location – Xtremehorticulture

Growing Blueberries in the Desert

Leave a Comment / alkalinity, container, location, pH, soil / xtremehorticulture

Q. Can we grow blueberries here? How difficult is it? Yes, these blueberries were grown in Las Vegas. But at what cost? A. It is one of those questions that “we can but with what degree of difficulty?”. I am a lazy gardener and don’t like to put a lot of effort into “out of place” plants. I have a saying, the more out of place a plant is in its needs, the more time, money, and effort we have to put into it to get it to grow or produce. Take mangoes for instance. We can grow them here but what would be our “cost” of production? Yellowing of the plant leaves is just one of the hurdles that must be overcome when growing blueberries in the desert. We know that blueberries prefer soils that are lower in pH (about 4.5) and don’t care much for the highly alkaline soils (closer to 8.0) of the desert. That’s a 1000 percent difference! Soil pH is our first hurdle to overcome. Are we willing to monitor the soil and amend it year after year? Use very fine ground (injectable) soil sulfur, not granular or “flowers” of sulfur for lowering the soil pH. I didnt get a picture of blueberries growing in a container per se but if you look closely you can see that this blueberry is growing in a container in Las Vegas. More than a curiosity? I wouldn’t go into commercial blueberry production in the Mojave Desert. Use containers so the soil is “contained” and easier to amend. Plants need good drainage. Use pine bark for good drainage and amend it with a very small amount of sand for stability. Blueberries have shallow roots so containers should be shallow; 10 inches deep. Place plants on the east side of a building so they get shade in the afternoon. Southern highbush blueberries can tolerate the heat but not direct sun. Blueberries need at least 6 hours of full sun every day. If you are willing to monitor and amend the soil annually (and grow blueberries as a cuiosity) then grow at least one of the Southern Highbush blueberries such as ‘Reveill’, ‘Sharpblue’, ‘Misty’, or ‘Southmoon’. Many of the Southern Highbush blueberries are self-fruitful but you may get larger berries and increased production if they can cross pollinate. But stay away from commercial production unless you do it (and is cost effective) in a greenhouse. Apply fertilizer once every two months when they are growing to get good crops. The biggest hurdle to overcome when grown in our climate and soil is the soil pH.

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How to Water Sago Palm (Cycad) Once Each Week in the Winter

Leave a Comment / cycad, irrigation, location, sago palm, soil / xtremehorticulture

Q. Now that our irrigation is only allowed for 1 day, I was wondering if once a week is sufficient watering for my small sago palm. Should I hand water it on other days? Not the readers sago palm (cycad) but it is small! It is in a container so it is more difficult to water than one planted in the ground. The soil in the container is more limited in size than one planted in the ground. A. Hard to say. Depends on how much water your soil around the sago palm holds, where the drip emitters for it are located and the side of the house it’s on. Hard to believe this cycad, or sago palm, is growing in Las Vegas. It was situated in the right location with the right care. Ideally the drip emitters are located between 12 to 18 inches from the trunk. For large sago palms I would suggest three emitters spaced in a triangle. Run the irrigation system long enough to water 12 to 18 inches deep. you can measure that with something long skinny and hard like a piece of rebar. If the sago palm is smaller, it may need only two emitters to wet the soil to the same depth. Smaller plants don’t use as much water, but the system needs to run just as long. Hard to accept this is the same plant as the one above. But this one is located in the heat of the sun and growing in poor soils. Plants on the south and west sides of the house or wall use more water faster than those on the east and north sides. A deep watering once a week should be all that is necessary for them in most soils and locations except the hottest.

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Location for Planting Meyer Lemon

Leave a Comment / location, planting citrus / xtremehorticulture

Q. I have received two Meyer lemon trees. I want to know the best place to plant them. My house faces southeast, the sides are northeast and southwest, and backyard faces northwest. Due to very hot summer days is it best to plant on northeast side if house gets morning sun and shade in afternoon or in the backyard that gets more sun during mid-day to evening? Does direct hot sun harm trees during summer? Meyer lemon fruit is ready to harvest from late December and into January. The orangish yellow fruit is more round than a true lemon and can grow about the size of a baseball. You better like lemons alot because when it gets older you can have lots. A. All these places have their limitations. Probably the most damaging is direct late afternoon sunlight. Plant it where it will get some relief from the late afternoon sun. Plants in orchard are protected by other plants. In our hot desert the intense sunlight is very damaging. It can damage an open area (unshaded) of a fruit tree in less than 20 minutes. Then there are wind problems particularly, side yards where wind can “channel”. Leaf footed plant bug on citrus. Yes, they can be a problem on citrus. Meyer lemon (not a true lemon) is hardy to about 25F. Select a plant that is bushy with lower limbs as low as possible to shade the trunk. It needs at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight each day. Citrus will not like to be surrounded by rock unless the soil is amended. At planting time dig a hole deep enough for the container and three times wider. Make sure at planting time the soil is amended with compost or at least small pieces of wood that will rot with water and fertilizer. It is okay to surround it with rock but make sure the soil gets a surface application of compost or wood chips once a year. This may mean raking the rock back, applying it, water it in, and then raking the rock back. Or applying the compost/wood chips over the rock and watering it in if the rock is big enough so it does not become an eyesore. Be careful when pruning it. I would let it get established first as a bush and then remove lower limbs only as needed. Shade the trunk as long as possible. Sun, wind, and cold are the three things to worry about.

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Peaches Produce Fruit at Different Times With Different Flavors, Aroma and Flesh Color

Leave a Comment / flavor, location, peaches, terroir / xtremehorticulture

Q. Several years ago at the University orchard on Horse Drive you gave us a list of five different peach trees to plant, each ripening at different times. We’ve enjoyed peaches from May through September ever since. Thanks. ‘Earlitreat’ peaches on May 24, 2005, at the University orchard in North Las Vegas. Other good early peaches include ‘FlordaPrince’. ‘FlordaKing’, and ‘Earligrande’. A. I prefer to plant entire fruit trees, rather than a single tree with several varieties (think “fruit cocktail” trees). that ripen at different times of the year for many different reasons. Let’s talk about one of them. Peaches like this Early Elberta (‘July’ or ‘Kim’) make the next round along with ‘June Pride’, and ‘Snow Beauty’. Generally, the varieties of fruit trees that flower earliest produce the earliest fruit. In our climate peach varieties start flowering the first week of February and other later producing varieties of peach may start flowering as late as the as the end of April. Later flowering varieties frequently produce fruit later as well. Dont forget the flat peaches like ‘Donut’ and ‘Galaxy’. They produce fruit also around July. As examples, the peach variety named ‘Earlitreat’ begins flowering the first week of February. Other early producing peaches like ‘FlordaPrince’ and ‘FlordaKing’ start flowering about a week after ‘Earlitreat’. If there is a frost while the flowers are open, think early spring through early summer, it produces less fruit or maybe no fruit at all! These varieties of peaches will produce fruit (if frost permits) in mid to late May until early June. Peach varieties like ‘Indian Blood’ may be worth the October wait due to its very special aroma and flesh color. The variety of peach called ‘Red Baron’ produces fruit around July but doesn’t begin flowering nearly a whole month later than ‘Earlitreat’; early March! By selecting varieties that flower early or later usually will affect when the fruit is produced. The missing information are the varieties that taste the best! Each peach variety is different, performs differently in the desert and tastes different. If a light frost occurs anytime between February 1 and the middle of March (estimated date for our last frost can be as late as March 15!) then we will be guaranteed fruit if we are growing several varieties of peach trees in the same location.

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