Do You Like Apples? Specifically 'Honeycrisp' Apples?

 I got two questions on the same day from readers who are growing 'Honeycrisp' apple trees. Is this because you like the flavor of the apple? 

Like wine grapes, every variety of fruit has its own "terrior". When we try a fruit tree in a new climate and soil from its original terrior, where we know it did well, we take a risk. We will not know if that risk paid off or not for about five years after its first successful year of production. I learned my lesson on that with 'Flavor Supreme' pluot which excited me at first until I got to know it better. Like wine grapes, every variety of fruit has its own "terrior". which can produce erratically with late spring frosts and its own genetics.

Right now 'Gala' apple has become the number one apple in grocery stores beating out 'Red Delicious' because of its flavor, storage and shipping qualities. Why did 'Red Delicious' apple (btw, an Iowa apple originally) dominate the apple industry for 50 years? Primarily because you could keep it in cold storage for nearly 12 months. It was not because it tasted great. It was the primary apple grown in eastern Washington state for many years. Now we have many different kinds (sports, aka natural mutations) of 'Red Delicious' and 'Gala' apples for different purposes (color, production timing, size, flavor). So why was 'Granny Smith' apple so popular (third largest producer in the US)? Storage. It will store for a long time, like 'Red Delicious'. for a year or longer. It is certainly not because of its flavor. 'Mutsu' apple, a better suited apple variety for the desert, is a green apple that tastes better than "Granny Smith' but will only store for about two or three months. 

'Mutsu' apple ready for harvest. In my opinion 'Mutsu' apple (spur type) is a better choice for desert climates than 'Granny Smith', a tip type apple tree.

'Honeycrisp' apple was developed in the Minnesota market as fresh fruit. It was nearly discarded because it didnt ship or store very well, a necessity for commercial production. 

I dont know how it will perform in a hot desert climate like we  have in the Mojave Desert. I have never tried it. All of the flavor and texture tests came out of Minnesota so we know it does well and tastes good in the upper Midwest. When trying it outside of its normal 'terrior' be prepared to evaluate it for about five years.

Remember the words 'terrior' and 'sport'. Both are important when it comes to backyard production.

What Length Can Drip Tubing Be? How Many Gallons Can it Handle?

Recently I saw quarter inch blank tubing with a length of  over 80 feet! Of course this is too long for quarter inch tubing. But how long is acceptable? How long can drip tubing be extended and still work? How many gallons can a length of drip tubing be designed to handle?

I put this original table together just to answer those questions.

"Half inch" drip tubing with embedded emitters

Approximate Water Capacity for Different-Sized Drip Tubing

Hose Size1 (in)	Hose Size2 (ID) (mm)	OD3 (in)	ID4 (in)	Wall Thickness5 (in)	Max Flow  @ 5 fps6 (gph)	Max Flow    @ 1.5 mps (Lph)	Max Run7 (ft/m)	PSI Loss8 (per 100 ft/30m)
¼ inch	4.3mm	.25	.17	.05 – 1.0	30	120	30/9.1	15.0
½ inch	17mm	.67	.62	.05 -.10	240	960	200/61	9.6
¾ inch	20.8mm	.92	.82	.10	320	1280	480/146.3	5.8
1 inch	26.7mm	1.15	1.05	.10	720	2880	960/292	3.8

¹ Common generic terms for hose sizes; quarter-inch, half-inch, three-quarter inch and one inch. A hose size can have several similar sizes that may be called “half inch”. Always buy name brand drip tubing, blank tubing and fittings for consistency and match their sizes.

² Hose size is not yet standardized. For instance, half inch hose is available in 15, 16 and 17mm internal diameters (ID). The ID will affect the PSI Loss of water pressure inside the tubing and affect its flow rate. Hose size for carrying water is always based on ID (Internal Diameter). Outside diameter (OD) may be used for PE fittings that grasp the outside of the PE tubing such as compression fittings. Sizes you find may not be exact but approximations. Always match your fittings to the ID or OD of the tubing.

³ Outside Diameter (OD) of the PE tubing.

⁴ Internal Diameter (ID) of the PE tubing.

⁵ “Wall Thickness” can vary with different PE tubing. Some PE tubing has thinner walls than others. Different sized drip tubing (e.g., half inch tubing) can affect how much PSI can be used before it fails. Thinner walled tubing is more appropriate for gravity fed systems or lower PSI.

⁶ Five feet per second (5 fps) is the max speed (velocity) water is designed to travel in piping or tubing for pressurized irrigation systems. Velocities greater than this will contribute to “water hammer” , fitting failure, and pipe/tubes bursting.

⁷ “Maximum Run” is the maximum length PE tubing is installed due to a significant loss of water pressure when it is flowing (PSI Loss).

⁸ “PSI Loss” is the loss of water pressure (PSI) because of the friction (rubbing) water has against the inside of tubing. The "PSI Loss" is measured at the end of a distance that the water might flow and typically standardized at 100 feet (30 meters).

USDA Accepting Applications to Help Cover Costs for Organic Certification

 Read the origina.post from USDA here

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that organic producers and handlers can now apply for funds to assist with the cost of receiving or maintaining organic certification. Applications for the Organic Certification Cost Share Program (OCCSP) are due Nov. 1, 2021.  

OCCSP provides cost-share assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products for the costs of obtaining or maintaining organic certification under the USDA’s National Organic Program. Eligible producers include any certified producers or handlers who have paid organic certification fees to a USDA-accredited certifying agent during the 2021 and any subsequent program year. Producers can be reimbursed for expenses made between Oct. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021 including application fees, inspection costs, fees related to equivalency agreement and arrangement requirements, travel expenses for inspectors, user fees, sales assessments and postage.

This funding will be complemented by an additional $20 million for organic and transitioning producers through the Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. More information on that funding will be available in the coming weeks.

Plum Tree has Fireblight? I Don't Think So.

Q. I'm hoping you can help save my plum tree. It has fireblight, I cut off the infected area but it spreading to the rest of the tree. It has these gel filled sacs that are moving through the tree and not sure how to treat it. Can I save the tree?

Early summer growth with fireblight. Happens around May in Las Vegas and is only in Asian Pear, European Pear, Apple and some ornamentals in the rose family of plants.

A. It is not a disease such as fireblight. That disease only attacks European pear, Asian pear, and apple as far as fruit trees go. Not plums. It will damage some ornamentals in the Rose family of plants. Damage from fireblight is seen starting in about May. Your “gel filled sacs” are typical of plum when limbs over half inch in diameter are damaged from anything; diseases, natural causes, or insects. Damage this time of year usually comes from the sun (sunburn) or from boring insects or both.

Sap oozing on plum trunk and limbs can make you think of fireblight, but it can't be.

“Sunburn” damage can be a two-edged sword; it can cause damage on its own, but it can also lead to further damage by boring insects that we refer to as “borers”. Borers in our climate are beetles with an immature form (grub) which tunnels into damaged stems. The kind here are never found in the ground. Frequently these stems may first be damaged by intense sunlight (sunburn). If this damage is caught early enough (March through June) and it is light, any grubs can be easily pruned or cut out with a sanitized hand pruner or knife. If left to do their tunneling until later in the season (June through September) or if the attack is severe, the only treatable option is chemical control using a soil drench of an insecticide. Looks like you are left using a soil drench.

These pockets of sap coming from the trunk and limbs, accompanied by dieback, are positive indicators of borers. By this time of year and when you see dieback, borer damage is in an advanced stage. Find the Bayer insecticide for borers in fruit trees and apply it as a soil drench around the tree following the label directions.

An irrigation moves this poison inside the tree from the roots. This soil drench treatment allows the “poison” to move throughout the entire tree. You cannot eat any fruit from this tree the following year. The parts of the tree that are dead will not come alive but hopefully you will see some new growth from the trunk or limbs after about a month. You will know if you are successful or not by October.

Hand Pruning vs Hedge Pruning

Q. I heard that hand trimming bushes was better than using hedge trimmer.

Hand pruning, or pruning with a loppers or hand pruner deep inside the shrub using three or four cuts.

A. Yes, it is. It is not only “better” but it is faster, needed much less often and with less cleanup involved afterwards. Pruning with a lopper is done once every two years or even less often. Hedge shears used when the plant is grown as a hedge. Pruning with a hedge shears is done twice or sometimes three times a year or more. Pruning with a hedge shears eventually weakens the plant and makes the shrub look ugly in five years. Once done and finally noticed, it is impossible to correct quicky if at all. Most likely the shrubs will need to be replaced rather than pruned.

Pruning with a hedge shears requires three or four pruning trips each year and causes plants to become "leggy" after a few years.

Timing is also important. Pruning with a hedge shears is done ytime of the year by “professionals”. When hand pruning, remove stems after the shrub finishes flowering or in the winter if it flowers in the early spring. Correct hand pruning with a lopper removes two or three large stems from deep inside the plant once every two years. That’s easy to clean up. Hedge shears focuses on removing the new growth at the ends of stems. That cleanup requires a blower.

Euryops Daisy Getting Leggy

Q. My green euryops daisies were doing beautifully last spring and summer, but this year they became tall and leggy and grew poorly. It is late July now. Is that too late to prune them back?

Euryops Daisy in a planter in Las Vegas

A. Euryops daisy grows best at temperatures from 40F to 100F. When it gets above 100F then this plant struggles. The ideal temperature for their growth is probably about 65 to 75F. If on the west or south side of the home, move it to the east side (cooler microclimate) this fall (milder time of year) if possible and put other plants around it that like water. Cut them back hard and improve the soil with organics such as compost when planting. Use a pre-plant fertilizer mixed with the soil like the one for roses or tomatoes. If you use a “rich” compost, then extra fertilizer is not needed. They will not like it much if surrounded by rock.

            As far as cutting them back now, wait until daytime temperatures are 65 to 75F and then prune them an inch or two above the ground and let them regrow from the base. In the Las Vegas climate, that would probably be some time in October. When pruning, cut them back very close to the ground and let them grow back before it gets cold this winter.

Eucalyptus Leaves Used as a Mulch

Q. What’s your opinion about using eucalyptus leaves as mulch?

Eucalyptus microtheca growing in Las Vegas

A. There are reports that leaves from some plants will sometimes inhibit the growth of others. I think this is what you are referring to. This inhibition of growth was first thought to be due to competition for water and plant nutrients, but plant chemicals have been isolated from some fresh plants and found to affect the growth of others. How this works depends on the plant making it and their “allelopathy” is not consistent between different types of plants. All this makes it difficult to isolate and prove its existence. It is clear to me that plants “communicate” in ways we have not thought about but how this happens is not clear.

Read more about eucalyptus leaves as a mulch here

Eucalyptus leaves as a mulch here

The classic example of this is black walnut inhibition of growth (allelopathy) on plants growing under its canopy. Other examples of “allelopathy” exist such as in creosote bush, lavenders, salt cedar, bermudagrass, and others. It is not just a simple answer but varies between allelopathic plants and plant parts. Personally, I have never tried using eucalyptus leaves. I prefer to use wood chips as a mulch or a combination of plant parts from different plants.

Oleander as a composted mulch

One way around this is to compost, or “rot”, eucalyptus leaves. It seems that in most cases the plant or human “toxins” are decomposed as well rendering what’s left as nontoxic to both plants and animals. So, for this reason, I would not use uncomposted leaves of any kind without composting (rotting) them first unless I knew the leaves were not toxic to other plants in the first place.

Kurapia as a Turfgrass Replacement

 Q. Have you ever heard of kurapia as a ground cover? I wonder if it would succeed here in Las Vegas. I know that this recommendation is from a landscaper in California’s Central Valley, so they have a similar climate.

Kurapia is a lawn weed that is marketed as a replacement for a lawn.  Photo from Valley Sod Farms, Sandy Valley, Nevada.

A. I had not heard of it until now. From a marketing perspective it is supposed to be a lawn replacement for grass. It may be a visual lawn replacement but will not withstand traffic or play. Kurapia was started from the native plant, Lippia nodiflora (a synonym for it is Phyla nodiflora for those into its botany), that marketing people say was found in the coastal regions of Japan. But Lippia is native to the tropical and subtropical areas of South America and the United States. This calls into question its tolerance to extreme desert temperatures and low humidity. Growing in our desert soils should not be a problem for it.

Read about Lippia here

Lippia can be a common weed in most of the US. The Central Valley in California is arid but not an intense desert climate like ours so how it will perform during  the cold winter temperatures of Las Vegas is unknown. For example, fruit trees grow great there but you have to be a bit more careful with them in our desert climate. Because it is subtropical, like hybrid bermudagrass, I am guessing it will turn brown when fall and winter temperatures reach into the low 40’s.

Read discussions about Kurapia here

I also read about it at the UC trials in the subtropical and Mediterranean climate of the UC Riverside campus. It is a Lippia, which can be a common weed in some lawns. Ornamentally it is considered a groundcover, so it is not meant to withstand heavy traffic and, at 3 inches tall, it does not need to be mowed. It is primarily a visual lawn replacement during warm and hot months. So, in my opinion it is not a turfgrass replacement where lots of walking or anything heavier is expected. You can also mow it if you want it shorter than 3 inches tall. I suspect it might have difficulty growing in the hot and dry Western and Southern exposures of a landscape.

Read about the UC irrigation trials here trials done in Davis, California

Read about UC recommendations here

It spreads about 3 feet in diameter so, like hybrid bermudagrass, planting it 12 inches apart in a triangular pattern will cause it to cover the area in about 2 months during warm weather if watered regularly and fertilized monthly during establishment.

It will perform best if the soil is amended at the time of planting, and not grown in extremely hot locations. They claim it uses less water than tall fescue lawns, about the same as a bermudagrass lawn. The water use for it has not been established in southern Nevada. It has been established for other locations but ET (water use) varies between locations.

Update: Valley Sod Farms in Sandy Valley, Nevada, contacted me and gave me more information regarding their trials with it there. For more information contact Mike@Valleysod.com