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In the midst of this cold spell I did see a few flies messing around on a bunch of blooms on my Maha. I take that as a good sign,I also saw pollinators today big black flies tiny flies honey bee and small sugar bee.
but we'll see.
let's say that i send 12 seeds of my ficus hybrid (opposita x carica) to galatians522. i also send 12 seeds of my hybrid to bovine421. bovine421 sows the seeds, tenderly cares for the seedlings and when they start to produce figs, he pollinates them with carica pollen. galatians522, on the other hand, takes the 12 seeds i gave him and sells them on ebay. he gets $2,012 for them, which he spends on wine and women. when i visit florida i meet with both of them. bovine421 gives me 12,057 seeds of (opposita x carica) x carica. galatians522 has nothing to offer in return for the 12 seeds i gave him.Well you lured me in with your Tropical Fruit Talk. Then got me thinking biblically which is probably overdue. Sent a message to my Caribbean Caravan driver on the lemon drop mangosteen. He still hasn't acquired one but gives you the thumbs up on your plan. He's successfully grown jackfruit just east of the Orlando International Airport. He's trying to grow breadfruit which I think it's a stretch but he has a jungle with a dense canopy and uses propane to retain the heat during Frost or freeze. I'm pretty happy tonight this may be the lowest temperature of this season 36° with a dew point of 28. So this may be the second season we have had no Frost or freeze in my area of Osceola County. In previous seasons you typically have three Frost and one freeze but of a short duration. So back to the biblical fun dialogue I was reflecting on the prodigal sons Envy of how well his employer was feeding the swine and no one cared about he had nothing to eat. So got me to thinking have I ever been envious of an animal. The first thought was when I visited my nephew who has cattle we were eating ribeye steaks of large portions. So as we were having conversation I asked what's that extra steak is someone coming? He says no. He feeds that to his dad's retired coyote Hound. So I curiously ask how often do you feed this dog like that and they say all the time. Well they were feeding me well so I wasn't envious but I'm sure other people would be. Then I remembered the other night i had a light lunch there wasn't much in the house to eat. My daughter forgot to buy dog food for the poodle. So she brought home meatballs from her work. I had burnt a lot of calories that day and was famished .As she was feeding the poodle those meatballs in my Hunger at that moment I was envious of that dog LOL.
both of you already know the original story... the parable of the talents. the original story is a "bit" different. none of the servants actually squandered their talents on wine and women. the servant who did the least with the money he was given, actually just buried it. but the master scolded him within an inch of his life...Quote24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
it's interesting to compare this story with the story of the prodigal son. the prodigal son was welcomed home with open arms, even though he behaved so badly, in comparison to the "slothful" servant, who was cast out. i guess it's only natural to be more forgiving with children than with servants.
but how many of us would trust any of our kids with our rarest seeds?
when we have seeds, the rarer they are, the more selective we are about whose hands we put them in.
reminds me of...Mike, to insure survival of the species send those seeds to forum members on the Big Island in Hawaii. There are 3 serious people I can think of on the suitable wet side . Or to any committed person in true tropics. Pet projects in subtropics can wait for the next batch. You don't know when big cyclone can wipe them out forever. By the way, I'm not asking for any. I'll wait last in line
today i watched fnf's video and two of his durian seedlings looked really good. i believe that this is their 2nd winter. in the video comments he said that the sale of his property fell through.
bovine421 said to visit florida in july for mangoes and muscadine grapes. but look at the thumbnail pic of fnf's video! he's got a big handful of garcinia madruno fruits in january! he harvests them at the end of his video. i'm sure that the madruno fruit doesn't hold a candle to even an average mango. but whose fault is that? who dropped the ball? which servant should we fire? i don't want to get fired. so i want to sow all those madruno seeds in my orange grove and select for the sweetest ones that are fruiting when mangoes are nervous about having their flower buds all wiped out by frost.
heaven on earth shouldn't have an obviously best month when to visit. each month of the year there should be a crazy abundance of diverse and delicious fruit. if we don't shoulder the responsibility of making this a reality, then we should rot in hell. or at least we should be cast into outer darkness to weep and gnash our teeth. in any case, we shouldn't be forgiven, ever.
my family was fond of debating righteous by faith versus righteous by works. personally i've always been on team works...QuoteThe greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its culture. - Thomas Jefferson
let's roll up our sleeves, make some crazy crosses, sow the seeds and select for the most useful plants. voila! heaven on earth.
bovine421, the word "prodigal" means spending money in a wasteful way. what's the story of jonah and the pickle worm? i googled it and the 1st result was for Johah 4. jonah was displeased because god wanted to save the people of nineveh. in order to teach jonah a lesson, overnight he grew a gourd vine to provide jonah with shade from the intense sun. jonah really appreciated the shade. but then the next night, god sent some worms to devour the vine overnight. the next day jonah was very depressed.What I get from that story Is that God can temporarily bless us Even when we don't deserve it. And as we get comfortable with the blessing he can take it away. So do we take them for granted or appreciate what is given temporarily to us. So do we get angry when something that we did not produce did not deserve is taking away from us. Last season I grew some cantaloupes and was not aware of the moth that lays the egg for the pickle worm. The cantaloupes were beautiful I was happy until I noticed something had eaten holes in them. I was thankful that a few had fallen off the vine and that I got to sample these cantaloupes and get motivated for next season. Unknown to me was a blessing that fall that took me to a farm I hadn't been in 40 years. I got to sample some very large cantaloupes from the Sangamon River Valley in Cass County Illinois. Thankfully I didn't get angry with God or the pickle worm. Another Blessing was from this group giving me the knowledge of how to deal with Mr pickleworm. If you come to Central Florida try to come in July. There will be plenty of mangoes and muscadine grapesQuote10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
it's certainly true that, the more labor i put into a plant, the more i'm going to care about it. but this doesn't mean that i won't care if the only mulberry tree in a local park gets chopped down.
i haven't tasted any of the apricot peach hybrids, but i've heard mixed reviews.
i'm not sure if durian was an acquired taste for me. 1st i had a durian smoothie, which i enjoyed. then i tried some durian ice cream which i also enjoyed. after that i also enjoyed some frozen durian. when i finally tasted fresh durian i also enjoyed it. would i have enjoyed it if i had tasted it 1st? i don't know.
Most of us experiencing tree rats are enjoying Rattus rattus, subfamily Murinae, commonly called tree rats, black rats, roof rats, palm rats, ship rats, etc. They are introduced to all continents except antarctica. Not native to CA, they are thriving due to the weather, food, and lack of serious predation by other animals. They were native to Africa, Europe (old world rats), Asia, Australia. It was the black rat, Rattus rattus, that spread the fleas causing the Bubonic plague (Black Death) in Europe. The tree rat (Rattus rattus) is smaller (7 oz) than Norway rat (11 oz) and actually better looking for a rat. Tail is longer than body and a tan or white underbelly. They rapidly climb trees and move through a tree canopy easily. Our orchard is mature and has interlocking limbs, a virtual highway for them. Snap traps work, must be tended regularly. Best bait here is a shelled macadamia nut, they ignore peanut butter etc. preference is the macadamia. They ruin avocados on the tree, bite white sapotes and other fruits and nuts. Their nocturnal habit makes shooting them difficult. Poison is not used due to benign creatures living in the area like possums, raccoons, cats. Neighbor had pest control place poison in their attic, rats died and someone had to find the dead bodies in the attic due to the pervasive odor in their house. Snap traps need to be screened to avoid catching birds. Probably no final solution, but gophers seem to be forever also.Only if they made a poison that dissipated from the carcass quickly. Poison is most effective. There's a song if you can make it in New York you can make it anywhere. Maybe someone should make a song. If you can grow in California you can grow anywhere.🙂
Didn't say you did! Just adding to the Arsenal of ideas. Yes flashing is a good idea. What type of rats do you have in California? Norwegian or the Roof rat maybe something else? As stated above not just rats andsquirrels travel through the canopy If you have a distance of 10 ft in between canopies that could help. A squirrel can jump about 8 ft straight out and five feet up according to the bird feeder people not sure about rats.I didn't say I used stove pipes I use alumimun flashing!I have used thin aluminum flashing that wife picked up at swap meet, it's thin and 24" wide so, easy to wrap around tree to keep critters from climbing up tree also, have made upside down funnels to wrap around tree trunks. Lesson to what Jack, posted about rats because he has had to deal with them for years, now unfortunately I have tree rats in my macadamia trees and trying to trap them with same method that Jack, uses.Corrugated sheets better than stove pipes because most tree trunks are not straight
I have used thin aluminum flashing that wife picked up at swap meet, it's thin and 24" wide so, easy to wrap around tree to keep critters from climbing up tree also, have made upside down funnels to wrap around tree trunks. Lesson to what Jack, posted about rats because he has had to deal with them for years, now unfortunately I have tree rats in my macadamia trees and trying to trap them with same method that Jack, uses.Corrugated sheets better than stove pipes because most tree trunks are not straight
Bovine, have you already started spraying for powdery mildew? I’m in north Orlando, 9B as well, and my bigger concern has been the temperatures lately. Another low to 36F this upcoming Friday. My smaller trees are covered, but larger ones (up to 15 ft tall) are on their own.I'm south of Orlando and the temperatures around 6:30 a.m. has been mostly 40 but it did dip down to 39 couple days ago. When my weather station says the humidity is 70% Plus makes me nervous it's either raining fog or heavy Dew. I go out and check the windshield and hood of my truck to make sure there's no Frost but there has been a little evidence on the neighbor's shingles. Since October monthly I've been spraying for anthrachnose fungus to systemically clean the trees as much as possible until first sign of Bloom. Then I will switch to weekly PM treatments. This weekend was my first application of Dr Earth final stop which is a blend of peppermint clove oil. All my Blooms are still closed. But after reading and asking questions this weekend I'm going to order some potassium bicarbonate. What I've gathered that I like from different statements and posts from people . One fellow said he likes it because he doesn't have to constantly agitate it like sulfur. Another said he sprays it on open boom and has no issues also that sulfur is preventive and potassium bicarbonate as a Curative property to it. I have sulfur but I've never used it because I'm kind of too lazy to constantly agitated in my low-tech handheld sprayer. So this weekend I may spray the sulfur until I can switch to potassium bicarbonate. In past seasons I haven't really troubled to spray for powdery mildew most of my trees are pretty resistant. Last season I didn't spray for powdery mildew and had a great season. A lot of other folks had some major issues so to be prudent I'm going to spray weekly until fruit set then switch back to a final application for anthracnose to keep the fruit pristine.
Regarding PM spraying — Do you wait until the flowers are mostly or completely lengthened out but not opened? Right now a majority of my blooms are maybe 1” long, and some are still buds.
Sounds like potassium bicarbonate is the ticket I read somewhere else where someone said it's not an issue on open bloom. Good to know that sulfur is preventative not Curative. Overlooked this thread because without my glasses I thought paranoid was a Latin word for a tropical fruit LOLIs now the time to begin spraying to prevent PM?
If your budding flower panicles over 2" long, it would be a good preventative to spray sulfur.
Sulfur doesn't kill powdery mildew, it prevents it from establishing. Once it establishes, you can blast it off with water to try and wash the spores into the ground. Milstop (Potassium Bicarbonate) is the only organic treatment Once it gets established. If you don't have Milstop in your arsenal, it may be too late once you get it shipped.
I'm trying a mix of 1 tablespoon of Potassium Bicarbonate and 1/2 teaspoon of Castile Soap per 1 gallon of water.