Carla, peach curl infection doesn't take place year 'round, it only takes place once when the buds swell. Basically, asexual spores get washed into the buds and there they infect all the future leaves to come out. That's why spraying is totally ineffective once you discover you have peach curl. So usually it's sufficient to spray your favorite fungicide (organic or synthetic) right at bud swell in the Spring. However, to be safe, it's best to spray once in the Fall right after leaf fall as well to reduce the spores going into Winter. In a warm year, peach curl may already be in the leaves but if conditions are warm and dry, then the peach curl fungus can't grow. It likes it best between 50 and 70F with plenty of rain.

I have been looking at Satsumas and other citrus to grow in a container in my area of Oregon's Willamette Valley - we are on the "warm side" and I can offer protection and even greenhouse for at least a few plants, but am hoping for hardy to high teens. But I want fruit no one else does - as a diabetic, oranges are typically too sweet for me to eat - I make marmalade and juice from sour oranges - I love Sevilles but they are not cold hardy. It's not easy to find out which mandarins, etc., orange-tasting fruit are highly flavored but at least mildly tart. Flavorful is important - insipid won't do. Tart, sweet-tart, tangy and flavorful is what I am looking for. I use xylitol for a sweetener and it makes fantastic juice and marmalade. On another line, I am interested in budding different varieties onto a rootstock. I have seeds for Flying Dragon - should I start one and bud onto that? Does the rootstock affect the cold-hardiness? How does that work? I have not done bud grafting before (tho am tempted to do a little with my micro pinot noir vineyard). Joe Real, maybe you can give me a pointer on this. Your multi-plants sound awesome. Thanks - love to read the citrus talk! Thea

The ultra dwarf on flying dragon are described as slow growing perhaps getting to 10 ft if I recall correctly. Many times only up to 7-8 ft. I'm hear it can make the fruit 40% smaller not just the crop smaller. After much reading I just bought 3 in san diego at pacific tree farms. They have a 25% off going out of biz sale. They were $32 before discount. I wanted to choose trees that fruited at different times so I can have fruit all yr. I got the cara cara navel orange. dec-mar kishu dwarf mandarin oct-dec And one I may return. Its the honey tangerine. I was told it could hold fruit until july but no sorce on the internet agrees. It also has many seeds. It turns out the pixie is the one I probably want. It is seedless, holds fruit until around july and is supposed to taste great. That should just leave me fruitless from aug-sept. Any good suggestions to fill that gap :) ? I still need to find out what roosstck they use on mine. They are from durling nursery. So consider fruiting time in your decision. I didn't want just the best fruit but the best fruit at any one time of the year. 600 lbs of citrus all in jan probably wont do you alot of good. Damon

After more research, it seems like Page might offer good, deep, strong flavor I'm after. But the University of Florida says it should be planted near a pollinizer such as Lee. See here: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ch067. Page is a Mineola Tangelo/clementine hybrid and Lee is an Orlando Tangelo/clementine hybrid. My neighbor who runs a plant nursery at his house has a nice big Lee for sale. He's had it for a few years. I could get the Lee from him and get a Page and plant them together- match made in Heaven? Would planting them together like that help with any disease problems? I've also found out about the new Sugarbelle mandarin. Read about it: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=sugarbelle+mandarin. After reading about it, I'm definitely getting at least one, might even get two, heck why not? My question is should I forget about the Page/Lee combo and just get a Sugarbelle? It seems my research has led me to believe that Page and Sugarbelle have similar (strong, deep, complex, intense) flavors, but the Sugarbelle has the advantage of being more disease resistant and hardy. And are Kishus overrated? Are they mild? I am still thinking about getting one. I will be buying from Harris Nursery. Mandarins: http://www.harriscitrus.com/store/index.php?cPath=5 Tangerines: http://www.harriscitrus.com/store/index.php?cPath=21. Look at all the varieties! What about Kinnow, brown select, Ortanique, Temple tangor, Fina Sodea, etc..