Topics in Subtropics

Two questions and comments came up last week about the use of mulch in orchards. The first is that mulch is two edged. It serves to combat erosion and root rot, but it can also burn. Mulch and wood piled up against tree trunks and near trunks can cause damage to those trunks.

So, there are peach trees right now that are flower-less and leaf-less. Wisteria which should have flowered in February is bare. The Royal apricot next door has no flower. The Lombardy poplars and birch in Oxnard don't have leaves.

Even though it's been a mild winter; other than fire, rain and some cool nights, we did have a few days of hot weather, which is just what sets off citrus dry root rot. It pops up after the first hot weather of the spring, and there it was driving down the road.

This note from Cressida Silvers, either go to Temecula or maybe do a more local version of the training: Good afternoon, The upcoming CAPCA meeting (see below for details) in Temecula is a 2-day event (12 CEUs), including a workshop and field visit focused on detecting live ACP in citrus trees, and...

Like most of us, trees don't want to be eaten alive. To prevent this gruesome fate, they developed extremely tough cell walls around 400 million years ago. For millions of years, nothing could break down lignin, the strongest substance in those cell walls.