31 in attendance
Meeting Minutes:
- Darren introduced some of his favorite fruit books
- Darren has created a handout of good suppliers of fruit plants
- We have business cards to hand out as a means to invite others to the group
- Sea Island Savory Herbs has keiffer limes, variegated lemons, limes, Persian lemons, Meyer lemons
- Darren's presentation- "Growing Figs in the Lowcountry" (presentation here)
- Additional comments/questions on figs:
- Birds like figs due to high levels of calcium
- Question: not a lot of leaf growth; solution: incorporate more organic matter and make sure it's watered
- lore says to mulch fig trees with oyster shells, probably because of the calcium content
- Question: do marigolds planted around fig trees help with nematode control?; answers: probably, some varieties of marigold are more effective than others at
- of the fruit growers present, we have people growing: capitola, sweet sugar (old time variety from Savannah), black mission, lsu gold, lsu purple
- Non-fig-related questions:
- Question: cut suckers on blueberry plants? Answer: only if you don't like the form. if you leave it, it will be become a multi-stemmed plant
- Question: Why would peaches disappear from tree with no evidence of remains? Answer: neighbors or squirrels might have taken them. Squirrels will take the whole peach; cheap green wire mesh is good for keeping squirrels away from young plants
- Question: Should you thin citrus plants? Answer: there's a phenomenon called "June drop" which is when the citrus plant gets rid of the fruit it know it can't carry. So only start thinning after late July.
- Can you root citrus cuttings? Answer: Darren has had very little success with rooting, though some types of citrus, like limes, are more suited for cutting than others. Bottom heat is key, and June, July, August is the best time of year for rooting citrus cuttings.
- Question: Where is a good place to get materials for tree management? Answer: Darren says that Possum's Landscape Supply is a good source for for chemical treatment supplies. For leaf miners, there is a bacterial spray called Spinosad that kills leaf miner moths in early life cycles. For organic management, Dominick says that he uses cold-pressed neem oil and sea kelp monthly. He uses atomized sprayers
- Other announcements:
- Spring plant swap is April 20
- Dominick has fruit trees available for sale for $25 a piece
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