by Greg Alder | Jun 25, 2021 | Berries and Vines |
Most of my raspberry plants have come from friends and family who live where raspberries grow best. The Sunset Western Garden Book says that raspberries grow best in Zones 3-6 and 15-17. These Zones cover the central and northern California coast, and then western...
by Greg Alder | Jun 25, 2021 | Avocados |
It’s exciting to see a small avocado tree flower and set fruit. But should you allow it? My rule of thumb is to remove all avocados from a tree until it’s nearly as tall as me. What this means is that if you’ve recently planted an avocado tree from a...
by Greg Alder | Jun 18, 2021 | Avocados |
“Does not the spraying of the foliage of the trees protect them to some extent in hot weather?” asked J.B. McLaughlin, rhetorically. He had seen the effects of this practice for mitigating heat when he tried it during the devastating heat wave of more than a century...
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 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...
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