I ate a CaraCara Orange off of my tree, and was surprised to find a mature seed in it. Also gave away a basket of Satsumas.

I am still out of town and eating fresh picked lemons that I took with me.

Steve

I am not going to ask you where you went to but aren’t you taken a risk taken those things with you, sharing them! Ike has a better chance given away his Satsumas.

I must say that know one is fighting over them. (NZLs)

Steve

I'm happy to see your trees so happy in the sun Bob. I hope you had a great Christmas with your wife! I spent a quiet day with my family - happy to have nothing to do! I have lots of mandarins to eat, so I'm going to encourage the kids to feast on them...especially Thomas before he goes back to NYC.

I boo booed with that one picture, I mend Christmas not New Year.

Not all Laura, I clean that room often mainly to water the suckers. Take out the ones that need it most. Like you, we enjoy our tree’s very much, me in particular. Still can’t believe the size of some of those mandarins. The mandarins as decoration on the tree’s are the winners, Pomelo’s a close second, like you tickle to death. Next year O/D a little sooner.

Bob, your trees are beautiful!! The fruits look like little sunshine hanging on the trees! On Christmas day, I was planning my vegetable garden for next summer lol. Thinking of what I can sow now lolll

Amy, if I keep my tree’s sort of healthy, that’s good For now. For them they have a long way to go before they get their freedom again. Today temps are in the mid sixties, sprayed tree’s with low bureat o,6. Yesterday sprayed with GA3, actually was’t nessesary because there were active bee’s.

Hope you and family are doing good, don’t slow down.

Drove home,

Steve

Bob, your trees look great congrats on your bounty. I mowed the grass.

Evan

Bob wow wow wow! Those look like you’re in Florida between that and the persimmons you’re making my mouth water bob great job! I worked on Christmas Day and night lol must be crazy. Thanks for posting your trees looks fake they’re too bountiful lol I’m jealous!

oh my Amy you really are my sister from another mother lol! I did that too as soon as I got home today!! I’m already taking out my seed packets for my month long holiday in a weeks time! hope you had a fantastic Christmas Amy My citrus bestie! :)

My goodness Bob!!!! Your trees look fantastic!!!! Of course you know that us northerners are just a wee bit jealous that you can bring your trees out for some of that glorious Arkansas sunshine. Beautiful Bob.

Evan love that lawn of yours!!!!!

Brian

Evan, where do you live? What are you growing besides citrus. I have a few nieces, they all grow just about anything. Citrus is not all that‘s liked, saw so many just laying on the ground.

A little update, made Cherries Jubilee yesterday, with Meyer lemon and Page mandarin, wife said, This is theeee best yet you made.

Page, Xie Shan, Lee/Nova and Dreamnavel orange, tasted “ Excellent “.

Have to wait till February to taste the rest, got to have patience.

Glad to hear it bob since I was just gifted a xie Shan! No fruit yet though crossing my fingers it’ll flower this year

Jan, Xie Shan, fruit heavy one year, very light the next, hope you can live with that. Amy tree is a Xie Shan, Shiranui combo. I grafted the Shiranui, so that I have stuff every year.

That day I was sitting my my Aunts side at Hospice who just passed on New years day. I wish I could of brought mine out, but I did get a chance a couple of times with a member here to bring tham all out and spray with horticultural oil so as to prevent spider mites. That made me happy.

Great looking tree ob. Such a great job)

Happy New Year to all and boy the feeling of being over a week past the Equniox brings me joy). Seems like the sun is already getting stronger. In about two weeks my car will finally warm from the sun if it's out at noon.

Bob good to know! Thanks for telling me as long as the fruit are worth it I think I can deal with that. Bob still trying my hand at grafting so far no success what method do you use? might keep the kumquats I was going to get rid of and use their rootstock to practice some grafting skills. Gave me a great idea!

mike such a terrible holiday season this year for you I really hope it looks up the rest of the year with tons of harvests and growth for you. Lots of hugs for you and family :)

Jan, don’t ever get rid of rootstock, just make an other tree out of it. Easy to do. Show me that tree and we’ll go from there.

Wow your trees are beautiful

Thanks for offering your help bob I’m clueless when it comes to grafting! Bob here is the closeup of the trunk of my kumquat tree it’s a beautiful tree too bad I won’t be keeping it! You can see the rootstock branch growing so where to start?

Jan, what do you plan to grow this year in your vegetable garden? I just ordered some broccolini (hybrid between broccoli and gai lan) and brokalie (hybrid between kale and broccoli) seeds from west coast seeds. Did you ever try them? Oh they are delicious! Did you really receive a xie shan for Christmas? Oh what a wonderful gift!

Bob, your Cherries jubilee sound delicious!! My page mandarins are starting to turn orange. Can’t wait to try them for the first time.

Mike, happy New Year! Yes, days will start to get longer now! Aren’t we all glad about that? Nothing more depressing than to go to work when it’s still dark outside and come home after the sunset!

Amy, do you want me to send you the procedure how to.? Been doing it for more than 30 years.There is a story behind it that started in a well known restaurant in New Orleans, Anthoine, than to Issabelle, in Chicago, than me. Mine is much better. Why, because I use stuff that’s much more better than restaurants willing to use.

Jan, just do a bark graft just above that node, a couple inches above the graft. You can reuse the rootstock as many you like till you get it right. Sharp knife, less accidents.

When you make a wedge cut, try to do it in one try, you can do it only with a sharp knife.

Bob, I live in Indio, CA. It’s the desert Southwest, I’m 2 hours East of Los Angeles, 2.5 hours north of San Diego and 3 hours West of Phoenix. I personally grow citrus, pomegranates and herbs like rosemary, thyme, Thai basil, oregano (perennials in my yard). I’ve also grown tomatoes, squash and chili peppers, they also do well out here. My yard landscape is full of climbing trumpet vines, aloes and deciduous desert flowering plants that are xeriscape due to past water restrictions, plus they’re low maintenance and usually only need to be trimmed back 1-2 times per year. I have 1 palo verde tree and 1 palo brea tree that are about 25’ tall and wide that bloom crazy yellow flowers in the spring and cover the ground. I had a couple mesquite trees that I ripped out because they were too messy and too much maintenance. Then I also have my lawn, it’s Bermuda grass that gets overseeded in October to rye grass for the winter and that is what you see in the photo I posted earlier in this thread. That’s my yard in a nutshell.

Evan

Impressive Evan, I have a niece, living in the Chatworth area and others in that vicinity..Love it over there.

bob so let me get this straight I wouldn’t be grafting onto the rootstock itself but above the graft so onto the kumquat bark? Ok got it! Will try it and let you know how I fare wish me luck :)

amy!! Are you as excited as I am to get the valentine tree? Lol I’m actually very very excited about seeding my tomatoes and peppers in pots in a couple weeks! here’s what I think I may be growing lol excuse my dogs tail she follows me like a shadow! ooooh Amy i love west coast seeds actually I visit there often I’m just about 30 minutes away from there! They have amazing varieties but I am a tomato and chilli fiend I think it’s 90% of what I grow every year lol the rest like carrots and such not so much because my garden is covered with large trees and in shade for most of summer so anything I can’t grow in pots are not great! Although since everything’s in the front of our house In pots it looks like a jungle lol neighbours must think I’m nuts post man can barely deliver mail without getting a face full of leaves Amy lol!

Jan, it’s called inter stem grafting. Don’t do any grafting yet till later.

Bob I will do it in spring theN? Hmm never heard of that before I will look it up and try to learn everything I can about it!

I will also do some grafting next spring! Jan do you want some parafilm tape? I can send you some! Jan, I am beyond excited about the valentine pummelo. More so after Bob’s approval about his fruit! Did your order yours? Hurry up my friend, last time I checked there’s only 4 left and who knows when we will be able to get them back in stock.Gary told me that he asked Four wind for a favor in order to get some this year. Me too, I am very excited to start seeding my vegetable garden like you. Like you, I grow a lot of thing in containers. This year, I must control myself for one-two tomatoes and hot peppers because I always end up with a huge harvest. Can you believe that I still have for huge bags of hot peppers in my freezer? Lolll... Jan, when will you start your seedling? I read that we must start hot peppers sooner because they take a long time to grow.

oh Bob, thank you, thank you so much for your offer! Everytime I read about your cherries jubilee it makes my mouth watering! Bob, I usually use the cleft grafting technique. Isn’t the most easy one? Is there another technique with a higher success rate?

Mike, I am so sorry for your loss! I lost a dear friend last year and it still hard on me. Life is precious so you must enjoy it as much as we can and never take it for granted. Be strong my friend!

Evan, oh I love thai basil! They add a touch of asian on every meals don’t you think? I love mine but I always have to start fresh plants each year because mine start to flower by the end of summer and they stop growing after that. I usually try to pinch the flowers to no avail.

Amy and Jan, thank you so much. You are truly special and kind. Appreciate your kind words. Good job to all.

Amy!! oh I’m so nervous about grafting!! Oh amy how kind of you to offer but what is parafilm Amy? Is it some special tape? I figured I’d use regular tape? No good for grafting? Amy I just started My seeds and everything yesterday I’ve been too excited to wait! Amy that’s fantastic lol I have the opposite problem my peppers never give me enough for my heat loving family we make chilli more than anything amy what peppers do you usually grow? Lol Amy I did I ordered a valentine just the other day i bit the bullet lol I was trying to hold off because I thought to myself how in the world will I fit it without a second greenhouse and then finally I thought well I’ll just have to get a second greenhouse if it all grows to Crazy heights! :) it’s crazy logic and who knows how the rest of the family will react to it perhaps they’ll never find out lol Amy did you ever grow zucchini or cucumbers in a pot is it even possible?

mike dear friend how are your orchids doing? we would all love to see some pictures. And your feathered friends too how are they?

Jan, looking at those pictures of growth and beauty, I think you can go ahead with grafting.

There are a few more,, a lot depends on the grafter’s skill. If you are comfortable with cleft, stay with it. The most important part of cleft is cambium contact, that very fine layer To match your sion Cambium. Don’t leave too much gap after insertion “( drying of your sion)”.

Don’t forget to wrap your sion with a pre stretched piece of parafilm.

You can use the Texas bark graft where you open up just one flap and slide your sion into position, right up against the fix side. I usely take a small sliver of the sides of your sion’s wedge cut and I mean “ a small sliver “.

Hello Jan, I really like to grow thai peppers. They have the perfect heat for me and my family! Jan, grafting is really fun and you will be proud of you once you try it. My success rate is not as high as Bob, Steve and Sunshine but it’s ok. Just be careful not to cut yourself in the process! Here is the parafilm I have:

https://www.amazon.ca/-/fr/Parafilm-rouleau-250-Longueur-large/dp/B005KDF3X6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=parafilm&qid=1578361870&sprefix=para&sr=8-1

It used to be cheaper when I bought it! They are quite large so I must cut them.

Jan, here is a link to help you go through your first grafting

https://www.fruitmentor.com/grafting-citrus-trees-cleft-graft

Amy Thanks for the grafting compliment. I am running at a 2% success rate with about an hour for each graft. I don't graft anymore. I could work a minimum wage job and buy 8 premium trees with shipping included from Fourwinds or 16 entry level trees from either Briteleaf or Harris citrus with shipping included. I have however started seeds from Meiwa fruits to try grafting mature Meiwa budwood to seedling Meiwa rootstock so that I can have mature Meiwa trees on Meiwa roots. Grafting same cultivar to same cultivar may prove easier to graft. This will allow me to have productive mature but small trees that can produce heavily from 5 gallon buckets. My current seed grown Meiwa trees will need to be in 15 gallon pots and 6 feet tall to really do their best with heavy production. My Flying dragon seedlings from last fall got very badly infested with spider mites that I treated with the compost pile. They are to hard to graft to make them worth treating.

Steve