Fruit Trees – Bloom Dammit!

January 4, 2019

Mandarin Harvest

Finally my mandarins are here! Rejoice! Why am I so happy? First, these are so easy to peel and the fruit is just so sweet. My variety has seeds and so I tend to be careful when giving them to kids, but the seeds are small and sometimes soft, so I don’t worry too much.

Last year my harvest was appalling, there was enough fruit for the squirrels and maybe a remnant for me. This year, I vowed to take a more active interest in my trees – meaning, increase the amount of time I spent caring for them. Refer to my guava post.

My mandarin tree is located on the east side of our property and there is a little too much shade on the south side/east side corner. I cut down some problematic bamboo trees (more on this later) and am still working to cut through the root system of the bamboo for two reasons: 1. provide shade 2. provide space for the mandarin roots to grow. The sun did wonders for the mandarin, and I increased the water ritual, now I do a deep watering once every 2 months on a low trickle, ensuring that the slow trickle gets to the deep root system instead of running off.

I also identified this tree as a mandarin and have been going back and forth regarding the tangerine/mandarin naming convention – find out more about this lovely citrus tree by clicking here and reading this pdf from the yuma county coop extension.

January 1, 2019

Guava Goodness

We have two guava trees in the backyard, one is a white/pink guava and the other one a pineapple guava. I was ready to throw in the towel and cut down the guava tree last year, since it didn’t produce any fruits.

This is one of the few times I decided to go against my gut feeling and try to be logical about it. This tree looked like it had been in my backyard for years, and it was a disappointment that it didn’t provide any fruit. So I changed my attitude about it and made some observations and changes.

Sunlight

There is a large hedge that sits between our yard (on our property), a mandarin tree crowding the guava, and a large navel orange tree blocking out light. I trimmed back what I could manage, and had some landscape guys come in with some industrial sized ladders to handle the rest.

Water

Yes, it’s obvious, more water. But it wasn’t obvious to me. I was watering my trees every few months, with superficial waterings in between. I increased watering this tree to every 2-3 months. This seemed to get the leaves to change their shape, from a curved and withered look so the leaves opening up some more. In 2019, I will probably do a longer, deeper watering once a month with a slower trickle of water.

Fertilizer/Mulch

This was possibly the largest heavy lift of the project. I started by mulching a circle around the tree. I pulled up all grass around the tree, any invasive roots or other plants that could have been crowding this plant. I provided this plant with Dr. Earth’s fruit fertilizer, it truly is my go-to for a few of my trees. In the next year, I will more than likely cut back on this fertilizer and just try to get my soil health to a better place, by using some horse manure and letting it cure before I apply it. I will also add in more compost and perhaps some worm juice to help it.

I’ve never tasted anything as beautiful, delicate and exotic as a pineapple guava, and I really can’t wait to continue to nurse this tree until it can provide enough fruit for me, the squirrels and birds – who knows, one day I may actually have enough fruit to share with neighbors and friends.

December 16, 2018

Mandarins and Getting Citrus Going

We bought a house in Burbank last year, a small suburb outside of Los Angeles. The house itself needs so much work but the backyard had established trees, which is a dream.

We had a lot of oranges that came, and they were juicy and wonderful and we had a handful of mandarins. These were so delicious but we didn’t get a lot. Part of the problem was the critter to harvest ratio – too many animals feeding on too few fruit. So I tried a little harder the following season, more water, more fertilizer and the leaves seemed to be doing well however, I didn’t see substantial growth.

What I noticed was that the mandarin was planted along the East facing wall, and the south facing hedges had grown too tall, blocking out substantial sun. I trimmed these back, the bamboo and whatever other trees are planted next to them. This helped get some light and I started seeing change after 3 or so months. I’m going to keep attempting to see this process through and go from there.