One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 6

Your book says in Pruning young trees for the first time, about four main branches should be left and these cut back to 10 or 12 inches. Now, where the rabbits have pruned back to 4 or 5 inches the very ones I wanted, what should be done? Some say, cut these back to the stem, allowing new shoots to start from the base of branches so removed.

Cut back to a bud near the stem, or if you do not see any, cut back near to the stem, but not near enough to remove the bark at the base of the shoot, for there are the latent buds which should give you the growth.

This should be watched, and the best shoot selected from each point to make a strong branch, pinching back or removing the others.

For a Bark Wound.

What is best to do with an apricot or prune tree when it has been hit with an implement and the bark knocked off?

Cut around the bark wound with a sharp knife so as to remove all frayed edges. Cover the exposed wood with oil and lead paint to prevent cracking, and the wound will soon be covered with new bark from the sides.

Bridging Gopher Girdles.

How shall I make the bridge-graft or root-graft over the trunks of trees girdled by gophers? Has this method proved successful in saving trees three or four inches in diameter, and how is it done?

The bridging over of injury by mice by grafting has been known to be successful for decades in countries where this trouble is encountered.

Undoubtedly the same plan would work in the case of all bark injuries which can be bridged. The plan is to take good well-matured shoots which are a little longer than the injury which has to be spanned, making a sloping cut on both ends, also a cut into the healthy bark above and below the injury, and slip the cut ends of the cutting into the cuts in the bark so that the ends go under the bark above and below, and the cut ends are closely connected with the growing layer of the stock. If the cutting is made a little longer than the distance to be spanned, the tendency of the cutting by straightening is to hold itself in place.

When in place, the connections should he covered with wax to prevent drying out.

Soil-Binding Plant for Winter.

What would be the best to plant in an orchard on ground of a light sandy sediment which, after plowing, will move with the strong winds? I would like to plant something that will benefit the ground. The winds are the strongest from December to April. This is in the irrigated district and I need something that will make a sod during that period.

We would, in all the valleys, advise a fall irrigation (if the rains are late) and the sowing of burr clover, which when started in September will have the ground well covered by December, if you keep the moisture right to push it. Disking or plowing this under in March (or April, according to locality) will hold the sand and afterward enrich it. You can do this every year, but probably you will not need to seed it more than once.

Bananas in California.

Is there any reason why bananas would not grow and bear in the vicinity of Merced if they had plenty of water? Or would the cool nights at certain seasons keep them from bearing? Would they do better in the Imperial valley?

Bananas would suffer too severely from frost to be profitable at any point in the interior valleys of California. A plant would be killed to the ground at least every year unless under gla.s.s or other protection.

There are a few places practically frostless where bananas can be grown in this State, but there is no promise in commercial production because they can be so cheaply imported from the tropics.

Carobs in California.

Will the carob tree (St. John's Bread) do well in the Sacramento valley, and is it a desirable tree for lining a driveway?

Carobs have been grown in California for thirty years or more and they will make a handsome driveway and give a lot of pods for the kids and the pigs - for they are "the husks which the swine did eat," and both like them. They ought to be much more widely planted in California because they grow well and are good to look upon.

Spineless Cactus Fruit.

I have about two acres of high land in Fresno county that can't be irrigated. It is red adobe soil and there is hardpan in it. Which kind of fruit trees will grow and pay best? How near may the hardpan be to the surface before I have to blast it?

It is a hard fruit proposition. Try spineless cactus, the fruits of which are delicious. Blasting would help if there is a moist substratum below the hardpan and might enable you to grow many fruits. If your land is hard and dry all the way down, blasting would not help you unless you can get irrigation. Presumably your rainfall is too small for fruit unless you strike underflow below the hardpan.

Cleaning Fruit Trays.

What do you advise for killing and removing the whitish mold that forms on trays used for drying prunes? Would sunning the trays be effective, or washing in hot water, or is there some suitable fungicide?

Good hot sun and dry wind will kill the mold. The spores of such a common mold are waiting everywhere, so that your fruit would mold anyway if conditions were right. Still, scalding the trays for cleanliness and a short trip through the sulphur box for fungus-killing is commended.

Killing Moss on Old Trees.

I have some Bartlett pear trees that are covered with moss and mold, and the bark is rough and checked. I have used potash (98%), 1 pound to 6 gallons spray. It kills the long moss, but the green mold it does not seem to affect. The trees have been sprayed about one week. Some trees have been sprayed with a 1 pound to 10 gallons solution by mistake.

Shall I spray these again with full strength, and when?

You have done enough for the moss at present. Even the weaker solution ought to be strong enough to clean the bark. Wait and see how the bark looks when the potash gets through biting; it will keep at it for some time, taking a fresh hold probably with each new moisture supply from shower or damp air. The spray should have been shot onto the bark with considerable force - not simply sprinkled on.

Shy-Bearing Apples.

I have some apple trees 10 and 12 years old that do not bear satisfactorily, but persist in making 5 to 6 feet of new wood each year.

If not cut back this winter, will they be more likely to make fruit buds?