bonsaiTALK Community - View Single Post

Jim:
You will find me in the central san joaquin valley. Fresno to be exact. Hot dry summers with temperatures up to 110 in the worst summers and winters to below zero F. in the worst winters. Thank you these are extreme temperature ranges, most years are not as hot and most winters are not as cold. Umay will start blooming in late january and kiyohime will not drop their leaves until november. Thats my environment. I use little organics in my soil mixes so I furtilize all of the time very small amounts, all water soluable and almost 100% chemical.
Here is an interesting bit of information on dormancy. I was at a fruit tasting that was put on by one of Californias largest developers of fruit trees. The subject came up regarding dormancy and how many days of cold temperatures are needed to set fruit. His answer was that fruit trees in Yuma Arizona that got no cold at all could be artificially induced to bloom and set fruit by defoliating the entire tree. This means that your theory about defoliation may be correct, you should try it and let us know the results.
Last, when repotting pines we will add a mycorrhiza starter much like yeast. We keep trash cans of chopped pine material that is our colony, by adding a small amount of this material to our potting mix, we assure healthy mycorrhiza in our pines.

8-Oct-2001	#10
ripsgreentree bonsaiTALK Master Chief Join Date: Sep-2001 Location: Fresno, CA Country: U.S.A USDA Zone: 9 AHS Heat Zone: ? Posts: 1,260	Re: Fall feeding Jim: You will find me in the central san joaquin valley. Fresno to be exact. Hot dry summers with temperatures up to 110 in the worst summers and winters to below zero F. in the worst winters. Thank you these are extreme temperature ranges, most years are not as hot and most winters are not as cold. Umay will start blooming in late january and kiyohime will not drop their leaves until november. Thats my environment. I use little organics in my soil mixes so I furtilize all of the time very small amounts, all water soluable and almost 100% chemical. Here is an interesting bit of information on dormancy. I was at a fruit tasting that was put on by one of Californias largest developers of fruit trees. The subject came up regarding dormancy and how many days of cold temperatures are needed to set fruit. His answer was that fruit trees in Yuma Arizona that got no cold at all could be artificially induced to bloom and set fruit by defoliating the entire tree. This means that your theory about defoliation may be correct, you should try it and let us know the results. Last, when repotting pines we will add a mycorrhiza starter much like yeast. We keep trash cans of chopped pine material that is our colony, by adding a small amount of this material to our potting mix, we assure healthy mycorrhiza in our pines. __________________ ripsgreentree It requires an open hand to give and to recieve.