Category: meetings

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October 12th @ 10 am: Professor Cinzia Fissore on Growing Coffee in Southern California

Our October in-person meeting (at our regular Culver City location) will feature Professor Cinzia Fissore who created the experimental coffee orchard at Whittier College.  In this orchard, 64 plants from ten varieties of Arabica coffee are grown according to organic and regenerative principles. Native California plant species are intermixed with coffee, and 18 avocado trees flank the orchard and provide partial shade. Dr. Fissore, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Illinois Urbana and other institutions, has been specifically working on assessing soil-plant nutrient exchanges, mycorrhizal association in specific varieties of coffee, and California-specific plant performance across varieties. This promises to be a truly fascinating event!

 

Photo by Professor Fissore.

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Air Layering Lecture/Workshop with Jeff Warner on Saturday August 10th @ 10 a.m.

Jeff is the chair of the Orange County Chapter of CRFG and– like many of that grand chapter’s members — is a master propagator. While we have demos of grafting once every year at our February scion exchange (and twice this year with Arnie Bernstein’s talk on citrus grafting in June) we haven’t had a discussion of Air Layering in a very long time.

Air Layering is an astonishingly easy way to produce nicely rooted specimens from otherwise impossible to propagate trees or varieties, though of course it also works on the easy-to-root-or-graft like figs. It is a technique we should all have in our fruit growing tool kits.

This will be a combination lecture and workshop so feel free to bring one of your favorite trees (in a pot of course!) and you will be able to take it home ready to produce a Mini-Me. Please also bring your own favorite knife since air layering does require a small amount of surgery. We will provide the rest of the stuff you will need to complete the job.

And hey, the fruit is ripening out there! Pick some of what you’re growing to share with the rest of us. Other snacks are also always welcome.

BTW, we are back in our beloved MultiPurpose Room, Culver City Veterans Memorial Building, 4117 Overland Ave, Culver City, CA

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Oh no! We are being moved across the street! June 8th @ 10 am

We have just been informed that the entire Culver City Veterans Memorial Building is being pre-empted for city training on Saturday. As a result, we are being moved across Culver Boulevard to the Culver City Senior Center which has ample parking and a room virtually the same size (though not our nifty patio, sniff). We will be in Suite C, 4095 Overland Avenue Culver City, CA 90232.

There is a parking lot entrance on the southbound side of Overland north of Culver Boulevard. If you are coming north on Overland, make the left on Culver and then right into the parking lot. If you are going east on Culver, you will have to make the U-turn at Overland and go into the lot from the north side of Culver.

We have been told that Suite C is on your right as you enter the Center.

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Antonio Sanchez is “Inviting California to Dinner”: on Zoom 4/13th @ 10 am

This not-to-be-missed Zoom will be a guided tour of various native plant foods, including fruits, greens, seeds and more, that can be added to your local landscapes and diets.  Lecture will include how to grow each plant in local gardens, and how to use one or various parts of the plant in recipes.  Among the many plants to be covered include:
Cleveland Sage
CA Wild Grape
Huckleberry
Saltbush
Golden Currant
Hummingbird Sage
Honey Mesquite
And many more

ABOUT THE SPEAKER


Antonio Sanchez is the nursery manager and restoration volunteer outreach coordinator for SAMOFund in Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and has been working around native plants for nearly 2 decades. He is co-founder and lead singer of the native plant band Sage Against the Machine (hear him sing “I Want to Be Native Plant“!), and was lead organizer for the California Native Food Symposium, the Southern California Monarch and Milkweed Conference, the first Ventura County Native Plant Symposium, and the California Native Sage Festival.  Antonio has worked at various native plant institutions around the state, and has managed the nurseries at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, worked as a landscaper at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, worked as a nursery technician at the Theodore Payne Foundation for Native Plants, and co-founded and ran Nopalito Native Plant Nursery in Ventura, CA, with a good friend and a cousin, for nearly 4 years.  He believes in making native plants fun and approachable to all, learning about and teaching old and new ways with native plants, and that Hummingbird Sage is probably the prettiest California native sage, but Salvia pachyphylla is a close second.

Note: a similar sold-out event is occurring at Artemesia Nursery in LA this weekend.  If you want to see details of the kind of subjects (and recipes!) Antonio will be covering, you can find them here.

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Zoom Meeting August 12th @ 10 am with Robert Pavlis!

Okay, this meeting is a dream come true for our Program Chair Deborah H.

As a long-time Master Gardener, she devoured Robert Pavlis’ books on Garden Myths,  Soil Science and Compost (among other topics) and now she is making it possible for us to hear him live and (almost) in person.

Robert Pavlis has over 45 years’ experience in the art and science of horticulture, with a particular focus on soil chemistry and health. He is the owner and developer of Aspen Grove Gardens, a 6-acre botanical garden featuring 3,000 varieties of plants. A sought-after speaker, and lecturer, Robert has published many articles in magazines such as Mother Earth News and Ontario Gardening. He maintains two widely read blogs – gardenfundamentals.com and gardenmyths.com – and a popular YouTube channel with tens of thousands of subscribers. Robert is the author of Compost Science for Gardeners, Plant Science for Gardeners, Soil Science for Gardeners, and Building Natural Ponds.

Because he lives in Guelph, Canada this meeting will be by Zoom only.  Links and details will be sent to chapter members.  Be aware that some of his advice is Northeast-centric, so feel free to read the websites ahead of time and come with questions!

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Another great meeting!

Today’s talk on Backyard Bugs was enjoyed by a large number of West LA and  LA Chapter members.  Matt Daugherty gave us a crash course in Entomology and then went into the specifics of how we can deal with the pesty (and protect the non-pesty) bugs.  He highly recommended becoming familiar with the UC Riverside Integrated Pest Management site that uses a multi pronged and more holistic approach to managing our orchards.

Matt focused especially on the Asian Citrus Psyllid which is the known transmitter of the huanglongbing (or Citrus Greening) disease in citrus.  This disease has totally decimated the Florida and Brazilian citrus industry but fortunately hit California late enough for protective measures to be put in place quickly.  Aggressive monitoring and removal of infected trees has thus far kept the disease (but not the psyllids!) contained.  We all have a responsibility to honor the guidelines about not sharing scion wood or buying citrus trees from anything but certified nurseries.  After all, the disease was first found in a multi-grafted backyard tree.

One of the easiest (hah) things, Matt mentioned we could do was control ants in our yards, since the ants vigorously farm many disease causing insects, including the Asian Citrus psyllids.

Most of us are dealing with the tiny but widespread Argentine ants, so the ant bait sold at nurseries, Home Depot, etc is too strong to attract them.   An easy home brew involves mixing 1 cup hot water with 1/2 cup of white sugar.  When it has dissolved, mix in very slightly less than 1/2 tsp of boric acid or 2/3 tsp borax (yes, the 20 Mule Team Borax over your washer). Let it sit for several hours then mix again before using.  You can put the bait in small glass jars with an ant sized hole poked in the lid or plastic containers like hummus comes in with a hole poked in the side.  It’s easier if the containers are clear so you can see when they are filled with ants.  Throw in some cotton balls so the ants have something to sit on while they drink.   You don’t want them to die there (though some inevitably will drown) but rather bring the bait back to their nests and — hopefully — kill the queen.  Please don’t leave the bait uncovered because bees (and small children)  will also be attracted to its sweetness. Good bye bad bugs!

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We need a video person!

Dear Chapter. we are slowly inching back to a new normal.  Because our Davis-based August speaker, Ernesto Sandoval, is going to be in LA, we will be lucky enough to hear him live and in person.  With our lovely MultiPurpose Room patio, we even have the option of meeting COVID-safely outside though I for one will still be wearing a mask.

This means, however, we will NOT be on Zoom unless someone volunteers to transmit it for us.  Since there is virtually no wifi in the MPR, this will require a phone with better reception than I  got when I  attempted to video the Bartlett Arborists.

Alternatively, if someone would rather not use up their data but is willing just to video the meeting, we can still put it up on our Google Drive for non attendees to view.

With 100 member, we have to have someone less wobbly than yours truly.   The chapter even owns a phone tripod if that helps.  Please, someone, for the sake of your fellow members, volunteer for this very undemanding once or twice a year job.

 

Photograph by Lance Anderson on Unsplash

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Ernesto Sandoval on Plant Hormones and Fruit Trees: Knowing and Managing Them for Better Results

When:  August 13th at 10 am
Where:  Multi-Purpose Room, Veterans Memorial Complex, 4117 Overland Ave, Culver City (yes, we are back!)

Have you ever wondered why your plant has a sudden burst of growth after transplanting? Or how the plant “knows” to grow new parts when pruned or how a cutting knows to make roots?  Maybe you’ve even wondered about how a fruit knows to ripen or why leaves all of a sudden turn yellow when you bring a plant home?  Find answers to these questions and others about why your plants grow the way they do during this informative yet not so technical presentation by Ernesto Sandoval, Director of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory.

Ernesto Sandoval has been wondering and seeking questions and answers to why plants grow and look the way that they do for nearly 40 years.  Now he explains and interprets the world of plants to a variety of ages and from amateur to professional gardeners. He regularly lectures to a variety of western Garden Clubs throughout the year and particularly to Succulent Clubs throughout California. Although desert plants are his particular passion within his general passion for plants, he describes himself as a “Jose of All Plants, Master of None” and loves learning from the experiences of others as well as his own.  Ernesto thoroughly enjoys helping others, and gardeners in particular, to understand why and how plants do what they do.

When he was about 13 he asked his dad why one tree was pruned a particular way and another tree another way. His dad answered bluntly “because that’s the way you do it.” Since then he’s been learning and teaching himself the answers to those and many other questions by getting a degree at UC Davis in Botany and working from student weeder/waterer to Director/Manager over the last 30 years at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory.

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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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