Diavolicchio - An Orchard at the End of the Country

[Diavolicchio]

I have orchard envy! I'm in the suburbs near L.A. but I recently ordered 10 fruit trees to add to my backyard so I can at least have a mini orchard. I only recently discovered that apples can grow in Southern California; I thought it had to be colder, so I had never tried them before. I got three apples -- cinnamon spice, victoria limbertwig, and white pearmain -- and I'm hoping they do well here. I also got a mid pride peach, weeping santa rosa plum, seckel pear, garden prince almond, flavor king pluot, li jujube, and black mission fig. They should be here in January and I'm very excited.

Your land and the house-to-be look great! And the list of fruits on your website is wonderful. Keep us posted on the progress!

Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, apples can indeed be grown in Southern California; you simply have to choose varieties suited to your climate. Many won't do well out there, but some are ideally suited. I'm guessing from the varieties you've chosen that you got your trees from Trees of Antiquity. You did good. Those folks won't steer you wrong.

 

[valmom]

Wow! on the fence! Having put up a fair amount of fencing between the horse fence and the hen compound, I can imagine it broke the bank to get that around a whole orchard! And, I wouldn't have thought about trapping the woodchucks inside, either. Can't they get through the wide mesh? Maybe our Mr. Charles is just small

Welcome to the site! One of my regulars, even though I only get to read here on my days off work, so I am here sporadically.

I will look forward to picking your brain about heirloom fruit trees. We put in a couple of plums, a grafted dwarf cherry, and a Fuji (?) apple tree to go with our Macintosh that was a moving gift for our house.

 

[Henrietta23]

Merry Christmas and Welcome John!
Is your screen name a variety of hot pepper? Just curious!

Yes, a Diavolicchio is a type of Italian chili pepper. But it's more of a broad category of chili than a specific variety. It literally means "Little Devil."

http://www.meticulum.com/Diavolicchio2.jpg

Thank you! I think I may have to see if I can grow them here in CT for my half Italian DH who loves hot peppers.

 

[Diavolicchio]

Merry Christmas and Welcome John!
Is your screen name a variety of hot pepper? Just curious!

Yes, a Diavolicchio is a type of Italian chili pepper. But it's more of a broad category of chili than a specific variety. It literally means "Little Devil."

http://www.meticulum.com/Diavolicchio2.jpg

Thank you! I think I may have to see if I can grow them here in CT for my half Italian DH who loves hot peppers.

Just so you know. . . you're not likely to ever find seeds for a variety called Diavolicchio. Again, it's a category of chiles, rather than a variety.


John

 

[Henrietta23]

Yes, a Diavolicchio is a type of Italian chili pepper. But it's more of a broad category of chili than a specific variety. It literally means "Little Devil."

http://www.meticulum.com/Diavolicchio2.jpg

Thank you! I think I may have to see if I can grow them here in CT for my half Italian DH who loves hot peppers.

Just so you know. . . you're not likely to ever find seeds for a variety called Diavolicchio. Again, it's a category of chiles, rather than a variety.


John

Thanks. I'll see what I can find out. I just got a bunch of seed catalogs in the mail.

 

[Diavolicchio]

Thanks. I'll see what I can find out. I just got a bunch of seed catalogs in the mail.

Once again, it's not a variety of pepper, so you won't find it in any of your catalogs by name.

I can recommend three Diavolicchio-type peppers, the seeds for which you can buy via Paypal from this web site.

The three you'll want on that page are: Stromboli, Etna and Piccante Di Cayenna. Since none of these three are F1 hybrids, you can save the seeds and get the same peppers year and year.

Good luck!

 

[Diavolicchio]

I just found a source in the US for Piccante Di Cayenna and for Etna. You can buy them from here:

Etna

Piccante Di Cayenna

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Hello John!
Again welcome to the forum! It is always so nice to see new members. I see you know much about fruit trees. I was wondering, do you know anything about Cedar Apple Rust? This did an absolute job on my apple trees this last year. I have been told to spray them,..but with what??? Do I need to use a chemical? I hope you can help me,..you seem much more knowledgable than my local yocal hardware/feed store employees. Thanks!

 

[Diavolicchio]

I was wondering, do you know anything about Cedar Apple Rust? This did an absolute job on my apple trees this last year. I have been told to spray them,..but with what??? Do I need to use a chemical? I hope you can help me,..you seem much more knowledgable than my local yocal hardware/feed store employees. Thanks!

I've never had a problem with Cedar Apple Rust, so I had to Google the info myself. Here ya go:

RUST DISEASES

Rust diseases and causal fungi include: 1) cedar apple rust, caused by Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae; 2) quince rust, caused by G. clavipes; and 3) hawthorn rust, caused by G. globosum. All three fungi spend part of their life cycle on red cedar and are problems only when red cedar is found close to the orchard. The life cycles and control of these diseases are similar.

Cedar-apple rust is the most important rust disease in Ohio and the disease is generally more severe in the southern portion of the state. In Ohio, the rust diseases are generally not a serious problem to apple production; however, if the disease is established on cedar (juniper) within a 2-mile radius of the orchard, serious losses can result.

a) Cedar-Apple Rust Disease Cycle

The disease cycle is very similar for all three rusts and is very complex. For the purposes of this discussion, cedar-apple rust will be used as an example. Two plants (apple and cedar) and three fungal fruiting structures (telia, aecia and pycnia) are involved. The pathogen requires 2 yr. to complete its life cycle.

The cedar-apple rust and hawthorn rust fungi overwinters in reddish-brown galls or "cedar apples" in the cedar tree. The quince rust fungus overwinters in elongated galls in cedar branches. When galls become wet during spring rains, they extrude gelatinous tendrils or "horns" consisting of microscopic two-celled teliospores, each of which produces four basidiospores. Air currents carry the basidiospores to the apple leaf and fruit where they infect under favorable conditions. Leaves are most susceptible when they are 4 to 8 days old. Apple leaves and fruit can only be infected by the basidiospores of the rust fungus from cedar trees. Thus, when the basidiospores have all been discharged from the spore hornes on cedar trees, the danger from infection on apple is past. There is no secondary cycle or infections on apple. Once the lesions form on leaves or fruit, they will not spread or cause additional infections on apple. Instead, another type of spore (aeciospore) is produced and during July and August, these aeciospores are carried by wind back to the cedar trees where they cause infection and complete the life cycle of the fungus.

Note: The basidiospores that infect apple are produced and released from galls on cedar trees from about the "Pink" stage of apple bud development, until about "First" to "Second" cover. If fungicide is required to control this disease, this period is most critical for timing sprays.

Note: Apple varieties differ greatly in their susceptibility to rusts. Many scab resistant cultivars also have good resistance to cedar-apple rust, which is the most common rust disease in Ohio. It is important to realize that the resistance reported to rust in the disease resistant apple varieties is for cedar-apple rust. The varieties may not be resistant to quince rust. Due to the lack of effective fungicides for rust control, if quince rust is a serious problem in the area, organic production may not be feasible unless you can eliminate cedar trees within at least a 1/2 mile radius. The use of disease resistance must be emphasized in the Organic disease control program.

b) Bottom Line For Rust Control.

Use rust resistant varieties and eradicate the alternate host within at least a 1/2 mile radius of the orchard.

Get more cedar-apple rust info - facts and photos here

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I guess I'm going to have to cut down all my neighbors cedar trees.
I hope they don't mind.

I have researched the disease and know what it is, but they say to spray the trees with a fungicide? Would an all-purpose fungicide spray work?

The two trees I have are Golden Delicious and a Granny Smith. I didn't figure they would pick up disease or fungus so easily. We have other old and unknown varieties of trees on the farm and they always look good, but never bare fruit due to not being pruned and taken care of. These two trees we just purchased this year,..maybe they came with the fungus? I believe I am going to move them to the other side of the property and spray them with some sort of fungicide after they loose their blooms. Thanks for your research!