Red grapefruit tree in san diego
Joanne Park
5 years ago
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Robin Morris
5 years agoSara Malone Zone 9b
5 years agoRelated Discussions
How to prune my Fruit Trees in San Diego
Comments (7)The Oregon publication contains a lot of information but I doubt it will clear up much of the confusion about initial training of fruit trees. If trees are on vigorous, free standing root stocks, one instruction that is very helpful is to remove all branches more than half the diameter of the trunk at point of attachment to the trunk and do very little other pruning until trees come into bearing. For apple varieties that are particularly vigorous you remove all branches more than a third the diameter of the trunk. This will tend to create a relatively symetrical, compact and early bearing tree with strongly attached scaffold branches. Once the tree is bearing you can begin the process of height reduction and the selection of permanent scaffolds, even if you want an open center construction. With this approach you will be making permanent decisions with a tree that is much easier to read in terms of seeing what needs to be removed compared to something so small that you have no idea about scale and what scaffolds will look like when they size up. This is a method used all over the world by commercial growers of vigorous fruit trees but somehow has never made it into the literature of home orchard recommendations. Commercial growers have to spend a lot of money to get their trees pruned and need their trees to come into production as soon as possible and this simple method of pruning by ratio saves on the time needed to educate the pruners and also to realize meaningful harvests. Trees with branches of smaller ratios bear younger and require less corrective pruning. Branches also are less likely to break under fruit load. E-mail me for a copy of an article I've written on the subject if you'd like a more thorough explanation. It is actually a useful method of training all manner of trees- even things like maples and oaks, because it leads to the development of strong central leader trees unlikely to be damaged by storms....See MoreOpinions on Cara Cara Navel Orange for N. San Diego County, CA
Comments (6)Thanks, Dan. They did have a Cara Cara and Gorden gave me a 2 thumb's up on the taste for the Cara Cara. He said he thought they actually were better than the Washington. I did grab a Page, only 2 left, and no fruit, but lots of buds, so I'll have ripe fruit next year. Also got a Golden Nugget which does have some ripe fruit. It was a toss up between the Page and the Minneola. Page won out because I really like that tangerine taste. Gorden suggested a Pixie last year, and I have that planted, but no fruit set yet. I'm going to pinch that and my Bearss lime, which also hasn't put out any flowers or really any flush - sort of surprised about that. All the grapefruits I got last hear are going nuts with flowers right now. The Melogold has so many flowers I'm going to have to pinch off some of the fruit, or the poor little thing will simply topple over. Same with the Cocktail and the Rio Red. And, walked out with a couple of Poms - Sweet and a Wonderful. Yumm. I'll have the best fruit salads in a couple of years, can hardly wait! Patty S....See MoreBest Grapefruit for N. San Diego County
Comments (9)Thanks, reefisher. I went to Clausen's and picked up a Mellowgold, which is almost the identical same tree as the Oro Blanco, as well as a Cocktail and a Rio. The Rio is really going to be an experiment, so I'm trying to figure out exactly what spot in our yard will be the very hottest, and that's where the Rio will go. the Mellowgold and the Cocktail are spotted up on the north slope (which faces south). We have a rat problem, too - they ate all my Anna apples this year - so I'm going to talk with Berrett Pest Control to see what kinds of control we can put into place to try to control the rats and keep them out of my trees. I bought a Moro Blood Orange, a Pixie Tangerine and an Algerian Tangerine, too, so they will all be targets for the rats. They leave the lemon trees and usually leave the Kumquats alone (although not always with the Kumquats), so hopefully, I can get traps set and try to keep the population down. We back an 80 acre abandoned orange orchard (very sad story), so they come in through the back fence, even though I've got 3' snake fencing up against the wrought iron. They're sneaky devils. No fence will really keep them out. Patty S....See MoreSan Diego Zoo 2010 pics
Comments (14)I will try to ID some of your question plants: #104 is a Ficus dammeropsis (as is #82); First large philodendron is Evansii, the second is bipinatifidium; #99 palm is Parajubaea torralyi; Dioon in first cycad photo is meijae, and others are actually ferns I think (Blechnum gibbums); first 'cactus' is indeed a Euphorbia ammak, I think; and second 'cactus' is Alluaudia procera; #11 is a bottle tree or Brachychiton rupestris; the palms you called European Fan palms (can't recall number, if any) are Nannorhops (not European, but Iranian); #57 is Dioon merolae; photo #50 is a Caryota, but not sure what species... something a bit unusual as it does not appear to be a gigas or a urens; never heard of the name Macraw palm... those are Rhopalostylis (Nikau palms I have heard them called) from New Zealand; Hawaiian native succulents are Brighamia insignis; ficus close up #30 is Ficus lyriata; #35 and 33 etc. are Brachychiton discolor; #23 I think is Trithrinax campestris; #14 is Chamaedorea tepejilote; all the Staghorns in all your photos are Platycerim bifurcatum, though they do have nice examples of superbum at that zoo (just no photos of them above); Palm in last palm photo is a Pritchardia, but no clue what species....See MoreJoanne Park
5 years agouncle molewacker z9b Danville CA (E.SF Bay)
5 years agoRobin Morris
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agolgteacher
5 years agouncle molewacker z9b Danville CA (E.SF Bay)
5 years agouncle molewacker z9b Danville CA (E.SF Bay)
5 years agoRobin Morris
5 years agoJoanne Park
5 years ago
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Sara Malone Zone 9b