This weekend JD and I went to Ramona to pick up two healthy beautiful Zidi and Capri Fig trees from svanessa, plus one more extra bonus she threw in.  Her home is beautiful and the property and views are inspiring.  She has done a great job with her figs and has so much potential for a great orchard.

As a side benefit of our visit there was a seminar event put on by the Winemakers Association RVVA.  We skipped some seminars, and went to those we thought would be most helpful.  We did some wine tasting over the two days too.

SEMINARS

The first was Irrigation.  His first comment was that although this seminar was for viticulture, it works for any trees IN-GROUND.  Absolutely Figs fit into his irrigation advice.  He mentioned that plants get water from rain, irrigation, and transfer (like if they are close to other sources of water).

He gave many technical charts and advice way over my head, but here are the points that made sense to me. 
1.  Look at the weeds and native grasses.  Dry weeds = Dry soil.
2.  Plants with no tap roots (Figs and Grapevines included), will inhabit only the top 1-3' of the soil, so when testing moisture, no need to test 6-8'.  The roots don't go down that far. 
3.  Roots don't search for water.  They live where water is.  They won't go across a desert to find a well.
4.  It's all about the soil.  He had a beaker, and told us we could use any clear bottle or jar.  Fill it half way with dirt and then water.  Shake it good.  Let it settle.  Sand will fall to the bottom, then clay in the middle and then silt.  He said you need to water less if you have a high percentage of clay, and more often if you have well draining sandy soil. 
5.  In Summer, water often and more - 20 gallons per vine per week.  In winter, turn it back to almost nothing (depends on your rain averages).  At bud break, water 4 gallons per week per vine.  (this was about grapes). 
6.  He uses Mazzei Injectors to put fertilizer and pesticides in his drip system.

The next interesting seminar was about critter control.  JD took notes and I can't read them, but here is my best shot.  Gophers:  Macabee traps, Gopher Getter.  For squirrels, Blue Pellets which are outlawed, but if you already have them, use them up.  Squirrelerators (most places have them.  Traps the critters, then you drown them in the box that comes with it).  He uses some kind of goat food with no sugar as bait.  Sorry I couldn't be more helpful on this part of the critter seminars.  We all stood up and writing with no support makes for unreadable notes.  Birds.  Netting.  He said Coyotes love fruit too.  And bees will ruin fruit also.

Sue went to the Critter Control seminar also, so she may be able to add to that.

And here we are, wishing you happy figging!!
 

Suzi

Suzi, thanks for posting this.  It's most relevant for drier western areas but definitely an interesting read.  It sounds like the seminar was a great time!

Hi Suzi, It was great to finally meet you and Jim. Glad you stayed for the winery seminars. We do have some good wines up here. Some are so-so but some are really good. Next time you come visit Salerno's. They have an outdoor pizza oven, beautiful outdoor art, nice view and music (Italian singers) at 2pm. Turtle Rock has an awesome view and great people running it. Their wines are not to my taste but drinkable. La Finquita has wine slushies, red or white. Great for a hot summer's day!

As to critter and weed control Norm had some good information but I disagreed with some of his methods. For instance he was promoting some product , goat-something, to bait the squirrelinator. Why? I've caught 3 just last week with an old apple. I threw a piece down it's hole, placed the trap a couple feet away and put the remaining apple pieces in the trap.

Now his mentioning it is illegal to remove the critters from your property and relocate them is very true. Also that they carry nasty diseases is also true so one has to be strong enough to be able to 'dispatch' those cute little critters without a second thought. Otherwise you might as well leave them alone...hate poisons as they have secondary kill. I've heard of a local owl nest being totally destroyed. Dad brought a poisoned creature to the nest, mom ate and fed the babies. Dad also ate and all 5 died, sad. Dad was found at the base of the nest, the others were inside the nest.

As to gophers, he had some good ideas. I always wondered how those beasties managed to go around/over the mackabee traps without triggering them. Now I know they come at the traps from the side. His idea of putting the trap in a 4" pvc pipe so they can't do that was good. Again I prefer to trap than to poison. I have 2 owl boxes and gophers are 95% of their diet. Another good tidbit I didn't know is that my owl boxes are probably in the wrong place. They hunt 50 yds+ from the nest so won't hunt my property as much. I wondered why they were hunting the neighbors property and not mine!

As to weeds, Norm's a diehard Roundup man. Claims it has no environmental issues and all the negativity is just hype. Well, I'll continue to use the solution I found on the net that works just as well and is not harmful: 1-gal whiter vinegar + 2C Epsom salts + 2T to 1/4C blue Dawn dishwashing liquid. It's cheap and just as effective as roundup. The plants you don't spray like the manganese in the Epsom salts too. We will have to agree to disagree on this subject. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

He mentioned issues with bees. Most bees in Calif have some percentage of Africanized bee DNA. He had a nest in his rock outcropping that was 'peaceful' until one day it wasn't. He had to kill the nest. He also mentioned 'meat' bees. I think these are the yellow jackets. They bite more than they sting. They will eat fruit as well as meat. He didn't mention a remedy but they are ground dwellers. There are various ingenious traps that can be easily made. Just search for yellow jacket traps.

As to coyotes, they will eat fruit too. Only legal way to get rid of them is to snare/trap them. They are getting bold with the drought and are hunting in larger packs enabling them to bring down larger prey, including humans. Their only natural control is the occasional mountain lion but that is unlikely to be an effective control as their territory can range up to 30 miles.

He did talk about snakes too...especially the rattler. He kills them when found because of the nature of the business with visitors coming weekly. Other snakes he leaves alone as they help control the mice and rat population. The King snake will eat rattlers too. Roadrunners will also eat rattlers.

Whew...

Sue

Sue,  we both enjoyed our visit, and thanks for telling us about the seminars.  The wine making seminars were so very informative also, and we were all into those because of our backyard vineyard.   Hope you will give me a heads-up if they have these again at another time.  We'd love to come back, and try the wineries you mentioned.  It's a nice little 2 hour getaway for us.  We did stop at Mike's BBQ on the way home.....  Oh my!  Another fun stop!  There is so much on the menu, but I stick with the known.  I can't get past those fish tacos!  Jim eats brisket one way or the other.

I keep thinking of things that were said that I forgot to mention.  Critter dude talked about black widow spiders too.  They don't bother the plants, but can hide in the patio furniture.  He said to go out at night because that's when they come out, and shoot em with pesticide.  Gophers show themselves at night too, so if you need target practice........

Irrigation dude said to "walk the vineyard," and I'm sure the same can be said for "walk the orchard."  Take flags or painters tape with you to mark problems you spot.  If you walk your property daily, you often can catch leaks, broken emitters or pest problems before they get out of hand.  Remove the weeds!  They drink the water meant for your plants.

Suzi

I love this thread altogether, thank you Suzi.

Ooops!  He talked fast! :-)  I can't wait for us to try this.  We already know we have decomposed granite AKA sand, but silt could play a part.  Doubt if there is any clay.  Thanks for the correction!

JD is out buying things for the vineyard.  He got inspired by the seminars.  Funny thing is Grapevine Cuttings root EASY.  Figs, not so easy.  Grapevines need a lot of water.  Figs don't like a lot.  Makes JD crazy because we have 12 drip stations and all have a different mess of stuff on them.  Citrus, Figs, Grapes, Apples, Persimmon, Pomegranates, Mango, Roses, Macadamia, Avocado...  Whoever moved to this property and made this mess obviously wasn't thinking........  GUILTY! :-))

On the other hand, this mountain is mostly sand AKA DG.  So, they all get what they get.  Wherever they are on property, they seem to thrive as long as the drippers work.  Next challenge is to buy those injectors for fertilizer and pesticides.

Suzi

See, things keep coming back to me.  To use Mezzei fertilizer/pesticide injectors for the drip system you need a high PSI.  Must be at least 30 PSI.  No worries here.  We have really high pressure.

Suzi

One of the gems from the wine tasting things was, " If you buy a good bottle of wine for a special occasion," that occasion is NOW!  Wait, and a fire may come and destroy.  A fire did come in Southern California, and did destroy many vineyards and everything in it's path, so if you buy a good bottle of wine...  drink it. 

Suzi