How to Plant a Fruit Tree

...and this video, from the Dave Wilson Nursery, shows you how to plant your trees once they arrive in the mail. One quibble–it’s been proven to be not a good idea to amend soil when you’re planting a tree. Other than that, this is how we’ve planted our trees and they’ve all grown well. And I wish that I had done the radical pruning you see at the end of the video. Cutting the tree to knee height will give you a shorter, more manageable tree. You ca...

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The Africanized Bee Myth

...ees is just that, hysteria. I have helped move many hives here from walls, trees and kitchen vents to people who have wanted to have bees. Most likely, all of the hives I have moved have been Africanized. I have yet to encounter a feral hive that I would consider aggressive. Africanized bees should not be used as an excuse to ban beekeeping in Los Angeles or anywhere else that has Africanized bee populations. The people fanning the Africanized bee...

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Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer and Avocados

...noticed in 2003 here in Southern California, the PSHB seems to damage some trees more than others. Concerned about losing my avocado tree I wrote Akif Eskalen, a plant pathologist at the University of California, Riverside. Dr/ Eskalen’s lab has done a lot of work on the PSHB and what to do about it. I asked him specifically about avocados and here’s what he had to say in an email, My lab has been conducting a continuous survey on PSHB on infested...

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Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land

...orocco. There, he’s built a dryland paradise, lush with heat adapted fruit trees, like pomegranates, mulberries and jujubes. He also grows olives, agave, citrus and poetic herbs like lavender and coriander. Bousfiha has built an oasis in a difficult climate and envisions of chain of oases spread around the world: oases for both nature and humanity. These oases are not carefully preserved bits of paradise, but rather are reclaimed from degraded spa...

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Los Angeles: A New Beginning

....” “Maybe that’s why we need ttttttt . . . trrrrrrr . . . trrreeeees . . . trees,” replied the mayor. “What’s a tree?” asked Lauren. “I think it’s some kind of self growing thing that makes oxygen and shade,” replied the mayor. “Won’t they block the solar panels?” asked Lauren. “Ba, ba, bu, buuuuuu . . . bus,” said the mayor. “Huh? Mr. Mayor are you okay?” said Lauren. “It’s . . . it’s like a car but carries over 100 people,” said the mayor. “We’l...

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