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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2013 12:20:14 GMT -5
At one nursery, the management is often unavailable.
The help speaks just enough English, and works just enough, to appear confident, while mainly making messes.
My parents insist on buying something, anyway.
They thought they brought home a fig tree, but leaves did not have the right shape, at all. The label said "white sapote."
They thought they bought a fruiting pear, but this had long since lost it's label before I was asked for advice. It blossoms prolifically, every year, but only makes a brown fruit the size of a pea.
Do you have a way to tell whether it is fruitless, or if it is a female in need of a pollinizer?
For that matter, could a pollinizer cause a fruitless pear to fruit?
I have seen an unusual situation, when a crab apple was planted near a larger variety, and one of the fruits looked like an ordinary apple.
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Post by steev on Mar 11, 2013 12:40:00 GMT -5
That pear is doing exactly what it should, being a "fruitless pear"; those useless little peas are all you'll get, regardless of other pollinators. They're ornamental, giving copious bloom and beautiful Winter color, but they seem poorly engineered, having soft wood and narrow crotches, leading to a tendency to drop large branches.
Berkeley planted lots of them as street trees until they started generating lawsuits from people whose parked cars got nailed; the City ripped them all out. Very pretty, while they lasted.
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Post by hortusbrambonii on Mar 11, 2013 12:48:09 GMT -5
We have a lot of Pyrus calleryana 'chanticleer' as ornamental trees in Antwerp, and those are like that: an enormous amount of flowers in spring, and fruit not much bigger than a pea. Beautiful if you grow it for the flowers, but the fruit is completely useless, and will never be anything else than what you describe...
White sapote is a tropical fruit that isn't even related to figs...
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Post by Drahkk on Mar 11, 2013 13:51:54 GMT -5
I detest Bradford pears, primarily because my property is bordered on two sides with them. See? That shot faces east. The owner of the property north and west of me planted Bradford pears in rows with the intention of selling them when they got a couple of years old, but then never did it, and now they're full grown. This, plus the live oaks to the south makes my property a pocket of dead air, and with the creek behind me and overflow canal in front I live in mosquito central. I have found that lots of alliums in the diet makes one somewhat less attractive to the little suckers, but stand still too long at dusk and they'll drain you dry. The only time I like Bradfords a little is when the entire mass of them are in full snow white bloom at once. When they're like that, walking near them can be exhilarating, as the very air hums with thousands of honeybees. I really should find that hive one day... MB
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Post by 12540dumont on Mar 11, 2013 17:49:30 GMT -5
Bradford Pears, may they all become fire wood. They are a major carrier of fireblight. Yeah, the town planted whole patches of them. For the same amount of money they could have planted something to feed the hungry. The blight is spreading from their trees.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Mar 11, 2013 18:48:01 GMT -5
Seriously? The Bradfords carry fireblight?....
I didn't think those rows up rows could POSSIBLY be Bradfords (of all the stupid things to grow in quantity). Then read... I think I would be a tad bit on the miffed side.... Time to whip out the Ubertrecht....
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Post by Drahkk on Mar 11, 2013 20:29:43 GMT -5
They absolutely do. The ones around me are infested with the stuff. Those blasted Bradfords are the reason I can't grow apples on my own property. The one that was already established before we moved in seems to be immune, but is so close to the edge that the squirrels get them all long before they are ripe. And every single other apple I've tried to plant elsewhere has succumbed to fireblight. I finally gave up and decided apples will just have to grow on mama Porter's land. I suppose I could try starting some cuttings from the one proven resistant tree, then plant them in open ground where the squirrels can't get them as easily, but that's a long term solution. I hate those danged Bradfords...
MB
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Post by circumspice on Mar 11, 2013 21:04:06 GMT -5
I hate squirrels, unless they're in a stew... ;D
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Post by steev on Mar 11, 2013 23:44:29 GMT -5
Really? How does one make a good squirrel stew? I assume one starts with "kill a bunch of the little bastards" but then what? Could one substitute rats (urban squirrel)? Is it obligatory to shoot them, or can one use snap-traps? Are mice acceptable, in a pinch?
I should learn how to deal with a possum, since they're commonly available, though little utilized.
Get right down to it, I don't suppose it would hurt to know how to make dogs and cats palatable, if not downright tasty.
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Post by blueadzuki on Mar 12, 2013 6:30:50 GMT -5
Really? How does one make a good squirrel stew? I assume one starts with "kill a bunch of the little bastards" but then what? Could one substitute rats (urban squirrel)? Is it obligatory to shoot them, or can one use snap-traps? Are mice acceptable, in a pinch? I should learn how to deal with a possum, since they're commonly available, though little utilized. Get right down to it, I don't suppose it would hurt to know how to make dogs and cats palatable, if not downright tasty. Going entirely on things I have heard.... Rat is actually fairly popular in parts of India (a way of cutting down on the pest problem and making use of it at the same time), usually barbecued. Rat clubbing is actually a pretty good way to make a living there, and the clubbers tend to get good money for thier rats. Though not in ALL parts of India (a lot of indians belive that, since Ganesha rides on a giant rat, rats are sacred animals, or why there is a Rat Temple.) Mice is eaten pretty commonly as well (In fact If you troll around the web, you may be able to find the recipie for stuffed doormice that was written by Apicius, the famous Ancient Greek (or Roman) chef. Dog is considered a very tasty meat already in much of Asia (Korea is sort of famous for it, but it is also Popular in a lot of Southern China) and Meso and South America (dog was in fact one of the only two domestic meat animals of the Aztecs, along with the turkey.) and at one time, North American tribes (Arapahoe actually means "dog eater") it is usually describes as tasting a bit like light beef, slightly greasy. Cat is less common. The Chinese eat some cat, but it is usually considered medicinal, not day to day food.
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Post by circumspice on Mar 12, 2013 8:42:17 GMT -5
I've heard that squirrels are usually stewed because the meat is tough & stringy.
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Post by circumspice on Mar 12, 2013 8:48:55 GMT -5
It's probably not a good idea to eat the liver or other fatty parts of a carnivore because of the possibility of getting "Hyper-vitaminosis A". Vitamin A is a fat soluable vitamin & is therefore stored in fatty tissues. Eating the fatty tissues of a carnivore is tantamount to overdosing yourself on Vitamin A.
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Post by blueadzuki on Mar 12, 2013 10:20:59 GMT -5
I also should point out that, regardless of the individual edibility of any of those animals, eating the examples within urban environments is probably not a good idea (those people who eat rats in India are eating ones that live in the rice fields, not the cities, and Apicus's doormouse recipie starty with telling you how to hand raise your own doormice in special jars with a special diet. After all while I may have no problem eating squab, it doesnt follow I'd be willing to eat an urban pigeon
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Post by 12540dumont on Mar 12, 2013 11:15:09 GMT -5
There will be no gators, mice, or rats on my farm raised to eat. I'm sorry folks, these are just 3 critters I can't abide. What's wrong with chicken? You can always shot the rats and feed them to the chickens. Mice are dispatched quite nicely by M'ma Tutsi, fierce cat warrioress. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2013 12:16:34 GMT -5
... they seem poorly engineered, having soft wood and narrow crotches, leading to a tendency to drop large branches. I can attest to this. Luckily, I will have several, fruitful varieties ready to replace it. Berkeley planted lots of them as street trees until they started generating lawsuits from people whose parked cars got nailed; the City ripped them all out. Very pretty, while they lasted. The same has happened in new developments, local to my area. Without passing judgment as to whether it is good or bad, I ask acquaintances what they have. They believe the question is irrelevant or strange (in spite of the expense of maintenance.) We have a lot of Pyrus calleryana 'chanticleer' as ornamental trees in Antwerp, and those are like that: an enormous amount of flowers in spring, and fruit not much bigger than a pea. Beautiful if you grow it for the flowers, but the fruit is completely useless, and will never be anything else than what you describe... There seems to be an unwritten rule about forbidding edibles from open plantings, as though it is an attractive nuisance and potential liability. But, a resaler or community organizer would stand to benefit, financially, if they catered to these useless landscaping guidelines. White sapote is a tropical fruit that isn't even related to figs... Although it hasn't fruited, yet, I am somewhat more familiar with it, after having read the label. (Sorry, parents.) Bradford Pears, may they all become fire wood. Really? How does one make a good squirrel stew? You start a fire using the fallen wood of a fruitless pear...
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