Topics in Subtropics

Nutrient availability from organic sources has been considered slow release by many growers and advisers. This may be true in environments are colder and especially soils are cooler.

A 'Meyer' lemon should be quite happy along the coast, unless it gets planted in new soil that has low copper because of high soil pH or high organic matter. And then you wonder what is wrong. Mild copper deficiency is usually associated with large, dark green leaves on long soft angular shoots.

View a four-minute video. A tell-tale sign of spring in California is a flush of new leaf growth on citrus trees.

Recently some 'W. Murcott' mandarins were shown to me. Brown spots in the core of the fruit.

Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California Riverside. Evidence of avocado selection by human hand as far back as 8,000 BC is preserved in archaeological sites in Puebla State, Mexico.