John Suavecito

Chris,
I also live in Portland.  10 years and more ago, we would never have the main crop of Desert King mature.  Now it does, every year. The figs do not fall off on our tree.  The quality of the main crop is not as good as the breba, and they are smaller, but ours do not fall off.
John S
PDX OR

Some people use glycerin instead of alcohol, because they believe that although alcohol extracts and preserves the medicine extremely well, once it goes into your cell, it is surrounded by....... alcohol, which isn't really good for you.
John S
PDX OR

Great info, Jeff.  I am amazed that I didn't see this before. You've got quite an operation going there.  Way to show people in hot dry climates how to do it.
John S
PDX OR

This is a great strategy.  Elderberries are a great, native, nutritious antiviral.  Research based, time tested.   When do you get the flu? Winter. No fresh elderberries available on the tree then.  We have made jam out of elderberries for years. And they keep for years.  Typical canning process. Works great because you have to cook the elderberries anyway.
John S
PDX OR

Monardas are beautiful.  SOme are useful as anti-viral medicines. Monarda Fistulosa is the main one I think.   The other one may be called Monarda didyma, or something like that.  

Yes, I love the different microclimates.  I have some plants on my driveway that just bake in the sun, and others that are downhill in a shady area that collects more water.  Kumquats in the sun, horsetail in the moist shade.  Some plants can only take the sunny side of the house under the partial shade of a tree.  Some can be on the moist, shady side, but then they need the open sun with no shade, like campanulas.

Excellent point.

John S
PDX OR

s. lowe
8 hours south is a long ways!
Pretty much everyone I had talked to had grown it, liked the berries, and had them die every so many years.
Some people just buy a new one.
Some people put it in a pot and bring it inside for that spell.
I wasn't willing to do that for yet another plant.
There is a big difference in going down to 29 degrees and going down to 12 degrees.  
Just like there are so many plants 8 hours south where people say that it's not worth growing down there,
due to many diseases that we don't get here, or lack of chill hours.  How do you get that many chill hours?
We don't have to try. It just happens.

John S
PDX OR

I grew it a few years ago. I liked the berries. It can't take cold weather.  Mine died and I didn't get another one.   However, as the climate warms, I should probably look into buying another one.  It doesn't seem to get as cold as it used to here, and we get a lot more heat units.  
John S
PDX OR zone 8b/9a

I have found that, as the soil and ecosystem improves in my food forest, I am attracting several new plants, some that I greatly desired.  For example, I knew I wanted feverfew, and it just showed up!  Same with salsify and self-heal/heal all.
John S
PDX OR

I have participated in many open forums. Many of them have turned to hatred, conflict and bashing.  I participate in this forum on a regular basis because the conversation is steered away from that. It is a respectful conversation. Some people are able to hide their hatred and anger for a short while, then come back and attack again and again.  I would prefer not to be on a forum in which those attacks are supported.  They should start their own hatred and attack forums.  Of course, they realize that no one will join them, so they need to parasitically attack other, friendlier sites and then claim they are the victims.

This is about science as well. The doctor who advocated hand washing to prevent infection, Hemelweiss, I think was his name, was consistently ridiculed and attacked for years. Then he committed suicide.  Then they decided to start washing their hands.  They were claiming their attacks were "science".  Science is not static, and there is no one who owns it. Much of the development of science is unknown, or unknowable as of yet. Heisenberg and other physicists were ridiculed and attacked with their new discoveries.  None of that was useful.  

If you have a respectful and logical disagreement, make it.  Otherwise, please take your attacks elsewhere.

John S
PDX OR

In general, placing your urine on the drip line of the plant is most useful. That is where the roots are most actively growing.  Water on the plant can encourage more mildew.

I agree with the excellently named John Wolfram (tungsten?) that paw paws seem to need more nitrogen.  I didn't read this somewhere else. I am empirically noting this after having grown them for decades.

If you look closely, you can see that some plants are more yellow than others. This is often an indicator of lack of nitrogen.  I direct my urine toward their drip lines.  As I continue, I notice that they green up and I spread the wealth elsewhere, such as on my biochar.

I have noticed that pears on quince rootstock, which would be most of the pear trees that you see in a nursery, tend to need more nitrogen than other trees.

It is the only fertilizer that I use in my food forest.  I do use oyster shells and clam shells when I gather them.  I also use compost, which I consider to be a soil amendment, not a fertilizer.

John S
PDX OR