Higgs Boson wrote:
songbird wrote:
....
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..."

the smaller the tree the smaller the root
system, the smaller the root system the less
fruit you'll get compared to an ungrafted
tree. also less ability to fend off any soil
difficulties (smaller area means less diversity
of habitats the roots are likely to encounter)
also the amount of moisture will likely be more
subject to swings (closer to the surface, more
competition from grasses or surrounding trees)
and possibly more pollution (ozone, lead,
salt) becomes a problem.


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?

i didn't find either of them challenging
technically, but Fukuoka is more difficult
philosophically (but has much clearer
conversations about the natural form of a
fruit tree and the problems of pruning).

the problem with adapting either author's
approaches is that in a lawn setting most
people won't allow "untidy" appearance or
much cover growing around and underneath
their trees, which defeats the many
beneficial aspects of their methods.


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.

how much salt spray?


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!

i would call that a learning experience and
let it go.


songbird