Question❓| Upskill 📚 | Information ℹ️ | Picture 📷 | Special Offer 🎁

Edition 19

👋 Hey TropicalBytes family, welcome to this week’s edition of Q.U.I.P.S.!

As the fastest-growing subtropical farming community out there, we're thrilled to be your BFF (Best Farming Friend), saving you hundreds of hours by unearthing hidden gems like:

• Actionable tips 💡

• Practical knowledge 🧠

• Industry insights 📊

• And so much more 🌟

All with the end goal of equipping you for excellence and success. ✅ 

As always, we’d love to hear your ideas, questions and feedback.

You share. We listen.

Let's dive right in! 🚀

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In Today’s Email:

• Q: What Caused This Damage to the Avo Tree? 🤔

• U: The Perfect DIY Build for Your Kitchen or Courtyard 🛠️

• I: Understanding Nutrient Mobility 🧪

• P: A Curious Case of Zambia's Mega Racemes 🤯

• S: Your Voice, Your Choice 🎁

Question❓

What Caused This Damage to the Avo Tree?

What good would it be if we just quizzed you every week?

BORING!! 🥱

That’s why we’re called your BFF (Best Farming Friend), saving you hundreds of hours by unearthing these hidden gems so you don’t have to.

So, what's actually going on with this avo leaf?

Shotgun damage?

Nope, but you're warm!

It’s actually Boron Deficiency, sometimes dramatically referred to as "shotgun holes." These holes are the result of localised cell death, or necrosis. When boron is lacking, the cells throw in the towel and give up, leading to those little holes you're seeing.

So, the next time you're strolling through your orchard, scratching your head and wondering if a rogue gunslinger has been using your avocado trees for target practice, you'll know the real deal. It's just boron—or rather, the lack of it.

❓ What question(s) do you have this week? Tell us here

Upskill 📚

The Perfect DIY Build for Your Kitchen or Courtyard 🛠️

This week, we've got a DIY project that'll light up any corner of your courtyard or cozy up next to your kitchen door.

You know that patch of sunshine where your cats sprawl out every morning?

Transform that space into a herb haven! A practical, stylish, and movable green space for your home-grown herbs. With its easy-roll feature, you can slide it into the perfect patch of sunlight or shade, just as the weather or your plants require.

Gents, are you ready to earn some serious brownie points? 🍪

This stand isn't just for plants; it's your one-way ticket to impress the leading lady in your life. As a bonus, there's a designated bottom shelf for your boots—yes, bottom shelf only!

Here's what you'll need:

• 10 x 25mm flange brackets.

• 15-20mm solid wood boards:

  • 2 pieces measuring 90cm x 40cm

  • 1 piece measuring 90cm x 20cm

• 4 x castor wheels (and if there’s a risk of a runaway, make sure at least one has a brake!)

• 25mm tubing:

  • 8 pieces at 30cm long

  • 2 pieces at 80cm long

  • 1 piece at approx. 78cm long (depending on the placement of your flange brackets)

• 2 x corner connectors (2-way round)

• 40 × 16mm wood screws

• Tools:

  • Hammer, screwdriver, and your unbeatable can-do attitude!

The construction is straightforward—essentially, what you see below 👇 is what you build. But make sure to choose the right material. If you're on a budget or not concerned about longevity, plastic works fine. For a more robust build that could carry heavy items, go for metal.

🛠️ Pro Tip: Seal your wood with varnish to ensure it stands up to the elements, especially as you’ll be watering the herbs (hopefully).

📝 Note: If you plan to hang heavier items, opt for longer-necked flange brackets on the top shelf.

Photo credits: Fresh Mommy Blog & Tink Tube

💡 Want more bonus upskill tips? Forward Q.U.I.P.S. to two farmer friends and reply letting us know. We’ll reply with the tip 😁

Information ℹ️

Understanding Nutrient Mobility 🧪

Following on from last week’s deep dive into Calcium, Lime and Gypsum, we got to understand the fact that Calcium is an immobile nutrient. This led us to explore the important topic of Nutrient Mobility; a subject we felt deserved more of our—and your—attention.

“If you’re anything like me (I’ll exclude Michael from this) then you had no idea that there was a difference between how nutrients move!” 🙃

Well, now we all know!

👇 See the image below to differentiate between mobile & immobile nutrients.

Mobile Nutrients are better equipped to provide to the plant's immediate needs, usually storing themselves in areas where they are most needed—often in or near regions of new growth. These nutrients can reposition based on the plant's evolving requirements (phenological changes and growth). For example, if a plant requires additional nitrogen for new leaf development, it will pull from its stored nitrogen in older foliage.

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Characteristics of Mobile Nutrients:

• Migrate towards areas of active plant growth

• Capable of moving in all directions

• Transported via both main vascular plant tissues: the xylem and phloem

• Effective with both soil and foliar fertilisation, though nitrogen prefers soil-based application

Immobile Nutrients have limitations in their movement within the plant. Unlike their mobile counterparts, they:

• Are only transported via the xylem

• Remain in areas of older growth

• First show deficiencies in new foliage, affecting older leaves only if left untreated

• Generally respond better to soil-based fertilisers, ensuring absorption via the roots and direct transportation to where they're needed most

Understanding nutrient mobility is key when we’re trying to attend to plant health and diagnose apparent issues. But remember, other variables like soil conditions (pH and plant-available-water) and climate factors also play pivotal roles.

💡 Thanks to → Zamnesia for contributing invaluable insights to this discussion.

📌 NB: This week, we've focused on Nutrient Mobility in the Plant. Stay tuned for next week where we’ll examine Nutrient Mobility in the Soil—a topic governed by an entirely different rulebook!

Picture 📷

A Curious Case of Zambia's Mega Racemes 🤯

How bizarre! 🤯

A big shout out to one of our awesome readers who shared this incredible picture with us.

“This pic is of our Nelmak 2's in Zambia, you can see buds, flowers and set nuts all grown off the same raceme of a mature nut!! This pic was taken on 24 August this year. On all of our N2s we have mature nuts weeks from harvest, marble sized nuts, pea size, flowers and buds.”

We’re so intrigued that we’ve asked to stay in touch with this particular raceme 😂, specifically to see how the “secondary” and “tertiary” nuts develop.

Stay tuned!

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Special Offer 🎁

Your Voice, Your Choice 🎁

Last week, we asked you: what would you like to see in our Special Offer section? The choices were:

• A classifieds corner

• Job board

• TropicalBytes specials

With a flurry of votes, it seemed like "A Classifieds Corner" was the clear crowd-favourite.

Until someone threw in a comment: “why not have all of them?”

And that's the spirit we love at TropicalBytes! You share, we listen.

So, we're kicking things off this week with a classified ad 👇

If you missed out on last week's poll, it's not too late to have your say. Click your preferred option in the poll below to shape our future content. 👇

That’s a wrap folks! We hope you enjoyed this week’s QUIPS.

Happy farming, deep learning, and warm smiles.

We'll see you next week! 🌱

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The Comment Corner 💬

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