by Greg Alder | Jul 18, 2020 | Avocados |
When you see comparisons between avocado varieties, often discussed are the flower type, size of the tree and its fruit, peel color, and cold sensitivity. Rarely, however, do you get a clue as to a variety’s sensitivity to heat. (See, for example, Table 5 on page 30...
by Greg Alder | Jun 26, 2020 | Fruit |
I never met the man, but Floyd Zaiger made my yard taste better. I grow some of his apriums, like Cot-N-Candy. Cot-N-Candy aprium. I’ve got a tree of his nectaplum, SpiceZee. SpiceZee nectaplums. I’ve got his cherry for warm-winter places like Southern California,...
by Greg Alder | Jun 13, 2020 | Avocados |
Everybody wants to beat Hass. The world over, breeders are looking for that golden ticket: to create a new avocado variety that has a combination of characteristics superior to Hass. There are some contenders. Who will eventually knock King Hass from the throne? This...
by Greg Alder | May 22, 2020 | Avocados |
The main question is: Should you just pull the avocados off the tree, or should you carefully clip the stems when you harvest avocados? Let me tell you what I do and explain why. Harvesting avocados by hand Whether my feet are on the ground or I’ve climbed up into a...
by Greg Alder | Apr 24, 2020 | Avocados |
I miss Bob Bergh. If you want to learn about avocado flowering and pollination, read everything that this longtime University of California researcher wrote. His studies were creative and useful, and his reporting was honest and skeptical. In short, you can apply...
by Greg Alder | Apr 3, 2020 | Avocados |
Wondering which kind of avocado tree to plant in your yard? It can be hard to find reliable, concrete information that will help you choose a variety. So over the last few years I’ve written a number of posts and made some videos profiling different avocado varieties...
by Greg Alder | Mar 27, 2020 | Citrus |
“If I only had one citrus tree to live on for my entire life, this is it,” said our guide through the collection of about 1,000 varieties of citrus selected from around the world. That’s quite a claim. But, coming from Ottillia “Toots” Bier, we would be wise to...
by Greg Alder | Mar 13, 2020 | Fruit |
I planted this pluot tree for my grandma a few weeks ago and made sure to paint its trunk to protect it from the sun; I hadn’t so protected a pluot tree that I planted for my mom eight years ago and look what happened. Pluot tree with sunburned trunk. I’ve seen a lot...
by Greg Alder | Feb 21, 2020 | Avocados |
I was speaking with an avocado farmer from South Africa, and he asked me about my favorite avocados to eat. That’s hard to answer, I started. But I told him that recently I’d had some Kahalu’u and Jan Boyce avocados that were very good. I turned it back to him,...
by Greg Alder | Jan 31, 2020 | Fruit |
There are excellent documents, videos, and books that can help you successfully graft deciduous fruit trees in the winter in Southern California. Directing you toward those is the main aim of this post. Secondarily, I’ll note a few of my own preferences and tips....
I'm Greg. My goal is to help others grow some food at home, with a focus on vegetables and fruits -- especially avocados -- in Southern California. I write a new "Yard Post" every Friday. 
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