by Greg Alder | Jun 11, 2021 | Fruit, Vegetables |
My five-year-old son didn’t want to sit in front of a computer for another school session. “Can I do work for money?” he asked. “Sure. Let’s go harvest garlic.” With teamwork, I forked the dirt to loosen it around the bulbs and then Miles pulled the tops and shook the...
by Greg Alder | May 28, 2021 | Fruit, Pests |
Earlier this spring, a friend from Fallbrook was visiting and he mentioned that his peach tree had had a lot of leaf curl last year but this year there was no infection. “I finally got the spraying right!” he said. Slowly, I said, “Those results might not be just...
by Greg Alder | May 27, 2021 | Avocados |
Do not fear if, in the spring, your avocado tree turns many leaves yellow and drops them to the ground. It’s natural! Look at my trees: For other ways to “read” avocado leaves, see my post, “Reading avocado leaves.” All of my Yard Posts...
by Greg Alder | May 21, 2021 | Avocados |
“I believe that 15 years from now we’ll be standing here and we’ll be talking GEM. We won’t be talking Hass. People will go, ‘What is Hass?’” said Mary Lu Arpaia to a room of California avocado growers in 2017. Arpaia knows avocado varieties. She has been the director...
by Greg Alder | May 14, 2021 | Avocados |
Given that a tree is healthy and making lots of flowers, there are three main external conditions that create ideal avocado pollination potential: warm weather, lots of bees, and different varieties blooming near each other. While I’ve seen these elements work...
by Greg Alder | May 14, 2021 | Avocados |
Check out this video of the historic and high-quality Edranol avocado: More about the Edranol avocado: Edranol entry in Variety Database on Avocadosource.com Edranol frame in Avocado Variety List of University of California, Riverside Note on Edranol production in...
by Greg Alder | Apr 23, 2021 | Avocados |
I was walking through a friend’s grove last week and this thought grabbed me: During April, some early avocado varieties are still hanging on the tree while late varieties are nearly full-sized; so if there’s a single best time to see avocados on trees of...
by Greg Alder | Apr 23, 2021 | Avocados |
There are some avocado trees in Southern California that survive on rainfall alone. Some that I know were once part of old groves while others appear to have grown as wild seedlings from the beginning. Have they tapped into an underground water source? Are they on a...
by Greg Alder | Apr 23, 2021 | Avocados |
Maybe you only have space for one avocado tree, but you want maximum fruit production. You could try keeping a small tree of the opposite flower type (A/B) in a container next to your main tree. During spring when they’re both in bloom, the bees can use the...
by Greg Alder | Mar 26, 2021 | Citrus |
Because there is a citrus tree in almost every yard in California, we often inherit one when we move into a new house. Which kind is it? What if there’s no one around to tell you? Here I describe how I approached figuring out the identities of a couple mystery...
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