34: Jake Mace on the Best Fruit Trees in Warm Climates

His 10 Favorite Trees and Wood Chips

Which trees give you the most bang for your buck? What are the most nutritious fruits to grow? Urban farmer Jake Mace weighs in on his Top 10 favorite trees to grow, some tree-growing tips, and what he loves about each of these trees. 

Jake’s secret for growing thriving trees? Wood chips! Listen for how to use them and why he is convinced they may be the BEST thing you can do for your trees.

Why trees?
Food.

Ironwood tree: Quintessential native Arizona desert tree. Hearty and native to this area. It will produce edible flowers that grow into edible pea pods. He has a 4-year-old and it is over 15 feet tall, and this will be the first year that it will produce food.
Have you tried a roasted pea pod?

Barbados Cherry: Not a Phoenix native but can tolerate the full sun. Also known as an acerola cherry tree. The acerola cherry has the highest content of vitamin C. It has multiple seeds rather than a pit. The tree provides fruit 8 months out of the year.

Fig tree: You can plant many different varieties of trees. It is deciduous, so it loses its leaves in the winter. Listen to the podcast to find out Jake’s various fig trees!

Fruiting mulberry: The best time of year is the mulberry season. Fun fact: The mulberry trees have male and female. Find out the difference on the podcast! The long Pakistani mulberry tastes like sugary blackberries. It will give you instant shade!

Pomelo or Grapefruit tree: These share the same genetic line. With the grapefruit or pomelo, the fruit stays fresh for many months. The pomelo is very yellow when they are very ripe. The skin is thicker than grapefruit, and the flesh is yellow. They are enormous.

Loquat: Jake saw his first loquat at the Urban Farm! It’s evergreen and takes the cold extremely well. It’s underrated for taste. It’s a tropical sweet orange fruit, kind of like a juicy apricot.

Tangerine or cara cara orange: The cara cara is a ruby red on the inside. The cara cara has more flavor than the navel orange. The fruit comes in its own wrapper!!!

Female carob tree: They grow to be enormous – Jake’s friend has a 50-foot tree! The female carob tree produces the pod that tastes like chocolate!

Moringa: The credit for the recent Moringa craze goes to Jake!! He planted his trees from seed about 3 years ago, pushing about 20 feet tall. The entire trees are usable. The greens are edible and far more nutrient dense than wheat grass juice. The trees love the heat!! 

Date palm: If you’re new to gardening, the date palm should be the first tree you plant because it will be the tall grandfather canopy of the yard. Look at the video YouTube channel to see him eat dates from the top of the date tree. Plant the pup to grow a genetic identical tree.
Learn how to increase your date production by x10!!! (It’s in the podcast)

Look up the next top 5 at https://www.youtube.com/user/VeganAthlete

Why would I use wood chips around my trees?
If you go into the forest, all around the trees you’ll find wood chips. He emulates nature into his Longevity Garden.
Wood chips improve the microbial life in the soil, which helps feed the soil when we are not there. They also keep the roots of your tree warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The wood chips also save water by keeping consistent moisture. Jake’s water bill also dropped by 66% because of using wood chips.

Where do you get wood chips?
Be cool – beyond Fonzie cool. Find local tree companies who are willing to give wood chips that they have to get rid of.
If you have a “clean load,” dump it here! 

Jake Mace was born in British Columbia, Canada and has lived in the Phoenix Area since 1993. Jake attended Arizona State University and currently is a full time teacher of Martial Arts, Tai Chi, Yoga, Fitness, Urban Gardening, Edible Landscapes, and Golf. He currently teaches at many companies and Universities in Scottsdale, Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler. He also teaches Martial Arts, Fitness, Tai Chi, Yoga, Gardening, and Golf to people from around The World via his successful YouTube channel and Online School of the Martial Arts at JakeMace.com. Outside of teaching, Jake’s real passion is as an advocate for the environment, animals, and people. Jake has been a Vegan Vegetarian for nearly 15 years and believes in preserving The Earth, it’s resources, and it’s living inhabitants so that future generations of people can enjoy them as he has! Jake Studied Mandarin Chinese while attending ASU and Duke Universities. Currently Jake lives with his wife Pamela and their many adopted animals on their edible urban homestead in Tempe.

Where can you find Jake?
JakeMace.com
YouTube.com/ShaolinCenter
YouTube.com/VeganAthlete
Join Jake’s Urban Gardening Arizona Facebook Group