Re: Is there a fruit-tree bible?

Anthony --

Your friend who pruned his tree and didn't get fruit for 5 years no doubt
pruned off all the fruiting wood which is something you DONT what to do!  I
can recommend a great little book for PRUNING fruit trees.  It is "how to
prune fruit trees" by R. Sanford Martin.  This book addresses pruning stone
fruit, citrus, subtropical trees, fruit trees, berries, grapes, etc.  It is
a classic, first published in 1944 and still considered to be the pruning
bible.  I'm sure you can mail order it.  This book tells you  which trees
(shrubs, etc) fruit on new wood vs those that fruit on old wood so you know
what you should and should NOT cut and HOW MUCH to cut.  It's a little
paperback book, I got my copy for $3.75 so it should be fairly inexpensive
to find.

Also, if you want books on fruiting plants, go to www.crfg.org.  That's the
website of the California Rare Fruit Growers.  I know I've sung their
accolades before so I won't go into extreme detail, but CRFG is a group of
people who started in California but now have members worldwide who are
interested in growing all kinds of fruit.  What you might consider an
everyday fruiting plant may be rare to someone else, so don't be put off by
the "rare" part of their name (actually, I have been a member for years).
The website has lots of factsheets on all kinds of plants and they also
offer a wide range of books.  you might contact them directly and ask which
books are best suited for your location and growing conditions.

Finally, the problem you describe sounds to me like what the CRFG calls
"fireblight."  We get it on some of our Prunus trees as well.  See if it is
addressed at the CRFG site and if not, contact them to see what they
recommend.

Good luck!

Nan

PS -- To Allesandra, I was amused to read that the contadinio would never
consider planting a non-edible fruit.  Here in Southern California, we have
almost the opposite problem.  People are so accustomed to buying their
produce at the market that they don't even consider planting edibles!
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Nan Sterman
San Diego County California
Sunset zone 24, USDA hardiness zone 10b or 11
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