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Messages - jcaldeira

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51
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Ideal Scion Length for Grafting
« on: March 25, 2015, 04:40:41 PM »
What is the ideal scion length for cleft and whip grafting?  Have there been studies showing how results vary with various scion lengths?

Most of my scions are between 100 and 150 mm (4"-6") and I choose this length mostly because I am blindly following what I was taught.  I like to have 4 or 5 buds on a scion, but that's about the only justification I have.   My results are very good when the rootstock and scion are both in a growth mode, but I wonder if it would be even better with shorter or longer scions.  What do you folks think?


52
If we can build a pipeline to carry dirty tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, it seems we should be able to pipe more water to our friends in California.

Oil is orders of magnitude more valuable per liter shipped than water.

Oil costs more than water, but lack of water would shut down California's just as fast as lack of oil.  It's not an oil or water choice though.

Whether from the Colorado River, Lake Superior, or elsewhere, more long distance aqueducts are probably going to be necessity.

53
Water in California will be getting more expensive, no doubt about that.  It may put some agriculture out of business unless they get major concessions.

Don't dismiss a long-range aqueduct pipeline so quickly.  California already has an aqueduct that spans from near San Francisco to San Diego. it's 1,100 km long and has a lift of 610 meters over mountains.  If climate change makes drought a regular occurrence, I expect we'll see longer and longer aqueduct systems.




54
US may inspire by Gaddafi´s Great Man-Made River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

I wasn't aware of the Libyan pipeline.  Thanks for sharing.

A pipeline from Lake Superior (surface elevation 180 meters) to San Diego, California, would be approximately 3,200 kilometers, not much longer than the Libyan pipeline.

Unrealistic you have to go through the various large mountain ranges with elevation climbs over 8,000 ft. Libya was easy it was flat desert sloping toward the ocean. Oregon and Washington state is possible due to less distance and elevation climb needed for the pipeline.

Of course it wouldn't be easy, but neither was the Great Wall of China or the Panama Canal. 

Today's desalinization technology is energy inefficient, and water conservation and reuse can only go so far.   

We also need to look more at large-scale snow-melt capture from the Rockies.   

55
US may inspire by Gaddafi´s Great Man-Made River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

I wasn't aware of the Libyan pipeline.  Thanks for sharing.

A pipeline from Lake Superior (surface elevation 180 meters) to San Diego, California, would be approximately 3,200 kilometers, not much longer than the Libyan pipeline.

56
If we can build a pipeline to carry dirty tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, it seems we should be able to pipe more water to our friends in California.

57
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Too much fruit. What does one do?
« on: March 16, 2015, 08:24:59 PM »
Ill be in Fiji in about 4 months doing humanitarian aid....hook it up J...ill even take your drops 😅

That's great.  I need humanitarian aid.   :)   Especially farm labour, and I need a BBQ grill and chicken house built.

Which part of Fiji?  How long will you be here?

You are welcome to visit my farm when you have some time off, maybe go out for some snorkeling or fishing if you'd like.

58
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Too much fruit. What does one do?
« on: March 16, 2015, 04:25:16 PM »
This is one reason I dont grow fruits like peaches that ripen all within a couple weeks.

Bananas are the worst.  No one needs 120 bananas at one time.

59
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Too much fruit. What does one do?
« on: March 16, 2015, 02:45:06 AM »
It's feast of famine when it comes to most fruit production.   What do y'all do with your excess fruit?

I freeze and process a little in jams and chutneys to give as gifts, and bring bags of fresh fruit to friends.  In a year or two I'll have enough to starting selling.  What do you do with all the fruit you can't personally use?

60
According to the latest Salary Survey report from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), agriculture is not such a bad career choice for those looking to make a decent living. The survey, which reports starting salaries for new college graduates, projects the average starting salary for agriculture and natural resources graduates at $51,220. This figure places agriculture above the healthcare category and just below business. - Millet

lol

puh-leeze. This is one of the worst designed Surveys I've ever seen.

Starling1, are you agreeing with me again?  I hate it when you do that.

61
Chinese honey: I think it's safer that they're using something other than real honey, since there's the pesticide issue with honey. I can't say for sure if there's actually unsafe levels of pesticides since groups making those claims usually have financial(honey cartel?) or political (government protectionist) interests.

U.S. honey almost NEVER will have significant pesticides.  Nobody puts pesticides on clover.  Or on citrus when it's blooming.  Read the label and buy U.S. honey. 

If you think corn syrup is safer, go ahead and buy it but let's not call it 'honey'.

62
A similar problem exists with Chinese honey.  It is often relabeled, and sometimes even rerouted, through a third country to avoid the stigma of being Chinese honey.   Chinese honey has been found to sometimes be adulterated with cheaper syrups, and its pesticide and antibiotic concentrations are sometimes above U.S. regulatory limits.  Some countries have an outright prohibition against Chinese honey imports.

63
Several problems with this survey.   First, the category is called "Agriculture and Natural Resources" - not just agriculture.   Secondly, the sample size was woefully small - only 20 responses in that category, and we don't know how many of those were actually 'agriculture'.

Most importantly, the survey surveyed employers, asking for the starting salaries of their new employees.  They did not survey job seekers or recent graduates of those disciplines.  We might find quite a different income if all agriculture graduates were surveyed, as it would include the ones working at Wal-mart.

http://www.naceweb.org/uploadedFiles/Content/static-assets/downloads/executive-summary/2015-january-salary-survey-executive-summary.pdf

64
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Self Watering Container
« on: March 10, 2015, 04:10:15 PM »
The drainage and water-holding capacity of the planting medium will have a huge affect on how well plants do in a pot.   

There is also much variability in flood and drought resistance of individual tropical fruit species that it would be difficult to draw overall conclusions on the worth of such a pot.

From a functional standpoint, self-watering pots don't appear to be significantly different from regular pots that sit in a pan. 

65
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Propagation by Cuttings
« on: March 06, 2015, 04:03:46 PM »
I am interested in propagating new plants from my Cherry Guava, Blackberry Jam Fruit, and Pepper vine.   What are the best practices for maximizing success when propagating from cuttings?

For herbaceous plants. such as Basil, starting them in water seems to work best.  For figs, I've had more success planting directly in soil in a plastic tent to maintain high humidity.  What works with Cherry Guava, Blackberry Jam Fruit, and Pepper?

Or is it easier to air-layer?

66
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Valencias grown in the tropics
« on: March 01, 2015, 02:54:58 AM »
With my Washington Navels, I get a good quality, sweet fruit if I pick during the cooler, drought-stressed season.  The same trees yield watery fruit if picked in the warmer rainy season.

67
Don't worry about the bees I heard monsanto is releasing pesticide resistant gmo bees, they are in the testing phase now (jk btw  ::)).

Oh yeah?  We're going to need GMO humans to eat the honey from the GMO bees, too.   :)

68
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Picking W.I. (Key) Limes - Ouch!
« on: February 26, 2015, 02:13:43 PM »
Key Lime grove workers are provided with protective gloves. - Millet

I'd need a protective body suit.  A lot stronger than a bee suit, too!


69
Citrus General Discussion / Re: Picking W.I. (Key) Limes - Ouch!
« on: February 26, 2015, 09:11:44 AM »
Yes what wicked thorns they have.
Perhaps a contraption similar to what they use to harvest prickly pears around here.

And what contraption is that?

p.s.: Millet, nail clippers?  I don't have all day to pick the fruit.  :)  These trees are fairly large.

70
Citrus General Discussion / Picking W.I. (Key) Limes - Ouch!
« on: February 25, 2015, 06:00:52 PM »
Every time I pick a bag of West Indian (Key) Limes, the tree thorns poke poor innocent me.  Does anyone know of a clever device that is effective for picking the limes off the tree?  Something that would extend my reach would be nice, too.

71
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Trimming overgrown avocado tree then graft?
« on: February 23, 2015, 05:16:57 PM »
I'd cut it down to a stump, let the water sprouts shoot up and then re graft it. You could do a couple grafts with type A and type B variety to help your fruit set. Carlos on the forum does it to a lot of trees in his grove. I'm sure he wouldn't do it if it shortened the trees lifespan.
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+1
+2

72
Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: apples anyone
« on: February 20, 2015, 03:18:39 PM »
I worked on an apple farm in upstate New York during my high school years.   Picking, pressing and bottling cider.  That was a long time ago, before all the dwarfing rootstocks such as M9.  Now, apples are typically grown tightly in rows, trees 2 meters apart, almost like a vegetable.

And the new varieties are great.  Has anyone tried SnapDragon, also known as NY1?  It's a hybrid from the HoneyCrisp.  I've not tried it but hear it's very good.
\

wtf! There is an improved Honeycrisp?

I can't say it's improved, but it's expected to be widely available this fall in the U.S.

http://www.nyapplecountry.com/varieties/25-snapdragon-new



"We refer to SnapDragon's crispy texture as a 'monster crunch' because it bursts with a sweet and juicy flavor that comes from its Honeycrisp parent." according to a statement from Jeff Crist, vice chairman of the apple growers group. "The apple was a big hit among taste testers so we expect consumers will really enjoy this new variety especially Moms who are looking for a healthy alternative to traditional junk foods."

73
Temperate Fruit Discussion / Re: apples anyone
« on: February 20, 2015, 01:48:19 PM »
I worked on an apple farm in upstate New York during my high school years.   Picking, pressing and bottling cider.  That was a long time ago, before all the dwarfing rootstocks such as M9.  Now, apples are typically grown tightly in rows, trees 2 meters apart, almost like a vegetable.

And the new varieties are great.  Has anyone tried SnapDragon, also known as NY1?  It's a hybrid from the HoneyCrisp.  I've not tried it but hear it's very good. 

74
In Fiji, seedling mango trees begin fruiting in 5 to 8 years.  Grafted trees mostly 3 years.

I found the David Sturrock article linked above quite interesting.  I am top-working one 10 year old tree now and will try grafting some scions from a 2 year old Ataulfo seedling tree on part of it to see if it accelerates maturity.

75
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Pruning scions
« on: February 17, 2015, 10:30:34 PM »
My mango pruning is done with the desired shape of the tree in mind, not to maximize the number of branches early-on. 

Starting at about one meter height, I encourage branching to 3 or 4 main branches. 

Then every 30-50 cm (12"-20") up to as high as I can reach, I prune again to get 3 or 4 more branches, sometimes only two.  When a branch has more than 4 sprouts, the extra ones are pruned off, mostly towards the inside of the tree to encourage a spreading shape.  Something like this:



The pruning in the original post seems extreme when considering how the tree will look in a few years, but there are many ways that work.

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