by Greg Alder | Sep 6, 2024 | Fruit, Pests |
My goal is to see birds as garden teammates — as they eat insects that can be pests, such as aphids — and not as enemies as they peck the fruit on my trees. As far as my experience goes, the best way to accomplish this is to prevent birds from access to...
by Greg Alder | Aug 30, 2024 | Avocados |
Farmers and home growers don’t always want the same qualities in an avocado tree. But both value efficiency. A farmer wants to get many pounds of avocados out of a given area of land. Likewise, a home grower wants a lot of avocados out of the precious yard space...
by Greg Alder | Aug 30, 2024 | Avocados |
A thought-provoking, one-minute clip of Mary Lu Arpaia, who heads the University of California’s avocado breeding program, setting the context and asking the question during last week’s seminar of the California Avocado Society: Now, what do you think is...
by Greg Alder | Aug 16, 2024 | Avocados |
Sharwil is Australia’s most important contribution to the world of avocados. It’s an exquisite fruit that has impressed all from the start. In 1961, Stanley Shepard, a leader of the California avocado industry, visited the continent down under and reported: “The...
by Greg Alder | Aug 3, 2024 | Fruit |
Let’s play a game called, “Has this fruit tree been fertilized?” I know all of these trees. Some are growing in my yard while others are growing elsewhere in Southern California, and I know how they’ve been cared for. Some have been consistently fertilized with...
by Greg Alder | Jul 26, 2024 | Avocados |
As part of the California Avocado Society’s June 2024 seminar at Jackson Ranch in Valley Center, San Diego County, Sam Garibay and Consuelo Fernandez demonstrated how to plant an avocado tree, specifically a tree on a clonal rootstock. (What’s a clonal...
by Greg Alder | Jul 26, 2024 | Avocados |
Jaime Serrato has managed thousands of acres of avocados around San Diego County over the course of his career. His perspective holds weight; numerous avocado growers whom I hold in high regard always speak of Jaime with respect. As part of the California Avocado...
by Greg Alder | Jul 12, 2024 | Avocados |
John Schoustra’s experience growing plants is broad. Just his current ventures look like this: he operates Greenwood Daylily Gardens alongside his wife, growing and breeding daylillies, irises, and more; he is the Orchard Manager of Apricot Lane Farms,...
by Greg Alder | Jul 5, 2024 | Berries and Vines |
A pink blueberry is like a pink orange: it’s a gimmick, but it works. I grow a Cara Cara orange tree and I grow a Pink Lemonade blueberry bush because they taste as good as their traditional counterparts, plus they dazzle the eyes. But should you grow a Pink Lemonade...
by Greg Alder | Jun 28, 2024 | Avocados |
Avocado trees are not supposed to be able to grow on their own in Southern California. Here our rainfall is far less, and our rainfall pattern is completely opposite, compared to where avocados grow wild. In most of Southern California, we average 10-16 inches of rain...
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