On Saturday, September 7, 2013 7:45:00 PM UTC-7, songbird wrote:
Higgs Boson wrote:

...

Thanks, Kay - very informative. Question: From the tree's

POV, its raison d'etre -- along with all living things,

including people -- is to reproduce the species. So why

would it engage in such wild "mood-swings", rather than

consistently reserving enough photosynthate (new term to

me) to produce enough fruit which it "hopes" will create

more trees?



once you take a natural fruit tree and then graft it

onto some other root stock, then plant it in a lawn you've

stacked the deck against regular production.

This is really interesting! Innocent question: WHY would grafting and planting "stack the deck..."

if you want alternative views on fruit tree production

methods read Sepp Holzer and Masanobu Fukuoka as both

use/used natural methods and found more even production.

Uh, thanks...I guess!... perhaps too technical for moi?

still, in some areas, you cannot escape climate issues

like early thaws or frosts which destroy the blooms. so...

you accept, and move on, plant many varieties and enjoy

what nature brings, put some up for the lean times.

I'm in a very mild Mediterranean climate which doesn't -- or didn't until global warming began to make itself felt -- suffer from wild swings. In fact here, 1 mile from the beach, we do not get frost.

Because of the mild climate, normally we can't grow fruit that requires a lot of winter chill. For years I longed to grow blueberries, but until a few [years?] [decades?] ago, there had been no appropriate varieties developed.

Few years ago I finally bought a couple of bushes, located them near enough so they could do their thing, gave adequate food, water & sun -- and they never made it to the following season. Go figure!

HB






songbird