Crazy About Citrus” is a series chronicling our connection with citrus.

In this episode:
The reveal on how we did on our first grafting attempt.

As an avid citrus collector, we will reach a point where it is necessary to attempt to acquire the skill of grafting plants. The reason for this is that more varieties of citrus exists in bud wood form than can be purchased as trees. In order to add rare citrus varieties to our collection we must now try our hand at grafting. On March 7th, we recieved bud wood from the Citrus Clonal Protection Program. Because of the Huanglongbing disease that is terminal to citrus trees, it is necessary to acquire bud wood from certified sources as a measure to contain the spread of the disease.

The bud wood received are:
‘California Rojo’ navel orange
‘Boukhobza’ blood orange
‘Melogold’ grapefruit

From the nursery we purchased two grafted citrus trees to use as root stock. On the ‘Cara Cara’ navel orange tree, we Tbud grafted the “California Rojo’ onto the root stock. On the ‘Eureka Lemon’ tree, we cleft grafted the ‘Boukhobza’ onto the Eureka scion. A back up Tbud graft was placed on the root stock. With success of the cleft graft, the Tbud back up is no longer neccessary. The Tbud graft of the ‘Melogold’ grapefruit on the last tree was not successful.

Special thanks and acknowledgement to Dan Wiley and the fruitmentor YouTube channel for his work and sharing of information used to graft our trees.

Music: ALBIS, “New Land”
Quincas Moreira, “Firefly”

Zone 10b / San Gabriel Valley / Los Angeles / Southern California / USA

First ripe tomato of the year! ‘Suncherry Extra Sweet’ (hybrid) tomato. The seeds were sowed on the 1st of February. In the greenhouse, the plant is allowed to grow multi-stem.

While the sweetness of the tomato falls short of expectations, there is hope that the upcoming crop will be much sweeter. Perhaps more heat is needed to sweeten the fruit. Maybe when May Gray eventually ends and things heat up will we get to taste a truly sweet tomato.

Additional notes: I believe the large presence of aphids on the tomato plants is due to the early start. Greens growing early in the year tend to have more aphids on them. It so happens that this is the period in the year when their natural predators like ladybugs are still dormant. As temperatures warms up, more and more the predators will arrive to feast on the aphids.

Speaking of aphids, the tomato plant growing in the greenhouse has been sheltered from aphids that blow in with the wind.

Thanks, to my brother and his family, for the t-shirt. I was hoping to be able to join them on their trip but was not able to.

Zone 10b / San Gabriel Valley / Los Angeles / Southern California / USA