Auntfer, what the tag refers to is that you need to get a second almond tree, of the variety "Non Pareil" to provide the pollen to pollinate your first tree. Almonds are not self-fertile--that means that the pollen from the almond can't pollenate itself. Non Pareil is very common in California (I got a bareroot one at Home Depot in January), and blooms at a certain time different from other varieties. To get good pollination, you have to have both trees flowering at the same time. The other fruits--apples, peach, etc--are different species, and species generally can't pollenate different species (or you would get a hybrid). Just ask for a "Non Pareil" almond tree at a nursery. There's a good summary of almond varieties and pollination issues at http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/filelibrary/1214/12407.pdf David

A field test was carried out by Tom Spellman of Dave Wilson Nursery. It was looking to see whether high-chill apple varieties could be grown in the city of Irvine (which only receives about 50-100 chill hours in the winter). The following apple varieties did surprisingly well: King Tompkins, Braeburn, Gravenstein, Cox's Orange Pippin. The trees tended to flower and set fruit throughout the year rather than a specific season. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiEEHRfAEWY

Some time has passed since anyone has posted on this, but I used the Bayer Advanced product for fruit trees (apple in my case) - in about May of 2013 on 3 apple trees. Now that harvest time is here, my apples are bigger and less diseased then I've ever seen them. The trees are very old - over 50 years and not much has been done to them except the last few years - slight pruning and a little one-time application of this or a similar product - and sometimes a lime sprinkling. Anyway, I am now so concerned about having used this product that I'm looking for comments from anyone else who has. I called the company a couple of weeks ago and was told that the amount of Imidacloprid used in the product is so small that it will not affect the fruit in terms of it's 'edibleness'. OK - so I picked several bushels of apples and started making pies, etc. I did eat some - raw and cooked and this past week my tongue has been kind of numb. It is possible that I burned it or overbrushed it but am not sure. I'm wondering if anyone else has used this and had anything similar. I'm just trying to figure out if it could at all be related to the Imidacloprid in the apples. I really hope that is not the case. Others have eaten a few slices of pies and are not having any reactions so I'm probably just being paranoid. My trees are huge and I used less than what the recommended amount was - but reading all the different posts - I thought I'd resurface this and ask some follow-up questions. (Had tons of bees on them this year and used the product after flowers were all off). As I'm about to hit 'submit' - I'm realizing that my daughter's friend gets a numb tongue from apples - maybe its in a lot of the apples we eat and children would be more 'allergic' / sensitive to this .... ? food for thought.

I bought a few of these: http://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Stainless-King-SK3000MB4-Midnight/dp/B0017IFSIS/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1320542508&sr=8-3 My kids/DH tell me that their lunches are still piping hot when they're opened. I make soups or stews and freeze them. In the morning, I pop the frozen square (if I've forgotten to thaw it) into a pot or the microwave and warm it up. Add noodles if needed, put into preheated thermos and we're good to go. My teens like it. I pack a tuna noodle salad about every other week. I will sometimes use canned salmon instead, but they prefer the tuna. Some days, my husband will make a frozen pizza early in the morning, let it cool and the kids take slices of that to eat cold. They really love that. They get hot lunch at school once a week, on "Chef Day", when there's something really good that they want. Once in awhile I still buy lunchmeat and let them make a few sandwiches with it, but it's not very often. We can't send PB&J with my daughter because there are several kids at her school with severe nut allergies and she worries about causing a problem for them. Carrots are the usual veg of choice for the lunchboxes, and they prefer to have a fruit snack when they get home so I have stopped trying to get them to pack fruit in their lunches. I am less strict about lunches than I am about breakfast and dinner, the goal is to get something fairly healthy that they will actually eat and enjoy into the lunchbox. Gloved and gowned, I once dug through the luncheon garbage from grades 1-5, looking for a lost retainer. I was horrified at the number of whole apples and bananas thrown away, and the number of lunches that were not even opened. Bag after bag lunch, obviously lovingly packed, some with cheery notes or hearts on them! Baggies with whole sandwiches, or whole bags of vegetables or fruits. I felt so bad for those moms, and for the teachers who had to deal with hungry, crabby kids for the afternoon. And irritated with the unknown kids, who were wasting so much nutritious food when so many children in the world go hungry every day. It was disgusting. Cj Here is a link that might be useful: Thermos