I'm So Excited!!!

[Jim Koepke]

This is the first time my kumquat tree has been so heavy with fruit:

Kumquat.jpg

This is smaller than our tree in California. The one down there hadn't set any fruit before we moved north.

Kumquats got me hooked years ago. The fresh picked fruits are so much better than what usually ends up in stores at about $5/lb.

A few of this years ripest looking have been picked and enjoyed, YUM!

jtk

[Mike Ontko]

Growing citrus in the Pacific NW is definitely something to be excited about! And that's a pretty healthy looking specimen. Is your greenhouse space fully enclosed and temp/humidity controlled or are you just using a poly covering over an open area? I use row covering, mainly to deter insects and deer, but have been have giving consideration to building a Walipini (sunken greenhouse) for full 4-season gardening.

[Bill McNiel]

As a fellow NW resident let me just say, "very impressive" and I am really jealous.

[Jim Koepke]

Is your greenhouse space fully enclosed and temp/humidity controlled or are you just using a poly covering over an open area?

Our greenhouse is fully enclosed and has a gas heater. During the dead of winter the temp is kept just above freezing. Currently we are starting a lot of seeds and want to get other plants going so the temperature has been raised to a minimum of 50ºF.

A kumquat is supposed to be good down to about 20ºF. Sometimes we dip below that here.

As far as I am concerned the Kumquat is a citrus. Some botanist seem to think it isn't. To me they are a joy to eat.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

I wanted to check this because this year it seems everything is earlier.

I was right:

Kumquat 2016-02-28 5.29 PM.jpg

I have been eating fruit off of this tree to the tune of 5 or so when ever I am close to the greenhouse for a couple of weeks now. This year seems like much more fruit, it is sweeter and ripening earlier.

I am sure that I have already eaten more than half of this years crop.

jtk

[Doug Garson]

You had me going for a minute or two. We have a Loquat tree in our yard here in New Westminster BC (part of greater Vancouver) it's outdoors not in a greenhouse. It's marginal for this climate. I blooms in the fall and sets fruit over the winter. Our crop depends a lot on how mild the winter is. Last year we got a few dozen fruit and looks like we may get that many or more this year. I've seen a few olive sized fruit already. Our tree looks to be 3 or 4 times the size of your tree. It was grown from seed by a friend and given to us as a houseplant about 4 Ft high. It was moved in and out for years until it got too big and we just planted it and hoped for the best. Wish we had it in a greenhouse like yours.

[Jim Koepke]

You had me going for a minute or two. We have a Loquat tree in our yard here in New Westminster BC (part of greater Vancouver) it's outdoors not in a greenhouse.

I used to work in Berkeley, California. The area where I regularly parked my car had lots of loquat and black walnut trees. I think it was because there were also a lot of squirrels. Squirrels have a propensity to bury almost as many seeds as the eat. I am sure that is why those two trees were so plentiful.

When I lived in an old section of Richmond, California (Point Richmond) there were a lot of old abandoned fruit trees. One of my favorite abandoned fruit tree to find at ripening time is apricots, yummmmm! Point Richmond was also the mother lode of blackberries growing everywhere that wasn't tended. Kind of fun in the fall with kids and adults carrying buckets and pans collecting berries. The air was thick with the smell of blackberry pies.

jtk

[Doug Garson]

Did you have dents in the roof of your car? We had mature black walnut trees in our yard back in Cambridge Ontario. Not uncommon to get sizeable dents in our cars from the nuts falling 50 - 60 Ft. Out here in greater Vancouver we also have lot's of blackberries growing wild.

[Jim Koepke]

Did you have dents in the roof of your car? We had mature black walnut trees in our yard back in Cambridge Ontario. Not uncommon to get sizeable dents in our cars from the nuts falling 50 - 60 Ft. Out here in greater Vancouver we also have lot's of blackberries growing wild.

No, our black walnut was in the back yard. They sometimes fell on our light metal shed and make a horrible racket. When I was sitting under it having a beer I felt like I should be wearing a hard hat. Occasionally a squirrel would throw half eaten nuts at me.

jtk