Blog Archives

Codling Moth - Cydia pomonella

5/30/2011

Codling Moth - Photo from howstuffworks.com

What's worse than finding a worm in your apple? Finding half a worm.

The worm in this old joke is the Codling moth, a diabolical little critter that has damaged at least 75% of my apple crop this year. Early in the season after my apple trees had set fruit, I noticed some minor blemishes on the young apples. I didn't think too much about it, and went on about my business, blissfully ignorant of the voracious little larvae burrowing through my apples.

I try to never spray anything if I can help it, because 1) I don't want to kill good bugs indiscriminately along with the bad, 2) I've got young kids, and I don't want to pick up my baby with poison residue on my hands, and 3) I'm cheap and don't want to spend money on chemicals and sprays. I've always accepted that by taking this approach the birds and the bugs would get their share of whatever I grew, but I never dreamed the bugs would take nearly 3/4 of my crop!

There are several organic ways to control Codling moth, ranging from traps, to sprays, to just encouraging predatory wasps that eat the eggs and larvae. I think that next year I will definitely spray a soy based dormant oil just to be save, and will will try making some homemade moth traps. I already try to encourage predatory insects. If I'm successful, I might finally get enough apples to make a pie, or at least be able to bite into an apple without worrying about finding half a worm.

The only good thing is that the Codling moth larvae don't completely destroy the fruit. I've been cutting the apples up and removing the damaged parts, and eating the rest. I'm sure the apples would be larger and of higher all around quality if the larvae was completely prevented from entering the fruit, but the undamaged portions of damaged fruits seem to taste just fine. No complaints from Boy #1.

Moth damaged apple.

More moth damage.

Bad to the core.

I'll get you next year.

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Muscadines - Vitis Rotundifolia

5/26/2011

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Huge Cowart Muscadines - 2009

As I mentioned in a previous post, last fall Danny Gabb was kind enough to give me four muscadine grape vines: two Supreme, and two Florida Fry. I already had a Cowart and a Triumph, but I hadn't really done anything with them because I felt I didn't have the room.

I had previously attempted to grow muscadines in cramped areas on the porch and along a small trellis in the back where the blueberries are now. I learned the hard way that muscadines are vigorous climbers, and cannot be contained without regular pruning. They climbed everywhere, up the house siding, in the brick, just everywhere. I had planted them where it was very difficult to mow around them and prune, and I really couldn't keep them under control, so eventually I wound up finding new homes for them and establishing the blackberries and blueberries in their place.

However, even with all the attention they require, muscadines are so delicious that I simply must grow them. One of my earlier mistakes was building a trellis right next to the fence, which made it very difficult to mow and weed around them. My plan this time around is to plant them next to the fence posts, and use the fence itself as a trellis. I'll install a stiff wire along the top of the fence to guide the arms as they grow, and hopefully by next year I'll have a good framework established.

I suspect that at some point the muscadines will attempt to reach out from the fence and grow into adjacent fruit trees, so I'll just have to be diligent in my summer pruning. Of course, it wouldn't be that big of a deal if they did grow into the fruit trees. That's a good example of what permaculturists call "stacking", where one plant supports another, and you can get two crops out of the same space. I also have not-so-secret ambitions to use my kid's future swing-set/play structure as a muscadine trellis. I think it would be great for my kids to be able to pick and eat grapes while they play. Dr. Wife isn't crazy about the idea.

Florida Fry Muscadine

Supreme Muscadine

Immature Supreme Muscadines

Boy #1 gobbling up fresh picked berries.

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Avocados - Persea americana

5/23/2011

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Brazos Belle (Wilma) Avocado

I am very excited at the prospect of actually getting to pick and eat an avocado. As I discussed in a previous post, this year I bought a Brazos Belle (Not the same as Wilma) and a Poncho avocado from Plants for All Seasons. They both flowered, and the Brazos Belle set somewhere around 25 fruits. Avocados are self thinning, and after a few months, I'm down to four small avocados approximately 3 inches long. I was going to pick them off, thus allowing the tree to put its energy into growth rather than fruiting, but I didn't. The allure of picking and eating an avocado from my own tree is just too strong.

The Poncho didn't set any fruit, but it is growing very very well. It is covered in several new flushes of growth. I imagine the Brazos Belle would be also, if I had removed the immature fruits. Both trees seem quite happy in their 30-gallon pots under the pine trees, where they get afternoon shade and some protection from the wind. Dr. Randall once said that you should plant an avocado tree in the shade of a tree you don't like, and when the avocado gets big and established, cut down the other tree. Nothing would make me happier than to take out those big pines.

I was looking at my Mexicola Grande the other day and realized that it was smaller than when I planted it three years ago. The freezes of the past two years have really been tough on it, and it just looked terrible. This variety just can't make it in my yard, it's not cold hardy enough. I figured it was time to admit defeat, so I dug it up and put it in a pot. I planted a Capulin cherry in it's place, which will hopefully fare much better.

Immature Avocados

New Flush of Growth on the Poncho

Sad Mexicola Grande

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Apples - Malus domestica

5/19/2011

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Dorsett Golden Apples

Houston is not really known for producing great apples, and given our low chill climate and poorly draining soils, I can understand why. But that doesn't mean it can't be done. Two varieties developed in Israel (Anna, and Dorsett Golden) grow in areas like Houston with ease, as long as they're given adequate drainage.

I planted one of each back in early 2008, and prior to this I had been picking off all the apples to encourage the trees to grow. This year I let them set fruit, and I have been really amazed at how many apples one little tree can produce. They set fruit in clusters, and if you don't want a bunch of tiny apples, you have to thin them out to one or two fruits per cluster.

The Urban Harvest website says that these two varieties are typically ripe in mid to late June, but I've had a few small fruit drop already that tasted pretty delicious to me. Perhaps the larger fruits will be ripe in June. Of course, the weather has been a little strange this year, so they may just be early.

The bugs have got a few of the fruits, which usually fall off the tree. I just chuck them in the compost. This weekend I saw a little Dorsett Golden apple on the ground, but it didn't have any bad places on it. It just looked ripe and smelled really good, so I cut it up and tried it. Delicious little apple. To me it tasted something like 2/3 Golden Delicious and 1/3 Granny Smith, nice and crisp. It looked like something might have got to the core through the blossom end, but if it did, the taste wasn't affected. I've also got an Anna apple that is almost completely covered in a beautiful red blush that I hope to eat very very soon.

Anna Apple

Cluster of Dorsett Goldens

Fallen Dorsett Golden fruit.

Delicious little apple.

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Blueberry Season is Here!

5/16/2011

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Homegrown Organic Blueberries

The blueberries have arrived! Once again, I have shown that it is possible to raise blueberries in Houston, and if I can do it anyone can. Boy #1 was sick this weekend (now I've got it), so he wasn't quite as thrilled about them as he was last year. We still had a fun time berry picking, and it was really funny listening to him count his berries as he put them in his little tub. They are delicious.

I grow several kinds of rabbiteye blueberries, but all the tags have either been lost, or buried under several inches of mulch, so I couldn't tell you which was which. I grow Tiftblue, Woodard, Brightwell, Climax, and Premier, all of which are readily available from area nurseries.

In a previous post, I described how I had hung the foil wrappers of granola bars in the blueberry bushes to scare away birds. That may have deterred some birds, but not the cardinals or the mocking birds. For extra insurance I went to Plants for All Seasons and picked up a fake owl with a rotating bobble-head. I thought for sure that would do the trick. Wrong. Less than 24 hours later I saw a cardinal and a mockingbird stealing blueberries.

Either the birds are just too smart to be fooled by an owl decoy, or the blueberries are so good it's worth risking an owl attack to get one. I'm beginning to think that the only sure way to keep birds away is to use netting, which I'm not crazy about.

Big berry.

Cluster of blueberries.

So good right off the bush.

Got to get them before the birds do.

Snack Time!

Worthless bobble-head owl.

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Eat a Fig!

5/12/2011

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LSU Gold Figs

Boy #1 and I were playing in the backyard earlier this week, and I discovered two ripe LSU Gold figs on my tree. There had been more, but apparently the birds discovered them before I did. I've always heard that birds tend to leave the yellow figs alone because they think they're not ripe yet, but I guess my birds are really smart.

I probably should have let them sit out on the counter for a day, because they tasted a little bit watery. I had watered all the trees on Sunday. The figs we picked in November (from the same tree) were much sweeter and tasted like they were filled with jam, but these were still very tasty. Boy #1 didn't complain one bit, and happily gobbled them up and asked for more.

Figs can produce two crops each year. The first is called the "breba" crop, is early and usually a smaller crop of inferior quality. It grows on wood that grew the previous year. The main crop comes later, and grows on this year's new growth. It is usually a much larger crop of higher quality fruit. My LSU Gold tree is already working on the second crop, and is full of green quarter-sized figs. If the birds don't eat too many, we should have a nice large crop of huge sweet figs late this summer.

White to amber colored flesh

Big bite.

Yummy figs! More?

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Blackberries & Jujubes

5/9/2011

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Kiowa Blackberry

Blackberry time has arrived at last! I've been watching them very carefully, and at last a few of the blackberries have started ripening. As I mentioned in a previous post, we grow Kiowa blackberries, a nice sweet berry that grows on the thorniest canes imaginable. I don't think I've ever been able to pick berries without getting snagged at least once, but the berries are worth it.

We're still picking a few strawberries every day, and now Boy#1 can add blackberries to his snack. He loves any kind of berry, and he will greedily gobble up blackberries as fast as I can pick them. If they're not fully black they can be a bit tart, and he's very sweet about sharing these with Mommy and Daddy.

Elsewhere in the yard, the jujubes I got from Roger Meyer in March are not only growing well, they set fruit! As much as I hate to do it, I'll pick all the little jujubes off and let the trees put their energy into getting bigger. I'm very impressed with how well they're growing. These are great plants, pretty dang cheap, and shipped quickly. I will definitely order from Roger again.

I really need a greenhouse, or at least a much larger yard. Plants for All Seasons was kind enough to give me a old garden cart for hauling mulch around the yard, but it has turned into my seedling table. Thanks to the generosity of Ed Self and John Watson, I'm now growing seedling grumichamas, cherries of the rio grande, C-22 Bitters citrange, hybrid cherimoyas, and Pringle's zapotes. I've also got Petite Negra fig and red mulberry cuttings growing next to the seedlings.

Yummy!

Jujubes in March 2011

Honey Jar Jujube

Sugarcane Jujube

Jujubes

Cart full of seedlings and cuttings.

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Figs - Ficus carica

5/5/2011

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LSU Gold Fig

The figs are growing like crazy. It hasn't been easy to keep them all watered with all this dry, windy weather. The LSU Gold is full of huge figs, and the South Carolina Lemon and Celeste figs each have a handful as well. The Petite Negra is starting to put out some fruits, so it may just fruit later than the other varieities. The LSU Purple hasn't put out any figs, and so far has been the least vigorous grower, although I would guess that this is related more to the location than variety. Boy #1 and I love figs, and I'm really looking forward to eating these this summer.

Some of the cuttings I tried to root back in January have grown unbelievably well, and others have barely grown at all. One of the Alma fig cuttings I rooted has already filled it's one-gallon pot, and I've already had to re-pot it in a 3-gallon container. The Petite Negra cuttings are really really slow growing, and I still don't know if they're going to make it. If they don't pick up the pace by this summer, I may just get rid of them and try again next winter.

I plan on rooting many more cuttings next year so I'll have more plants to share. I think it would also be fun to host a fig tasting if I get enough fruit.

Alma Fig Cutting

LSU Gold Fig

Celeste Fig

South Carolina Lemon Fig

Petite Negra Fig

LSU Purple Fig

South Carolina Lemon Figs

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Pomegranates - Punica granatum

5/2/2011

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Pomegranate flowers.

The year 2011 has been named the Year of the Pomegranate by the California Rare Fruit Growers, and it looks like that may be true at our house. As I mentioned in a previous post, we now have five varieties of pomegranate trees. While most are too young to bear fruit, the Red Silk (?) and the Garnet Sash are covered in blossoms and fruit. The Garnet Sash is starting to lean under the weight.

Boy #1 and I enjoyed eating a pomegranate almost every day for a few weeks in August/September of last year, and this year, it looks like we'll have even more! Unfortunately, I think the extremely windy weather we've had the past month has caused some blossoms to drop, but we should still have a nice little harvest.

I don't understand why these trees aren't planted everywhere, they are so very very easy to take care of. Mine require almost no water, light fertilization, and only minor pruning. I think it would be possible to grow pomegranates with a total effort of around 30 minutes per year! The fruit is outstanding, and considering how much they cost at the grocery store, well worth the slight investment in purchasing a tree.

The most common variety, Wonderful, is said to be the worst tasting, but I've never had a pomegranate I didn't like. I think the real issue with Wonderful is that the fruit tends to split before it is truly ripe in our climate. If you're going to spend the money, I would say it is worth the effort to get the best variety you can (ask the Texas Rare Fruit Growers or Urban Harvest for recommendations), but if all you've got is Wonderful, you will still get some good fruit.