Week of October 13

TOO MUCH IF A GOOD THING. I would have to admit that our stay at TAProots Farm for the months of July and August has one drawback, namely the lack of attention to my Florida citrus trees. I had fertilized them in June and the summer was rainy and warm, so the trees and their small fruit grew so vigorously that by the time of my return, they were pulling down the trees branches and threatening to break the limbs (one tangerine tree actually did). This was true for the grapefruit, tangerine, Meyer lemon, and even the Kumquat trees. And we still have two or three months before the fruit is fully ripe! I went online to find some really expensive limb props and instead went to the hardware store to fashion my own—4 foot long 1x4” boards with some fat nails and foam cushions did the trick. The heavy boughs with fruit touching the ground were lifted so the still free fruit has room to breathe. The permanent remedy is to prune my citrus trees more carefully next spring after the fruit is picked, to move the fruiting higher and to avoid alternating crops of too much and too few fruit.