by Greg Alder | Feb 22, 2025 | Fruit |
On peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, and pluots, I want all of my fruit within reach. So I prune these stone fruit trees down to a height of about seven feet. But I also want my trees to make fruit at chest height, and waist height. I want the fruit within reach...
by Greg Alder | Feb 14, 2025 | Avocados |
It is courageous to make predictions in public, especially in writing. Most of us sit on the sidelines and criticize privately or just shrug our shoulders and say, “Who knows how things will go?” Not Gray Martin. During the 1980’s and 90’s, Gray worked as a botany...
by Greg Alder | Jan 24, 2025 | Avocados |
Strong Santa Ana winds blew through my yard yesterday, which revealed whether my young avocado trees had proper support. I shot video for you: A few related posts: “How to plant and stake avocado trees” “Training young avocado trees” Thanks for...
by Greg Alder | Jan 17, 2025 | Avocados |
In June of 2023, I planted a GEM avocado tree. It was a good-looking tree, on top and bottom. The leaves showed healthy new growth and the roots were abundant and with new white tips. I planted in the best way I knew, a way in which I’d planted many trees before that...
by Greg Alder | Jan 10, 2025 | Fruit |
Is this the year that you learn to graft? Would you like to grow a new variety of fig, peach, dragon fruit, avocado, plum, mulberry, or cherry? Then these events are for you. Winter is the season for the California Rare Fruit Growers “scion exchanges,”...
by Greg Alder | Nov 30, 2024 | Avocados |
Did you know that you live in Avocado Land? “The citizens of the Golden State can make a better claim for having ‘invented’ the avocado than anyone else,” writes Rob Crisell in the opening chapter of his new book California Avocados: A Delicious History. I did not...
by Greg Alder | Nov 22, 2024 | Fruit |
Guavas don’t get as big as some other types of fruit trees. And they certainly get bigger in the tropics than they do here. The biggest guava tree I’ve ever seen was on a coffee farm in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica. Old guava tree on coffee farm in...
by Greg Alder | Nov 15, 2024 | Avocados, Misc |
Do you remember my interview with John Schoustra? He is – I thought about this for a while to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anyone or exaggerating – the most innovative, open-minded, and experimental avocado farmer I know. (Please refresh your memory by checking this...
by Greg Alder | Oct 11, 2024 | Avocados |
In 2018, I first visited this grove of Reed avocados. The trees had been planted ten feet apart. In avocado-world parlance, they call that “high density” planting. Traditional tree spacing is more like twenty feet apart. But then the farmer further added a...
by Greg Alder | Oct 9, 2024 | Fruit |
Shoemaker Farm (now called Ramona Fresh Fruits) will open for the 2024 persimmon picking season on Wednesday, October 30. The farm address is 18131 Traylor Road, Ramona. After opening day, they will be open from 9 AM to 4 PM on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until...
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