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Messages - Mark in Texas

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3726
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Need help in prepping holes for tropical fruits plants please
« on: December 13, 2013, 02:39:37 PM »
The initial effects are positive.  Long term, it can be a disaster depending on your soil structure and clay content.   Simon, you'll probably remember we beat this one to death about 3 months ago.  Wish I could find that thread again,  this time I'd bookmark it.  Not going to spend any more time on it, I'll just link him to a credible pro, Dr. Chalker.  And yes, I have hand planted at least 10,000 trees in soil such as his, being in the Christmas tree biz, vineyards, and such.   

The Myth of Soil Amendments:
"When transplanting trees or shrubs into landscapes, amend the backfill soil with organic matter."
Of all the fictions that abound in popular horticultural, none is as deceptive as this one. It stems from
the old adage to "dig a five dollar hole for a fifty cent plant."

http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~Linda%20Chalker-Scott/Horticultural%20Myths_files/Myths/Amendments.pdf

3727
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Florida's Orange Crop Lowest in 24 Years - Largely Due to Greening
« on: December 13, 2013, 02:11:04 PM »
Quote from: mangomanic12 on December 13, 2013, 11:07:31 AM
Arizona has great Citrus also. I have a friend who's trees are loaded with sweet delicious fruit each and every year

Never had any Arizona citrus.  I'm gonna get a lot of flack from the FL and CA growers, but I'm sorry, I don't care for their fruit, not compared to Texas fruit.  I don't know what it is but Texas grown fruit is richer with more juice....just chocked full of  flavor.....and color.  The Rio Red grapefruit is sweet and RED, the blood oranges are rich and blood red, my Orlando tangelo tasted as good as any tropical fruit, etc.   

Good one Asaffron,  Pee Wee was too funny.   ;D  Gonna "one up ya", another local hero with the Texas Americana crowd - by Ray Wiley Hubbard.  "The trouble with irony is sometimes no one gets it."

Screw you, We're from Texas

Texas is really protective of their citrus industry including being subject to fines and penalties.

5. Avoid Fines and Penalties. If you knowingly purchase citrus in violation of quarantine regulations and requirements, the penalties could range from $1,100 to $60,000 per violation. If you suspect citrus is being moved improperly, report your concerns to the USDA’s State Plant Health Director's office; you can find contact information online at www.aphis.usda.gov/StateOffices.

http://www.saveourcitrus.org/index.php/texas


3728
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Need help in prepping holes for tropical fruits plants please
« on: December 13, 2013, 11:05:17 AM »
Quote from: NaturalGreenthumb on December 13, 2013, 12:11:19 AM
3. bring in some planters mix, compost fines, and compost menure. And mix them all together. 

4.  Fill the hole back to normal level

Simon's soil structure may be different than yours.  DO NOT amend the backfill for your type of soil.  It creates a layer of discontinuity such that the roots will sit in the amended glazed pot you just created and they will rot.   Amending soil with compost is old school with no rhyme or reason to back it up.  We had this discussion before. 

Good luck,
Mark

3729
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Need help in prepping holes for tropical fruits plants please
« on: December 13, 2013, 10:53:32 AM »
Raised beds.  I prefer RootBuilder because you can tie it up for any size you want.  Here you go -  http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=7511.0

3730
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Florida's Orange Crop Lowest in 24 Years - Largely Due to Greening
« on: December 13, 2013, 10:45:11 AM »
Quote from: ASaffron on December 12, 2013, 02:17:25 PM
I'm still eating some of the finest citrus fruits in our nation!

They must be from Texas.   8)

3731
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Hawaii - avocado banned lifted!
« on: December 13, 2013, 09:03:33 AM »
Quote
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is changing its rules for Hawaii growers to allow them to ship Sharwil avocados to 32 mainland U.S. states and the District of Columbia between November and March.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/11/hawaii-avocados_n_3910795.html

Yay!

3732
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Discount Equipment
« on: December 12, 2013, 10:35:39 PM »
Thanks Jeff.  I'm in for one.

3733
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Discount Equipment
« on: December 12, 2013, 10:24:47 AM »
Quote from: dongeorgio on December 12, 2013, 10:23:39 AM
Mark, the people at Barnel asked me not to post the pricing but I will PM you the pricing for that particular item.

Thanks!

3734
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Discount Equipment
« on: December 12, 2013, 08:22:49 AM »
Quote from: Cookie Monster on December 08, 2013, 01:22:52 PM
The barnel cut and hold pruner is one of my favorites. It functions as a pruner, but its best use is harvesting fruit. I use it to harvest all sorts of fruit, everything from lychees to mangoes to canistel.

Is this the one?  http://www.barnel.com/ultrareach.php

Looks great, as long as the cable doesn't snap at the tie points.  Is it easily serviced?

Amazon has it priced at $110.Ouch!  http://www.amazon.com/Barnel-Ultra-Reach-Telescoping-Cut-N-Hold-By-Pass/dp/B004BQ7YU8

3735
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Smoking seeds , how is this done ?
« on: December 11, 2013, 10:40:19 PM »
..................

3736
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Gritty Mix in a Superoots or RootBuilder pot?
« on: December 11, 2013, 10:33:51 PM »
Quote from: Triloba Tracker on December 09, 2013, 04:18:24 PM
This probably falls squarely into the "stupid questions" category, but anyone have an opinion on using a mix identical or similar to Al's Gritty in a Superoots or RootBuilder pot?


Don't worry about it.  It's not going anywhere.

3737
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Upcoming Arctic blast and Greenhouses
« on: December 09, 2013, 11:23:54 AM »
Many years ago I built a south facing lean-to greenhouse for growing orchids while living in my Gulf Coast home near the bay and made the BIG mistake of painting the pine with a few coats of a copper cuprenate preservative because I was too cheap to go the extra mile and use pressure treated lumber, which now really doesn't cost much more..  The paint was supposed to be the  "silver bullet" for rot prevention.  Wrong.    :o Within 5 years you'll be replacing your painted lumber with ground contact pressure treated lumber which is a PITA.  You'll be removing all the covering etc. etc.   

I use Palram Dynaglas SolarSoft on a large greenhouse with 10' walls and a 18' ridge.  It is the best high light, light diffusing corrugated polycarbonate available.....with UV resins extruded into the outside surface and condensation preventive resins extruded into the inside.

Nice job, and good luck!

3738
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Discount Equipment
« on: December 08, 2013, 09:34:12 AM »
Nice job!

I know nothing about PNE tools.  I assume they are professional (tough) quality.  I use Stihl and Felco although the latter is a little pricey.

3739
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What is the best brand of the various gardening tools?
« on: December 08, 2013, 09:29:19 AM »
Stihl and Felco are my favorites for lopping and pruning.  My tools get quite a workout being that I have a choose-n-cut Christmas tree farm and am constantly shaping and pruning. 1 1/2" garden auger on a Ryobi cordless drill makes easy planting of hundreds of babes.

3740
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lula vs. Brogdon Avocado?
« on: December 07, 2013, 10:05:44 AM »
Quote from: BENDERSGROVE on December 07, 2013, 09:55:28 AM
I am a big fan of Brogdon, very tasty though small fruit, tree is very vigorous and fairly cold tolerant, early fruit and great for guacamole.

Big seed.  How do you peel the thing?  Skin is so thin that it just breaks into small pieces for me and then the meat gets stuck on it.  Guess I'm spoiled as I have no problem processing fruit like Fuerte, Bacon, Hass, Reed.  Catalina almost peeled itself.  Meat almost fell off the peel - nice! 

3741
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What fruit to grow in a raised bed?
« on: December 07, 2013, 08:53:34 AM »
Quote from: bangkok on December 06, 2013, 06:31:40 AM
You can also dig if you like but i was to lazy for that. I used gypsum to open the original soil and the worms will do the rest.

Mark the Myth Buster, at your service.  ;)  http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/4DMG/Garden/beware.htm

Being that my soil is calcareous I worked in sulfur before putting the RootBuilder pots in place.  Theory is - sulfur combines with the calcium and forms gypsum  Reality is it's still tight as hell!   ;D

3742
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Lula vs. Brogdon Avocado?
« on: December 07, 2013, 08:43:48 AM »
I'd plant them both in such a manner that if you're later dis-satisified with either you can remove it.   Lula is grown commercially in south Texas.  I don't care for it. Too sweet and a little on the watery side for me but then again orchards tend to harvest before their fruit is at the peak of perfection.  Lula is not very cold hardy.   Look at Day or Oro Negro.  My ON little tree is holding 8 gorgeous fruit in pristine condition and that's with no sprays this year.  Got it (and Brogdon) from PIN last year. 

I may be rushed to early judgement but I'm gonna chop my Brogdon down to a nub and use it as rootstock.  Flavor was great but was impossible to peel, the meat clung to the skin and using a spoon to scoop it out like I would a Hass was useless.  The skin would just break up.  Also, the seed paper stuck to the meat.  Call me picky, but life's too short for that kind of aggravation. 

3743
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« on: December 04, 2013, 03:12:06 PM »
Quote from: nullzero on December 04, 2013, 11:30:03 AM
Mark,

You should really try some prickly pear selections. Most of the wild growing prickly pear is subpar. If you interested in pads I should have some in the future.

Appreciate the offer.  There used to be a big annual prickly pear fruit festival in south Texas.   They used it for just about every concoction you can imagine especially jams and jellies.

3744
Citrus General Discussion / Re: CITRUS TASTING AND OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY DECEMBER 7, 2013
« on: December 04, 2013, 11:16:41 AM »
Good luck with that Ed.  Man, would I love to make that one.  Been reading the news/comments via the Yahoo group.  If I was you, I'd wait until at least Sunday to hold it. This Arctic blast is gonna be a real buggar.  I'm open for the holiday season (choose-n-cut Christmas trees) and most likely will not open Friday and Saturday due to freezing precip and highs in the low 30's.  Looks like Lake Jackson is only getting cold rain. 
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=29.0338575&lon=-95.4343859&site=all&smap=1&searchresult=Lake%20Jackson%2C%20TX%2C%20USA#.Up9U0J2iLnM 


3745
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pics of the garden and the first taste cultivated FL Prickly Pear
« on: December 04, 2013, 11:03:57 AM »
Nice job!  You're gonna have a bunch of fine fruit, congrats.

Prickly pear?  Arrrrggggggggghhhhh, come get it.  It's an invasive cacti here and tough to get rid of.  Guess I should try the fruit sometime.

Good luck!

3746
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Homemade Shade Cloth?
« on: December 03, 2013, 08:22:45 AM »
Something else is going on there, certainly not too much light.  If I had to guess those leaves are "seeing" about 3,000 f.c.

For starts soil looks dry to me  which could increase salts at the root zone.  Also, I don't like those type of saucers as they don't allow the soil to breath or drain as well as the black commercial pots with 6 large drainholes sitting in plastic plant saucers.  Soil should stay constantly moist.  Moist, not saturated.

Heat?  Do you have enough air exchange?

Tents are OK until the plants outgrow the restrictive footprint.

Good luck ~

3747
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Winter Plans/First Arctic Blast
« on: December 02, 2013, 10:35:24 PM »
Quote from: JF on December 02, 2013, 04:18:19 PM
What 23 negative what does this mean?

Believe it means 23F (down) from the average.   Can some graphic geek please clear this up for us weather nerds?

3748
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Winter Plans/First Arctic Blast
« on: December 02, 2013, 09:31:08 AM »
Quote from: KarenRei on December 02, 2013, 08:21:34 AM
Too bad there's really no good way to haul around my biggest tropicals - for example, I think a 3-meter banana tree would make quite a splash downtown  ;)  It'd be fun to set it next to the large plush polar bears on Laugavegur for some nice cognitive dissonance.  ;)

Funnnnnnnnnny stuff!   ;D

3749
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Winter Plans/First Arctic Blast
« on: December 02, 2013, 08:11:49 AM »
Quote from: TriangleJohn on November 30, 2013, 06:32:34 PM
For heat I use an old wood burning stove with a blower unit attached. I can easily get a 20-25 degree gain from outside temps BUT, I have to tend to the fire every hour or so ALL NIGHT LONG. This gets about as old as de-tangling vines (and yes, I grow passionvines in pots so I know all about the tangle). I use a kerosene heater as backup which does a good job on a freezing night but it takes both heat sources on nights below 25.

It sounds like a hassle, but actually sitting by a roaring fire surrounded by tropical trees ain't so bad. Wi-fi will reach out there so I can play on my laptop in the evenings and it still beats hauling everything in and out of the basement.

Stay warm everybody!

Check out the Reznor UDAP heaters.  Fan driven, propane, fired up using a cheap thermostat and you have no worries.  I lease a large tank for $1/yr. and the fuel is cheap.  Easy chair, good book and a cold Porter for me.  ;)

3750
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Winter Plans/First Arctic Blast
« on: December 02, 2013, 08:01:01 AM »
Quote from: KarenRei on November 30, 2013, 11:19:47 PM
And my plants *never* go outside, so it's even easier  ;)

Ah come on Karen, take 'em for a walk in the park once in a while.   8)

We heat 'em big in Texas.  Mah redneck greenhouse has 2 fire burning stoves made out of old whiskey drums.

(Computer controlled 150K BTU Reznor propane heater backed up by a DynaGlo 80K in case of power outage.  ;) )

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