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wow I would not have thought a disease could pass like that. That kind of sucks. What are the symtoms of this disease?Winn Sawyer wrote:
michael rowald wrote:
everything else was seeds from fruit so shouldn't have disease pass threw seeds. Wouldn't think anyway...
Unfortunately that's not true for avocados. The avocado sunblotch viroid (ASBVd) can spread via infected pollen, resulting in fruit that has infected seeds in it even if the mother tree is not infected. Most diseases do not spread by seed, you are correct, but that's a major exception for avocados at least. Even worse, seedlings that are grown from such seeds typically do not show ASBVd symptoms, but anything grafted onto them becomes infected and often shows symptoms, and the viroid can also pass to nearby trees if their roots come in contact.
As to your other concern about the viability of avocado cuttings, I've successfully grafted scions that were cut months earlier, as long as they've been stored in sufficient humidity without excessive warmth or freezing temperatures, budwood can remain viable for a lot longer than you might think!
Winn Sawyer wrote:That freeze last week was the coldest it has been in the 7 years I've lived here, but we do typically get one bad freeze every year or two, usually in the upper teens for a night or two. Apart from that, most of the winter our low is just above or slightly below freezing, rarely below the mid-20s.
I usually only have a single electric heater that is plugged into a "thermo cube" so that it turns on when the greenhouse gets to about 36°F, and usually it only runs once every few weeks for a few 30-minute bursts on a cold night. The one heater can maintain a ∆ of about 14°F vs outside. On those rare occasions where it's necessary for a greater ∆ than that, two heaters seem to do the trick for my location. The greenhouse is glazed with twin wall 8mm polycarbonate panels, which have a pretty good R value.
As far as multi-graft trees, I think they produce just as well as trees with a single variety, and should last just as long, the only issue is the pruning is a bit more complicated because you have to prune for "balance" more than anything. By which I mean you need to keep the more vigorous varieties from overtaking the others, and hack them back more than you might want. I've noticed that with Duke on my trees. But I'm pretty new to grafting, these trees were my first grafts about 3 years ago. Though I've done hundreds of grafts since then, none are fruiting size yet. Mostly they have been small trees I've distributed to project members, or things I've planted in my yard that haven't fruited yet.
My reason for the multi-graft avocados is to maximize the genetic diversity of the seeds produced in the greenhouse, since the primary purpose of the greenhouse is to provide seeds for the avocado breeding effort I'm organizing. If my primary purpose were just to have avocados to eat, I'd just do one variety per tree for easier maintenance.
When you say mail-order avocado scionwood is risky, do you mean because of diseases? It is true that there are various quarantine zones, and things like sunblotch viroid or Verticillium wilt can be easily spread by cuttings. I have had a few scares with both of them when getting cuttings on Etsy or other forums. But I think you'd be pretty safe ordering scionwood from somewhere with a good reputation like tropical acres (that is the order form, here's the list that actually describes all the varieties). Most of my varieties were from the UC avocado grove, but they don't do mail order, you have to be able to pick it up from their Riverside campus in person.
Citrus cuttings are far more risky, with the HLB "greening" disease rampant in many citrus growing regions, and easily spread by grafting. I ordered my scionwood from the CCPP program in California, but that's pretty pricey. You're better off just ordering a grafted tree from a nursery unless you want something rare, it'll probably even be cheaper.
Well woodstoves have been keeping us humans warm for a very long time, there is a reason they are still around. They work good!!May Lotito wrote:It's quite impressive the greenhouse can stay almost 50 F warmer than the outside.
Is your mango a dwarf or regular variety? In my hometown, mango tree are tall evergreen street trees. What other tropical fruit trees are suitable for growing in the greenhouse? Pomegranate? Dragon fruit? Guava?