size – Xtremehorticulture

Large Percentage of Pomegranate Fruit Comes from Older, Larger Wood

Leave a Comment / green, older wood, size, split pomegranate / xtremehorticulture

Q. I need some help. I planted a pomegranate tree about three years ago. The tree looks great and there are always lots of fruit. The problem is that by the time the fruit gets up to about 2″ in size they are splitting open. Can’t figure out the reason and I am yet to harvest a good pomegranate. It gets full sunshine in summer and water 3-4 times a week. Any suggestions? A. Are the arils (pulp) sweet? Maybe it is ready to harvest. First of all, the fruit should be larger than that. The fruit should get larger as it gets older and the tree is pruned correctly. A high percentage of small fruit is produced on smaller branches. The number of large fruit is more as the tree gets larger. A higher percentage of larger fruit will come from the larger branches. That’s the reason for getting rid of the much smaller suckers. Get rid of the suckers at the bottom of the tree and force production on to about 5 or 6 main limbs that you keep. The best and larger fruit are produced on older wood. Small fruit are produced on young and smaller wood. I think the reason why some California growers prune toward only one large central trunk is that the fruit collected from it gets larger earlier. Pomegranate pruned into a tree shape instead of a bush. If the fruit is green when it splits, the same is true. The tree was not getting enough water as the fruit was getting larger. The fruit starts to become red, or red or white, or red and white when it starts into its last ripening phase. Yellow pomegranate brought to me in Tajikistan. Fruit splitting is oftentimes a harvesting problem. Taste the seeds inside (called the arils) and see if they are sweet or ‘as expected”. There is a wide variation in flavor so don’t be surprised if the fruit taste is “puckery”. If the arils are sweet or “as expected”, it might be ready to harvest. Pomegranates are ready to harvest, depending on the variety, from September (‘Utah Sweet’) until early December (‘Wonderful’). The fruit should not crack unless they are past their harvest time. Young fruit still green and developing. It is several weeks away from harvest and sweet. If the fruit are splitting before they are ready to harvest (not sweet yet but getting there) then it is a watering issue. Just like melons, as the rind sets up for harvest (sugars are accumulating) watering becomes critical. Watering when the rind gets hard (and it doesn’t need it) will split the fruit. w Pomegranate rind split and ready for harvest. Probably ‘Wonderful’.

Large Percentage of Pomegranate Fruit Comes from Older, Larger Wood Read More »

Divide Red Yucca After Five Years in the Ground

Leave a Comment / dividing, division, increase flowering, propagation, size / xtremehorticulture

Q. We have multiple red yuccas in our front yard. For the first time they have started turning yellow in the last few weeks. They are on a drip irrigation system and are watered twice daily for 5 minutes each time in the early morning and late evening. Any idea what the issue could be? This is what your red yucca could look like if it were divided every few years so that it produces more flower stalks. A. They are watered too often. Red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) is native to the desert Southwest. They can be found growing naturally in the Chihuahuan desert of western Texas, New Mexico and in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. Red Yucca is okay planted in rock mulch but should not be hedge pruned. Instead red yucca should be divided when flowers begin to grow from the edges. Your natural way of propagation (getting more plants and more flowers) is by digging it up in the spring or fall and separating the clumps it has formed. These clumps prevent flowering from its center. They don’t need water frequently but they could sure could use applications of water 12 to 18 inches deep when they do get it! Slow applications of water, deep, are ideal for drip irrigation. Applying water every three weeks or so will get them to grow larger. Applying water every eight weeks, but still deep, will sustain their size. Producing flowers from this plant means dividing it. Watering frequently (once a week or less in the summer) causes desert plants to grow. They like water for growth…but not often….Irrigating them three weeks apart will get them to grow larger while watering them with the same amount of water, but less often than three weeks apart will make them keep their size. Experiment with your soil. Soils are different in how they hold water. They can be watered slowly with a garden hose or connected to the irrigation system with an irrigation clock, but using the timer only when the plant needs water. The key is to experiment with you soil but do the experiments when it is cooler.

Divide Red Yucca After Five Years in the Ground Read More »

Bottlebrush With Open Canopy and Yellow

Leave a Comment / dwarf, flower color, forms of bottlebrush, make a tree, size, tree forms, varieties / xtremehorticulture

Q. I have a bottle brush shrub that is open and getting yellow. What to do? A. The Australian bottle brush plant is sold as a shrub but can reach heights of 25 feet so it can also qualify as a small tree as well. Bottlebrush varies from dwarf types to trees and flower color from red to white to pink. Flowers of the red bottlebrush. Later the flowers produce this which are seed capsules. Dwarf Types Just don’t use dwarf types like ‘Little John’ if you want a larger tree sized plant. In tree form it can be used on single story homes for shade. To be on the safe side plant it away from hot walls. There is a weeping form and a non-weeping form as well as dwarf varieties. Also flower color can range from yellow to red and shades of red to pink and white. One of the dwarf types, don;t know which one, with freezing damage. Yellowing Leaves It oftentimes has a problem. Yellowing of the leaves oftentimes occurs when the soil is low in nutrients as well as its organic matter content. Fix yellowing by applying a landscape fertilizer every year in the spring and combine it with an annual application of chelated iron. Enriching the soil with organic matter is done when you used small rocks by raking them back and applying a thin layer of compost to the soil, wetting it, and raking the rocks back. Large rocks may not need raking. The compost and fertilizer will just wash through it to the soil. One of the iron chelates, EDDHA. I prefer this type of iron chelate because it is stable regardless of the soil pH. Other iron chelates like EDTA and DTPA iron chelates become ineffective at soil pH above about 7.6. Apply it early in the growing season when you make a fertilizer application. Increase Density of Canopy To improve the density of its canopy, make sure it gets enough water. The plant grows best if treated as a “mesic” plant rather than a desert or xeric plant. It grows well when surrounded by lawn. Water should wet the soil about three or four feet in diameter to a depth of about 18 to 24 inches deep each time. Water it as you would any mesic plant such as ash, bottle tree, African sumac, and others. As this plant approaches ten feet tall then wet the soil about five to six feet in diameter. Another possibility might be low soil organic content. So rake the rock away and put a thin layer of compost on top of the soil, water it in and replace the rock. Pruning to Tree To get a small tree out of this, remove the lower limbs when it is 3 or 4 four feet tall so that the canopy occupies about 2/3 and the trunk is about 1/3 of its height. Plant it at least five feet away from hot walls or it will fry. Also in the desert remove lower limbs slowly as the lower limbs touch the ground. Otherwise the trunk may get sunscald.

Bottlebrush With Open Canopy and Yellow Read More »

Making Bearss Lime Fruit Larger

Leave a Comment / container, fruit, increase, lime, patio, size / xtremehorticulture

Q. I have a Bearss Lime tree that produces small fruit that looks more like lemons than limes. What can I do to make them larger and not yellow but green? Bearss lime fruit which is a Persian lime.https://gardencenterpoint.com/persian-bearss-lime-tree-usda-organic/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAt8WOBhDbARIsANQLp97s4-qWtbHVFj7aiuxxXvsfTMjxhAadSA6uqUn-uavMRAA4XQCTFFsaAjbaEALw_wcB A. Your Bearss lime is classified as a type of Persian lime or sometimes called Tahiti lime. It’s different from other types of limes so make sure you are comparing the same varieties. They make good patio trees if potted and can be moved when it gets too cold. They will freeze any time the air temperature is below freezing. The fruit normally gets between two and 2 ½ inches in diameter. To get large fruit requires removal of about one third of the fruit in about April in a growing operation called thinning. Thinning is removing of some fruit so the remaining fruit get larger. They wont get any larger than they can anyway so removing lots of fruit does not increase the size of the remaining fruit larger than is genetically possible. In the case of Bearss lime, you will not get much larger fruit than about 2 1/2 inches long. The earlier thinning occurs then the larger the remaining fruit. Remove about one third of the fruit if the crop load is heavy. If the crop load is “light”, then you may not have to remove any to get their maximum size. Limes take 3 to 4 months to become ripe. Because the fruit size is smaller than some other citrus, it is harvested earlier, usually sometime in late summer or fall. But if it flowers and sets fruit later in the spring or early summer then the fruit is ready to pick later as well. Bearss lime starting to get overripe on the left. Ready to pick on the right. https://tastylandscape.com/2013/12/26/growing-bearss-lime-tree/ When the fruit is overly ripe it turns yellow like a lemon, and the interior flesh slowly becomes drier and not juicy anymore. The color of the fruit is normally green; dark green when it’s young and turning a lighter green as it nears its harvest time. It’s important to remove it from the tree before it becomes overripe or yellows. If it starts flowering then it is time to finish your fruit removal. Leaving fruit on the tree when it is flowering can interfere with the next fruit cycle. Check the ingredients of a plant tonic to see how much nitrogen fertilizer is being applied with a normal application. You know the risk involved when growing tender, subtropical citrus in Las Vegas? The perfect climate in the United States for growing citrus is found at the lower elevations in Southern California, Salt River Valley and area around Yuma Arizona, lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and the bottom half of the state of Florida. I’m not against growing citrus here but realize its limitations when grown in this climate. Don’t blame the nursery. You bought it.

Making Bearss Lime Fruit Larger Read More »