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Ex-Ascot wrote: ↑

Sun May 23, 2021 10:36 am

We have just picked first oranges from one tree. They seem to be a cross between oranges and lemons. Mix with root stock?

I thought that this was brought up before. Maybe it was at TOP.

Not and expert, but from my Cypriot experience. There was only one citrus tree that would grow from a root. I cannot remember which one it was.

All other varieties were grafted onto this one type of root stock.

Another but! Sometimes these grafts produced hybrids, such as sweet lemon/oranges, which maybe what the ExA's have in Bots.
A neighbour of mine has a sweet lemon tree, the fruit were gorgeous. But useless for brandy sours.

Just my two pennyworth.

Thanks Ian. Half the problem is they came from Landmark. You guys send us all the crap stock. We have four lemon trees all had the same labels on them but all are different. Went in there once and all the leaves on the lemon trees had been eaten by something. They told me that they had been pruned. We have an alternative source now but didn't when we were planting these.

Mystery solved. It is a Bush Lemon Tree. Grows naturally in Australia and very tough therefore used as root stock. The idiot growers didn't graft properly so we just ended up with root stock. Can be used as a lemon but this should have been orange. We also have a clementine tree which is also growing these things. Eight years on we are not going to get out money back and we do not want to start the orchard again. Photo of our tree below.

Heavy rain this summer has caused blight on the allotments, I have lost all the tomatoes but saved the potatoes, have a heavy crop of grapes and the root veg are doing well. Starting to clear the site for autumn planting, will try something different from the seed catalogues for next year.
Lock down has produced keen competition on the allotments, lots of work has gone in and it looks very smart up there, I think allotmenteering has been rather a life saver for some over the last 18 months.

Did our summer seed planting just before Christmas. Rape and courgettes doing well under netting but the sweetcorn is being nibbled by Francolins. Hopefully the plants will grow big enough to survive. Trying cabbage again in another netted bed. Think we planted it too early last time and it bolted. Bananas seem to have recovered from their bore hole water and now doing well. Lots of blossom on the fruit trees. One orange tree has lots of fruit but the squirrels may get to them before us. Trying our best to eradicate them. Put many chili seeds in last year but the ants got them. Now we have a fantastic chili bush which has self seeded in the middle of the garden.

Edit, just tried one BIG mistake.

Our oranges are doing well. Very sweet and few seeds. Squirrels don't seem to be getting to them. We only seem to have two now but we have a problem killing them.

Seeking advice. With two of our fruit trees we had problems with the root stock (bush lemon) growing instead of the intended fruit. We now have a clementines with a big bush lemon tree but a side branch growing clementines. Should we chop down the main tree? I think we should.

Ex-Ascot; In between flying jobs back in the 'noughties' I worked as an Orange picker/Fruit block/ Vineyard hand.
I will go and see my old Boss tomorrow (Monday26th) and ask him.

(He's also a Gun Dealer as a side business and I need some Large Rifle Primers.)

Thanks Pinky. I suspect it will be unbalanced if we chop the main tree down.

Ok Ex-Ascot; Went to see my old Orchadist/Vigneron Boss and showed him a print out of the last few posts from 23rd May onwards.

His suggestion was that you 'giggle' Top Working Citrus as everything you will need to know can be found there. He also confirmed what I had thought I once heard him say that you can graft a Lemon Tree to produce Oranges, and in the climate here in the Riverland District of South Australia that grafted tree produces better quality and sized Oranges than an actual Orange Tree!!

If you find it neccessary to cut the main tree down, do so about two feet above the stump and then you can graft it with whatever variety you desire.

PM me if you require any further info and I'll pass on the request.

Many thanks Pinky.

OM15 your posts are missed here. Please advise on your allotment.

I have kicked off this year's seeds in a homebuilt grow box.
It's 2" foam all round, with two small LED grow lights, and a battery warmer belt for heating when the lights are off.
After last year's data with a 120W battery warmer, I now heat it with a 60W warmer belt, which is achieving the aim of maintaining a steady 23 degrees, same as when the lights are on. No control circuitry needed.

Several new stuff for this year.
I'm growing some cherry tomatoes, cucumber, spring onion, lettuce, and peppers in containers. This means I can get an early start on salads.
I have several varieties and several pot sizes, so I'm trying to find out what yields the best fruits/square foot.
These seeds were started 2 weeks ago, and I have about 80% germination.
The weather here means I can't start planting out in the ground till mid-May. The containers will move from my sunroom to the deck just outside, and back, until decent weather is consistent.

I'm aiming to get a full set of herbs, seeds started today. The no-success ones in previous years were sage and chives. Any advice appreciated.

I'm also going to try assorted positions for the containers around the house to try to prevent bolting in all the cold weather crops - our Spring is only about 3 weeks, then it gets hot.
Vining the tomatoes and cucumbers last year was very successful, so much so that I am using more support posts and stronger top bars as several broke under the weight of fruit.
A sample of last year's harvest Decode: Sunflower-got at by ants and mice. I have plans for their demise this year.
Then clockwise, spiraling in - Beets, huge onions(co-planted with tomatoes and peppers), enormous parsnips and carrots (very sandy loam here, ideal for roots), courgettes (large and small - leave them a week and small becomes large, but they taste the same and store well), pumpkin, green pepper (May was unusually cold all month, so no peppers turned red before First Frost), beefsteak and Roma tomatoes, broad beans, kidney beans, apples, butternut squash (these have stored till now with no special treatment), 6"/15cm ruler for scale.

Very impressive Fox. We used to do really well but since the drought (2020) and watering with borehole water our production is pathetic. Let us hope that the ground improves. Loads of lemons and limes though and the bananas are picking up.

Watering can be a problem here, and I would be grateful for advice on that.
Normally we get a reliable 1/2" or so a week all summer, which is why potatoes are a big thing here.
However, we have been getting long dry spells about 1 summer in 3 recently.
Furthermore, another 3rd of summers can have the right total rainfall, but in big gobs due to thunderstorms, and my tomatoes split.

I have acquired a couple of 55gal drums and the piping, etc for a drip system, which I will rig up this year.
I'll gather water off the roof of my barn.
This should get me through a couple of weeks.
I'm not sure whether to just get more barrels, or try something else. I have been investigating Aussie subsurface irrigation and wicking beds. Seems like expensive overkill for my climate.

Also not sure how to deal with excessive dumps. I imagine you have big thunderstorms, any hint?

Hoping to acquire a small lemon tree to grow indoors - there is a local supplier, but demand is way higher than supply and their ordering is flaky to say the least.

Golly Fox our climates can't be more different. You can't do better than rain water for crops. We water from the lagoon which is essentially the same. On Amorgos we only have a few plants watered by rain water from our storage tanks. Here we have a pop up irrigation system for the lawns and a pop up gardener for everything else. He is doing the bananas right now. Yes we have tropical storms but with a huge rainfall it just runs off. Good steady rain is the best. On Amorgos we call it olive rain.

We have loads of lemon trees but they are all outside of course. Takes a few years to get your first lemon.

Thanks.
I'll get more barrels, then.

Three weeks from seed planting I have:
48 tomatoes of 5 different varieties (3 are cherry tomatoes)
17 peppers of 2 varieties
6 cucumbers
A tray of 16 kinds of herbs and greens, 8 cells each, most with 2 or 4 seeds.
I am going to try planting all these in containers on my deck this year.
By bringing them in during May and October, when it gets chilly, I am hoping to get a much earlier crop than planting them in the main patch, and also extend the season.
Some I will try to overwinter.
I have a variety of containers, from 17 inch diameter down to 9 inch. They are all leftovers from previous purchases, or stuff left by the previous house owner.
By planting one of each kind in most sizes of container, I hope to determine which size gives the best yield per square foot.
I can then build more next year of the best sizes, as I have stacks of spare lumber and old nails.
I do have some general advice as to which size is best for toms and peppers, but not for the specific varieties that grow well here. I also don't know what the percentage decrease is for using smaller containers, which I'd prefer as I will be moving them around a fair bit.
I'm also going to try placing different containers in different locations, especially with the herbs as I have had problems with around half of them in the past, especially bolting with the cooler weather ones.
Any advice from anyone is welcome.

(Not in picture) 81 legumes just seeded, pole beans, broad beans, kidney beans, snap peas, peas.

My main patch crops I will not seed for a week yet, and not plant out till June 1st. Very little grew till June last year due to a cold May, and the cold seemed to both depress and delay yield. We generally have a long, fine, warm Fall, so later cropping is not a problem.

Fox:
Regarding moving plants in and out before conditions become better for full time outside:
I have been thinking (Scarry, I know) that maybe a platform just narrow enough to fit through sunroom door(s) with larger containers on the bottom with staggered tiers above with progressively smaller containers.
That would allow all to get light and the wheels would allow for following the sun.
I admire your ambition. Unfortunately, mine is waning, along with energy, if the ambition were still strong.
Happy growing and eventually eating!

PP

Thank you.
I'll ponder your suggestions.
I have castors and lumber in stock.
I may make the tiers pivotable so I can move them vertically to get it through the door, then back to a stagger for maximum sun.