Grafting Ken

Hi all I’ve seen posts before about people looking for sprinkler irrigation systems. I’m just trying out a product from Netafim called gyro net, they also do a super net. Lots of different flow rates available and the sprinkler pops up and closes to keep insects out. These sprinklers are fantastic and very well made and come at a great price.. Well worth a try.

Abamdctin now we only use on rootstock if we get an influx in thrips but they have not been as bad this year. Neem I used to send over from the uk but now have so many trees it’s not practical so we use wood vinegar.. for spray we use T.P.I gold it’s for me much better than the other products around mixed in a spray mix with EM, molasses, seaweed extract and worm cast tea.. just trying Mr Hope worm cast tea last few months.. Also we do a soil drench every month but for that I use the cheaper wood vinegar that you can buy a 30L barrel for around 1200 baht I think. Sure we try to be as organic as we possibly can but the thrips and miners once starts can make a mess of things.. spraying regular just helps to keep everything clean these pests love the new rootstock leaves and if not kept in check make a mess of young rootstock and trees.

It is leaf miner.. through and especially towards end of hot season can get lots along with thrips that love the citrus leaves. If it’s bad give them a 1 shot spray with abamectin to clear them up then spray every 10 days to 2 weeks with neem oil or wood vinegar.

Now is good for grafting citrus also towards end of cool season as things start to warm up.. bit of a no no in hot season.. you will be better grafting the lemons. we are growing Troyer Swingle Benton Rusk Cox mandarin hybrid Carrizo rough lemon ant Tri citrus rootstocks now. You can Google all of them and see what you think is good for your lemon. Should be ready in around 3 months so still ok to graft then.

Hi as mentioned above Netafim do a great 8mm micro drip line and we used it for many years now both in our garden and now in our orchard. the dripline goes around the tree so gives a really good deep watering way better than any sprinkler. But we only grow a small variety of tree not huge fruit trees. Pumping water from a pond into a tank I’m unsure if the water would eventually clog the drip line up. think maybe disc filters rather than mesh or a mix of both would be better. you can contact Netafim direct on Facebook but I’ve found Plume also on Facebook have all the Netafim products and it’s all good quality gear much better than most you buy here… just on a note we water over 500 trees on our small orchard using the Netafim micro drip line.. it costs around 250 baht per month to water all.

Grafting for second plot went well his season.

At the moment our set up is just gravity fed but when I put the last 300 or so trees in I will have to fit the pump. When I fit the pump I will put a ventury injector in the system and feed the trees that way.

Same as CLW says. We use a cut and mulch system so I’ll fertilise then cut and mulch over the trees. I’ve used rice straw on the new orchard as a first mulch but I won’t use it again as starting to get enough weeds and grass growing to keep building things up.

Hi we finally got around to planting our finger lime orchard. been working on the project for a few years now sorting good varieties that fruit and grow well for us in our area. first plot we are almost halfway down and should finish with 750 trees then expanding to plot 2 end of wet season to another 1000 trees with a few new varieties in that are starting to do well for us. anyone else growing finger limes with trees up to 300 or more if interested please contact me as I’m working on some promising projects for finger lime fruit. regards Ken.