PostPosted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 6:58 pm Post subject: Reply with quote Handling Peach Leaf Curl naturally. I add 1/4 to 1/2 ounces of Tea Tree oil to winter dormant oil spray, already mixed. I apply just before or just at the beginning of pink bud and normally it knocks the leaf curl 100%; I only get a few red bubbles here and there. On bad years, with more humidity, leaf curl might affect nectarines anyway, but not as bad, as they are more prone to leaf curl. I used to use 1/4 ounce per gallon of winter spray, for dryer springs, but wetter springs need 1/2 ounce per gallon of winter oil spray to be totally effective. It is a bit expensive, the Tea Tree Oil that is, but probably no more then the chemical alternative and it is safe, that give me a peace of mind. David _________________ PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:15 am Post subject: Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post David, Where do you get tea tree oil? This year, it was really dry. I did not spray anything on my peaches and nectarines. Out of several hundred thousand leaves, I've only got less than ten that showed some infection. All of my peach trees suffered one breakage or another due to oversized fruits. I have been thinning aggressively, but went on 2 months vacation and when I came back, each tree has a breakage. I would call it truly fantastic fruit sets on all stone fruits this year. Joe PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:58 am Post subject: Reply with quote Joe You can find it at Health food stores or stores with Healthy food departments; now you can find it even in some pharmacies and etc in their cosmetic department. I have preferred to use Tea Tea Oil by Jason's, a health food cosmetic company. Though am sure there are other brands which might do as good. I can sense such things and how well they will work in my own body and the bodies of other individuals. We do fine a much more expensive line of essential oils from Young Living, but that is good expensive and good for plant needs. Essential oils are processed in different ways, often the cheaper the oils are, the more chemically and unnaturally they are processed, where as the more expensive they, the more natural and viable they are. Jason's I guess is of good quality, but not too expensive. I used to buy it a Raley's, but now buy it at at Vitamin Shoppe online, or now they have a Vitamin Shoppe in Modesto CA, so their are a few stores in CA, in larger cities; their vitamins run 25 % or less in price then local health-food stores. I have tried other Tea Tree oils from Health Food stores, but have settled on Jason's, I guess it is good quality, compared to many, and not too expensive and easy to obtain. Sorry, when you ask me a question, I feel the need to tell you why and what for, I guess it is my nature to share and teach. Interesting you considered it dry this spring and summer, on a year like this year, my trees would of been devastated by Peach Leaf Curl. Last year was really bad, Peaches were ok, using the spray, but nectarines had a partial bad attach, but quickly recovered. Peaches only had a few pea size bubbles here and there. Yes, a very good year for stone fruits, my trees had more fruit then I have ever seen, pollinating time was ideal, nice sunny weather and no rain most of the time. Like you I kept thinning and thinning and still had too much fruit for the limbs to handle well. What got me was the last blooms. I thinned the peaches when the fruits were a bit smaller then golf balls and noticed a lot more the size of peas. Usually the smaller ones all drop off, when the large fruit is present, but apparently it didn't happen. I had to thin thin clear into June and early July on some varieties. I thought I had my plum/pluot tree well thinned too and I was wrong here too. Massive amount of small fruits that didn't get sized up as it usually does, but the fruits were not much smaller then store size. I usually just thin a bit more and produce larger and less fruits. I did notice that my plums and pluots were not quite as tasty as they usually are. My early Granada Pomegranates are late this season, compared to the past, but that could be maybe because of the amount of fruit, not sure. I planted a Wonderful and its sibling Granada in one hole and as one plant, only a few years ago, so this is the first real decent size crop, with the tree being around 10 plus feet tall; I prune off the fast sucker growth from the top, so it stays more balanced and rounded, but let it grow taller. I am sure in following seasons the fruit may be larger and even more plentiful as the root systems gets larger. I have not gotten a lot of fruit the last couple years, as it was young, but I have been eating the Granada's starting before now, more like the first of Sept. They are ripening, I tried one the other day, edible, but still lacking in prime sweetness and flavor; cool nights and especially frosty nights help to force flavor and sweetness. When I was a kid growing up here in the Valley, we got cooler weather before now many times and always had killing frost to beans and squash and etc before Halloween. We pretty much years ago, could expect a pumpkin killing freeze a month to a couple weeks before Halloween, that was back in the 50s, 60s and early 70s. David _________________ Living in Waterford CA, east side of Central Valley CA, USDA zone9b, on edge of Sunset Garden Book zone 14. Surviving, but wishing I was in a warmer zone. Love to experiment and push the limit on plants. PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:00 pm Post subject: Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post David, Thanks for the info on Tea Tree Oil. i ordered mine from eBay. Will try it out this season. Will try to apply copper during the leaf fall, maybe lime sulfur during the dead winter, and Tea Tree oil during pink stage. i just came back from my Canada trip and they have problem with the rains. The trick for them to have their plums and peaches set fruit is to drape over a breathable row cover during bloom to channel away the incessant rains. I will try to do that this year in case we have a very wet year. I still have my Last Chance Peach loaded, and they should ripen very well towards the end of the month. Joe PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 7:40 pm Post subject: Reply with quote Joe I guess the row cloth might help, if you had bees under the row cloth to pollinate the blooms. If you go down near the ground with it, the bees will most likely not find their way in. The row cloth could help warm up the blooms, so the blooms could be pollinated, if the bees were around. Blooms will not pollinate below certain temps, but you may already know that. When it is cool and rainy, the trees will hold blooms longer. I know I want to add polycarbonate extensions to my house, where I have like guavas. They need more winter protection and when they have really ripe fruits in fall, the rains make them split, even if the ground does not really get wet. I guess like Cherries, the rain on the fruit causes them to swell and split. David _________________

Don't smoke or drink either. And there's no question that desert is a major food group! :)) I use Olivia Care Olive Oil Soap on my face and in the shower - love the Verbena scent and all those suds! In the winter I don't need moisturizer. I buy it at TJMaxx. For 20 years I've used a Buff Puff on my face. For facial moisturer Jergens Skin Firming Lotion. I've used several others that I really liked, and every time I ran out and went to buy more, they were discontinued or had added obnoxious fragrance. How exasperating! I don't like the strong fragrance in the heavier duty "regenerating" lotions. I find that smiling works best on the Howdy Doody lines - hate those things! Can't bring myself to lay out $20 for a tiny little jar so I guess this is it. Sherry

Actually, I don't think Greenspan is the villain in this. I repeat - the Fed has very little control over the securitization of bundled mortgage loans. They are repackaged into equity deals and are collateralized by the RE. Yes, in some areas of the US that RE has fallen in value. But in most areas of the US it has not dropped drastically, and even a 25% decline eventually works itself out through the system. The US simply has too large and global an economy for it to be more than a big burp in the overall history. I do fault Greenspan for keeping rates low too long, but hindsight is always so much better than foresight. Why should he be any different than us folks at the forum - where are all those posters here who declared one could never lose money in RE? And the hysteria over banks is amusing. There is NO CASH CRUNCH. Banks are flush with money, as are most companies. There is a liquidity crunch, which is a thing entirely different. Wells Fargo had very little exposure to subprime loans; they securitize and sell most of their loans to other servicers. WaMu recently added to their loan loss reserve but their core business, checking and savings, is booming like gangbusters and they will have no trouble opening all the new branches they plan to start in 2007-2008. Actually, if I were investing in individual stocks, which I don't, I'd buy Goldman Sachs in a heartbeat. The liquidity messiness has really depressed its stock price and they are the premier deal-broker in the world. Now, when they start jumping out of their windows, then I'll worry! As for RE agents fleeing the field, most of those were part-time and newcomers anyway. It's always been a boom-and-bust business, and probably always will be. We saw the same thing happen in the 1990's. People have such short memories! The vast majority of Americans have pretty much the same amount in their checking and savings accounts as they had two months ago. The vast majority of American, Asian and European corporations can say the same. The only thing changed are people's perceptions, as fed by the media.

I may be mistaken, but the Common Core is a set of standards; how they are met is the district's business. A minimum standard of education seems like a good thing. If it is challenging, we ought to ask why. The "new math" can be confusing because it teaches several options for generating answers, and it is not rote -- you have to understand the concept (math expressions is pretty good in elementary). And vouchers -- if charter and other for-profit schools pop up, they will market any way they can to get your voucher dollars. They will decline to educate those with challenging behaviors, special needs, IEPs, 501s, and those children will be left to the public schools, with fewer resources to meet their needs. If you have the money -- great -- buy whatever education you wish. But if you don't have the money, you will be limited to what the voucher folks offer -- and they would aim to make a profit doing so. The incentives to create great 'results' will be immense -- so teaching to the tests (so they can advertise their students do well); and dropping challenging students.... the incentives will be in the wrong place. Some charter schools do very well, but for accurate comparisons, the number of free/reduced lunches, special needs students, english as a second language, etc. needs to be similar for true comparison.