BajaNomad

Garden and citrus crop

vandenberg - 12-24-2011 at 11:55 AM

Got a new load of soil in the garden beds and the tomatoes sure seem to like it. Growing like weeds. And we had an unbelievable tangerine and mandarin crop this year. Already hundreds of fruit had been picked of these trees before the pics were taken.







[Edited on 12-24-2011 by vandenberg]

bacquito - 12-24-2011 at 07:25 PM

Good crop!

woody with a view - 12-24-2011 at 08:52 PM

i just got my burpee catalog in the mail. bring on the spring....:light:

oladulce - 12-25-2011 at 08:34 AM

Beautiful trees vandenberg. Wish i knew what's wrong with my peach, mango, gfruit and orange. They're out of the wind, i've played with the water, no sign of bugs, and supplement fertilizer tea but all are hanging by a thread.

Bigwooo says when he toured your garden [between hummingbird divebombers] you mentioned problems with your soil. What did you change

vandenberg - 12-25-2011 at 08:51 AM

Oladulce,
never had a problem with the fruit trees. They, and the 5 cocopalms, always grew at a healthy pace and have been producing after the first 4 years. Grapefruit in abundance every second year. We started the planters with great soil, but somehow the better half decided we needed fresh soil and when we replaced it, all the plants struggled and never produced or reach maturity. No way here to run tests, so we replaced it again, with identical result. We did this 3 times, but this time we seem to have gotten the proper dirt, somewhere from a ranch in the San Juan area.
Always had the feeling that salt was the culprit for the stunted growth, but won't swear by it.

wessongroup - 12-25-2011 at 08:51 AM

Always love gardens ... and one that produces food... even better... how's critters on your "babies" ... ?? sounds like you might have some help .. hummingbirds can get a bit protective ... :):)

Had a pair that built a nest next to our back door, in a fig tree just out the door... raised three generations from that tree... and they didn't like us changing ANYTHING while the little ones were still in the "nests" ever see one, a hummingbirds nest... really some little place to raise the little ones ... just two per eggs per nest was the limit on the ones we had sharing a place to live ... the young ones were a real treat ... really liked to zoom around testing their new wings..

Thanks again for the nice shots of where ya live ... Merry Christmas.... and keep it going ... really nice .. thanks for some memories ...

oladulce - 12-25-2011 at 09:11 AM

Any photos of your hummers Vandenberg [sorry, keyboard's broken-no question mark]

Wooo says never seen anything like it. Hummers so thick they were sitting around the patio table with them. Unless he's pulling my leg.

vandenberg - 12-25-2011 at 11:52 AM

Oladulce.
Here a picture of some of the hummers. They are almost impossible tp capture. They refuse to sit still. We have 5 feeders, which Barb fills daily. At times we may have as many as 50 to 75 of them cruising around. Between feeding they rest in the fruit trees. Some are so used to people that I can actually touch them while they're sitting on something like a flyswatter handle. They are fun to watch and as expensive as feeding a large dog with the price of sugar.:biggrin::biggrin:

IMG_1408 [1600x1200].JPG - 47kB

vandenberg - 12-25-2011 at 12:14 PM

One more through Photobucket

oladulce - 12-25-2011 at 01:51 PM

WOW. No exaggeration, you have swarms. I wonder if Xantus come over to the pacific side. Thanks for the pictures.

wilderone - 12-29-2011 at 09:41 AM

Just a stray thought on productive trees vs. non-productive. Maybe the 50-75 hummingbirds around Vandenberg's contribute to better pollination.

Mexitron - 12-29-2011 at 10:54 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by oladulce
Beautiful trees vandenberg. Wish i knew what's wrong with my peach, mango, gfruit and orange. They're out of the wind, i've played with the water, no sign of bugs, and supplement fertilizer tea but all are hanging by a thread.

Bigwooo says when he toured your garden [between hummingbird divebombers] you mentioned problems with your soil. What did you change


Oladulce---isn't the weather fairly cool for part of the year in Pequena? That might be affecting the Mango and Grapefruit. As mentioned though salt could be a culprit too. Without seeing them in person its hard to know---soil ph might be very alkaline there? Are you foliar feeding? Foliar feeding with Miracle-Gro or other chelated fertilizers sidesteps the issue of soil problems often (especially in Citrus which have problems absorbing all the micronutrients via their roots).

oladulce - 12-30-2011 at 03:58 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mexitron


Oladulce---isn't the weather fairly cool for part of the year in Pequena? That might be affecting the Mango and Grapefruit. As mentioned though salt could be a culprit too. Without seeing them in person its hard to know---soil ph might be very alkaline there? Are you foliar feeding? Foliar feeding with Miracle-Gro or other chelated fertilizers sidesteps the issue of soil problems often (especially in Citrus which have problems absorbing all the micronutrients via their roots).


Thanks Mexitron. Probably lots of salt in the soil here and I bet the pH is on the high side. I'll read up on foliar feeding. There are huge, old mango trees loaded with fruit 30 miles away in La Purisima and I'd guess the nightime winter temps in the valley there are much lower than our location (and I bet their soil is better). My trees would probably be happy if it was more tropical here, but to this untrained eye, I don't think temperature is the main problem. Do you make house calls?

Mexitron - 12-30-2011 at 12:26 PM

Next time I'm in the area I'll stop by!

BajaBlanca - 12-30-2011 at 12:46 PM

:lol:


Happy New Year Oladulce and Mexitron and Vandenburg and bacquito and woody !!

those pics of the hummingbirds are just amazing !! our first year here we set some feeders out but we got a lot of bees so we gave it up

how do you keep the bees away ????

oladulce - wish you best of luck with the fruit trees ....

vandenberg - 12-30-2011 at 01:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaBlanca
:lol:
Our first year here we set some feeders out but we got a lot of bees so we gave it up

how do you keep the bees away ????



We just leave them alone and let them share. If they get too bad ( only once in a while ) we shoo the birds away and spray some insecticide around the feeders. Seems to do the trick.

[Edited on 12-31-2011 by vandenberg]

Iflyfish - 12-30-2011 at 05:20 PM

Beautiful pics of your garden, I love pics like this! Thanks. Those hummers are amazing and my favorite. Only found in that area of Baja, a real Baja treasure!

Hope to see you next Oct/Nov

Iflyfish

Hello Ed and Barb!

fixtrauma - 12-31-2011 at 10:45 AM



Ed and Barb a few years ago when we stopped in to meet them. One thing that I remember was the evidence of a green thumb everywhere around their place! You can see some proof of that even in this picture!





Besides all the hummingbirds that visit their place, here is another visitor we saw that day while on the upstairs porch.

vandenberg - 12-31-2011 at 12:57 PM

Hi Don,
long time no see!! Still working I presume?

And indeed we have scores of birds here and a much larger variety than I expected when we moved here. We also supply them with lots of birdseed. Love birds.
A buddy of mine, one of those guys that can't sit still for any longer than 5 minutes, decided a few years ago, to pass some time, to built us a birdhouse. Quite an elaborate contraption and I don't believe a bird has ever visited it for other reason than to crap on it.:P:P
One of the pics is of the inside. Looks like someone's porch. He built all that stuff from scratch in miniature. Very clever.





[Edited on 12-31-2011 by vandenberg]

oladulce - 1-2-2012 at 08:19 AM

That was a birdhouse? Imagine having a playhouse like that as a kid! Hang on, I'd love to have a look-out tower/ garden gazebo like that right now! Not sure the birds would fully appreciate the details and what a mess.

mcfez - 1-2-2012 at 08:56 AM

vandenberg....great looking tomato plants....was the picture taken this week?

oladulce.....we're in the farm business. Let me ask you this: exactly what is your watering schedule for the trees? I have seen folks holding back on watering...or not keeping the soil moist enough "100%" of the time. Your issues sounds exactly like a few neighbors of ours have in San Felipe.

Do the finger test: poke your finger all the way into the soil....if it feels dry....your tree is in dire needs for water.

Quote:
Originally posted by oladulce
Beautiful trees vandenberg. Wish i knew what's wrong with my peach, mango, gfruit and orange. They're out of the wind, i've played with the water, no sign of bugs, and supplement fertilizer tea but all are hanging by a thread.

Bigwooo says when he toured your garden [between hummingbird divebombers] you mentioned problems with your soil. What did you change