Jay Angler

r ransom wrote: Last year, we picked some when the squirl started, they were all empty come Christmas.  It was very sad.  

I think I read somewhere that if they aren't shelled shortly after picking, the nuts get reabsorbed into the remaining plant material around the nut. It didn't exactly make sense to me when I read it, and at this stage, I have no idea where I read it.

I do think more research needs to be done. My understanding is that Hazelnuts were a major food source for ancient British humans - so there has to be a way!

I have no idea how to pick them for storing, but I suggest the most likely harvester is a squirrel, but recently, I've had evidence of rats climbing trees to harvest also.

This definitely needs more research in the Pacific North Wet, as one year when I thought I was picking them properly, when I dried and then tried to open them late in the fall, they were all empty.

Nancy Reading wrote:... Yes if they've got that big to need pruners, and disease is an issue with you, then dipping the blade in alcohol between plants would be prudent...

Crazy Idea Alert - My DiL had root rot on her baby Monstera plant. When I googled my options, one said to cut it off above the sick area, dab the open cut with unpasteurized honey*, and then put it in water and root it. It worked a treat!

So if you're having to cut tomatoes, and you know you're having trouble with blight, it would be an interesting experiment to try. Honey is supposed to be a natural antibiotic. Blight is definitely a different microbe than the one I was dealing with.

I will back the people who say that blight is out there and keeping your leaves dry and mulching so that water doesn't splash up onto the plants would are really good ideas.  Every ecosystem is different, so if one idea doesn't work, try something different the next time!

*yes, I'm very lucky, as I have a friend who has pet honey bees, so getting unpasteurized honey is easy for me.

Tereza Okava wrote: I also have had great results with threats, when the tree is old enough to know better: my surinam cherries were informed a few months ago that if they didn't put out blossoms this year I'd be ripping them out. Lo and behold, they're covered with buds now.

I have been told that with a cherry tree that wouldn't fruit, the owner tied a very tight band around the trunk just before the branches shortly before the expected flowering time. This "threat" to the tree, convinced it that it should produce offspring (which is really what flowering and fruit is all about from the tree's perspective) right away, before it might die.

The person who told me this story was an observer, so I would do a little research to see if others have tried this technique in case my memory and and my friend's memory have the particulars not quite right . However, long story short, it is possible that an environmental threat, might actually trigger the plant to flower. Once you have flowers, I agree with the comment above about hand pollinating. I do that some years with my peach tree if the weather is iffy and I'm not seeing many insects, particularly bees.

As you say, the flies are there, it's a matter of concentration.

I wonder if the hot water spray is killing the eggs that have been laid? I wouldn't have thought their life cycle was that short though? Maybe it's just the difference in the "smell level" with a few days increasing the smell enough to be calling all the local flies.

I have read of a military study which showed that if the latrines were a certain minimum distance from the commissary, the rate of gut infections was significantly reduced.

If you've found a simple way to keep the fly numbers down in your set-up, that's all that matters. For me, getting Venus Fly-trap, my Muscovy fly catching professional, on the job, works just fine!

Lin Frost wrote: We learned the rule of three a little differently...three days without water, three weeks without food, and three hours without shelter depending on conditions.  

Ecosystem is everything. Many times it's "tourists" that get into trouble, because they simply don't understand how different/erratic/dangerous simply "going for a little walk" can be if the location has hazards they aren't used to.

So yes - different time-lines for different places. The Grand Canyon kills people most years because you can't hike for three hours without water, let alone three days! (at least at certain times of year) Winter where I live, the dampness can cause hypothermia at above freezing temperatures. But if I were to travel to the mountains to hike,  I'd have trouble for the first 3-5 days due to the change in elevation affecting my breathing, as my body is totally adapted to sea level.

Summer leaf drop on certain trees is normal here, where we have summer droughts. Sometimes they seem to drop half their leaves and keep the rest. We haven't lost deciduous trees, but the cedars have been in decline for decades and there are a lot of dead ones around. The forest used to be too dark for much undergrowth, and that is no longer the case.

What's even weirder to me is that my June bearing strawberries have been putting out the odd berry in the last couple of weeks? All I can figure is that June was cool enough they got themselves confused?

Happy Pumpkin Plant has 3 Female Flowers

Considering the Pumpkin is in a tree pot (~1.4 sq ft) I was amazed today to see 3 female flowers. I have carefully led branches of the pumpkin plant into 2 more tree pots and staked a node down with landscape pins in the hope they will sprout adventitious roots.

There is always the risk of the plant aborting one or all of the babies, but my fingers are crossed and I asked the bees nicely to please pollinate the flowers as that will improve my odds.

Carla Burke wrote:Top 12 based on...?

They're at the top of the map! They're closest to the Arctic Pole!

Isn't that a good enough basis?

Coydon Wallham wrote:Maybe you could plant the row of apples starting about 5' away and angling out to 30 or 40' at the other end? Report back in 30 years on the how the various distances affected growth?

I love how permaculture people think long term, bucking the more common "this season's fad is next season's sad" phenomenon which I see all around me.

I planted a baby Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana). I will be pushing up the Daisies before I even know if it's a boy tree or a girl tree. I planted it anyway. Regardless of its sex, it is still a tree and it will still sequester carbon.