Aegean Islands

Peloponnese

So, once again, a review of actual facts, weather data,
shows Aaron's hypothesis to be incorrect.

Average humidity in Southern CA is above 70%
Average humidity in Greek Islands is below 70%

So its not moss or lichens
or humidity levels either,
or ever present gravity that makes water drip down tree trunks and plastic chairs,

maybe the Greek God's have their hands involved.



or could be something simple as limestone.

OMG, seriously, you have your own party and enjoy it. 
I'm out of here!

If either of you start biting one another we'll transfer you to a soccer team!

well, I've seen him bite dirty Squid!

Paul, we need to schedule a trip to attend the fig festival in Mallorca!  How about 2015?

Harvey,
Thanks for this very interesting thread.
I doubt I can use any of the practices involved as every single one of my 300+ fig trees is in a darn pot.
If I let them go without water for even a short period they drop leaves and figs and don't seem to prosper at all.

Part of this is obviously pot size as I'm asking my trees to grow very large in size compared to their root mass.

I ordered a brix meter tonight as I want to see what my sugar levels are like. I even paid extra postage as I waited too long to order and if the meter doesn't get here ASAP I'll miss getting a reading on my Florea brebas which will be ripe starting tomorrow.

I'm counting on the critters not yet being aware there are figs to steal as my defenses are not yet in place.
I'll be setting an electric fence and a number of scare devices this weekend.

Last year I was pretty successful keeping the figs for myself but this year I have a much bigger crop. A bigger crop means far more attention. I can almost hear the many different species I have to worry about licking their chops.

OK Jack!
Well, I don't think this extra conversing benefits this thread nor is fair to Harvey, because, initially I was drawn to the interesting nature of his post. But you, as usual, just walk into it with your messy paws and pollute everything. Must be the Salmonella in your system from biting the raw squid ( I can't believe I even remembered that disgusting picture). Anyway... Just don't hurt people out there when you drive your truck.

Dude, the only one spewing trash and insults is YOU.

You're not man enough to admit your wrong,
and attack me and another member when your mistakes are pointed out to you.

You're generally a very misinformed individual, with limited experience and knowledge,
but feel the need to provide expert commentary on subject you have no expertise or even
basic knowledge of.

Correcting false information is not polluting, its educating,
the pollution in this thread comes from YOUR misinformation and childish attitude in this conversation.

I see you continue with your misinformed opinions and comments,
so I will correct once again.
Squid does not have Salmonella bacteria, chicken carries that disease,
raw squid is eaten by hundreds of millions of people in this world.

I also drive a BOAT, not a truck, they are different,
one is used on the road and has wheels,
the other has no wheels and operates on the water.
My boat also costs more than your house, so save any additional
snide ignorant comments you are preparing to make.

Still batting 100% there dude,
you are consistently wrong with your comments and ASSumptions.
Do us a favor, go get lost in your fig forest for a while,  thanks.

I agree, for the sake of the rest of the community, would you two keep your personal animosity to yourselves. This is not the place for swapping insults.

This reminds me of the cultural practice of some farmers of what is termed "deficit irrigation".  This is primarily done to conserve water but there are benefits observed as well.  I have no personal experience with it but have scanned through many articles about it over the years (mostly in the same paper as post #1).  I may not be entirely correct in what I say here since it's not something I've used or paid very close attention to. Growers use "pressure bombs" (no explosives involved!) where leaf samples are taken and vacuum pressure is used to extract water from these leaves and the amount of vacuum needed is measured.  There are established figures for all of this to determine how much stress the tree is under.  I believe by around the end of June when almonds are already sized up pretty well the orchards will be given less water than they need to grow and the stress is closely monitored so as to not kill the tree.  By harvest time some of these orchards are dropping leaves even though it's only August and still the "growing season".  I'd think some similar practice could also be useful for commercial fig growers though, in reality, it doesn't really seem that commercial growers are trying to pick fruit at prime ripeness anyways since they don't transport well in this condition.

Another device used by large commercial growers is a neutron probe which makes very accurate measurements of soil moisture.  Growers usually hire a service to perform periodic measurements although I'm pretty sure very large growers have their own specially-trained staff that do this (I know of at least two growers in California with over 10,000 acres of almonds).

Steve, I believe careful moisture levels can even be maintained in pot culture but would probably require different watering methods.  For instance, if water is simply applied to the top of a pot (as I do for my younger potted trees), it's going to take a fairly large amount (perhaps 1/3 of pot volume) to moisten the entire area of soil since potting mixes typically use media with a high water-holding capacity (if sand was used instead, less water would be needed but then very frequent watering would be needed).  Some growers use sub-surface drip irrigation lines and I believe people growing in pots could also apply drip emitters in different areas of the pot in the soil so that moisture was more uniform and then moisture could be closely monitored and watering scheduled modified.

I don't believe any of this is really practical for any of us unless we're just really devoted to experimentation, etc.  I took quite a few soil science courses and one irrigation engineering course in college (many years ago!) and I believe that experience probably has increased my interest in this topic more than for most folks.

Oh...one more thing: some growers who use sub-surface drip irrigation also inject air into their lines so that soils are being moistened and aerated at the same time.  Some results have been very impressive.  This requires a very large air compressor!  This would not be very hard to do on a small scale, I believe.

Harvey:

Thanks for getting the discussion back to horticulture!!

There is a new device being patented by Cornell that directly measures the water status of a tree and can be read and recorded in real time. The device is inserted into the trees trunk. It's similar to tire pressure monitors on modern cars. It could be used to control drip irrigation to maintain any desired level of water deficit.

Deficit irrigation has long been practiced in drought tolerant field crops like sorghum and cotton. There's no reason it can't be used in fruit crops where desired. It is very effective for nectarine, pluot, apricot, and grapes if one desires sweeter and more flavorful fruit.

I think the primary factor in play is that a water deficit in the plant causes it to adjust osmotic potential upwards in order to continue drawing water from the soil. This increases sugars in the fruit and reduces water.

I'm not sure how useful it would be in figs. For me it should help varieties like BT that are usually too watery. There is no subsitute for heat and sunshine, maybe just an aid.

Thank you for your thoughts about how to water figs in pots. I need to think more about self watering containers and such.

With figs trees having in mind; would water Deficit harm the tree in long term,(through dormancy and after) like stunting it's growth or increasing die backs or even decrease fruit production? Or with every spring, with hope of some rain, the tree will be restored.

OK, by chance I found a great example of what type of moss typically grown on fig trees in Mediterranean...
This picture is of JH Adriatic mother tree...I am using just for an example...

 

Those are leaves Aaron!?!? I know you are not talking about those lichens again, because that would be really awkward...

I shared this video some time ago but it seems relevant, I have no idea how much the methods would help since my problem is usually too much water ;)

no, I just felt I didn't show the correct picture when I was talking about air Moisture and the effects on surface growth...it's just curiosity ... nothing wrong with continuous learning...

great video.

Are you supplementing calcium before harvest ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron4USA
OK, by chance I found a great example of what type of moss typically grown on fig trees in Mediterranean...
This picture is of JH Adriatic mother tree...I am using just for an example...

 

Those are LICHENS  not  Moss.

How about you go to Google,
type in the word  MOSS  then do a picture search.
Then do another search with the work LICHEN.

There is no reading involved, just look at the pictures,
even a 5 year old should be able to tell the difference between the two,
if you are having problems discerning the difference,
there is no shame in asking one of your children to explain the difference to you.