Topics in Subtropics

Plants, therefore avocados, go through different growth stages, so called phenological stages, regular periods where they grow and differentiate from seed to various vegetative stages, flowering and finally seed production.

Most commonly we associate the malformed fruit we see in lemons to citrus bud mite. But it can also occur on other varieties of citrus in Southern California, including in this case to tangelos. If there's enough fruit to bite into, it's still edible.

And live to regret it when it comes to planting a tree. Bring out that power auger and dig a hole and slam that tree in the ground and move on to the next planting hole. If it's rocky soil, with good drainage, the trees may look like this two years later. Alive, but some are much bigger than others.

This from the Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner's Office: Basically the baiting treatment (for growers) involves 2 options: For conventional farms the material is Malathion 8 Aquamul mixed with Nulure Insect Bait and for organic growing the available product is Spinosad GF 120 Naturalyte whic...

Effective December 19, 2023, the Department is expanding the HLB quarantine boundary in the Santa Paula area of Ventura county in grid 437. A map of the proposed boundary can be found at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/citrus/pests_diseases/hlb/regulation.html.