Claude Has Another Flower

This time Claude has a more developed flower. It really opened up and showed us how big they are going to be. This is of course zoomed in a little but it's easily visible and showy. Looking forward to when it has hundreds of these guys blooming at a regular basis.

The trunk is still a little small to be carrying fruit but flowers are always a good sign that the conditions are right for producing.

Some of the other flowers we have around the garden are our daylilies and of course the green onion is a regular feature. One of the green onion blooms was almost 100 percent pollinated and is currently full of seed pods nearly ready to harvest. The bean plants are also regularly blooming and making beans. They are trailing up some of the closer plants to them and spreading fast.

The new job has kept me busy and not a lot of time to focus on keeping up here but I'm still going.  The next thing I'm going to plant are some dragonfruit seeds.  I hear they are relatively easy to sprout and grow.  Don't be fooled by the one that shows the fruit being soaked in water and sprouting though. It's all fake.  That would just rot in the water and destroy the seets.  The plant also doesn't grow like that. It's a sprawling plant that loves good soil and rocks. So hardy.

Sent from my iPhone

Branching Cacao Trees

As promised this is a post about all the different ways I have seen and photographed cacao trees branching out.  Of course you have the typical sprout at the connection point of a leaf.  This is the usual way trees branch.  It's a weak point in the structure of the plant and thus an obvious point where trees push out new growth.  It not only keeps the structure going but strengthens the plant in that area.

Similarly I've noticed crepe myrtles doing the same thing. Also if you prevent new growth by brushing off the new green, the plant usually still strengthens the area by making a callous hardness to the stem or branch.  In some trees you can encourage growth by removing lower leaves as the plant grows.  I did this with a fig tree and got the branches to not only get taller but thicker and stronger in a single season of growth.

Also the new growth replaces previous stem areas as in this picture.  This is a case where the top of the tree died back and new growth continued from right next to the area where it used to be.  Now it has produced sucker shoots at the same location, again these start at areas of weak points on a plant but in this case they can actually weaken a tree by taking nutrients to grow stems that usually aren't as strong.

These can still be productive but it's probably a good idea to remove them so the better limbs can be as good as possible.  Do this before they start getting woody for ease of removal and to minimize any potential damage that can be done to the tree.  Cacao trees can easily be damaged especially when harvesting the fruits which is why the fruit is usually harvested with machetes.  This keeps the fruiting pads healthy and productive for the life of the tree. 

This has to be one of the most unusual branching occurrences I've ever seen.  The new growth has started out of an extension of the leaf base which pushed the leaf further from the trunk and made this bendy branch leaf thing.  Again you can see it started at a weak point in the tree where a branch has already occurred.  

Cacao 30 Inch Goal

With the three new leaves coming in she's not topped 30 inches in height (measured from the top of the soil).

The pot on the right is where she used to sit and at this point, if she was still there, would be hitting the ceiling.   That should tell you how high the ceiling is from the comparison of heights.  Another 8-10 inches and I'll be lowering the pot again.  Currently she sits on two boxes which can easily be removed one at a time.

If you've been following this at all you can probably tell I still haven't repotted anything.  It's on my to do list.

That being said, the new saplings are doing pretty good. I have full confidence in about 24 of them and fairly sure 3 more will be ok.  A total of 27 out of 40 survivors of this last planting.  I a full grown tree can produce enough to make 2 pounds of chocolate a year that would be 54 pounds of chocolate or nearly 500 chocolate bars.  Still a very small batch compared to most but that would be kind of awesome.

Cacao Progress

The cacao trees are really growing.  The new (yellow) leaf in the middle just started growing yesterday.  And you can barely see over the rim on the left tree that it has started a new branch only a centimeter long at the moment.

When we went to Monterrey, Mexico recently I was hoping to see some more cacao trees in the wild but we were apparently a little too far north of the cacao growing region. I was told that the cacao generally came from around the Tabasco and similarly southern areas of the country and wouldn't survive too well in Monterrey.  The owner of one of the shops even said they had a cacao tree that was indoors but they put it outside one day in not so favorable conditions and it died on them.

I really need to keep that in mind that even if the tree has gotten a bit bigger that it is still a tropical plant and I'm sure Texas heat and cold are just as bad.  It did hit 115°F while we were there so I don't think I can say Texas is necessarily hotter even if all of the locals were saying that they weren't used to it getting too much over 90.

Bloomy Magnolia Tree

In the courtyard of the apartment there are these trees with big flashy pink flowers on them.  After looking them up they seem to be some sort of magnolia tree, possibly the bloomy magnolia tree.  I've only been used to the grand magnolia tree which grows everywhere in southeast Texas but not so much these.

They really are a nice showy pink flower that I'm sure will all fall off in a week or so.  There were already some petals on the ground and no new buds.  This would be an interesting tree for landscaping but it's a very seasonal color for an area.

I've seen some really nice colorful plantings at the Fort Worth botanic gardens.  These were mostly anuals though, not trees, but I've heard of seasonal layouts that come back year after year and these trees are a perfect example of a usable tree.

Manzanita Shrub

You can't tell from this picture but for Spanish speakers you probably can already tell that the name of this plant means "little apple".  It didn't click in my head immediately but after looking up some information about this plant it was obvious I spelled it right.

This particular plant was a shrub although there are many varieties ranging from ground cover to small trees.  Many parts of this plants caught my attention as we hiked around Red Rock Canyon just outside of Las Vegas.  The leaves were thicker than I would have expected.  You can see the thick edges in the picture.  The flower clusters reminded me more of the agave plants.  The red bark though caught my attention first.  I could see it from a good distance away and is what drew me over to the bush in the first place.  It's not as visible here but it's a smooth dark red.  I can see why it has been used in decorative wood objects for centuries.

The plants range in hardiness depending on the cultivar but can be grown in most of the country as long as you keep it's watering requirements in mind.  We found this in a very rocky area that drains fast.  They're used to dry areas.  Propagation is not necessarily easy.  The seeds don't like to germinate unless specific conditions prepare them first.  This sounds like the issue I have with lemon seeds.  Getting the outer shell off of the seed first seems the easiest way to sprout.

Some of these plants are fire resistant and can come back even after several fires.  This type though will make a burl at the base of the plant and resprout from it though I doubt anyone gets a plant for their homes on this basis.

Eastern Redbud

The Eastern Redbud tree is a nice addition to a spring view.  The red/purple flowers bloom out all over it.  This year it's a bit early due to quite a few unseasonally warm days.

This one grows right outside our window.  Of course this is a picture of the red buds with a dark blue sky as a perfect contrast.  The sun rays were quite an accident but really does add an interesting accent to the composition.

This makes me miss the fig tree we used to have back at the house.  It would have also sprouted out by now.  Of course all of the flowers would probably have fallen off due to the hail storm we had this morning.  It really only ever had one good year of figs.  That is to say only one year we got more that five figs the entire year.

Again, not having a house really does distance you a bit from all of the problems that come about due to critters, weather, and the unexpected.  I get to just sit back and enjoy the view while someone else worries about how it got there.

Repotting Cacao

So I got a new pot to put some of the cacao trees in so the smaller pot doesn't get too overcrowded as they start to grow.  So far they 're doing well.
I'll have to make sure the heat stays on over the weekend though so they won't die from cold.  It's not supposed to freeze but it'll be close.
As you can see the cotyledon have fallen off of two of the plants in the new pot.  The ones remaining in the old pot still have them attached.
I'm using a different potting mix for this pot (actual potting soil from the store rather than dirt from the yard) and see how it affects the plants.  I'm going to assume that they'll do better but so far the plants seem happy either way.  The ones one cubicle over are planted in some sort of dirt from the store and don't seem to be doing any better or worse for the past month or so.

Will be getting some vanilla orchids in next week.  They'll be a good companion to these guys once they get taller and get a trunk on them.

It still amazes me to think about how many people consume chocolate and the single source bean craze that's been going on for some years now and yet I can't find any real information on the trees themselves.  all of these plants came from one pod and yet there are definite differences in the plants that are probably due to genetics.  There's no telling now many different types of cacao trees there really are in any given area.  In the 7 plants I have alone there are differences in the leaves, cotyledon, and stems.  They always talk about how it's the soil that's the main difference in an area or one of three or four types of cacao (depending on who you ask) but I'm seeing what looks like a litter of puppies all with different fathers but in plant form.  What interests me most is the red nodules at the base of some of the leaves and stems.  Two of the plants have this to differing degrees.  We'll see if this trait persists or if they grow out of it.

Apple Tree

Apple trees are really easy to grow from seed. I've grown a few of them so far and usually just let them die off after a while since I don't have anywhere to really grow a full size tree.  This little sprout came up over the weekend and needs to be put in  sunny area of the office so it can acclimate a little more before being put outside. I can probably find somewhere this guy can go, whether it's somewhere on a vacant lot or an out of the way spot where it won't drop apples on anyone's car, not the best thing for a car.

 

Unfortunately I won't be able to tell what kind of apple tree this will be. Most people don't think about it but usually the seeds of an apple will not produce the same kind of apple the seed came from. Often the trees will be grown among other apple tree varieties that are better pollinators, usually crabapple, so that the crop will be larger than if they were just by themselves.  This is why I didn't even bother to label what kind of apple it came from, just that it was an apple.  Since I'm not really picky about my apples as far as variety it won't matter anyway.  Also it takes several years for an apple tree to produce.

Cacao Tree Progress

The  cacao trees are growing well. The leaf on the right is the topmost and biggest leaf on the plant.  It is about fifty percent bigger than the other leaves on the plant.  There are a total of seven leaves now, six on the main trunk of the tree and one on a side branch.  This is of course the one in the window of the main conference room.

The other trees are still smaller than this one even though they are in much larger pots with more room for putting down roots. They also have varying amounts of light.  The main plant still has pretty much all day sun through UV protective glass with a small break in the middle of the day while. Pot two has two trees with afternoon sun. It also has another tropical office plant and a pineapple plant growing in it. The trees have about five leaves each and have grown a couple inches in height since the last post. Pot three has three trees with only ambient outside light. It's been slow growing but still steady. The smallest one only has three leaves still  but it's really starting to grow faster. I might need to transplant these to separate pots so they can have a better chance to grow well. It shouldn't be to hard at this point but may get harder to do if they get much farther along. When I added dirt to the main plant it's roots were coming along but it was no where near root bound. I could only barely see the roots at the edges of the cup. In a couple more weeks I will be transplanting it into a real pot although probably not it's final pot. That will take some time before it can have enough presence in a room to merit it. It is in an office after all.

Cacao (Chocolate) Sprouts

Quite a few of the cacao seeds have sprouted and are doing well. Most of the healthier ones started in solo cups, go figure.
I have several in larger pots and they're putting down some good roots. Hopefully in a few years I can get some fresh cacao pods.
It will have to keep them pretty short though since they can get upwards of 25 feet high or more. They're understory trees though and thus they will do well indoors in indirect light. The big problem will be is if we keep them inside the house and the cats want to eat the leaves.  Not sure how this might affect them but they will chew on anything.

The reason I really want fresh pods is because I tried getting them shipped in but by the time they got here the pulp was already drying out and not nearly as juicy as I had hoped. I've had a fresh pod before and the pulp was dripping rather than just moist.  It looked like the outer layer had been absorbing the moisture and getting softer. Not sure but this is probably it's natural way of decomposing and spreading it's seeds.

Pruning Trees

It's cold and sometimes rainy, a perfect time of year to make a nice cup of tea and wrap up in a warm blanket.
It's also the perfect time of year to get some needed pruning done. The trees are dormant and for us in Arlington we have pretty nice weather.
There are three reasons to prune a tree, shaping, fruit production and removing damaged or dead material.
If you want to shape a tree you first need to figure out what shape you want the tree to take on.  This will depend on what kind of tree it is and where it was planted.  An apple tree for instance usually need plenty of room to spread out and you would thus prune the branches to give plenty of room between the main limbs.  If you moved into a house where the apple tree is in a more cramped space you might do something similar but with the branches moving more upward, cutting off branches that might want to be hitting the house or other structures.

For fruit production you will want to remove sucker branches. These grow more or less straight up from the trunk or sometimes large branches.  they usually don't produce fruit but are easy to remove since they are new and green.  You would remove these in the spring when they form.  They can also be removed in the winter but  by this time will have become woody. If you bought a bush from the store then the rootstock might not be the same as the rest of the bush.  Suckers originating from the base may not even be of the same type and can take over if not removed.
For removing dead or damaged limbs you will need to figure out what limbs need removing and make sure you have removed enough. A rotted limb might go into a larger limb and the entire thing might need removing.  This happened with my fig tree. A limb as big around as my arm had to be cut out.  The next year it produced better than ever since it didn't have to work on healing as much.
One of the main things to consider with any pruning is making sure the tree as a whole is not damaged in the process.  A cut too far back can damage the limb or trunk the pruned limb is being cut off of.  Better in that case not to cut too much lest you have to cut the next branch too.

Update:
I would recommend cutting these off as soon as you see them start to grow.

Lemon and Other Citrus Propagation from Seed

It was about two and a half years ago when I posted about starting citrus from seeds.

http://gardentimeline.blogspot.com/2009/02/sprouting-citurs-seeds-lemon-lime.html

Since then there have been multiple copies of that post and others who have posted how they would sprout citrus seeds. One of the stranger ones had you planting the whole fruit. Although I must admit that I haven't tried this method, I highly doubt that that method would work very well.
I have a number of seeds now trying to germinate and since I don't currently have a lot of citrus plants I figure now is a good time to start some more and review the steps and information to go about doing so.
The seeds I will be using are a bit older but they don't seem to have lost any volume so I'll just stick with what I have. Results are usually pretty quick so I'll know if I have to go buy some more limes or whatnot.
I even have the lemon seeds that were in an older post about seeds and what they look like, still pretty good hits on the google image search. They're still different colors too so I know which ones are meyer lemons.
All I really need to do is get some larger pots and good soil. Then peel the outer shell off of the seed and plant. Water when needed. Wait patiently.
A good rule of thumb, is the more you're waiting for the shorter the wait. Typically something will happen every few days of you have a lot of stuff germinating. If you want to see results quickly then plant some beans while you're at it. It will make the wait for everything else seem shorter.

Citrus Seed Trueness

An interesting note on citrus seeds is that they can and often do produce true to the fruit. One reason for this is that many of them can be pollinated by themselves. Without the need for another tree the seeds have no genetic pollutants.
This is not the case for all citrus however and in these cases you would need two of the same type of citrus growing near each other to increase the chance that the trees grow true to the fruit.
I have successfully grown key limes, kaffir limes, and lemon from seed and they have all grown true as far as I can tell. One reason for this is that orchards usually clump all of one type of citrus together. It would kill production to have them scattered.
I don't know if the kumquats will produce true since the tree had two different orange trees planted right next to it. It might be interesting to see what comes up.

Green Thumbs of the Family

My wife pointed out today that I come by my green thumb honestly. Both of my grandparents have kept gardens for extended periods of their lives and my mom nearly farms on her land.
It's no wonder then that I like to grow whatever I can. Today I visited my grandfather on my father's side and had a wonderful time picking sweet oranges and kumquats. If you haven't already guessed it, I'm going to plant as many kumquat seeds as I can pick out of the fruit. So far that amounts to 3 and I've only eaten one kumquat!

Winter Survival

I have left the lemon tree out in the weather this year, possible the worst year in a very long time. If it survives this I will have no worry about planting it anywhere around the house. It's been frozen to the point that if it was going to die it would.
When everything else had snow and ice on it, the lemon tree didn't have any. I figure it has to do something about the oils in the leaves repelling water. Earlier today the leaves were still green and just a little curled.

Early Spring?

No, it's just typical Texas weather. Mid 60's and I have to put the air on in the car. It's like an oven in there. It will be nice and chilly before the Super Bowl parties this weekend though and the plants seem to know this. Nothing yet has sprouted but I'm still busy in the study getting ready for planting when spring really does get here.
I just repotted a small pine tree into a new little pot for planting when it gets warm. Maybe I'll have some options for what to plant between the driveways.

Tropical Fruit Sprouts

I'm attempting to start some tropical fruit trees this winter for something to do, growing wise. I have a number of citrus seeds as well as cacao and a couple others that I don't want to bother looking up at the moment.
I'll be posting more about the citrus in detail on the citraphile blog.

Japanese Maple

I got back to work yesterday to find a small pile of seeds sitting on my desk. I'm well known for trying to plant just about anything and one of my coworkers decided to see if I could get them to sprout.
At first I thought they were black pine seeds since they had the wings on them but upon asking if that was what they were, I really hoped they were, he told me they were Japanese Maple seeds.
I looked up exactly what they looked like and expected to see some sort of pod that would release them but instead found that the seeds grow in pairs on the end of twigs. He confirmed this and said that all he did was reach up and pluck a few from the tree that grew between his house and his neighbor's house.
I have yet to plant them but I'm sure I have quite a while before I have to worry about them loosing viability.

Winter's Arrival

So far winter is having a slow approach. I know it's not winter yet but usually it's gotten colder than it has already. I'm hoping and believe that winter cold will still be some weeks away and that my garden will still have a little time to produce something still.
Even if it doesn't stay back for long, I have started some seeds inside that should prove to occupy my time for a while. I have planted two coffee seeds and two noni seeds. They might not do a lot but the anticipation is all I need to get me through the few cold days we have here.