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| February 2012 | 5.11 MB | As someone once said when asked to forecast the market, "The market will continue to fluctuate". When
weather forecasters try to get more specific than that, they get in trouble. Last week's freezes were an example. | Download |
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| January 2012 | 3.22 MB | Eight years ago, I admired Pete and Betty Kearns' red navel orange tree, and they allowed me to take an
air layer from it. This, of course, produced a red navel orange on its own roots, rather than one of the
preferred citrus rootstocks - Swingle, Cleo, | Download |
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| December 2011 | 5.70 MB | Here is a list of the fruits that are present at the park at the end of November. Starting with the Black Sapote which has a few fruits and then the Carambolas (all three have flowers and fruit). | Download |
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| November 2011 | 12.78 MB | Rough lemon is a hardy citrus that has often been used as a rootstock in the past, but is no
longer favored. The advantage of rough lemon as a citrus rootstock is that it tends to make a
tree that fruits prolifically. | Download |
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| October 2011 | 5.67 MB | Gone are the lychees, mangoes, sugar
apples and grumichamas, but my loquat is blooming. Also, my pummelo are ripening and our
‘Honeybell’ Minneola Tangelo and ‘Ponkan’ Tangerine are growing great as well. | Download |
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| September 2011 | 8.46 MB | Welcome to the last third of our planting at the park. First we come to the Tropical Apricot
(Dovyalis Hybrid) that Peter Ray is doing an approach graft to add a thornless variety to the
existing root system of the previous thorny variety. | Download |
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| August 2011 | 3.38 MB | If, indeed, we are experiencing increases in global temperatures, and if, indeed, this is caused, in whole or in part, by increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, this is still food for thought: | Download |
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| July 2011 | 5.77 MB | Recently, we wrote about the low-chill plum trees that seem to do well here. Of course, we have grown low-chill peaches and nectarines for many years, but these plums are not as well-known. | Download |
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| June 2011 | 1.19 MB | This year, the tree is covered with olives, and they are much larger than last year already. I can’t wait to try my hand at brining them again. | Download |
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| May 2011 | 3.38 MB | Spring is here in full swing and the plants love it. Our loquats were extremely late this year and we just finished them up the first week of April. I have had this fruit as early as Christmas but usually it is ready in January or early February. | Download |
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| April 2011 | 1.05 MB | A full slate of vendors have accepted invitations to our sale, so now our job is to see that we have a well-organized, well attended and successful 2011 sale. | Download |
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| March 2011 | 9.66 MB | The co-chairs of the tree sale have been working diligently on the sale. Vendor letters of invitation have gone out and responses are coming rapidly back. Most vendors are thrilled to be invited to our sale and we have a waiting list of others hoping to b | Download |
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| February 2011 | 11.33 MB | A happy New Year to all members and friends of MRFC. May 2011 be fruitful and free of freezes and hurricanes. | Download |
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| January 2011 | 1.66 MB | We're nearing the time of year for bareroot plantings, and that is the ideal time to introduce mycorrhizal fungi to the new plants. | Download |
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| December 2010 | 6.31 MB | I visited our Fruit Tree Display at Palma Sola Botanical Park recently to plant (with help from Wayne Clifton) two low-chill plum trees, one of which was kindly donated by Just Fruits and Exotics. It occurred to me that our limited real estate is filling | Download |
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| November 2010 | 9.73 MB | Anyone who spends enough time researching plant physiology will invariably be led to the same conclusion: For best plant health and performance plants need biological partnerships with other living soil organisms, especially mycorrhizal fungi. Chemical fe | Download |
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| October 2010 | 5.13 MB | I recently got an email which has been around for a while, espousing the benefits of Bounce brand fabric softener sheets for 22 uses, other than use in a dryer to soften fabrics. Snopes.com published an evaluation by some non-expert which asserted that it | Download |
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| September 2010 | 7.10 MB | A grafter feels indescribable elation when, after several weeks, the scion or budwood is green
and healthy, and seems to have bonded with the rootstock. This is not the time, however, to
drop your guard. The bond at this stage is tenuous, and could die | Download |
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| August 2010 | 7.12 MB | MRFC and our Tree Sale Volunteers from Future Farmers of America gathered on Sunday, June 27,
2010 at Palma Sola Botanical Park in Bradenton to celebrate the great success of our may Tree Sale,
and especially to acknowledge the role our volunteers playe | Download |
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| July 2010 | 7.51 MB | I have been grafting for over 35 years - no beginner, but still very much an amateur. One of my ongoing frustrations is 100% failure at grafting annonas (sugar apples, atemoyas, etc). Last year, my friend Wayne Clifton gave me one of his prized cherimoya | Download |
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| June 2010 | 1,023.66 KB | The Tree Sale is over for another year, and once again, our gross sales have set a new record. On May 16th, we
had gross sales in excess of $67,000, handily topping last year's record sales of $55,000. This is good news, not
only for our club | Download |
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| May 2010 | 9.63 MB | Carambolas were introduced in Florida over 100 years ago. As tropical tree’s go the carambola is considered a small tree, it will grow to a height of 20 or 30 feet. The first fruit introduced into Florida were tart. Sweeter types have since been introduce | Download |
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| April 2010 | 9.93 MB | You don't hear that said very often nowadays, but the work IFAS is doing on the exotic laurel wilt disease that threatens our avocado trees is worth its weight in gold. | Download |
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| March 2010 | 9.40 MB | What I Do After the Freeze
Most of us sit and wonder what to do after the freeze. I will list my theories and what I do. I know each of you have your own ideas and practices. | Download |
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| February 2010 | 9.83 MB | Here's what happened to my place from the endless freezes. This weather qualifies as the longest
duration of cold weather I've seen in a Florida lifetime. The freezes of the eighties still hold the title for
lowest temperatures (eighteen degrees in Punt | Download |
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| January 2010 | 3.38 MB | Just picture removing 90 percent of a plant's roots and then trying to obtain a good yield from
that plant. In effect, that is what a plant without mycorrhizae on its roots is up against. | Download |
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| January 2009 | 7.22 MB | Winter is in full swing, whats growing in our yards, and much more... | Download |
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| February 2009 | 8.51 MB | Now that we have the Fruit Tree Exhibit at Palma Sola up and running | Download |
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| March 2009 | 5.95 MB | Laurel wilt disease, caused by a fungus transmitted by the invasive Redbay ambrosia beetle | Download |
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| April 2009 | 3.03 MB | Our visit to the Arboretum began and ended with a mandatory decontamination misting to
prevent possibly bringing citrus pathogens in or out. | Download |
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| May 2009 | 6.66 MB | If this is not enough we are also planning a trip to the Tropical Tree Research and Education
Center (TREC) in Homestead with a tentative date of August 15th. | Download |
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| June 2009 | 6.35 MB | The speaker for May was Chris Rawlings from the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead. Chris
spoke about some not so famous fruiting plants. | Download |
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| July 2009 | 9.54 MB | One of the most effective things that can be done in a garden or farm is to use a living mulch. | Download |
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| August 2009 | 7.22 MB | Any experienced grower can recognize great soil. It has a loose structure something like potting soil, a darker
color that indicates good amounts of humic matter, and an "earthy" sort of aroma. | Download |
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| September 2009 | 6.13 MB | Laurel Wilt Disease Confirmed on Avocado Sample from Homestead | Download |
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| October 2009 | 8.33 MB | For organic farmers, this is the time to look carefully at their input costs and crop yields, and consider
strategies for squeezing the most out of their valuable improved soils. | Download |
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| November 2009 | 6.46 MB | The picture on the left is a mulberry tree of an old variety that I found near an avocado grove I owned in
Dade County in the 1970s. The fruit was tasty, but small and not very interesting. It was grown from a
cutting. I had decided long ago to eliminat | Download |
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| September 2010 | 3.38 MB | A grafter feels indescribable elation when, after several weeks, the scion or budwood is green
and healthy, and seems to have bonded with the rootstock. This is not the time, however, to
drop your guard. The bond at this stage is tenuous, and could die | Download |
|
| November 2010 | 3.38 MB | Anyone who spends enough time researching plant physiology will invariably be led to the same conclusion: For best plant health and performance plants need biological partnerships with other living soil organisms, especially mycorrhizal fungi. Chemical fe | Download |
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| December 2009 | 6.62 MB | I knew it was going to be a mistake before I ate it. But it was a very appealing-looking slice of tomato on
the plate at the restaurant - perfect shape, nice attractive red color. It looked much like those beautiful
photos in glossy seed catalogs. So I | Download |
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| December 2010 | 3.38 MB | I visited our Fruit Tree Display at Palma Sola Botanical Park recently to plant (with help from Wayne Clifton) two low-chill plum trees, one of which was kindly donated by Just Fruits and Exotics. It occurred to me that our limited real estate is filling | Download |