For a minute there I thought I had to get off my couch, when all the while the fact is we don't have to do anything much but keep things afloat for just a few decades more! In fact, we'd best shut up about PO, because if our offspring finds out we knew about it all along, they'll turn and wring our necks come 2036!
Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1056 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 3:20 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
Ludi wrote:
I've been irrigating with the well. I'm still not willing to use much of the rainwater - I want it for emergencies! This bugs my husband, for some reason. He thinks I should use it...
If your well pump is not solar powered, then you could save some energy by gravity feeding rainwater to at least part of your garden such as the peach trees. _________________ About my avatar: A glassy sphere and a mineral particle magnified 1500 times using a scanning electron microscope.
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4272 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 4:39 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
Peakoiler-
How much rain do you have so far this year?
Up here rain/snow early in the season doesn't really count because the ground is frozen up until March or so (later this year). Pretty much everything that falls April-November goes into the ground. We don't really have to worry about a lack of rainfall in these parts. Last major drought was something like 1988 from what i can remember.
We've had:
May 3.5 inches
April 6.74 inches
I have over 1000 sq ft of rooftop (probably closer to 2000 sq ft with the attached garage) so thats a lot of water!
I've collected about 200 gallons just to have on hand for the blueberries and containers. Everything else can be watered by the sky.
I counted about 9 baby peaches... Oh well. I guess i'll at least have some seed to start more trees next spring.
edit:
I bet i've ate over 25 peaches so far this month (store bought). Ive noticed they are coming form Georgia, South Carolina and California. The California ones have been the best tasting. _________________ "Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07
Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1056 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
frankthetank wrote:
Peakoiler-
How much rain do you have so far this year?
Since I don't turn on the TV very much and haven't checked the almanac recently for the rainfall data for Burnet, TX, I'm not exactly sure. In this part of the world, according to Austin stats, the average rainfall is about 32"/yr, less in the Hill Country west of Austin where I'm at, and more east of Austin towards Houston. The last time I saw the weather almanac on the local news, Austin had over a 2.5" rain deficit, and from my own observations here locally, even more of a deficit than that.
My best guess is that this rooftop has seen less than 10" of rain this year, or about 2,500 gallons less of collected rainwater.
This is why I'm wanting to build/install a greenhouse and another carport to install rainwater gutters on. My rainwater shadow is still too small. _________________ About my avatar: A glassy sphere and a mineral particle magnified 1500 times using a scanning electron microscope.
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4272 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:54 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
Weatherunderground has you at 8.76 inches since Jan 1... Lowest temp of 24F and a high of 98F... Your 7 day looks
HOT!
Guy that works with my wife is from south TX. I always wonder why he doesn't move back. Sometimes i let him know what the weather is like. I think he's from way down there, near the border.
For some reason this area of the country (N. IA, WI, parts of MN) has just been wet for years now. Last August 15.1 inches of rain fell in 24hrs in Hokah, MN about 10 miles from here. I ended up with around 10 inches. _________________ "Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4272 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:26 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
Here's my peachless peach trees. I think there is about 8 peaches total on the 2 trees. They look great for such crappy spring weather. _________________ "Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07
Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1056 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:55 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
frankthetank wrote:
Here's my peachless peach trees. I think there is about 8 peaches total on the 2 trees. They look great for such crappy spring weather.
See? I can certainly relate, Frank, as you well know. Like I said a few pages back, "Mom Nature sure can be a drag sometimes."
Your trees still look pretty young. Just give them time. As I've mentioned before, one can't expect great yields every year. They will get better. Diversity is a key to success. Plant many other types of trees too. _________________ About my avatar: A glassy sphere and a mineral particle magnified 1500 times using a scanning electron microscope.
Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1056 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
This baby pink grapefruit is only 1.5" (3.8cm) in diameter:
It will be ready in December if it survives. A few others are even smaller. The other citrus are coming along. I may eat my first home-grown orange this fall!
All four pineapple are still alive, as well as some baby pomegranate and more Meyers lemon sprouts:
_________________ About my avatar: A glassy sphere and a mineral particle magnified 1500 times using a scanning electron microscope.
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4272 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 6:02 am Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
I've got 3 pineapples going. Next spring i have to be careful when i put them outside so i don't kill a bunch of the leaves like i did on mine earlier this spring.
That citrus looks perfect.
I have a seedling of a Kumquat seed i planted back this winter. Man..its a slow grower. I need to repot it soon. I've read that they don't do well on their own roots, and from what i learned, thats true. I had a bunch of seedlings to begin with and they all died. _________________ "Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07
Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1056 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
Here's an update:
The weights listed are the raw, sliced-up, processed weight (without pits.) (What I actually ate.)
They were small but very sweet. Not enough for canning or pies. There are two peaches left on one tree that are almost ready. I put some bird netting around them and they're looking good. A late freeze, a bad wind storm, and the drought really took it's toll on the harvest this year. But some is better than none. _________________ About my avatar: A glassy sphere and a mineral particle magnified 1500 times using a scanning electron microscope.
Joined: Oct 23, 2005 Posts: 1701 Location: East of Eden
Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 1:34 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
We've learned the importance of thinning the fruit. We have a peach tree in our plot that was quite prodigious this year. I thinned the fruit twice, trying to be brutal about it - but there was still so much on there that we lost a major limb under the weight this week. Just cracked and then came down.
We've gotten lots of fruit from this tree, but none of it is particularly tasty. It's okay. We took over this plot in April of this year, I can see the tree was not pruned properly. I will try to do that this fall, and some fertilizer, and see if the tree does better next year. I'd rather have one fifth the fruit, but have it be tasty and nutritious. And I'd rather not lose any more branches! I thinned the tree a third time this week, throwing away many rather promising looking fruits, to avoid losing any more of the tree.
This thing has been rather a lot of work so far. _________________ "If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst." — Thomas Hardy
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4272 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:37 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
My seed grown peaches are about 2 feet tall now. The last 4 weeks they've really starting growing pretty good. I have over 10, with 6 Reliance seedlings in the ground and the rest in containers. I need to protect the seedlings in the ground over the winter. Probably put a small piece of fencing around each one and fill it with leaves.
One thing i've noticed with peach seedlings is they tend to have a lot of yellow leaves. _________________ "Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07
Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1056 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:19 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
My 1,000th post. Wow. What do I get?
A half of inch of rain from Dolly. (I love tropical storms.)
I've processed 38 peaches, with just a few more in the frig. So the peach harvest was about a fifth from last year.
Meanwhile, the citrus are hanging in there:
And here's a close up of a few grapefruit:
On July 12th, I counted 21 lemons, 9 limes, 4 grapefruit, and 1 satsuma. I'm not quite sure why the yield is lower, but I suspect some soil nutrients may be lacking, perhaps some got too cold during the winter months, 100+F heat in June (which didn't occur last June IIRC), so I will try some things different as time goes on. They really need to be in the ground, but I don't have a good greenhouse built yet... _________________ About my avatar: A glassy sphere and a mineral particle magnified 1500 times using a scanning electron microscope.
Joined: Dec 27, 2004 Posts: 11991 Location: zombie horde wonderland
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:17 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
We let the birds have our pathetic tiny peaches. _________________ "...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow..." - jboogy
Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1056 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:38 am Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
Today I harvested my first Persian lime of the season. It weighed in at 94 grams, and 48 grams are left as shown below (after eating the first half.) I think I will start a tradition of having a shot of tequila with each year's first lime.
Two of the Meyers lemon trees are blossoming again and the hummingbirds are busy. _________________ About my avatar: A glassy sphere and a mineral particle magnified 1500 times using a scanning electron microscope.
Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 1056 Location: Central Texas
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 1:36 pm Post subject: Re: Citrus and Peach trees
Rats. I'm out of tequila.
Here is my final total for peaches in 2008. I ate all 41! Droughts bite.
Edited image to include harvest date column. _________________ About my avatar: A glassy sphere and a mineral particle magnified 1500 times using a scanning electron microscope.
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This bugs my husband, for some reason. He thinks I should use it...
(I love tropical storms.)
