Arizona Chickens

[southerndesert]

That is optimism! My late husband grand father planted himself a row of fast growing trees for a windbreak. He as I believe 95 or 97, his grandmother was 15 or 20 years younger. She was furious, "why xxxxxxxxx trees! You will just have to replace them in 40 years!!!" She complained to every one, that they will grow too fast, extra work, will have to be cut down and replaced in 40 years. They both looked like they were in their lat 60's, but

40 years? He did not think nether of them had anything to worry about.

He died at 100 (in med/late 60's) putting out a brush fire trying to save a bunk house that was falling down. He had been planing on fixing it up for storage. His grand mother passed shorty after (i think she as 15 or 16 when married) she was quite healthy, went to bed and never woke up if I remember it right .

. He would get her 100 pullets every year, so she would have her own money. His neighbors & friends thought he was foolish to let her have her own money because she could run away. His reply, "I kinda like to think she wants to stay with me because she wants to." { they lived in Montana, hard country for even the best }

I really enjoyed that... Sounds familiar somehow to my past, thanks for re wakening some great memories

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Clucken_crazy, 'Solar Power'
In 1962 I designed an underground house, with solar, recycled wast methane gas and wind generator for power/energy. I was in 9th grade, I was told by my s teacher I was living in a fairy tail world. I got an F on it. No one lives underground, there is no such thing as solar and you do not need to recycle, prestressed concrete is not a building material.

WILL! We know who got the last laugh on that one!

WOW! That was foresight for sure! Hubs and I have a 5kW system on our house. I LOVE IT!!

 

[Demosthine]

Hmmm!  I am not too sure that a cherry tree would do well down in the valley.  They seem to be a difficult tree even up in the mountains.  My wife bought a couple for the house in Overgaard.  I planted them, and then it took about three years for them to produce.  The fruit was awful.  They were montmorency cherries, not the sweet ones I like. 

I suspect that cherries need a lot more chilling than  we get in the valley.  That said, I always thought that of apples, but now I hear people saying that they have apple trees that produce.  So maybe I am behind the times on this issue.

I have a lemon tree that is bound and determined to commit suicide.  The darn thing is four years old and looks smaller and worse off than it did when we bought it at the dead tree sale at Home Depot.  It really looks sad.  In Spanish they refer to that condition as "tristeza" which is a condition in which the plant refuses to thrive.

I covered it with a cardboard box during the frosty nights.  In retrospect, I probably should have let nature take its course.  Then I could replace it with something more viable.  I thought of a black mission fig, but my wife thinks that fig trees draw a lot of bugs.

Maybe a plum tree.  I am running out of space in my backyard, so it will have to be something small but really good.  Maybe a loquat.
 

I talked with my Grandma and found out that her Mom kept a black mission fig tree since they moved here in 1908. Roughly sixty years ago, she fragged a large piece, I think she said from the root, and transplanted it in her yard when she moved out. It's grown in to a large, very productive tree. She has to cut it back every year just to make sure she can reach the ground beneath and get all the fruit.

They have never had a problem with any bugs from it. She said the brown Turkey fig trees are more susceptible, though, so make sure you get the right one.

Oh, and she has never had wasps near it, so those are for sure unnecessary.

 

[Fuzzybird]

Quote: I knew what you meant. Meal worms can be sexed?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Gallo, Thanks for the happy homecoming!

Dar, I will PM you.

Update on my life... Hartley is 17 months old now and I'm about a third of the way through cooking #2. Come July, we will have a foursome. Too bad I hate golf!

I remember the ultrasound pic of the little scrapper! It's great to hear that all is well. Congrats on #2 too!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I talked with my Grandma and found out that her Mom kept a black mission fig tree since they moved here in 1908. Roughly sixty years ago, she fragged a large piece, I think she said from the root, and transplanted it in her yard when she moved out. It's grown in to a large, very productive tree. She has to cut it back every year just to make sure she can reach the ground beneath and get all the fruit.

They have never had a problem with any bugs from it. She said the brown Turkey fig trees are more susceptible, though, so make sure you get the right one.

Oh, and she has never had wasps near it, so those are for sure unnecessary.

Figs are super easy to propagate from cuttings. I just whacked a small branch off and stuck it into the aquaponics system and it took off. I have to remove it soon since it's threatening to take over the greenhouse. FYI, most people probably wouldn't notice a fig wasp if they saw one. They're tiny, only about 2 mm long!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Well, I'm certainly no expert, having had my apples (Fuji, Anna, Golden Dorsett) for only a year; you guys have more experience with them than I. Good questions Kev, I have the same ones. I was wondering what was going to happen myself, even after that terrible stretch of freezing temps, my apples still have most of their leaves! That really surprised me. There are some yellowing, but if they didn't fall after several nights below 20 degrees I wonder if they will. Interestingly, yesterday I looked at the apples at our big nursery here in Tucson and they don't have any leaves. Maybe it's because they're in pots? I actually meant to ask someone there about it, but forgot. Mahonri, that's interesting that yours didn't drop it's leaves but still produced. I was thinking back to Kev's problem with it last year and wondering if mine would do the same. Maybe not? This might be worth a call to the County Cooperative Extension. I'll bet someone there will know. I'll check tomorrow.

As an aside, my Arctic Star nectarine still has most of it's leaves! All the other stone fruits lost their leaves long ago, but this one is still going strong. Weird.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote: I knew what you meant. Meal worms can be sexed?

How do you tell the girl worms from the boy worms? You look under their skirts.

In all seriousness, you can relatively easily sex pupae and beetles by looking at the differences in morphology. The differences are subtle, but easily done with a little practice. Not much of a useful skill though.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Mama Hen Chris, Lovely family! It seems so unusual that you've known your DIL since she was a baby, especially in modern times with such large cities and folks moving around so much. The chances of them ending up together seem so small.

 

[squeakyballs]

I talked with my Grandma and found out that her Mom kept a black mission fig tree since they moved here in 1908. Roughly sixty years ago, she fragged a large piece, I think she said from the root, and transplanted it in her yard when she moved out. It's grown in to a large, very productive tree. She has to cut it back every year just to make sure she can reach the ground beneath and get all the fruit.

They have never had a problem with any bugs from it. She said the brown Turkey fig trees are more susceptible, though, so make sure you get the right one.

Oh, and she has never had wasps near it, so those are for sure unnecessary.

That is amazing! There is a place in Tucson trying to grow all of the really old trees that were originally planted by Father Kino.

http://www.desertmuseum.org/center/kinofruittrees.php

http://www.pima.gov/cmo/admin/Repor...gardens at Mission San Agustin del Tucson.pdf