Anne Miller wrote:Have you tried planting a native variety for your area?
Usually, native varieties seem to do better.
I have no idea if native would be in the form of dwarf trees.
Tereza Okava wrote:No fig, huh? Crumbs. We have similar weather here and they do well, but I have no idea what cultivars we have.
How about persimmon? It might be a smidge warm for it there (we are in 9b and it's perfect for them) but they are pretty resistant to conditions like mist and wind.
Another option, maybe off the wall, is kumquat. Mine pretty much goes to sleep for the winter, they stay small, they like good drainage.
Last maybe loquat. They're also tough as nails.
Dieter Brand wrote:
Lori Ziemba wrote:Specifically, I'm interested in how people in Greece, Italy, etc. grew tradtitional crops like olives, grapes, carob, chestnuts, pomegranites, figs without irrigation in the summer. Or did they rely on irrigation? I'm having a hard time imagining they had the resources to irrigate large orchards, vinyards, etc.
Anyone have knowledge of this?
We have about 20 very ancient olive trees and a couple of old fig trees in addition to the new trees I planted.
Some of the old olive trees will produce medium sized olives, but others will only produce tiny olives that aren't any use. It's a hill-side property with a few fields in the valley. The trees that produce sizable olives are on relatively good soil at the bottom of the valley where a little brook runs when it rains during the wet season. They will produce olives without irrigation even though the soil usually stays dry from April/May thru October. We don't get any rain during the summer. However, the same trees wouldn't produce any olives if they were just a few meters up the hill. Thus, it really depends on your soil.
There are two farmsteads on our land, each farm house had a big fig tree that used to produce large figs while people were living there; however, after the land was abandoned, the trees only produced tiny figs that aren't edible. In other words, while people lived there, the trees would get water even if they weren't specifically irrigated.
The only tree that still produces many fruit is a huge carob tree even though its on a dry hillside and doesn't get any water whatsoever.
In other words, olive and fig trees will produce fruits without irrigation if they are on good soil that gets plenty of water during the wet season. Only carob trees will produce fruits without irrigation even on very dry soil.
I don't specifically irrigate the olive and fig trees I planted; however, since they are part of my vegetable garden, they do get water when I irrigate my vegetable plots. In a particularly dry year, when I don't have enough water to irrigate the vegetable plots, these trees may still produce small fruits, but the figs will loose all leaves by August.
Eric Swenson wrote:It’s crazy how a short drive changes.
I’m just east of Redding, Palo Cedro/Oak Run. Our average rainfall is near 40” a year. Just a short 20 minute drive to Red Bluff and the average falls 10” to about 30” per year.
Jay Angler wrote:
My friend who knows much more about ornamental plants than I do, says that just as we are capitalizing on the "leaky" nature of terra cotta pots when we repurpose them as ollas, if you put an ornamental plant other than a cactus in a terra cotta pot, you will find that it will dry out faster and be more inclined to be hard on the plant's roots. Is she right?
this is one area where showing you are willing to listen and try to fix a problem could be an opening for other neat things you could encourage them to copy - like your ollas for water conservation!
Jay Angler wrote:
Plain Terra cotta will seep water - this is good for some plants in some climates, but I actually find that in our dry climate, they're not the best for most plant situations.
The fact that they can't stay out in the winter is a draw-back to using them also.
I'm not sure what the purpose of Lori's rocks are, but I'm assuming she's in a windy spot?