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Messages - zephian

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1
Ive had 2534mm (96inches) in my yard so far this year and that is fairly dry compared to some places near here who have already had 168inches this year

96" so far. Dang, send some our way in CA, we barely hit 6" if that. worst dry season ever. Arizona got more rain than we did.
I'm an hour north of Sacramento. We hit 115 this weekend and have had less than 9 inches of rain this year. :(

2
Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: cherries in san diego what?
« on: June 03, 2021, 01:30:15 PM »
Cherries like the heat.  Yeah they need some cold to trigger flowering but they grow great during summer when its hot.  They grow them in the central valley near Fresno where is crazy hot.  The cherry harvest will be done here in a few weeks then these things will put on 4-5ft of growth.  Its probably the most vigorous trees I have so plant with caution they want to get giant.
Monday we hit 108. All the cherries in our area have responded in kind and I swear they grew a foot overnight.

I grafted some cherries I got from you on my pluot and my 4 in 1 cherry last year and they are producing like mad already, thought they have a tendency to create 'double' cherries.


3
Looks like I had some survivors.

Mine have seemed to bloom a few times and never set fruit? My only survivors right now are in a pretty shaded area under my passionfruit. I had some in a more exposed location that flowered like crazy last year but no fruit as well.

Am I missing something or just unlucky?

4
How would you guys rate champagne loquat?
I only have one tree. It had fruits last year in the pot and I planted it last fall. No fruits this year but it's putting on some good growth.

Hopefully I picked a decent enough tasting one...

5
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Custom Nursery Boxes
« on: May 12, 2021, 09:07:03 AM »
I'm broke because I bought a trailer and a 6.0 powerstroke... LOL

So it's YOU who is jacking up the 6.0 truck market! Did yours blow up shortly after ownership? I've put 20k miles on mine and had to do a few things, vac pump, ac resistor blower motor, batteries and then starter (in the costco parking lot no less). Mine is bulletproofed... But I still count my blessings when it runs.
haha. I bought it a few years ago but it's always costing me something. Recently was FICM power board, batteries, alternator, all front end bearings and tie rods and a $600 steering box. Still throws a wrench light when towing up steep grades. I'm not bulletproofed. If she blows I'm selling it and towing with my 97 k2500 suburban. LOL

6
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Custom Nursery Boxes
« on: May 11, 2021, 03:19:37 PM »
I'm broke because I bought a trailer and a 6.0 powerstroke... LOL

7
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Custom Nursery Boxes
« on: May 11, 2021, 10:44:35 AM »
Guys everything is going through the roof.  Inflation is everywhere.  Anyone bought a steak in the grocery lately?  Holy cow!

Steak at Costco is somewhat decent in quality and price, but yeah, you're right, things are going up up up. It's wild. I could sell my diesel truck for double what I bought it for tomorrow, cash in hand (I do wish I bought yours sometimes though Brad).

When Dogecoin, a literal meme currency made for the lol, is making people millions of dollars? Yeah, I'd say inflation is here.

We're going to raise our prices steeply at the skate factory soon...
Isn't that the truth. I paid 7k for my 2wd 06 f250 and could turn around and sell it for easily 15-20k in my area. Everyone bought RV's/trailers at the beginning of the pandemic at asking price. (They have 30-40% markup) I was already in the process of getting mine luckily from a friend who owns a dealership and got it just above cost. Could easily sell my 25ft trailer for 10-15k markup.

8
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: April 22, 2021, 05:09:56 PM »
Brad's dragon fruit are delicious. Way better than stuff I find at the market. Can't wait for my s8 to get a dedicated spot in yard right now they're in small pots but growing like weeds

9
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Pepino Dulce cuttings & plants
« on: April 13, 2021, 09:58:31 PM »
I need to see if any of my pepino melons made it through the winter. I think the ones in the back of my yard didn't but there may be one in a pot..... If not I'll be messaging you shortly.

Fyi your golden berries took some massive damage this winter, I cut the damage back and now I have a forest of golden berries.

Wind just picked up and my sinuses are angry!

10
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: mexican sunflower
« on: March 11, 2021, 11:17:10 AM »
I call it Tithonia Diversifolia since the trades usually use the 'Mexican Sunflower" name for the annual Tithonia Rotundifolia. I have a 25 hp PTO driven chipper and found it to be generally too soft and moist to chip well in mine. It clogs up and doesn't pass through the discharge even clogging up. Moringa and Mombin plum branches are similar. The only success I had was cutting and letting it dry in hard sun a week or so.

One interesting thing which I found then was that when chipped, the soft inner pith detached from the outer bark part. The pith strongly resembled what are usedas "packing peanuts"! Someone talented enough could probably improve on the process and develop a salable fully biodegradable/natural replacement product.

A friend with a small electric homeowner chipper found they could be sent through one by one but his unit fed vertically and discharged downwards so clogging wasn't much of an issue but progress was slow yielding only bucketfuls instead of truckloads.

Myself and others are working on scaling up production of this for biomass accumulation and ground coverage between tree rows. Planting is easy and it grows very well the challenge is management. Ideally the best material to use is soft and green which wouldn't need any more effort to process, just chop and place in position, it decays easily. Cutting when soft is easy but the stalks quickly become hard and if left too long the bottom part develops adventitious roots which easily grow if they touch the ground before they have a chance to dessicate.

Some ways to prevent that:
 -to lay whole stalks carefully bundled so that the lower end with roots always ends up resting on the upper end which doesn't root so easily, works ok when in a row.
- cut the upper stalks on a plant, lay that down first, then cut the lower stalks and lay on top
- Design a mulch producing system that includes other species like banana or a grass and lay whole Tithonia on top of that.
I have done the first two many times but it takes more careful work. This summer I plan to set up the third system and test it out.

One last mangement element we have realized is that over time a fairly large stump develops with cut stalks sticking up that eventually rot away. Periodically, perhaps annually, it was found that the stump can be 'reset' by low chainsawing the upper mass so that it gets more flush to the ground. It quickly resprouts and harvest can begin afresh. Here is a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2tBmImEMXs&t
If anyone else has suggestions, ideas or experiences manageing this plant I'll love to hear them.
Interesting video.
I just purchased a bunch of cuttings with the intent of growing them between my avocadoes to help shade them while theyre young pretty similar to the mangoes.
unfortunately they got lost during the texas storms and arrived 3 weeks later moldy and hard as a rock...

11
Right on, yeah timing is everything.
These Jabo’s aren’t in their beautiful new growth mode right now , so not the best pictures for selling but now is the time for me.
Happy to hook you up with any less expensive species from the Nursery or scions if you feel like passing through. I have a bunch of Surinam Cherries , Pitangatuba’s, E. Calycina, Paw Paw and grafted White Sapote & Loquat I am trying to move.
Have fun Camping !

quote author=zephian link=topic=42523.msg417917#msg417917 date=1613071983]
Too bad I'm not in the market for buying right now... Wife and I will be in Felton this weekend 'glamping' in our trailer.
I'll keep an eye on your posts for sure though.

Good luck!
[/quote]

Thanks!

I think I got my Goldenberry's, Pepino Melon and saw paw paws from you already but had them shipped.
The golden berrys have pretty much taken over and I chopped them back pretty hard recently.
Pepino doesn't seem to have survived the winter.
Paw Paws seem good so far... just gotta find more room for 'em. :D

12
Too bad I'm not in the market for buying right now... Wife and I will be in Felton this weekend 'glamping' in our trailer.
I'll keep an eye on your posts for sure though.

Good luck!

13
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: White Stuff on avocados
« on: January 26, 2021, 11:35:12 AM »
Crazy! We are getting snow down to about 1200ft up here which only happens every couple years. My locks were frozen this morning on my car. Brrr. Hope your trees are ok!

14
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado thread
« on: January 25, 2021, 09:34:16 AM »
that is a small seed.  sir prize also has a ver good seed to flesh ratio and has a soft melting flesh similar to JB.

the 2 trees that did not do well for me were a holiday that died and a sir prize I gave to my son in law and it died.
sir prize is my only winner this winter. I have some seedlings in a greenhouse I'll plant out this year, hopefully they grow well. I'll have to watch your walk through.

15
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Goji berry dropping flowers?
« on: September 01, 2020, 11:03:47 PM »
When the tree gets older, it will love heat. We have one in the ground, about 10 years old. On summer it gets 12 hours of sun. Even without water and fertilizer, it still produces bunch of berries each season. Very drought tolerant, we don't water it in the heat wave here and it does fine. We don't like the berry though, so we let the birds eat them all.
I wish the birds liked mine. Would be a nice distraction from the rest of the yard.


16
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Goji berry dropping flowers?
« on: September 01, 2020, 12:12:08 PM »
When the tree gets older, it will love heat. We have one in the ground, about 10 years old. On summer it gets 12 hours of sun. Even without water and fertilizer, it still produces bunch of berries each season. Very drought tolerant, we don't water it in the heat wave here and it does fine. We don't like the berry though, so we let the birds eat them all.
I wish the birds liked mine. Would be a nice distraction from the rest of the yard.

17
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Goji berry dropping flowers?
« on: August 31, 2020, 11:20:18 PM »
Mine do just fine in full sun. 1st year in ground. another in pot doing fine.
It will defoliate and go dormant in the winter.

We get 110+ here in the summer and will be 110 again this week...
Let it root out and it should do fine. They taste like crap to me but im going to try drying them this year. Also started black goji from seed and will see how that is.

18
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Land size
« on: August 25, 2020, 01:17:53 AM »
I have .2 acres. Need more.

19
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: USPS delaying packages
« on: August 21, 2020, 05:33:58 PM »
I sent 3 boxes of dragonfruit on Monday to CA customers.  2 arrived on time.  1 still has not arrived, maybe today.

I noticed they seem to only be delaying the larger parcels.  The bigger the box the longer it takes.  The medium size flat rate boxes have been more close to on time.  May be a coincidence who knows?
what can I say? I like to feel special. :)

20
Mark, rain? Haven't heard of it, seen it, don't remember what it is... But I must say we are blessed not to have the grasshoppers roving the land.  I hate those things with an unreasonable passion.  We were doing the 100F+ thing for months too, but it ratcheted up to more like 110F+ recently.  You are correct, it will pass in time.  I just hope the power stays on.  Gotta keep those wine coolers running.
Did the thunderstorms pass you by? We had some thunder and lightning yesterday that took out power from 8-almost 7pm. It was 105... Not enough rain to do anything but hey, it's rain!

21
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: Passionfruits
« on: August 15, 2020, 12:20:15 PM »
Hey Brad, do yours drop green or red? Mine are all falling off super green and ripening weird this year.

22
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Avocado thread
« on: August 05, 2020, 09:21:11 PM »
Brad, I feel like your attacking my manliness (Lol).  Hey, no one ever called me lazy in the yard; instead, I get in trouble for getting after it too much.  But, yeah, there's something about this banana tree that's intractable for me.  It's rooted into a bunch of river rocks, bounders, brecia, maybe some cement.  I'll give it another go.  I assume digging all the surrounding pups will have some damage on the roots of the one or two I want to maintain.  I'm sure they'll bounce back in time though.  Thanks.
Our clay sucks. I had a really thick mat I spent ALOT of time on last year. Pick. Shovel. repeat. now I have one or two popping up again and need to get at it. Previous owners used to grow bananas for leaves and it's some variety that never fruits.

Naysen, how are your avocados doing this year? Mine are hating the sun. I've been working longer hours so haven't had time to address them, and it's too hot by the time I get outside but I need to paint/spray them with surround for the third time this year. Looks like they are liking the night time temps but this 100+ every day is rough

23
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Top these cherimoyas?
« on: July 16, 2020, 07:08:44 PM »
Definitely doing better than my avocados. I put 6 tree in two holes as an experiment. About to pot up some seedlings I've been too lazy to do anything with so I'm not worried if the experiment fails... It's been 110 here and I don't even want to go outside.

24
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Top these cherimoyas?
« on: July 16, 2020, 02:05:50 PM »
Super helpful post thanks guys.
Brad it was nice seeing some of your old photos!

My cherimoyas from seeds you sent me a while back are getting lengthy and burning in this stupid heat but they're looking good.
Should I top mine once it cools off a bit more or just wait for spring? I'm in no rush with these trees.

25
Too bad Newsom is making me take a pay cut!

I'll have to order some next year :(

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