I haven't had any problems. Just be sure to plant the same kind of fruit. Here in my garden in southern California, grapefruits grow big fast, so you wouldn't want to plant one with a couple of tangerines in the same hole. And obviously, you'd want to plant all dwarfs or all standards in the same hole. This method allows me to plant an early orange, a mid season orange and a late season orange all in the same hole. This way you can have oranges over several months of the year, all in the space that most people grow just one tree in. BTW, I do this with all my fruit trees from apples and apricots to cherimoyas and mangoes.

Regardless of where in New Zealand I have visited there was always something to remind me of how young this country is. Forestry is the fifth biggest industry today and everywhere you look there are planted production forests. The tree that covers many thousands of hectors of country side is Pinus radiata, the Monterey Pine from California. New Zealanders have determined the Monterey Pine that grows to lumbering maturity in a fast twenty years and is a hard enough wood to have an export value. What I found remarkable was how diverse most farmers are, for example a large sheep farm was more than likely to have a "retirement block". A retirement block is a section or block of land planted with Pinus radiata when the farmer is young with the expectation that the profits from the lumber will be a nice "nest egg". The pines are planted extremely close to one another and are limbed up through the years with intent of straight lumber with less prominent knots. Some pines those that were not limbed up would be farmed for paper. That said anyone who has ever tried to eek out a living from farming can probably appreciate that the best use of the land is certainly market driven. As recently as three years ago when the international apple market bottomed out the apple trees were removed and now wine grapes are going in everywhere I have never seen anything like it. I am happy to report that the few apple orchards around are still doing some exporting and everyone is a buzz about a new variety "Jazz" that should be ready for export soon. The approximate cost of planting grapes is $15,000.00 per acre and Pinot Noir seems to be the most sought after. One vine will produce three to five bottles and there are many smaller growers (under 30 acres). The central Otago wine region has a six winery coop where they all use the winery facilities but bring with them their own wine maker (or not) and then all have one distribution center. The explanation I received as to why I can rarely find New Zealand wine in the US but Australian wine is filling the shelves was to be reminded how small NZ is and it is just a numbers game, I was told that rather than trying to compete in volume they are focusing on quality. Pine and Grapes Thanks for the nice comments I am back in New England now while we were traveling I had "Robbie" my laptop with me and wrote these journal entries while traveling from one location to another. We were in NZ looking for land as well as general touring so we hired Robert who arranged the garden tours for me, fly fishing for Joe, meetings with Realtors and solicitors, all the while travelling the south island and experiencing the amazing beauty.

I would like to announce my nomination of the Silver Beech tree as the premier survivor under adversity. We all have on our most revered lists the pre Madonnas that when given the exact measure of all of its desired elements will grow into a specimen usually just a limb shy of our dreams. All too often in the plant world the rugged survivor under the right conditions can be given the ugly title of being a thug, a pest, or invasive. As if these prejudices werent enough it is the rugged survivor that also faces the condescending sneers from those who judge a plant based solely on beauty. I will be rambling on for days attempting to not only state by case for the beech tree but in the process discuss the three different types of native forest in New Zealand and primarily the lowland native forest of Fiordland, the weather, geology, other plant types, and anything else you might be interested in. PLEASE throw me a bone and let me know if there is anything your interested in. kt Navigating through one of three fingers that make up the Doubtful Sound (fiord) towards the opening to the Tasman Sea. It is the rare day that it is not raining in Fiordland as moist westerly airstreams blow across the Tasman and crash into the high land mass of the southern alps and drop buckets of never ending rain before continuing east across dry regions of New Zealand. My camera is grateful for the chance to dry off and the only bit of travel advice I would have to offer you is dont go to NZ without a WATER PROOF CAMERA. Silver Beech lowland native forest at altitude where forest ends and alpine forest takes over (brown colored area). The trees and other plants that grow in alpine forests are adapted to survive the cold. Trees growing in alpine areas will not often grow as tall as the same species would grow in a lowland forest because of the colder climate and wind. The alpine forest areas have diverse plants that I will share with you later. Tree avalanches are a common occurrence with little other than a few cracks in the steep granite for the roots of a mature tree to hold it in place often a rain or snow storm will blow over a tree and then like a domino effect everything below the fallen tree goes too. Almost immediately moss, lichens, and hardier shrubs start growing and lay the foundation for the forests regeneration by acting as a propagating bed for larger forest trees.

Thank you all for your help. Raybo I'll go out and get your prescription today. Of course, they're all worse this week, another plant is 1/2 yellow now, not sure what the heck is going on :::sigh::: Each one seems to have different symptoms. I posted my stats on Part 1, but think it got pulled down... I'm in San Diego Zone 10... unusually cool, yet humid summer. Guess I chose the wrong year to get excited about growing tomatoes! Of course it's hot this weekend so am guessing I'll have another set of issues next week! Hope y'all are having a better harvest than I!!