PEACHES ON A COASTAL DESERT

A DATE WITH A PEACH

Conventional wisdom will tell you that the date palm will appear where there is an oasis in a tropical desert. It will also tell you that you should not expect to find a peach. But here on the tropical desert at Ke-ahole we have grown the solitary peach depicted here and the neighboring pear has taught us how to grow many pears, many times a year. The engineering physicists of CHC thought that they could grow peaches by simulating spring through coldwater pipes encircling the roots. They mesmerized themselves into believing that fall could be simulated by surrounding the tree with a column of cold. They also believed incorectly that the tree would go dormant once the fruit had ripened. Not so, even if the autumn metaphor had worked a winter (or some other mechanism) would have to be provided for dormancy to be established. What else but winter could acomplish this biochemical transition?

The UH plant physiologists hinted at the answer in their explanation as to why there are years for which the mango tree will not flower or fruit. It seems that the mango must experience a period of drought in the winter. Aha drought, true drought, without any rain will tell the plant that it is going to die and the plant tells itself that now is the time to shift to a re-creation mode. If the drought persists the adaptation fails. But if spring miraculously appears in the form of the restablishment of the cold around the roots, the tree will burst forth into bloom. We have deliberately tried this technique with the peach tree by turning off the deep ocean water during a really dry spell and true to form it looked like it was dying. When the water was restored it took less than ten days for the tree to break forth in leaf, in blossom and in bud. As soon as CHC can raise some money we will plant a pre-prototype orchard in a two acre lot with peach and pear and apple and chardonnay, pinot noir and cabernet grapes. Soon "luscious clusters of the vine will press our lips against their wine" If you are a teetotaler you should return to the CHC page.