Topics in Subtropics

Avocados and Water Avocados are the most salt and drought sensitive of our fruit tree crops. They are shallow rooted and are not able to exploit large volumes of soil and therefore are not capable of fully using stored rainfall.

This little mnemonic, or memory aid, in the title is helpful in remembering the critical levels of toxic constituents in irrigation water.

Deciduous plants need a certain period of dormancy during which they accumulate hours of cold. This is a very practical process on their part, since most dormant plants grow in cold climates. Differing areas have different patterns of cold.

In order to properly irrigate any crop, you need to know how much water you are putting onto the crop.

As we continue an historic drought in California, trees all over Southern California are showing symptoms of stress, and in some cases have died due to drought and pests that attack drought stressed trees.