by Greg Alder | Jan 12, 2024 | Berries and Vines |
Do you ever get bug bites in your strawberries? That’s my main challenge to harvesting perfect, plump, red ones. So the last couple years I’ve grown fewer strawberries in the ground and more in containers, which has vanquished the bug threat. I start the...
by Greg Alder | Jan 5, 2024 | Avocados |
Most avocado trees make plenty of fruit without other types of avocado trees nearby — when the weather is good. But the spring of 2023 was cool, and that is not good for pollination. (The photo above shows GEM avocado trees flowering during yet another foggy day...
by Greg Alder | Jan 4, 2024 | Avocados |
In the spring of 2023, many avocado trees throughout California had a superbloom. During that period I watched the avocados on trees with lots of flowers mature rapidly alongside the emerging flowers and even start dropping to the ground in some cases. For example,...
by Greg Alder | Dec 29, 2023 | Fruit |
“I’ll be real blunt about this: I’m not a fan of the most common semi-dwarf rootstock that’s out there, Citation,” said Don Shor, owner of Redwood Barn Nursery. Don was speaking on the December 14 broadcast of the radio show he co-hosts, The Davis Garden Show....
by Greg Alder | Dec 22, 2023 | Fruit |
“Prune apricots and cherries only during July and August in inland areas and during August near the coast,” reads advice from the University of California. “In grapes, which are commonly pruned during winter, delaying pruning to as late as possible in the dormant...
by Greg Alder | Dec 15, 2023 | Avocados |
It feels like a rain forest under them. In 1908, Henry Huntington, the railroad magnate, had avocado trees grown from seed and planted by the hundreds on his property near Pasadena, in what became known as the first commercial avocado orchard in California. Some...
by Greg Alder | Dec 8, 2023 | Fruit |
Winter is when I do most of my fruit tree pruning. Why? Which kinds? Why most and not all? Let’s dive in. See branches in winter Fruit trees that lose their leaves in winter – deciduous fruit trees – offer a view of their branch structures at that time. When they’re...
by Greg Alder | Nov 24, 2023 | Avocados |
“Always do what’s best for the tree,” says an avocado farmer that I respect. What he means is, when deciding whether to do something to the tree — water or stake or whitewash or shade or prune — base your decision on the answer to just...
by Greg Alder | Nov 3, 2023 | Citrus |
As the weather cools in fall and the citrus fruit on my trees start turning from green to yellow, they catch my eye. It’s been so long since I’ve eaten a tangerine or a navel orange. I can’t wait until this new crop is ripe. And I look at the amount...
by Greg Alder | Nov 3, 2023 | Avocados |
Thille is the low-pro link between numerous famous avocado varieties. Even though Thille trees barely exist anymore, and not many were grown in the first place, it is the daughter of Hass, the mother of Gwen, and the grandmother of Lamb, GEM, and the new Luna. So the...
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