Author: Admin

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Now you can book out your Second Saturdays for the rest of the year (and beyond)

Our incomparable Program Chair Deborah has lined up some amazing meetings, so take a look at this rundown. Unfortunately most of our speakers are not based in LA and can only speak to us via Zoom. If you — like me — are yearning for an actual face to face get together, and can’t wait until September at LaVerne, let us know. Maybe we can organize another ice cream social or something.

FULL SCHEDULE FOR THE REMAINDER OF 2022 and some of 2023

June 11, 2022 –  Vertebrate Garden Pests – Niamh Quinn – via Zoom
July 9, 2022 – Garden tour – Margaret Frane’s amazing yard! – via Zoom
August 13, 2022 – Plant Hormones – Ernesto Sandoval – via Zoom
September 10, 2022 – Field trip to Laverne Nursery – Daniel Nelson
October 8, 2022 – Cover Crops – Margaret Smither-Kopperl — via Zoom
November 12, 2022 – Field trip to Angeles Crest Creamery
December 10, 2022 – Plant sale and Holiday party at Culver City

January 14, 2023 TBD
February 11, 2023 Scion Exchange and Grafting Demos at Culver City
March 11, 2023 TBD
April 8, 2023 Field Trip to Long Beach City College to see Jorge Ochoa’s rebuilt dragon fruit greenhouse

 

 

 

 
Photo by Manasvita S on Unsplash

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Drat! Rats! (And Squirrels?) June 11th at 10 a.m.

Our next meeting will be on June 11th at 10 am.  with Niamh Quinn, the Human-Wildlife Interactions Advisor at  the South Coast Research and Extension Center.  Because she is based in Irvine, we will be doing this by Zoom ONLY (hooray, no video glitches this time).   If you have a specific human-wildlife interaction you would like addressed, please let us know.  More details as the date approaches.

You can see the extraordinary range of Dr. Quinn’s research here: https://ceorange.ucanr.edu/about/contact/?facultyid=26919

 

Squirrel photo by Carmel Rossen on Unsplash
Fruit hat from clipart-library.com

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Field Trip to LaVerne Nursery actually September 10th!

I know many  WLA members  are members of the LA Chapter as well and therefore are aware of their field trip to LaVerne Nursery scheduled for this past Saturday.  Just wanted to alert you that the WLA chapter will be doing the same tour on September 10th (NOT July 9th) so if you missed LA or would rather a more intimate gathering, wait for ours!  Details of time, place, and how to order plants for pickup there  will be available as the date nears.

 

Image from Google Maps Street View.

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What a great field trip we had!

Thank you, Farshad, for making your amazing work available to us.  And thank you also for your humorous and informative talk.

Here are some photos Marge Blavin took from below while us “mountain goats” staggered ever higher.   Note the mulberries which we feasted on & which were absolutely delicious.

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Field Trip May 7th (NOTE change of date!) @ 10 a.m.

You will have to get going a week early but boy, do we have an amazing field trip lined up for May 7th!  One of our long-time members is giving us the very great privilege of visiting his over three-quarters of an acre planted with hundreds of densely planted fruit trees.  A master propagator, he has created many of these trees himself though he also buys others from local nurseries, just like us regular mortals. An ambitious fruit grower who is always pushing boundaries, he generously shares both his successes and failures, so there is not a soul who will fail to learn something from this trip.  There is however one BIG CAVEAT!  The property is almost vertical and better suited to mountain goats than yes, us regular mortals.    As a result, only the hardiest among you should attempt the visit (and Margaret suggests walking sticks if you have them).  Our Program Chair will be live streaming  as she did our previous vertical field trip to Aaron Ostrom’s.  If you participated in that Zoom, you know Deborah is really good at videoing whereas yours truly (responsible for the last two disasters) is not.  So rest assured you will actually see something this time.

Because this is a field trip to a private home it is restricted to active  chapter members only.  Members  will be receiving a newsletter with the address and Zoom links.  If you intend to attend in person, could you please let us know?  Our host figures he can handle no more than 40 people.

 

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Report on great meeting April 9th

Boy, what an amazing meeting we had this past Saturday.   Andrew Schiavone and Jeff Micka  of Bartlett Tree Service gave us a jam-packed, info-filled survey of tree care from correct planting  (not too high and especially not too low);  through best irrigation practices (watering newly planted trees right at the root ball so the water doesn’t run around it and pool underneath;  then making sure to expand the watering radius as the tree grows);   and pruning (the rule of thirds, the hormonal importance of the branch collar) while making  fascinating detours through  the underground world  of  roots and soil  plus the cultural sources of most   insect problems and disease.  (not to ignore a recommended treatment for scale!)

Even those of us who have been growing fruit for years learned a lot. They highly recommended soil samplers to give us an accurate idea of our soil’s structure and moisture; and provided business cards and soil sample bags for anyone who wants to get their soil analyzed by their lab in North Carolina, especially for suspected root rots (this would be about $50).  And of course, they are available for consultations and remedial work in your orchards.  They can be reached via

BARTLETT TREE EXPERTS
2369 S. Robertson Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90034
phone (310) 454-2033
email aschiavone@Bartlett.com

For those of you who couldn’t make it to Culver City, I apologize for the poor quality of the Zoom.  Our dedicated and selfless facilities chair was home sick as was our Zoom host; while our fearless and innovative program chair had Master Gardener duties to fulfill. This left your humble ottoman trying to juggle all their duties while simultaneously setting up the tripod and attempting to video with low bandwidth.  If we are going to continue to Zoom live meetings, we need someone to take over the video job.  As it happens, the next two meetings will solely be via Zoom because our speakers are from out of the area.  May’s field trip, however, will also be a hybrid.  After that, if we cannot find anyone to take on the Zooming responsibilities, we will have to return to live meetings only. Barring another surge, it is so much more fun and informative to come to meetings than sit home in your jammies.  Plus, we had cookies!

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April 9th @10 am Andrew Schiavone & Jeff Micka of Bartlett Tree Experts

Yes!  At long last, we are  having a real-live  meeting in Culver City!   And to celebrate  this return to semi-normalcy, Andrew Schiavone — the manager of the Westside branch of Bartlett Tree Experts — and Jeff Micka — their fruit tree expert — will be speaking to us on the planting and pruning and general care of our trees.

Jeff is a friend and colleague of  our revered Tom Del Hotal, whom Tom taught and worked with on fruit tree pruning projects.  Andrew started with Mellinger Tree Service as a climber in 2010, and worked closely with Carl Mellinger (who was the previous owner of this branch of Bartlett), to gain insight into Carl’s Shigo-esque and less is best approach to tree care.  If you have a specific tree you find problematic, please zip your question or concern to Contact Us and we will pass it on to these kind and knowledgeable gentlemen. 

Please note that our beloved MultiPurpose Room has been preempted by Culver City for April 9th, so we will be using the Garden Room which also has a patio, albeit much smaller.  The easiest way to access the Garden Room is via the electric-door  east of our normal entrance.

Also, your humble chair will try to do a better job of Zooming this meeting than I did our field trip to Deborah’s (hey, it was BRIGHT out there and I couldn’t see my phone screen);  but since both our June and August meetings will have to be on Zoom — because the speakers are based  in Northern California –, it would be really great to have as many folks as possible show up for Andrew and Jeff.

Until further notice, Culver City still requires masks and proof of vax.

 

Photo by Árpád Czapp on Unsplash

 

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A note about Fang’s Scion Exchange App

You have to enter either Wants or Offers into the app to get the Exchange page to generate.   And don’t forget to click Update at the bottom of the page after entering your Wants and/or Offers.

Thank you to the members who have already done so.  The rest of you, get pruning!  With this crazy January weather, my apples are already leafing out…

 

 

Photo by Olga Thelavart on Unsplash

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Scion Exchange 2022

With the ongoing surge of COVID-19 cases in LA County, and the fact that Culver City has closed its schools, the odds of our having a traditional scion exchange this year are starting to look slim.  Fortunately, Fang has reactivated the Scion Exchange app he built last year so we can start posting our Offers and Wants now.  If the rate of hospitalizations and deaths stays the same, we will use the format we did last year.  IE folks can drop any OFFERS requested on Saturday February 12th at my driveway (labelled please!) . I will sort them and make them available for pickup by the WANTERS on Sunday February 13th.  There is a place on the app to work out these exchanges ahead of time and please do so.

Of course, if COVID miraculously goes into retreat, we can do the exchange of Offers and Wants all in one morning on the outdoor patio of our beloved MutliPurpose Room.   We would still need to be masked and respect social distancing.

This year, as was true last year, the Exchange will unfortunately only be open to the West LA Chapter.  The link to Fang’s app has been sent to all current members. If you didn’t receive it, please let us know.

Also please stay tuned for updates. Circumstances can change on a daily basis.

 

Photo by Luke White on Unsplash

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Javier Fernandez-Salvador’s resources

As promised, Javier immediately sent  us the list of resources he had posted during his talk.  The Novavine site lists 20 different varieties, their uses and most appropriate locations.

Visit the UC Davis Olive Center website for a complete list of resources:

https://olivecenter.ucdavis.edu/resources

Soil survey https://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/soilweb-apps/

Information about soil at your location and other soil resources

UC IPM site https://www2.ipm.ucanr.edu/agriculture/olive/

Information on olive pests and diseases and currently registered products for control

Pest Management Guidelines in PDF (2014) http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PDF/PMG/pmgolive.pdf

Information for figuring out what might be causing a problem with your olives

Olive variety information https://www.novavine.com/olives/olive-varieties/

Information about popular olive varieties including notes on growing, disease susceptibility, etc.

Olive tree planting guidelines https://www.novavine.com/olives/planting-olive-trees/

Pickling table olives https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8267.pdf

A complete guide to various methods of curing table olives with food safety guidelines

UCCE Master Gardener program https://mg.ucanr.edu/FindUs/

Locate your county chapter of the MGs for local gardening support

 

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