April Issue - California Rare Fruit Growers, San Diego Chapter

Page 1 of 4S a n D i e g o C h a p te rN e wsl e tte rApril 2012Mission Statement"To encourage and foster public and scientific interest, research, education in and the preservation of rare fruit plantsthat have edible seeds, fruits, leaves, stems or roots and are not commonly grown commercially. The furtherance andencouragement of these activities shall be for the benefit of the public rather than commercial interests."From: www.crfgsandiego.orgApril 25th, 2012 General Meeting:Creating a Permaculture Food ForestWednesday – 7 pmRoom 101 Casa Del Prado, Balboa ParkHello to all fellow fruit growers.In This Issue:Greetings From The Chair – page 1Vice Chair’s Report – page 2Committee Reports – page 2San Diego CRFG Contact Info – page 3Upcoming Events-At a Glance – page 4April showers bring May flowers...weeds. Well, a little rain is better than no rain at all, but sometimes all it does isseem to do is to make the weeds grow faster. Remember that it takes 1"-2" of rain or irrigation water to penetrate thesoil 1 foot, and that 90% of the roots that take up water (the feeder roots) on our fruit trees occur within the top 3 feetof most soils. To water our trees adequately, we should water so that the soil is irrigated to at least 2-3 feet deep andalthough the rain helps with irrigation, it does not replace the need to irrigate our trees. Keeping our fruit treesproperly watered during the spring blooming and fruit set season is critical to getting good crops of fruit on our trees.Don't be fooled by a little rain, San Diego is a desert climate, so keep your trees properly irrigated to insure your cropsare bountiful. This is now the time to thin fruit on your deciduous fruit trees. Standard spacing on most types of fruitis to have about 2" between fruit and removing excess fruit will help to prevent damage to tree branches due tobreakage occurring from overproduction of fruit as well as improve the remaining fruit quality and size. Bite the bulletand remove excess fruit now to enjoy better fruit at harvest time.WOW, was that a GREAT Cherimoya meeting or what??? I hope that many of you got to enjoy the WONDERFULfeast of cherimoya and went home with full bellies and some new information on cherimoya. Thank you to Nino of LaPrima Vera Orchard for coming down and sharing his knowledge and bringing some of his outstanding varieties ofcherimoya fruit for all to enjoy. The "Fortunella" and several of the "Fornella" cultivars were outstanding and hopefullyscion wood or trees will be made available to all of us some time in the future so that we can all grow these excellentvarieties. Thank you also to Bob Holzinger for ALL his work to organize the collection of fruit and in ripening andpreparing the fruit for all to enjoy. Also Thank You to Ben Kotnik for organizing this meeting and to everyone else whohelped and participated in making this such a great meeting. For those of you who were unable to attend, try not tomiss the next cherimoya meeting (if we get to have one) as this is certainly a highlight for our Chapter.This upcoming meeting that will be on Wed. April 25th is a subject that is near and dear to my heart. JoshRobinson will be speaking on "Creating a Permaculture Food Forest" and will bring a wealth of information to share withall of our members. Be sure to read Ben's message for details on this meeting.We have many exciting events coming up this month and next month in addition to our Chapter's meetings. We willneed our members help and participation in several of these events and would like our members to take part inattending and enjoying these great opportunities. Our biggest focus is on the Chapter's plant sale that will be on April22nd in Balboa Park. This is the day of the EarthFair in Balboa Park which is the largest free annual environmental fairin the world. EarthFair 2012 will be the 23rd annual event and each year, the EarthFair draws around 60,000 visitors.We will need help from as many members as possible to make our plant sale successful and to help spread informationabout our organization to the visitors who attend this event. Please contact David Long to volunteer. Additionalupcoming events that need support and volunteers include: the Spring Garden Show at Cuyamaca College on April28th, The Plant Sale and Garden Show at Southwestern College on May 5th, The Garden Event at the San Diego Zoo onMay 10-13, and the San Diego County Fair in June. Please contact Erik Collins for more details and information onthese events and help our Chapter spread the word about growing fruit trees in San Diego!We need everyone's ideas and support to help make our Chapter fun and meaningful for all. Please contact anyBoard member with your suggestions and pitch in whenever you can. Hope to see you at the April General meeting.Sincerely, Tom Del Hotal

April 2012CRFG San Diego Chapter NewsletterPage 2 of 4Next Board Meeting NOTE CHANGE IN DATE AND LOCATION!Tuesday May 1st, 2012 at 6:30 P.M. Location: Ben and Sally Kotnik's home, (Thank you Ben). 7177 Lynridge Ct. SanDiego, 92120. (619) 997-7440. All are welcome to attend, please RSVPEveryone is welcome and invited to join us!Refreshment TableThis month's meeting: If your last name falls between the letters of Mas to Sam..., please bring goodies for membersto share and please come early or remain after the meeting to help set up and put away the supplies for the refreshmenttable.Members, PLEASE help set up or stay after the meeting to help clean up and put away items back into our Chapter'sstorage locker. Cleanup is quick and easy when many work together and pitch in!Vice Chair Notes by Ben KotnikApril's Meeting:April 25, 2012 — Creating a Permaculture Food ForestSpeaker:Josh RobinsonDescription:A food forest is a perennial polyculture of multi-purposed plants designed to not only produce lots of food, but providemany other services including pollination, pest control, fertility, mulch, and much more. This goes way beyond companionplanting. Food forests are designed to be highly productive with the least amount of labor. This slideshow will explain howto create a sustainable orchard that is patterned after nature.Speaker Bio:Josh Robinson has a strong love of plants, soil, and ecology. It is only natural that he finds himself working to transformconventional landscapes into their full and sustainable potential as abundant gardens of Eden. Josh is certified inpermaculture design and has a master's degree in Ecological Landscape Design. Josh also encourages people to reclaim theirown gardens through education. He has taught numerous classes, workshops, and slideshows on permaculture andecological landscape design including courses through Northern Arizona University, Coconino Community College, PrescottCollege, and the Ecosa Institute. Josh lives and gardens in San Diego at Higher Elevation Permaculture, an upcoming urbanpermaculture demonstration site. www.EdenOnEarthLandscaping.comMay's Meeting:Wednesday May 23, 2012 -- Wine with Donn RutkoffCommittee ReportsCommunity Outreach & Education Committee by Erik CollinsWe’ve added the SD Zoo to our list of events. All volunteers receive free admission to the Zoo!Earth Fair / Annual Plant Sale: Sunday, April 22nd.Cuyamaca Spring Garden Fest: Saturday, April 28th. Ben Kotnik is heading up this event.Green Scene at Southwestern College: Saturday May 5th. We need volunteers.SD Zoo: May 10-13, 11am-3pm. FREE ADMISSION TO ZOO!!Del Mar Fair: June 8 through July 4. Dottie Logan has reserved our space, and we will need many volunteers to staff thebooth.Please contact me at 619.303.5353, or sonicpig@hotmail.com, to volunteer.Endowment Update by David LongThe next meeting for the Paul and Helen Thomson Endowment Committee will be May 16th, from 6:30 to 8 pm. We willdiscuss what has happened so far and the direction we will go. This will be an important meeting and your participation willdetermine what will happen in the future. Please mark your calendars and join us.

April 2012CRFG San Diego Chapter NewsletterPage 3 of 4Membership & Hospitality Committee by Karen LakomyWelcome to New Members – David Boggs (Spring Valley 91977), Mimi Labrucherie (San Diego 92120), Marc Simpson(San Diego 92115) and Marianne and Mike West (Lemon Grove 91945).Propagation Committee Notes by Jim NeitzelOn Tuesday, April 10, Britt, Marianne West, Bie-Hwa and her father Ching-Chuan Chen and I spent the morning atSouthwestern College finalizing and inventorying plant materials appropriate for our Earth Day plant sale. We also weededthe area. I was going to graft things onto the prunus rootstock material, but it's all "popped" out. It would be good to stepthem up into seven gal. containers and graft next dormant season. Also various grumichama and cherry of the Rio Grandegallon pots have multiple seedlings needing dividing and repotting. The many loquats we have there should be grafted soonalso.In the afternoon I fertilized and watered in the banana patch. There are 4 or 5 bunches of young fruit now! I noticedsome additional fruit trees (pears, peaches, etc.) have just been planted, as well as three thornless blackberry cultivars['Arapaho', 'Navajo', and 'Natchez']There is one open berry bed remaining. Bill Homyak and I have chosen some huge -- fruiting thorned cultivars thatDavid Archer of Bonita Creek Nursery recommends. The collection thus will serve as a field trial.Once again, don't neglect thinning, esp. peaches, leaving only what a branch can support. Also pinching off the tips ofvigorous shoots in spring and summer prevents wasteful vegetative growth and leads to more fruiting branchlets. Much lesswinter pruning should also result.I noticed a very promising new pear cultivar from Texas' Houston area called 'King'.My 'Keiffer', 'Orient', and 'Monterey' have or are presently blooming and give tasty fruit. 'Ya li', 'Tsu Li' and 'Hood' arevery low-chill.Lots of loquats are repening! Steven Pruyn, I believe, brought in pounds of a very attractive loquat for our "Goodies"table last month. Members could bring in a wide sampling for our April 25 meeting.Lastly, please police all the grafts that you've done so a lot of energy goes to promote growth of the scion. Break off ortip-pinch any growth below the graft. Prune to make the scion become a main branch. When the new growth has grownout 6"-8" you can remove the plastic binding.A joint chapter final pruning of two rows of overgrown cherimoya trees at the South Coast Field Station will probably bescheduled for April 29 or May 4. Please notify me or Bob Holzinger if you wish to help out. Ladders, saws & loppers will behelpful and we'll carpool, if possible.Extra scion woodsBen has leftover scion wood harvested in mid-march: ~10 Cherimoya varieties (some wood isvery small caliper), and a few sticks of apple wood. Please email Ben if interested.To participate or volunteer in any of committees, or for more information about the committees or committeeprojects contact:Botanical Garden Development Committee (Joint w/NCounty)David Yetzdaveyetz@gmail.comChapter Bylaws / SOP Review & Revision CommitteeCommunity Outreach & Education Committee (Joint w/NCounty)Erik Collins 619-303-5353 Sonicpig@hotmail.comLibrary CommitteeDavid Yetz 619-981-3397 Librarian@CRFGSanDiego.orgMembership & Hospitality CommitteeKaren Lakomy 619-579-6366 Membership@CRFGSanDiego.orgNewsletter CommitteeFang Liu 858-866-9674 Editor@CRFGSanDiego.orgOpportunity Table/Drawing CommitteeGustavo Reynoso 619-861-7821 OpportunityTable@CRFGSanDiego.orgPaul Thomson Endowment CommitteeDavid Long 858-748-2398 ThomsonEndowment@CRFGSanDiego.orgPropagation CommitteeJim Neitzel 619-262-8959 Available 7-9 am & after darkPublicity CommitteeJosé Gallego 619-261-3610 Webmaster@CRFGSanDiego.orgRefreshment CommitteeElizabeth Pollard 619-470-6688Website CommitteeJosé Gallego 619-261-3610 Webmaster@CRFGSanDiego.orgThe following committees need volunteers to lead them:Special Events Committee – Vendor’s Contact – Ways & Means Committee

April 2012CRFG San Diego Chapter NewsletterPage 4 of 4Save a Tree! Go Paperless! If you’re still receiving your newsletter by postal mail and you have an email address, please considerreceiving it electronically. In addition to receiving it a lot earlier than postal delivery, you will also receive time-sensitive information onspecial events that is usually too late to post in the newsletter. Past issues of the newsletters are also posted on our website. Let themembership committee know if you would like to try it. Thanks to those members who have decided to go paperless.San Diego CRFG Board Contact Info:Chair: Tom Del HotalChair@CRFGSanDiego.org(619) 454-2628Vice-Chair: Ben KotnikViceChair@CRFGSanDiego.org(619) 997-7440Treasurer: Erik CollinsTreasurer@CRFGSanDiego.org(619) 303-5353Secretary: José GallegoSecretary@CRFGSanDiego.org(619) 697-4417Former Chair: David YetzFormerChair@CRFGSanDiego.org(619) 659-8788Upcoming Events — At a Glance4/20 – 7pm North SD County Chapter Meeting:Citrus Diseases with Alan Dodds4/21 – 8:30am Work Party at SDBG(formerly Quail)4/22 9am – 4pm Earth Day Plant Sale at Balboa Park, Casa DelPrado Courtyard4/25 – 7pm San Diego Chapter meeting: Creating aPermaculture Food Forest with Josh Robinson4/28 Earth Day – Alta Vista Gardens4/28 Spring Garden Fest. – Cuyamaca College5/1 – 6:30pm Board meeting at Ben's House5/5 GreenScene at Southwestern College5/16 6:30–8pm Endowment meeting at Casa del Prado Rm. 1045/18 – 7pm North SD County Chapter Meeting:Bananas with Carol Graham5/23 – 7pm San Diego Chapter meeting:Wine with Donn RutkoffCalifornia Rare Fruit GrowersSan Diego ChapterP.O. Box 152943San Diego, CA 92195USAADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED