I've always been partial to brunettes...

I'd like to see some in-ground, mature trees on Flying Dragon. I was planning on adding a couple of trees on C-35 but with the encroaching Asian citrus psyllid I'm thinking I could maybe enclose a smaller tree.

Dave Wilson Nursery has some low chill cherries (Zaiger's varieties). but results aren't that good. Cristobalina has a pretty goood reputation and only needs 200 chill hours. www.arboreumco.com carries them but is already sold out for this year. Craig's Crimson is 500-600 hours, probably the next lowest (besides the Zaiger varieties). Some of Dave Wilson's nectarines have pretty low chill requirements.

Four Winds Growers has Oroblanco and Rio Red. They are in NorCal and can probably ship to you. I don't think they are in a quarantine zone. Most of their trees are on Cuban Shaddock, which is NOT a dwarfing rootstock, despite what they will tell you. A while back someone on another forum said they do a few varieties on Flying Dragon, so you might want to call or email and ask, specifically, about the ones you're looking for.

After delving further into Hi-Yield Spreader Sticker in order to answer the question I've come to the conclusion that it shouldn't be used. It consists of alcohol ethoxylate and alkylphenol ethoxylate. Alcohol ethoxylate appears to be surfactant only while alkylphenol ethoxylate does have emulsifying properties. Alcohol ethoxylate appears to be safe, however alkylphenol ethoxylate is an xenoestrogen (it acts as an estrogen). It's been proven to cause the feminization of aquatic organisms and decrease male fertility in those organisms. There are predictions that most men in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand will be infertile by 2060 and I have to wonder if ths is a contributing factor.

Bonide brand spreader/sticker, which contains the same ingredients, is listed as "not for sale in California". Of course, that could just be because they refuse to pay the fees California demands for certification.

Southern Ag spreader/sticker contains octyl phenol polyethoxy ethanol, a known carcinogen,  and also contains isopropanol, rubbing alcohol. Monterey "spray helper" is mostly cotton seed oil but also contains the above mentioned xenoestrogen, at 17%, and isopropanol.

I could find little to suggest that Tween 20 (Polysorbate 20), suggested by Millet, is harmful. Polysorbate 20 and Polysorbate 80 are the same base chemocal, polyethoxylated sorbitan. The difference being lauric acid.added to Polysorbate 20, and oleic acid added to Polysorbate 80. Polysorbate 80 is not known to be carcinogenic, but studies have found decrease fertility in rats at very high rates of ingestion. The key being "very high rates". So, Tween 20  appears to be the safest option.

I don't think the tree has been fertilized unless indirectly from when they fertilized tomatoes growing in the same planting bed. I'm going to try to get them on a schedule but they don't take well to instruction. Last year he pruned off all of the small wood on his peach tree despite my explaining how to do it  (I wasn't there at the time) - didn't have a single peach.

I don't have a scale that will weigh small amounts. Can someone guesstimate how much 100 grams would be in cups or tablespoons?

A friend has a Gold Nugget Mandarin on Flying Dragon. It was purchased as a "5-gallon" tree and has been in the ground for three years. It's still really small. Would the .44-lbs. per 2 gallons of water (actually a gallon or less would probably suffice) mixture be recommended for this tree?

Thanks

gary

In my yard are two Owari Satsuma Mandarin trees. They were planted at the same time, sometime in the seventies. They came from the same source, a farmer who intended to plant an orchard but lost financing and ended up selling off the trees.

One tree is planted on the east side of the house about five feet from the wall. The other, planted on the west side of the house, is about four feet west of the driveway. Neither gets supplemental water and probably never has, nor are they ever fertilized.

The tree on the east side of the house produces fruit with a thin, tight rind that peels cleanly, leaving very little pith. Fruit from the tree on the west side of the house has a thick, puffy, loose rind that leaves a lot of pith when peeled.

The fruit from the tree on the east side of the house is sweeter than the fruit from the tree on the west side.

Within thirty-five feet of the east side tree is a navel orange and a grapefruit tree. The west side tree is fifty feet from those trees and eighty feet from a lemon tree in a yard further to the west.

The tree on the east side is not shaded from the east and gets full pre-noon sun. The tree on the west side is fifteen feet from the house next door, aligned with the back wall, and gets a lot of sun throughout the day.

What could account for the differences in the fruit from the two trees?

Try these:

https://www.noursefarms.com/category/strawberry-plants/

https://indianaberry.com/products/1/1/Plants/Strawberries

^^^ Not surprising. There are hot spots just 15 miles from me here in Modesto.

The tree will be planted in-ground. A Moro, probably on C-35, from Menlo Growers (thanks for the pointer, Badfish8696). We're in 9b (Sunset 14). C-35 is the only non-dwarfing rootstock I've found that we can get here in a quarantine-free zone in Northern California. I'm not sure about the soil, this is for a friend on the other side of town. I know she has very little patience and a bigger tree will look better in her eyes.

On a related note, when's the best time to plant a citrus tree (yes, I know, ten years ago)? But seriously, we've been hitting 108 degrees this week and I can't imagine now being a good time.

I would think the ag department would be doing something if those trees had psyllids or HLB.