One of the folks recently posted a link to A Purdue extension web page on growing fruit. It is excellent. Click on the link below for a lot of very good reading. Check you home state extension service as well. Here is a link that might be useful: Purdue Home Fruit

Hi Glenn: If you read the section in the 2009 Midwest Tree Fruit Spray Guide for apples, you'll notice the recommendation for combining Nova (same AI as Immunox) with a protectant. See the note #2 in the right hand column under the section titled "APPLE TIGHT CLUSTER". The #2 note refers to the extended protectant program which includes Immunox/Nova as opposed to the "protectant program 7-day interval" which does not utilize Nova. You and I have to deal with CAR which complicates things some as far as fungicide choices. I haven't come up with a protectant to tank-mix with Immunox for CAR other than Mancozeb but, we had that discussion elsewhere. Why does the guide state that, "Growers using an extended protectant program should use an SI fungicide (Nova...)...(tank-mixed) with a protectant fungicide"? My best guess is resistance because the SI fungicides have resistance issues at least in some parts of the country. Hi Olpea: thanks for beating the captan doesn't work for CAR back into my head, must have slipped out during the winter. Have you lost any peach or apple buds to old man winter yet? Sometimes the spray thing feels like trying to juggle 30 balls at once in my head! Michael

Gene is on the right track. You probably want a Fuyu (Jiro) persimmon; I have zero problems with this tree. Fig also no problems, and a beautiful landscaping plant. Black Mission fig is what I have, two crops a year. Have you considered grapes? V. labrusca (American) grapes like Glenora, Jupiter, Canadice, Reliance, (avail from Stark) Steuben,Kyoho, will require no spraying in Cal and can be trained to almost any shape. Asian pears are way more trouble free than apples. Pakistan mulberry works in many Cal z7 areas, available from Bay Laurel N. and Rolling River N.- don't get a mulberry sourced from Dave Wilson N. as they are grafted too high. Mulberries are no spray. Frost peach is more disease resistant than most so probably get by without spraying. Davewilson.com has excellent info on keeping trees low. Good luck, Kate.

Hi Ache, I tend to play around with my potting mixes, but the basics are potting soil from Bushel Stop, pine bark chips, coconut husk chips and those clay balls that orchid folks use a lot. I like my potting mixes to drain rapidly, even though it means more hand watering for me. For Blueberries I use coarse peat moss and pine bark. I want "chunky" soil, not fine mixtures that pack down. When I don't have coconut husk chips on hand, I use bagged Orchid mixes added to standard potting soil. I usually have to add soil every year or so, and sometimes root prune the trees. I've not had much luck using plain old potting soil. It seems to break down too quickly and ends up too wet. Lisa