I got a doubt I'd like to share with you. I have a vacuum packaging machine at home since a couple of months ago and I'm using it to package scions of some fruit trees (persimmon, stone fruit, chestnut...). But somebody told me that vacuum packaging actually deshidrates scions. I don't understand how is that possible, but this guy has been grafting for years... So I'd appreciate the opinion of those that have tried this before. Any experiences?

Thank you

Hi,

I'm trying to find Copper(II) hydroxide here in Spain to make my own paint and is being way difficult. Shops don't sell less than 5 kilos for 45€ and you need a professional card of pesticide manipulator (which I don't have) to purchase it. There is any other copper fungicide easier to find that can be use as an alternative to Copper Hydroxide to prepare the paint?

Thanks for your help

Hi everyone,

I sown a few seeds of red jabo in September and finally two of them sprouted. Although didn't grow at all, they seemed OK until few days ago when I noticed that one had started to die back. Now the other one is dying back too. They are both still alive but it's plain that something is wrong in the conditions.They received some sun throw a window a few minutes per day (not anymore). Also I added by mistake water with some citric fertilise into the pot, in a normal dosis for mangoes. I wonder if any of these factors could explain this problem or could be something else. They are kept in a temperature of 64-74F. Any clue will be deeply appreciated.

Does anybody know what causes these orange spots in dragonfruit? They appear recently in these seedlings and in an adult plant nearby.

Hi,

I'd like to buy some fresh seeds of the jackfruit varieties Red Morning, Excalibur Red, Bangkok Lemon, Crunchy Lemon or Mai 3. When is the best season for that? Anybody has seeds to sell?

Thanks!

Jose

After reading lots of comments in the forum about growing lychees in pots and ground, I have a doubt about when to pass my two lychees remaining in pots into the ground. I already planted in June a Kaimana and a Wae Chee. They both suffered some burning/drying in the new flushes that they developed when were already in ground, due to too much sun and the stress from planting (they passed from a greenhouse to unfiltered sun at the same time). So I decided to keep my two other recent bought lychees (FZS and Salathiel) in their pots, placed in the north side of my garden, where they receive shadow until 5:30 PM and a shower from watering grass system every 48 hours. They are obviously happier there than the other two already in the ground in the western side, where is hotter and drier (anyway these two are dealing pretty well too, given that is their first summer into the ground, Kaimana, which enjoys wind and now also sun protection, finally developed big, green leaves with not burn tips).

So the question is that summer keeps going on, soon will come the fall, and I must take a decision regarding my two lychees in pots. Leaving them in the north side of the garden is not an option, wind, cold and total lack of direct sunlight during winter doesn't sound like the best setting for lychees. My doubt is if I should plant them now along with the other two lychees in the western side of the garden (they would have there shading meshes and shadow from trees, that will be remove as lychees grow) or would be better to keep them in pots and wait until next spring, having them indoors or in a south spot during winter.

These are the two trees (bought them in July, both developed new flushes almost intermediately after, and they are still growing/hardening these flushes):

Salathiel



Fay Zee Shiu



In the pictures it's impossible to see, but pots are typical tall pots for young trees, 14 inches tall and 6 inches wide (about 3 gallons).

Hi everyone,

I want to share with you my short experience with lychees. About 40 days ago I planted one Kaimana and one Wae Chee in my garden. Both of them were placed in sunny spots since is known that lychees need sun to grow and yield. Heat has been the usual here at this point of the year, around 84 F, with some days getting up to 90 F. During nights temps drop to 65-70F. They have water almost everyday when is really hot, and every 2-3 days when maximum temps drop to 80 F. Soil have plenty of organic material and both of the trees have mulch. They started to sprout about the same time 1 month ago, but little after started the problems. I have not experience with lychees so at the beginning I thought it was just that they are very slow growers. Days past but new flushes barely grew, and Wae Chee finally gave up and leaves fell:

 


Kaimana kept pushing, but veeeeeery slowly. Branches under shadow seemed to push faster, but as soon as they got out of the protection from old leaves, stopped:




I understood that something was going wrong but I didn't know what could exactly be until I bought two more lychees 3 weeks ago. One of them was a Salathiel, the other a Fei Zhi Siu. Salathiel had mealybug so I took him away and put it in quarantine while treating it. My surprise was enormous when after a very few days the tree was pushing new branches. But it's even bigger now because it's the only one growing normally. Actually for a variety that is famous for being the slowest, is growing great:



So where is the difference between the conditions for Salathiel and for the other 3? In the exposition. Salathiel was placed in the north wall of the house, so it just get sun in the evening, roughly the 3 last hours of sun. It also receive a shower every 2 days from the irrigation system of grass, in the evening (so the drops you can see in the picture). The other 3 receive several hours of direct sun, including the central ones. And not showers. They all have protection from winds, and anyway wind is not being a problem this month, just a gentle breeze. So my conclusion is that they are too small to receive that kind of direct sun at this moment of the year. I set a shading mesh over the Kaimana to avoid direct sun during central hours and moved the FZS (still in its pot) to the same location than the Salathiel.

Now I'm planing to plant them both near to two big trees that I was going to take out but I'm thinking of pruning them as the lychees grow, to provide some shadow the first years. Any thoughts or alternative conclusions/ideas to what I exposed here will be deeply appreciated! 

Hi everyone,

I bought yesterday my rootstocks to graft, all of them Gomera 3. Most have just one stem, but 3 of them have already spread and have  3/4 branches. They are just around 20 inches high. So my doubt is, given that they will be grafted in one month, should I remove all the stems except the strongest one or should I leave all of them and graft them all?

Here the pics of the 3 rootstocks with more than one stem:

This one has already 3 stems, all of them pushing new flushes:



This one has 2 healthy stems and one tiny branch in the centre, at least this last one I really think that I should remove it:



And this one has 4 stems, but there is a stem stronger than the surrounding ones, so probably would be wise to let just the main one:



I'll deeply appreciate any advice/opinion from you!

Jose