Why bother with this forum! I guess the virus is hard on forums too. My wife keep telling me, you only spend a 1/2 hour on your I-pad a day Max!

Well bob There is so little going on with everyone home. Even the "citrus growersV2" forum is bankrupt of activity.. There is a small amount of non-citrus tropical on tropical fruits forum. Even the mighty Facebook citrus forums are all close to dead. Some excitement in my neighborhood. Over the past 2 weeks 3 people have been gunned down. No survivors.

Steve

Steve, take a look at the Growing Fruit Forum, this forum always going bonkers, I like that set-up they use. I am lucky to grow a decent variety of fruits.

I'll check it out and I must say you do well with quite an assortment of trees.

Steve

Bob what a nice grafting setup! And I would never be brave enough to trim it back so much! I have been unhappy with the shape of my variegated pink Lemon but too scared to cut it and not sure where! I’ll be watching to see how your trimming turns out :)

and yes I agree there’s not much going on around this forum I guess the virus makes it so no one can really go out to buy any new trees or they haven’t arrived I’m sure it’ll pick up in the summer again. Although I do wonder about Brian we still haven’t heard from him it’s quite worrisome!

I don’t think Houzz will be a growing player in the future, it attracts one time lookers than they disappear for what ever reasons. It is too stagnant for me. I am more progressive in nature but slowing down now. Steve is big rootstocks guy, which is good if you are a zone pusher. I am just try to keep my tree’s alive and well, that’s all I am shooting for. Brian is a big player here, gosh whatever he is going through, I wish him the best, I just got to know him, not too many are like him. He never says a bad word about anyone. It will be nice if we have more members like him. But that’s ok, we are just in training.

Bob do you have any dragon fruit plants

Steve, at one time I was interested but citrus took over, now I just got way too much of them. Absolutely no room or desire to go that route.

Just finish pruning the above small tree this morning , think it will be looking good by the end of the year and have a couple of fruits next year.

Bob have you ever root pruned roots extremely? I’m just wondering because one of my trees started drooping in winter so yesterday night started to take it out of its pot and then I found tons and tons of mould I’d never seen anything like it! Looked like mould on food and the same smell too it was all over the soil and roots! Roots rotted all the way to the core so I cut back to what root wasn’t peeling in skin and there was barely any maybe an inch of the large woody roots were left. I don’t know what happened it was in a bark based mix in clay pot and warmed with string lights so I know the soil was warm maybe too warm? So much so that mould started growing?

Bob where is everyone last summer seems like this place was very active! Glad you and some others still around.

i should have taken a picture of the white fuzzy mould all over the roots and soil before washing it off bob But the smell was really strong so I just hosed it off. but here’s what it was like after a wash off as you can see even the big roots were peeling it’s outer layer.

You really don’t need those fat roots anyway, they don’t do anything for the tree but strangle other roots. Cut those of with sharp pruners. Stay with black plastic container, a squat one if you can find one. By the time you got it clean up, there probably be much left,

I personally love Rootmaker Pots, the 5gl ones. While new roots are growing, the tree need some adjusting, stick it somewhere and don’t bother it for a week or so. Temps around the pot should be 60* or higher. Roots don’t do anything below 58*. 56* or lower with wet soil spells disaster. Room temps should be around 65. To start growing.

Amy, is probably on pins and needles right now, not saying much. Anyway, wishing all of you a good start soon.

Mine are all good, off and running, all are loaded. Not counting my chickens............!

Btw Jan, how are you doing with figs, did Pino got you going.? With a greenhouse, can,t you control the temps in the fall, since you going into subtropicals.?

Thanks for the advice bob there were barely any roots at all it really got it bad I’d never seen anything like it before wonder what happened! it did have cold roots in the winter and maybe I did overwater it I guess it was the perfect storm, the longer we’re in this citrus hobby the more we learn about them there’s always something new bob!

Yes bob soon he will ship me the smith fig and the ciccio Nero cutting I can’t wait to root it hope I succeed. :) I keep my temps just above freezing so I don’t get bugs in the winter in the greenhouse bob but I could technically heat it really well and insulate the glass may try that with root maker pots this season! I think amy might have mentioned something about root maker pots I can’t remember if it was her or Laura.

bob hope you get a huge harvest this year although I bet your persimmon harvest will be enough to feed a village just like last year!

Jan, you might want to follow my article in the Growing Fruit Forum: Smith versus Cravens. C. Post. It give you inside on growing the finest figs in challenging zones. It’s a good read. These guys know their stuff.

Bob do you have a link for this site.

Steve

Bob, are you kidding? You always have way to keep this place lively and fun. With me I have been dealing with some family issues but they will get better. We just lost another dear friend to the Covid virus, tested and true. But thank you for all you do and I really enjoy being here when I get the chance.

I do wonder about Brian though, I don't understand. It's as if he ghosted us. I hope he is ok and comes back soon. He is missed.

Jan, got some fig news for you. I am getting 2 new varieties send this week. Something you might be interested one is : Moscatel preto, the other Red Lebanese Bekaa Valley.

Maybe Pino has them, good for your area.

Hi guys sorry for being MIA for a little while I’ve been in a crochet and knitting frenzy for gifts as there’s no going out for a fancy dinner for birthdays anymore! Mike I am so sorry for that news it’s terrible my dear friend has also come down with a fever and flu and she was at a dental conference over a month ago that was reportedly the start of the outbreak in Vancouver. However every single hospital has turned her down for the covid tests saying they’ve run out which means the numbers that are being reported cant be true! its terrible and something never saw coming I will pray for you and your family mike it’s not easy but keep your head up. hugs!!! I too worry about Brian I truly hope he’s ok.

bob I’ll ask pino for them And see if they’d be great in my area! Bob just when I thought my shopping spree was capped our local nursery just emailed us saying they have a bunch of dwarf apple trees!!! Oh boy am I in trouble they have everything from Fuji to Honeycrisp to pink lady! They’re saying the root stock can be containerized and very hardy to freezes! I am thrilled! Looks like I’ll have my own jungle by the end of summer bob :) bob how are things in your neck of the woods? Rain for us for the next two weeks! I’ll take a look at the Fruit grower forum article and try to search for it bob it’ll be raining so not much I can do out there anyways Time for indoor hobbies for a while.

Jan, everything fine so far, looking decent, can’t complain. Apples: Honey Crisp, by far. pink Lady, don’t know. The virus must hit hard including here.

Bob, did you not see what I wrote to you again?

"Bob, are you kidding? You always have way to keep this place lively and fun. With me I have been dealing with some family issues but they will get better. We just lost another dear friend to the Covid virus, tested and true. But thank you for all you do and I really enjoy being here when I get the chance."

If you want to know the reason why these forums don't move at times, that could be one reason.

Jan, it's so good to see you! Thank you for your kind words and caraing. You always have a way of appreciating good people and something tells me the reason why Brian left is because you are one of a minute handful that does. So thank you. How is your friend doing now? My mother just lost one and now my dad's nursing just discovered a break out of it. My dad is being tested today but so far no loss of life in that place yet. Hugs to you and be strong. Can't wait until it warms up enough around here to play outside and stick my trees out. Can't wait. I have been averaging 40's abd thrities for days when 60's should rule. Way below normal for the next 20 days they are saying when just in March they said we would see above normal temps. Boy thhey have it all wrong as usual.

Mike

Mike, when you get old you loose all your friends, so I am there already so I don’t have any friends left. Family? Pretty thin here too. I spend a few years in a orphanage, I engrave a sign in my pretty small garden saying: “The Orphanage”. all my tree’s are my orphans.

I am lucky. I know of no one with ar dead from covid. Very few die offs of friends A brother in law died at 81 from Parkinson couldn't swallow or close esophagus to keep food in stomach. Aspiration pneumonia

Steve