Quote from: wslau on February 28, 2014, 12:12:33 PM

Warren,

Will we be bound to buy whats on the pre-order list?

Like you, I am assuming that the trees we buy will be as good, or better than the La Verne trees sold in the nurseries.

I think it is fair to say that the answer is NO. 
I did NOT receive any order stipulations other than 1) not to post prices and 2) payments must be made in cash.
If we do not like the tree(s) that is given to us, we will ask for another one or decline.
The main purpose of the pre-order list was to help LaVerne prepare the inventory in advance and speed up the process of checkout/payment.

We are just one week away from the TFF group tour of LaVerne Nursery.  Rain or shine!

I will be sending out the pre-order list on Saturday (03/01/14) morning to LaVerne.  So please let me know if there are any changes to your pre-order/request.
Thanks.

My friend in Glendora CA has two macadamia nut trees.  I concur that ripe nuts will eventually fall off the tree and the green outer shell splits.  But you can pick them off the tree too... Just more laborious.  Yes, the sign of squirrels is one indication the nuts are ripe.  The squirrels were an issue for him.  His solution involved pellet gunning 52 squirrels, but then again my friend is retired and has time to hunt them out.

So I had fun yesterday gathering nuts off the ground.  It also takes a lot of labor to prep the nuts for eating...  Splitting the green outer shell, drying out the nut in inner brown shell for a week or two...then the fun part of cracking the hard inner shell with a hammer.
But the nuts are awesome without roasting and without salt!

I believe that Fang only posted the varieties tested that day.
Here they are again for reference.

Looks like the big winners were #5, 6, 8, and 16.

ID. Variety
1. Big Sister
2. Booth
3. Bradley
4. Chaffey
5. Deliciosa
6. El Bumpo
7. Fino de Jete
8. Lucida
9. Nata
10. Orton
11. Ott
12. Oxhart
13. Pierce
14. Sabor
15. Salmon
16. Selma
17. Whaley
18. White
19. Unidentified

Excellent job Harry! Great news and so inspiring!
I recently ordered buddy tape for the first time...I'll see if that is part of the secret to a tighter wrap and successful graft.

I have heard from several different sources that it may be better to step up the size of the container slowly. If you move a plant from a small container to a very large container, you willbe wasting a lot of the soil and water because the root mass has not filled the new larger container.
Simon

Ditto.  I agree.

Very nice socal10b.  Looks very healthy. 

These are the cherimoyas that I picked up from Champa over the last 2 weeks.
Honeyhart is on the left.  Fino De Jete was grafted on it from a scion I got from Fang.
El Bumpo is on right.  I'm debating, but I will probably graft Elixir on this.

Warren

i want to get a big sister because it has big fruits not sure about the taste, i don't know where to get a big sister in los angeles area?

socal10b,

One more thing....I recall (from 2012) that Roger Meyer sold Big Sister cherimoya at his Escondido farm (not exactly close to LA)...perhaps he has some at his Fountain Valley home...you'll have to call him or e-mail him.   I found it best to call him.  Good luck!

Musebox,

The soil does look a little too moist for wintertime.  May need to let it dry out a little.
I'm more concerned about branch on the right (that is turning black...in the 2nd picture).  It is possible that it may break off completely, even with healthy looking leaves above it. 
I just had a similar thing happen to my Carrie during a brief cold snap in early December.

I really like Champa Nursery too. Champa's trees seem larger than other places....Their cherimoyas are much larger than the ones I saw at Home Depot...even though they all came from LaVerne Nursery.

Did you get your mango trees for $60?...that seems to be a decent sale price...those 3 gallon Glenn's towards the street side were really tall!  They probably need to be put in 7 gallon containers soon.

Does anyone have trouble getting Nam Doc Mai #4 mango trees to flower and fruit in the coastal areas (i.e. Carlsbad, CA)?
I gave a La Verne Nursery grafted Nam Doc Mai #4 tree to my friend many years ago and he has never had it fruit, let alone flower.
The tree is well over 6 feet tall and looks really healthy, but is in a 20 gallon pot.
Should he give it more fertilizer with phosphorous or is this mango variety just too difficult to grow in Carlsbad's coastal climate?
Thanks.

It should be an interesting year. Most trees are now setting fruitlets. the only tree that didn't flower was the choc anon??

JF,

Interesting... but does the Choc Anon normally flower twice a year for you in LaHabra?

Mangosurf,
PIN identifies the best early season mangos as Florigon, Glenn, and Carrie.
As Marklee stated, Rosigold is another early variety.  I believe MangoFang still has a Rosigold, so you may want to ask him.  Many of us SoCalers have Glenn trees and are happy with its sweet fruits, ease of growing, and good production....but the Glenn tree is a fairly slow grower in CA.