Why Not Mulberries in Las Vegas?

Toots or white fruits of the female
mulberry tree. They also come in dark
purple or black and red. Some fruits can be
up to four inches long.

Q. I have this thing about Persian black mulberries and was peeved that Lowe's and Star Nursery cannot sell them locally for that lame reason (per county ordinance) that the yummy fruits stain sidewalks. Sadly, the very pigment(anthocyanins) which stains sidewalks is that same pigment which make it and blueberries extremely rich in antioxidants. Blueberries won't thrive here, so they are not banning it, but mulberry, which could provide kids with healthful fruits they could pick fresh, on almost a daily basis, for at least a month straight from the bush (and not from the supermarket), seems to be that one desert fruit kids actually care for, and which require less water than most other fruiting plants. Figs thrive on little water just as well, but most kids, let alone adults, would not care to put them in their mouths.

If it so happens that you agree with me, I was wondering if I could petition you (knowing your clout and authority) to tell Clark County to reverse the ban, or at least revise it, allowing Las Vegans to raise them with the simple requirement that they plant it in their backyards, away from public walkways. I really feel no child should be deprived of the learning experience and the benefits of watching the berries evolve from flowers to delicious fruits which taste of gummy bears. Why something so good, or something which provides so much despite needing so little should be banned is just wrong.

Mulberry catkins or flowers of the male mulberry tree. These
flowers only produce pollen, no fruit.

I have been taking lots of cuttings from a feral mulberry bush by Tropicana Ave, but so far, no luck in getting any to root. Still hoping I could successfully clone it before the property owner or the 'plant authorities' remove it, hahaha.

As always, thanks so much for your time.

A. It is my understanding that only the male mulberry (thus fruitless) has an ordinance against it,  not the female (fruited). Mulberry trees can be either male or female; the male tree produces the pollen from its male flowers while the female tree produces fruit which can stain (the red and black ones and admittedly in my opinion the better tasting ones compared to the white one).

Mulberry is an example of plants we call dioecious. Humans are dioecious; we have separate people who are male and others that are female. Mulberry is similar to humans in this regard. I know the botanists in the crowd will have trouble with my definition.

Fruitless or male mulberry tree in bloom and releasing
allergenic pollen in Clark County, Nevada.

The staining can be pretty bad when the fruits from the female trees drop on your car, patio or sidewalk and the birds absolutely go nuts over the fruit. The fruit would be coming in about now in our climate. the county ordinance is concerning the pollen and associated allergies of the MALE tree, not the female.

By the way, in many central Asian (Afghanistan) and Indo European countries (Armenia) they share the same name for the fruits - toots.

Retail Vegetable and Fruit Markets in Northern Afghanistan

Wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Mazari Sharif

Last week I showed you one of the wholesale markets in Mazari Sharif. It was focused on potatoes and onions for the most part. This week I wanted to show you some pictures of the wholesale vegetable and fruit market and the retail markets that get their fresh fruits and vegetables nearly daily from the wholesale markets.





Zarang (motorcycles converted with a small truck bed) drivers
getting ready to haul produce to retail markets as soon as they
are hired by the owner of a market to do so.

There are basically two wholesale markets in Mazari Sharif. The local farmers usually dont bring in their farm fresh fruits and vegetables to the wholesale market. This is  usually handled by some sort of "middle man" who has transportation and travels among the farmers buying product and delivering it to the market. Other times larger trucks drive in from Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan with products from wholealers there. So there is a wide selection of products ranging from bananas and citrus from Pakistan or the semitropical areas of Afghanistan like Jalalabad.

Taxis are sometimes used to haul fruits and vegetables to
local retail shops for sale.

Balkh Province where Mazari Sharif, the capital, is located is at best subtropical in parts but more temperate with a climate similar to Las Vegas but with a bit more humidity at times. Right now apricots are coming in as well as early onions, radishes, leafy greens, and numerous other spring crops.

Farming in the Philippines



Our family farm in Batangas, Philippines

Q. Just saw you on one of those weekly Vegas journals and was pleased to learn you have a horti project from the Philippines. I lived there many years before migrating to Vegas. While grateful you are sharing your expertise to my fellow Filipinos, am a bit worried about your safety. It is not a very safe place, especially for foreigners in Afghanistan.

I really miss the orchids, night jessamines, heliconias, water lilies, sugar apples, jackfruit, sapodillas, duhat, papayas, mangoes, ferns, pineapples, lakatan and latundan bananas I used to raise in our backyard. Besides coffee, what else are you growing there specifically, if you don't mind me asking?



My neighbor who watched me digging holes
to plant trees for a long time. Finally he said
in the local dialect, "I never saw a white man
(canok) get his hands dirty before." and he
walked away shaking his head.

Come visit or join the Rare Fruit Society of the Philippines

A. Thanks for asking. I dont get there much right now due to my work in Afghanistan but our farm is a work in progress. When we bought it, it already had established mangoes and coconut in over/understory planting with a few citrus.

We have now introduced to the farm coffee, papaya, bananas, rambutan, lychees, durian, jackfruit, and many others. It is located in Batangas Province not far from Padre Garcia. To the south about 45 minutes is Laiya Beach with its shallow protected coral reef for snorkeling and diving. All my friends are welcome there so please come and visit us. But make sure we are there!

Crape Myrtle and Mimosa (Silk tree) Similar in Care

Readers silk tree in excellent shape in rock mulch

Q. I have a mimosa tree and I am giving it a lot of TLC and it seems to do well here.

A. Your Mimosa or silk tree looks great and is doing well judging from the picture you sent to me.  It looks like it has good growth and a nice dark green color.  You must be giving it a lot of attention as it seems to be thriving there in rock mulch.  I will caution you that these are not long-lived in our climate and tend to suffer a lot of branch dieback or decline as they get older.

            They particularly struggle in rock mulch that is fully exposed to summer extremes.  They seem to live a bit longer when surrounded by grass rather than rock mulch.  It has never been diagnosed, to my knowledge, but this decline may be mimosa wilt disease, a disease that infects and plugs the vascular or water transporting system in the tree. 

Crape myrtle 20 years old growing in
alkaline pH 8.2 soil with little soil amendment
 following regimen suggested here. There is some
wood mulch at the base of the tree in
the irrigation well.

            Continue to keep it healthy and it’s possible to keep it going for quite a while.  Another plant which can suffer here in rock mulch is crape myrtle but is, in my opinion, a better tree for here if you give it some TLC like you are doing.  With this tree you can keep it looking good growing in desert soils by fertilizing it with a well balanced fertilizer like 16-16-16 in late January along with iron chelate applied to the soil and watered in. 

            Follow this about two months later with a liquid fertilizer applied to the leaves until the solution begins running off the leaf surface and dripping onto the soil.  I usually apply a wetting agent with the liquid fertilizer applied to the leaves.  If you can keep plants healthy, they can withstand diseases and extremes of temperature and soils better

Good Price on Fruit Trees Does Not Equal Success Sometimes

Bareroot fruit tree

Container fruit tree

Q. What nurseries you would recommend buying fruit trees from (local or online)?  I would be looking to get them in the ground in February or early March so my only concern with local nurseries would be whether they would have their stock in that early.

I wouldnt buy this fruit tree
regardless of the price. It is exhibiting
poor or slow growth and the roots are
exposed in the container. Yuck.

A. If you are planting trees that early you will probably find mostly last year’s trees held over that didn’t sell but usually at some very good prices. Just be careful and buy trees in good shape and don’t feel sorry for a tree and think you can nurse it back to health.

            Some of the mass merchandisers will bring in trees early to sell but be careful of the varieties you select. Some of these mass merchandisers have a good person or two in the gardening department but many times they do not. I have seen some “innovative” gardening methods at some of these places. And I don’t necessarily mean that kindly.

            Many times the mass merchandisers do not look for what grows well here but sometimes you can get lucky and find what you are looking for. All time popular varieties that do well here are usually good bets. Local nurseries usually don’t bring new trees in until weather warms up in late April.

            Be careful of rootstocks on apples in particular. You want semi dwarfing rootstocks like M111. The extreme dwarfing rootstocks on apple can be a problem here due to our high light intensities. and sunburning of the fruit and limbs due to the extreme dwarfing and poor canopy development. It is harder to glue limbs on trees when shade is needed than it is to prune out unnecessary canopy development and too much shade.

            Nothing wrong with fall planting either if you can find trees in good shape. Plant mid-September through October the same way you would at normal times of the year. This is a great time to plant because you essentially have two “springs” the plants go through before you hit the hellish summer weather.

Just Because a Tree Looks Funny Dont Rip it Out

Desert Museum Palo Verde growing at
an odd angle and developing an odd shape

Q. I would like to ask your opinion on a Desert Museum Palo Verde tree I planted in my front yard here in the Las Vegas area about 2 years ago.  It looks like it is half of a tree with most of its branches on the side sagging toward the ground.  It is quite bent over and seems to be getting worse over time.  The yard’s terrain is slanted, but other trees on similar topography don’t seem to have this problem.  Do you think it should be staked, limbs removed, or whole tree removed? 

 

A. I see what you're saying from your pictures, the tree is leaning away from the house and does not look perfectly straight up as you're picturing in your mind it might become. Personally, I try to visualize what this tree might look like as it gets older.



Picture the tree as it might look ten years from now.
It looks strange now but adverse conditions
can create character in plants.

            I find that frequently a tree's character is shaped by its environment and it tends to grow in reaction to that environment. In other words your tree leaned and grew in that direction because of its location and the impact from surrounding plants and the environment.

            As I picture this tree 10 years from now, with this leaning trunk and major scaffold limbs pruned so they are not in the way, it might have a lot of character. This character would be entirely different than the picture-perfect tree you imagined when you bought it.

            I would tend to let it go and as it gets larger remove or cut back limbs that might damage the house and begin to remove the lower limbs if they interfere with human or vehicle traffic. It will begin to straighten out in the next few years. In my opinion, you have the beginning of a tree with quite a bit of character.

Desert Plants Dont Like Desert Soils



These ash trees were planted along Aliante Parkway in
North Las Vegas just north of the Aliante Casino heading
toward Horse Drive. When you are driving along here look
at the sizes of the ash trees planted in grass vs those planted
in rock. They were planted at the same time. Those in
rock mulch are much smaller but all in good health.

Q. I often enjoy your pieces in the NLV neighborhood View, and your suggestion of replacing rock mulch with wood chips caught my attention. I have an 18 year-old velvet ash in a small (20' x 20'), red rock covered front yard.  Does this tree do better with rock or wood chips around its trunk?

A. This is where my comments can sometimes be misconstrued. What I am trying to tell people is that for the most part, plants that originate from nondesert or nonarid climates perform best growing in wood mulches in the landscape. They also do better with growing in soils that have been amended at the time of planting with organic materials like compost.

            Plants like Velvet ash (aka Arizona Ash) which is native to the desert and arid Southwest, TOLERATES desert soils and so can be grown more successfully under rock mulch than non-desert plants. Nearly all plants perform better with a higher organic content in the soil but desert plants, like Velvet ash, can TOLERATE rock mulch landscapes.

            This is true of many cacti and succulents as well. You will see them perform better if we amend the soil at the time of planting with some organic matter like compost.

            In the case of your Velvet ash, because it is native to the arid and desert Southwest, it can tolerate rock mulches better than say Japanese privet (native to Japan) which does not tolerate rock mulch very well at all but is frequently placed in rock landscapes here with, over time, very little success.

Birds Love Our Fruit Trees and What to Do



Bird damage to nearly ripe peach

Q. What can be done to keep birds from eating all the fruit in an orchard? My brother has an orchard in southern Utah. There are about 100 trees, mostly dwarf and semi dwarf. Last year birds got 90% of the fruit. He has tried scare crows but that didn't work. He has also tried aluminum foil pie tins but that only worked temporally. Is there any solution for him other than buying netting to cover the trees? He needs a solution soon before the birds start feasting on the apricots.

A. Fruit usually damaged are the soft fruits; apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, etc. Birds focus on fruit as it starts to build sugar content, mature but not fully ripe.



Grackel ready to pounce on our apricots

            We harvest soft fruit just before they are fully ripe and finish ripening them off of the trees at room temperature. After they have reached physical maturity for eating we can then put them in the refrigerator for longer keeping. They will store better if they are in a humid part of the refrigerator but they still must “breathe” or they will deteriorate quickly.

            We start looking for bird damage and begin our harvesting schedule just ahead of their damage. Otherwise you will have to net the trees.

            Scaring devices don’t work more than about one to two weeks and after that the birds are no longer afraid of them. This is true of most animals that are pests to our gardens. The hungrier animals are, the more chances they will take in getting food they like.

Wholesale Potato and Onion Market of Mazari Sharif

An onion wholesaler says, "we import onions from Iran. We buy it fresh, not from storage and sell it directly here. (However the onions he had were obviously storage onions) We are not keeping it here because of the hot weather. And we get it from traders and merchants. Also we import potatoes from Iran.

Mazari Sharif wholesale potato and onion market after
the bustle of trading has subsided

The head of potatoes and onion wholesale market says “now we import the potatoes and onion from Pakistan. Currently there is no production in districts of Balkh Province. And we import all from Pakistan. Then from September until November we have our own potato production from Baghlan and Bamian provinces. But now we import our vegetables like coriander, cucumber, spinach, leek and lettuce from the district of Balkh province and only we import cauliflower and cabbages mostly from Pakistan and less from Nangarhar.

Scales for weighing potatoes and onions at the
Mazar wholesale potato and onion market

“Our big problem is storage. We can not keep the potatoes and onions for a long time. If we have storage, the onions from Mazar-E-Sharif never spoil. We can keep it unile April. we don’t have a suitable place for keeping onions. We are packing them in bags and keep them in our shops. And our potatoes are from Baghlan and Bamian because we don’t have storage. When the potatoes from Pakistan arrive, the price of our potatoes drop. For example seven Kg of Bamian and Baghlans’ potato is 100 Afs. when potato from Pakistan arrive it decreases to 60Afs. (50 afs or afghanis is roughly equivalent to $1USD right now)

Retail shop owners come to the wholesale markets and
contract with the owners of these motorcycle converted
vehicles to transport their purchases to their retail shop

Another potato and onion wholesaler says” we can keep our potato in Bamian six until eight months but when it arrives in Mazar because of the lack of storage we can not keep it for a long time. Also we can keep the onions for only three months and we must sell it soon. These are at times when prices are low and we face business problems.

Interviewing wholesalers with our flip video camera and
later transferring the information to paper
or electronic medium

When we ask the head of potato and onion wholesalers about storage in Mazar he answers “there is no storage in Mazar only in Kabul and in Maidan Shahr. We lose 50% of our potatoes and onions because we don’t have storage. If we have storages facilities we can keep our onion for nine months from September until May. If we have the ability to make storage we will build storage for vegetable and fruit. But we have never seen any storage facility we have only heard of these facilities. But if an engineer comes and train us then we know how to build our own storage. Cold storage needs a lot of power and we have good power in Mazar and the power cost 15 Afs per KW for businesses."

Another potato and onion wholesaler says” if there is a possibility we go Pakistan or Kabul to see the storage then we can understand how to build ours”.

Next week the retail outlets.......

Seeds on Ash Trees Difficult to Control

Q. I have a huge ash tree that I want to either stop it from seeding or kill it. I heard about a product that can stop seeding but I am told due to the size of the tree it is impossible to spray the blooms. This tree is at least 50' tall. It is a real nuisance. Also, if I continuously soak salt brine into the ground would this kill the tree or at least shock it enough to stop producing. Do you have any ideas on how to handle this situation?

A. Most ash trees are either male or female. It sounds like you have a female tree. Male trees, in the case of ash trees, produce pollen and do not produce seed. Female trees require the pollen from male ash trees and produce seed.

            There are several products available which claim to eliminate fruit or in your case seed production. They all work a little bit differently and may or may not work on your tree. I am afraid it will be hit and miss when you start experimenting with these products. There is a possibility that some of these products may damage or even kill your ash tree or plants growing near it if used improperly.

            I do not have any research to back up any recommendations about which product might be successful. I am sorry but I believe your best solution would be to remove the tree rather than experiment with chemicals on your property. I hope this helps.

My Vegetable Transplants Always Fail

Q. It seems that whenever I try transplanting, I keep losing the plant. Mainly tomatoes, and squash type plants. I've tried putting the plant in the area that it's going to get transplanted into for a few days then make the move. I've tried boosting the area with fertilizers. Today, I tried to put up shade around the area so the direct light doesn't beat it up too bad. Do you have any advice?

A. If this was soil that was never planted in before and you don’t see any weeds growing in the soil then maybe there is a problem with the soil. Very seldom is it the case that our desert soils will grow nothing once they have been amended and irrigated.

This is what your tomato transplant should
look like out of the container if grown right:
sturdy, stocky, dark green, white roots
about 4 to 6 inches tall and free of insect and disease
(photo courtesy University of Missouri and can be found at
 http://extension.missouri.edu/news/DisplayStory.aspx?N=1087)

It is more likely not enough soil preparation or the location is not the best for transplants. Vegetables need to be placed into desert soils that have had extensive modification prior to planting. The modifications have to be ample amounts of compost and tillage to get the compost deep and provide for some drainage of water. I like to see at least 12 inches down and even 18 inches for deeply rooted vegetables like some carrots and other root crops.

I do prefer constructing raised beds for vegetables and herbs. The raised beds do not have to have constructed side walls from construction materials. The natural slope of the soils at the edges of a constructed bed will keep the bed from collapsing provided you keep human traffic on it at a minimum.

But the soil must be ripped as deep as you can with a trencher or tractor combined with water and good compost added to it and finally thorough mixing by tilling or rototilling.

The raised beds can be constructed by shoveling the soil with compost added to it on to a bed about three to four feet wide. Every time you plant for the first three years you should be adding about two inches of compost to the bed and tilling or mixing it in with a tiller.

After about the first three years of adding extensive amounts of compost and growing in it you will see your vegetable production reach a peak in yield and quality. After that then one inch is usually adequate.

Seldom have I seen transplants that were not acclimatized (putting them gradually into outside from a greenhouse or nursery) just flat out die. They usually become stunted for awhile and then start to grow again.

Make sure transplants are planted the same depth in your garden as they were in the containers if they are older plants. One exception is tomatoes which can be planted deeper and the soil piled around the stems for a deeper root system (provided the soil has been prepared well).

Young smaller plants transplant better than older, bigger plants and recover faster (usually). Squash, melons, cucumbers and many other vegetables actually perform better if they are started in the garden from seed, not transplants.

Relative Difficulty of Vegetables to Transplant

Easy to Transplant

Broccoli

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage

Lettuce

Tomato

Medium Difficulty

Cauliflower

Celery

Eggplant

Onion

Pepper

Hard to Transplant

Cucumber

Musk Melon

Squash

Watermelon

Prickly Pear Fruits Not All the Same for Jams

Q. I have Indian cactus and each year they grow flowers that have a bulb or fruit coming from the pads about 3 inches tall. I have been told that these bulbs make great jams. Is this true and if so, can you tell me how to make this jam?

Red fruits (tunas) of nopal cactus. The flesh of the fruit is
removed from the tuna by cutting the ends off and partially
slicing the fruit lengthwise.

A. What you call the Indian cactus, we now more commonly call the Nopal cactus because of its Mexican heritage. When nopal cactus pads are prepared as human food they are then called nopalitos. 

            Nopal cactus is harvested in Mexico for three purposes; fresh vegetable, fruits and animal or livestock feed. These plants are native to Central America, in particular the arid parts of Mexico and Central America, and are a staple part of their diet. I might add nopal cactus has some great documented health benefits related to lowering high blood pressure, lowering the incidence of diabetes and provide a lot of dietary fiber.

Nopal cactus pad about at the right stage for harvesting
for fresh vegetable. the spines are removed, washed
and used fresh or cooked. The taste resembles a cross
between aparagus and green beans with the texture of okra.

            Not all nopal cacti are the same in quality when used for fresh fruits and vegetables. Generally speaking if your nopal cactus is producing fruits but the birds are not devouring them when they are ripe, you will probably not like them either. However, if the birds love to devour these fruits then you are in business.

            There are selections of nopal cactus that are superior in these regards. I was growing two of these selections provided to me by faculty from the University of Sonora. These selections were nearly spineless.

            But when you grow nopal cactus for food you have to push their growth with frequent irrigations (every two weeks in the summer) and fertilizer and plant them with lots of compost. I will post more information on the nopal cactus and how to make this jam on my blog.

Jam of Prickly Pear

Ingredients:

2.2 lbs (1kg) of prickly pear fruit (tunas) peeled (15 tunas approximately)

3 1/2 cups of sugar (840 g)

1 tablespoon of pectin

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Cut prickly pears in pieces and blend only half of them. Keep the rest. (Because the seeds are very hard, I pureed all the fruit and strained the pulp.) Put blended fruit into a pan and cook over medium heat; as soon as it begins to boil, add the pectin, the sugar and the lemon juice. Keep stirring the mixture constantly with the spoon. Once it starts the first boil, while stirring, add the remaining fruit if you desire. Remove the jam from the heat when it acquires a thick consistency and when shaking pan the bottom can be seen (more or less after one hour). Put the hot jam into the sterilized container immediately. (Our test jam cooked more quickly.  Be careful not to overcook.)

Packaging and Preservation for safety

On a dry cloth, place the sterilized bottles or jars. Pour in the still hot jam, with the help of a spoon, leaving a minimum space of a half inch between the mouth of the bottle and the jam. Allow some steam to escape and close it tightly to form vacuum. Let cool to room temperature and place a label in the bottle with the product name and date. Jam will be ready for its consumption in 12 hours after it was prepared. This jam will keep for a year in a fresh and dry place. Once opened, the jam must be refrigerated and consumed in a month.

Alternative ingredients:

The lemon juice can be replaced by ¼ tablespoon of ascorbic acid or one crushed Vitamin C tablet of 500mg.

Recommendations:

To keep the jam in good condition, sterilize the bottles and the cover in the following way: wash them thoroughly, retire the labels and put them to boil (with enough water so they keep cover all time) during 15 minutes counted from the first fervor or boiling. Taking off by far care, with the aid of clamps or a knife in a hand and a dry rag in the other; place the bottle and the cover on a totally dry and clean cloth (if no, the bottle can be broken). Do not touch the jam with the hands when it is still hot, since it can cause a serious burn.

To take a small taste of the jam before complete the heat treatment, take a few with a spoon, drain it in a plate, and leave it to cool completely.

Jam of Nopalitos

Ingredients:

300 g (3/4lb.) of clean and sliced nopales into little squares (approximately 3 large pads)

200 g (1 1/4cup) of sugar

1 cup of boiled or chlorinated water (drinkable water)

1 dry maize leaf (those used for making tamales)

2 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 pinch of sodium bicarbonate

Cook nopalitos in a pot with sufficient water and the maize leaf until they are soft.  Remove maize leaf and discard. Drain the nopalitos in the strainer, rinse them with cold water and separate ¼ cup to use them later. Blend the rest of nopalitos to obtain a purée. Put purée and sugar into large pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with spoon for 10 minutes. When it begins to boil, add the lemon juice, bicarbonate and the nopales that were keep before. Skim off the foam that is formed with stirring mixture. When the mixture is clear and thick, jam is ready. Remove from heat. For extra punch, add 3 finely minced Serrano chilies.

Packaging and preserving: 

Put the jam, still hot, into the sterilized jars. Allow ½ inch space between the jam and the mouth of the container. Before closing the container tightly, allow steam to escape to form a vacuum. Before consuming the jam, let cool at room temperature for 12 hours.  The jam may be processed in a water bath for longer shelf life. Label with name and date. The jam is conserved until by eight months. Once the jam is open, it should be refrigerated.

Scorching Brown Leaves of Grapes May Be More Than Water

Q. My grapevines are not growing as usual. I have had them for 7 years. They always give me nice big leaves but this year they are very small and brown around like they are dying or lacking something?

A. Before we get into some more difficult problems please make sure they are getting watered with enough water at each application and the timing of the irrigations are correct. The bigger the grapevines, the more water they will require.

            So it is hard for me to tell you how much water to give them without knowing if you have them covering a large area like a patio or if they are highly restrained on a trellis like you might see in a vineyard. Also make sure they are not watered too often such as daily or this could cause some problems like you are describing as well.

            Highly restrained and trellised grapes, like you see in a vineyard, might be irrigated with perhaps only 10 to 15 gallons at each application while an unrestrained vine might require twice this amount or more.

            Grapes have the capability of growing very deep roots; thirty to sixty feet under the right conditions. Most fruit trees do not have this capability. In our soils and conditions deep-rooted grapes are highly unlikely since there are very few places where they can tap into water at this depth. So that being said let’s assume you will be watering them like a fruit tree.

            If watering is adequate then we can look at some less likely problems such as Pierce’s disease that is carried by an insect called the glassy winged sharpshooter. To date this disease and insect has not been reported in Southern Nevada. Try deep watering your grapes first. Then, to be on the safe side, please contact the Nevada Department of Agriculture in the Las Vegas office and coordinate a sample to be sent to the state Plant Pathologist for examination and his comments.

Afghan Qabali Palau

One of the mainstay meals you are given when you get here is their rice palau or palaw. Sometimes it can be called Kabuli palaw or Qabili palaw or just plain palau. It consists of usually long grain rice mixed with lentils, rasins, carrots and a meat, usually lamb and sometimes nuts like almonds. It is considered the national dish.

For me it is served with a side dish of fresh vegetables, their round, flat bread and hot tea. In Tajikistan when I was there it is a similar dish made with rice called plov. Where I am, close to the Uzbek, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan borders, the population is about 30% Tajik by ethnicity.

Side dish of fresh vegetables

Qabili Palau is widely regarded as Afghanistan's national dish. It is best described as rice cooked in a broth-like sauce, then baked in an oven and topped with julienne carrots, raisins and chopped nuts. If meat is added, it's usually lamb, chicken or beef; the meat will be covered by the rice.

The Ingredients:

3 cups Basmati Rice 
10 lamb pieces 
2 yellow or brown onions, peeled and chopped 
1/2 cup vegetable oil 
1 cup chicken broth 
2 small carrots 
1 cup of raisins 
2 tablespoons ground cumin 
1.5 table spoons ground cardamom 
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper 
12 cups of water (estimate - use your judgment!) 
Salt (according to your tastes) 

The Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Chop and saute some onions in a pan over high heat until the onion is a nice brown; this should take about 5-6 minutes. Don't burn the onions!

If the lamb pieces are too big, cut them into tiny pieces.

• Add the lamb into the pan and sprinkle with salt
• Cook the meat over medium-to-high heat for about 6 minutes, turning occasionally to get an even golden brown on all sides.
• At this point in time, the onions will start to caramelize nicely, and there will be a nice, thick sauce.
• Add about a quarter cup of broth, then continue stirring until the liquid dries up, at which point put another quarter cup in again, and repeat until you've used all the broth.
• This really gives the meat that extra flavor! Once the thick sauce is truly good and going, bring to a boil, cover with a lid, and let the whole thing simmer for around 10 minutes. Then, remove the meat from the brown broth, and set aside (keep warm).
• Stir in the ground cumin (2 teaspoons), ground cardamom (1.5 teaspoons) and the crushed black pepper (0.5 teaspoon) into the broth and continue to cook on low heat for another 5 minutes.
• This allows the spices to get their flavor into the broth.

Immerse the rice completely in a bowl of water, and drain in a colander. Repeat this step a few times, until the water that you're draining becomes clear. Meanwhile, cook the rice in any sort of pot that has a fitted lid. This is where the 12 cups of water come in. Put some salt into the water before cooking the rice, so that your rice will just have that hint of saltiness to it when cooked. Cook the rice until it is just ever so slightly crunchy (nearly cooked), then strain any remaining water. Put the rice into a cooking pot, add the prepared broth. Make sure the broth and the rice mix well and add the meat pieces on top. Cover the pot with foil, and then with the lid.

Bake the rice for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Once you've put the rice into the oven, julienne the carrots, and do a quick stir-fry with them, along with raisins. You'll be putting them into the pot, but you want to be stir-frying them just enough so that they're slightly cooked, but do not overdo it, as you will be putting them into the pot, and let the cooking process complete in the oven. Set aside.

Once the 20 minutes have passed, take it out, and put the julienne carrots and raisins into the pot.

Reduce the oven's temperature down to 250 degrees, and let it cook for another 20 minutes.

Once that's done, take the pot out from the oven.

Arrange the meat pieces on a large platter. Then cover it with the rice. Make sure that the carrots and raisins are evenly spread in the rice; you don't want them to be just piled all up in one spot (it's all about aesthetics!).

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5449166

This Thing in My Lawn and Dwarf Fig

Q. This thing is throughout my lawn and I don't know what it is. Can you tell by the picture? I also want a dwarf fig and the local nurseries do not carry them. I looked on the web and found several and wondering what one you might recommend.

A. The lawn grass picture is not something that I recognize immediately. The first two things that come to mind are the mushrooms that pop up in lawns after some rains and during the cool times of the year and earthworms surfacing and pushing up soil.

            It is hard to see it from the picture but the mushrooms make the most sense. These do not look like typical mushrooms since they don't have the caps that normal mushrooms have and so homeowners immediate response is to say no it's not a mushroom.

            These mushrooms come from decaying organic material in the soil like woody soil amendments were buried or even dying roots from trees and shrubs. Sometimes they look like vomit (sorry for being coarse) on the lawn or wood mulch. They will disappear with the heat and as they exhaust the supply of wood in the soil.

            If it is the mushroom then just destroy the mushrooms with a rake turned upside down. If it is earthworms, jump up and down for joy (not on the lawn) and punch some more holes in the lawn with an aerator. I don't think I was much help on this one.

            Blackjack fig is a good one and stays somewhat small and I see it in most nurseries.

Sago Palms Growing Different in Same Yard

Q. I have two sago palms in my front yard. One has nice growth in the center and the other does not. Attached is a photograph of each one. I learned that all the landscaping was put in at the same time so I’m sure they are the same age. Any ideas on why this might happen or how I can encourage growth in the second one.  

A. Both look fine. They are at different stages of growth; one has its new growth upright and lightly colored (since it is new growth) and the other has not grown from the central bud yet so there is no new upright growth at the center.

            Sago palm (a misnomer since it is not a palm) grows its new fronds from the central bud in the same way palms do. If one of the sago’s is in a bright sunny (warmer) location than the other one then it will show new growth earlier than the one in a colder spot.

            Plants in shadier spots usually have fronds that are larger and more succulent and luxurious in appearance. To me the ones in the shade look like they need more light and are kind of spindly in appearance but that is my view.

How to Get Fewer Disease Problems on Tomatoes

Q. At the nursery I purchased some heirloom tomatoes. They got silvery/shiny areas on back of leaves which turned into dry dead spots.  The plant is also dropping blossoms what is this? I applied fungicide but do not know if this is appropriate. My homegrown tomato plants do not have this. Please let me know.  I do not want my other tomato plants infected.

A. You have noticed something that I have been talking about. This is concerning the quality of homegrown vegetable transplants being superior to the transplants grown by commercial growers for the mass markets.

            To get transplants ready for markets growers usually have to grow transplants in some sort of protected culture such as greenhouses, cold frames, hot frames or hoophouses. When grown for mass markets the grower has to produce transplants at the lowest cost possible to improve profit margins.

            This may mean that in many cases these transplants may not be grown under the cleanest conditions and the growing conditions also may not be the best. This means that mass market transplants can be very subject to earlier development of diseases and insect problems.

            When you grow transplants at home you can afford to start with cleaner materials and as a consequence have fewer insects and diseases to contend with. You can also get the exact variety you want by ordering the seed ahead of time.

            Sometimes the commercial grower will apply pesticides just before shipping transplants to the nursery to remove any pest problems that might be developing, pests that may already be there and make sure they are pest free when delivered to the nursery.

            Several problems can cause silvery discoloration to the leaves including the natural silvery-green color of some tomato plants. These dead spots may or may not be related to the grey green color of the leaves. The brown spots could be due to feeding damage by insects or a disease problem. It is hard to say exactly without seeing a fresh plant sample with the disease present or several high-quality pictures.

            As far as blossom drop on tomatoes remember that they are finicky. Temperatures to high during the day, too low at night, and irrigation which is missed, an unusually hot day when temperatures abnormally been cool, all can play a role. Tomatoes grown excluding bees for pollination may cause the flowers to abort.

            If you are worried about a lack of bees then use your electric toothbrush to vibrate the plant for better fruit set. Touching the electric vibrating toothbrush to portions of the plants close to the flowers for a few seconds may improve fruit set if bees are limited.

            I would suggest you consider applying some preventive sprays to transplants brought into the garden from a nursery or garden center. This is seldom needed for homegrown transplants or from commercial growers who maintain clean facilities and planting material. Sprays would include insecticidal soap applications every few days, spraying Neem oil and some other organic sprays specifically for vegetables.

            In the future I would recommend growing your own transplants if you can and you will see fewer problems like you are mentioning. Local producers of vegetable transplants can be found and are usually higher priced but cleaner with fewer pest problems.

Ruby Red Grapefruit Not Putting Out Like It Should

Readers disparity in fruit size

Q. I wanted to know a couple of things. First, what happened to my Ruby Red grapefruit tree. Why are my fruits so small relative to the store bought one that I show in the picture. I call it "orange sized".  Granted it is a young tree (planted in 2010) so is that why? It not only put out only 2 fruits but tiny ones at that.

Thickness of the rind or albedo

            Also if you look closely at the picture of the cut fruit there is more rind than fruit.  What would have caused that?  The first year the tree put out one grapefruit and although it was small the fruit while sour the fruit looked like a typical ruby red grapefruit in proportion of fruit to rind. The two from this year had that little flesh inside and it was pale, not like a white grapefruit and definitely not ruby red.

A. The picture of the plant that you sent is a bit odd. It was hard to discern from the leaves whether or not it's a grapefruit. Grapefruit leaves have pronounced 'wings' on the petioles (the little 'stem' holding the leaf blade and the branch). If you see most of the leaves with the winged petiole then I vote for grapefruit.

Readers grapefruit tree

            Another test is to taste the young leaves. Lemon leaves taste like lemon, lime leaves taste like lime and I'll bet you can guess what young grapefruit leaves taste like.

            The fruits in your pictures with the very thick albedo (rind) look like grapefruit and a very thick albedo on fruits coming from a mature plant can be caused by too much nitrogen, overly wet conditions and just quirkiness.

            If you can taste the fruits, taste the leaves and check to see if the leaves have winged petioles then confirm it's a grapefruit then I wouldn't worry. This is a juvenile plant and will produce higher quality fruits as the plant matures.

            The plant looks fairly healthy so do the confirmation checks about the type of citrus . . Keep it watered and fertilized. Remember the saw for when to apply fertilizer is Valentine's Day, Memorial Day and the most important is Labor Day. If you want to fertilize more often with less fertilizer at a time, that would be great.

            Let us know after you check the fruit and/or leaf taste and leaf morphology (cool word, huh?) for the winged petioles and get back to us. Just remember the citrus plants will live for decades and once they mature the fruits get much better. Terry.

PS.

The pictures of the leaves really look like grapefruit leaves. . . Besides the winged petioles the bright, shiny, emerald green color are so indicative of grapefruit . .  Terry