents to shop for a variety of trees offered by 13 vendors in a single outdoor location.
Ian Kogel, owner of Odenwald Tropical Fruit Trees, 14825 Sugar Bowl Road in Myakka City, has been getting ready this week to bring a variety of plants to the sale.
Because of its inland location, Myakka City may experience the coldest conditions in the county, as well as the hottest. If his plants can survive the extremes on Sugar Bowl Road, they should be able to survive anywhere in Manatee County, he said.
Kogel began his nursery business in a neighborhood closer to Bradenton, before moving his operation to six acres on Sugar Bowl Road three years ago. He cleared the front half of the property by hand, and left the back half as woods.
“I really don’t like machines, and I’m too cheap anyway,” he said.
He is very much an environmentalist, and tries to operate chemical-free, reasoning that if “you kill the bad insects, you’ll kill the good ones, too.”
As a result, insect pollinators are plentiful, and he even has fireflies at night.
His potted offerings range from mulberries to star fruit, avocados, jackfruit, longan, lychees, mangoes and much more. Not surprisingly, the mangoes are his most in-demand tree.
Odenwald Tropical Fruit Trees is open most weekends and closed during the week. And while it might seem like a long drive from Bradenton, don’t underestimate the fervor of tropical fruit tree lovers. Kogel has had buyers drive up from as far away as Fort Myers and Miami.
“I offer rare trees that the big-box stores won’t have,” he said.
The love of farming is deeply ingrained. Kogel worked on a pig farm in his native England and a dairy in Germany before moving to the United States.
Darryl McCullough, treasurer of the Manatee Rare Fruit Council, agrees that with out-of-state demand for Florida trees and the influx of new Florida residents who want tropical trees, there is a shortage.
His advice to anyone thinking of attending the sale on Saturday? Come early and bring a cart or wagon to move their tree purchase.
“They will probably go fast,” McCullough said.
For more information visit https://www.mrfc.org/.
