Citrus, ants, and HLB: the latest research

Citrus, ants, and HLB: the latest research

Yesterday, I attended a citrus pest management field day at Rancho Guejito put on by the University of California. The focus was on the disease Huanglongbing (HLB) and ants. I’ve attended many similar lectures and research updates on these topics over...
Grafting onto citrus rootstock suckers

Grafting onto citrus rootstock suckers

Citrus trees often shoot up branches from down low on the trunk. If low enough — below the graft union — then these “suckers” are from the rootstock. In a sense, these are dangerous, and it’s important to remove them immediately. See...
Why no avocados on your tree?

Why no avocados on your tree?

In July it becomes evident whether your avocado tree will have a crop to eat next year. Do you see small avocados on the tree now? Do you see many? If your answer to either question is no, then this post should give you a clue as to why not. If you have an...
Managing alternate bearing in avocado trees

Managing alternate bearing in avocado trees

Would you rather have 50 avocados from a tree every year or 100 avocados every other year? By nature, individual avocado trees do not bear the same amount of fruit every year, year after year. Their crop load fluctuates, and it fluctuates for many reasons. I know of...
Captain Bucklew’s California mango trees

Captain Bucklew’s California mango trees

Captain L. L. Bucklew began planting mango trees in Encinitas, San Diego County, before World War II. By 1956, he was up to 172 trees. Bucklew’s grove was the first commercial planting of mangos in California, and today, fourteen of these historic trees are still...
How avocado trees flower

How avocado trees flower

Bloom season is the most exciting for me when it comes to avocados. First, I look at the buds on the branches of trees to try to predict how many will become flowers. Then I observe the bees and flies visiting the flowers. Are there enough? Are the flowers getting...
Eating pineapple guava flowers

Eating pineapple guava flowers

This week I was in the kitchen while my three kids were at the dining room table and I overheard this conversation. Miles (six years old): “There are lots of edible flowers, like pineapple guava, broccoli . . .” Reeve (four years old): “Broccoli is...
The GEM avocado tree: a profile

The GEM avocado tree: a profile

“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...

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