[Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page

[Dick]

Mary. I don't know if anyone has responded to your many questions or not. I 
spend considerable time in this forum and may be confusing your inquiry with 
another. I am pressed for time right now but if I overlook anything of 
import please repeat it.  And, incidently, you can often find answers to 
questions like this search engines. All of us, or most, Master Gardeners, 
are volunteers, students and amateurs ourselves. Some compound inquiries may 
be ignored by us because the large amount of time needed to research and 
compose accurate and comprehendable responses that may physically beyond our 
immediate ability or capacity--thinking some one else will respond. Without 
making any excuses, we may sometimes fall short.

Plumb, nectarine and peach are deciduous species that are normally dormant 
in the winter months.  I believe that you can prune them any time during 
dormancy when sap is not flowing.

Ponderosa lemons tend to have thick skin and if one gets a little exuberant 
with Nitrogrn fertilizer they can have very thick skin. You can use any 
citrus any time they have sized up. In my limited experience with lemons. in 
mild climates you are apt to find a few blooms year round but all healthy 
citrus has abundant blossoms and will set the main crop when the weather and 
soil warm up in the spring. To get the most from your trees be sure your 
irrigation practices and feeding are according to the book or close. In this 
area, it appears that some species of citrus, most citrus in fact seem to do 
fairly well in this climate with gross neglect, or so it seems to me.

You should get qualifying responses to your inquiries and my replies unless 
area gardeners are too occupied with the holliday. But, any one with a 
different take on any of this matter should express  it in this forum.

Dick Gross, Master Gardener Volunteer
U of A Maricopa County Cooperative Extension.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <maryspicer1 at aol.com>
To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 10:51 AM
Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page


> Mary Spicer
> 85382
> maryspicer1 at aol.com
>
> We recently Purchased a house in Peoria and have a Plum, nectarine, peach 
> tree that need pruning. I need to know when this can be done.  Also we 
> have a ponderosa Lemon that did not bloom until July and is still blooming 
> with a different sizes of fruit and blooms. I haven't found much info on 
> this type of tree. Is this normal and how can I tell if some of the yellow 
> is ripe. I have cut a couple and they are very tart and have thick skin 
> and look like grapefruit when it it is cut.  Also have a mexican lime that 
> started to bloom in September and still is blooming is this normal. Last 
> question is we have red flame and Thompson grapes. I want to prune them 
> but don't know, when or how much to cut them back. They grew limbs out 
> about 12 feet from the bottom of the stock to the top of the stock which 
> is about 6 ft high. The grapes I have seen in pictures are cut up at least 
> 4 ft from the ground and don't spread out anymore then about 4 feet.
> Can you give me any info on my above questions I would really appreciate 
> it.
> Thank you in advanced.
>
>
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