Mescalito, a seedling better tasting than Hort16a? I doubt you are so lucky. All my Hort16a seedlings were clearly worse than Hort16a. Anyway, they were good taste. Scott, taking into account the males are mainly selected for a profuse flowering, good quality pollen and good synchronization with the female, it is not important if it is son of a poor quality fruit female. Its mission is to pollinate the female, not to transmit a good inheritance to the seeds. Because of this, I didn't surprise when I saw the small fruits on my seedlings. Moreover, Hort16a is an small size fruit compared with Hayward. Frequently they are helped in commercial orchards with bio-stimulants to increase the fruit size. I have seen amateur Hort16a plants and their fruits rarely exceed 100 grs. Regarding this, see what is said in the pay-per-view document "âÂÂHort16Aâ Kiwifruit: Progress and Issues with Commercialisation": "The biostimulant BenefitPZ is commonly used following fruit set to enhance growth rates of Hort16A fruit. Rates as high as 3.5 g per day have been reported (Lawes, 2001), and as a consequence, the fruit size distribution at harvest can be markedly shifted toward the larger fruit sizes. This biostimulant has had a significant influence on the commercial development of Hort16A and is now used widely among Hort16A growers. In contrast, the biostimulant has not been shown to have such beneficial effects on Hayward fruit growth. Yields of 10-12000 trays/ha (30-36 t/ha) are readily achieved for Hort16A with fruit size in the range 80-140 g" If you see a 140 grs Hort16a fruits tray in a grocery store, be sure they have been biostimulated.

I just came across one crawling along a big leaf of swiss chard (no evidence of munching). I just relocated him to the back of the garden and let him be. I've rarely run across more than one or 2 per season (the sandy coloured one and/or the black with brown band in the middle guy), so I don't see their numbers as too threatening. I googled what they'd look like as adults and have never seen the adult virginian moth, maybe once came across a tiger moth. As for those numerous white cabbage butterflies flitting about all over the place, whenever I find a green slender caterpillar (and I suspect that is their larvae form) I 'rub' them out. As often as I do that, it doesn't seem to affect their population the following year!

Yeah, Randy! I love people who try not to use chemicals! I bet you get lots of butterflies and moths, too! I remember your beautiful hornworm! I've had some black swallowtails, but the butterfly count is way low this year. Quite a few cabbage whites (my ornamental mustard reseeds freely and they love it as a host plant), some Red Admirals, one Question Mark, a couple of Monarchs (no eggs yet), a few Giant Swallowtail eggs early in the season, a eumorpha achemon (a sphinx moth that loses it's tail in the last instar), and that's about it. I'm growing cassia alata (candlestick plant), cassia bicapsularis, Partridge Pea, all for the sulphur butterflies, and angelonia and monkey flower for the buckeyes, and false nettle, for the Red Admirals and Question Marks. Also have asclepias curassavica, verticillata, and honeyvine for the Monarchs, but no eggs yet on these either. Oh, and of course, I have passion vines, 'Lavendar Lady', and lutea for the gulf frits, which always arrive late in the season. Can't wait! Susan

OK, I've answered part of my own question. I looked again at the stuff, and I brought my fingers close to it. And it moved!!! Many of you may think this is normal but I did not expect that at all. I did see some photos of mealy bugs that looked white but to me did not look like what the black berry has. I'll do some research on how to best get rid of them. I guess the photos may help other self-diagnose what they see. Unless someone thinks it is not meally-bugs.