Comments on: Guerrilla Grafters covertly add fruit-tree branches to ornamental trees

By: Russ

Russ — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 21:26:00 +0000

Look at the rats, up in the trees…

By: Nagurski

Nagurski — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:39:00 +0000

Doesn’t sound all that covert then.

By: acerplatanoides

acerplatanoides — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:08:00 +0000

It must be tough for grape farmers. Tough like a salmon trying to get upstream in nothern california.

By: acerplatanoides

acerplatanoides — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:39:00 +0000

and the sidewalk alongside the road to hell is covered in rotting fruit.

By: John Robb

John Robb — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:13:00 +0000

And if the economy fails and everyone is hungry….

By: ocker3

ocker3 — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 02:19:00 +0000

Some people Are like that. I was in a small community church (in Australia) that met in a school hall, but the insurance costs were just getting silly, so we talked about meeting in people’s homes. Everyone thought it was a good idea and was happy to commit to all being personally responsible for their safety and that of their kids, except for one guy who stated that he would sue anyone if something happened to him. We all knew him as being quite a hard guy to be friends with, but he killed that church group.

By: acerplatanoides

acerplatanoides — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 21:48:00 +0000

think of the children

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 20:28:00 +0000

Actually, SF does have a problem with tree rats, at least in the neighborhoods with a lot of trees.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 20:22:00 +0000

Well, the fruit could be durian.

By: ThunderHammer

ThunderHammer — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 19:26:00 +0000

We sent a man to the moon, but growing fruit trees in the city is absolutely out of the question, on account of the risks.

By: hymenopterid

hymenopterid — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:53:00 +0000

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/PDEP/target_pest_disease_profiles/EGVM_PestProfile.html
Not much of a struggle if you’re a grape farmer.

By: hymenopterid

hymenopterid — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 18:47:00 +0000

That’s crucial. If the fruit isn’t harvested, it’s just going to serve as a disease vector for agricultural diseases. On top of this, many fruit trees have been bred to bear more fruit than they can support. If you don’t prune an apple or a peach for example, its branches will split from the fruit loads. That split can become infected, and kill the whole tree.

By: Nickola Johnson

Nickola Johnson — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:46:00 +0000

Yes people, ignore the lawyers! It’s all about the money! :/

By: Joshua Miller

Joshua Miller — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 17:22:00 +0000

Only in America would anyone refer to free food as a “nuisance”. How dare you litter my beautiful concrete with delicious, free, natural food. Oh the humanity!

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:35:00 +0000

Fun to watch people struggling to come up with reasons why this is a bad thing. These guys are my heroes.

By: Snig

Snig — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:14:00 +0000

And since we’ve adopted leaves as our currency, we’ll all be fabulously rich!

By: Jonathan David Grindstaff

Jonathan David Grindstaff — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:06:00 +0000

Dog, SF rats is an underground crew of people who eat fruit out of dumpsters. Way to dis on them.

By: Jonathan David Grindstaff

Jonathan David Grindstaff — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:04:00 +0000

At that point you just chop down all the trees, just in case.

By: Jonathan David Grindstaff

Jonathan David Grindstaff — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:03:00 +0000

yeah, that sounds ok then. Otherwise fruit on the ground does get a little messy especially near roads. But at least those neighbor kids will have something to throw at cars come fall.

By: Snig

Snig — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:47:00 +0000

If it becomes problematic, do you think anyone has the technology to remove the branch? Some sort of technical ungrafting procedure from a registered tree surgeon?

It’s not that complicated, it’s been done for a thousands of years, and doesn’t convert the whole tree to an edible fruit bearing tree. Not that much fruit.

By: Donaleen Kohn

Donaleen Kohn — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:44:00 +0000

And when the steward moves away? It sounds cool in concept but perhaps falls short in reality. Fruit trees overhanging sidewalks are NOT such a great idea. If the fruit isn’t gathered, it makes a slippery mess on the sidewalk. Fruit trees attract yellow jackets and those of us who are allergic don’t appreciate that. Do they REALLY know what they are doing or are they compromising the health of the trees?

It just sounds a bit half baked to me.

By: Snig

Snig — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:43:00 +0000

And if you’re going to hear about illegal graft in the city, this is probably the best possible kind to hear.

By: dragonfrog

dragonfrog — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:31:00 +0000

I though that sticking to the same species is necessary for the graft to survive – grafting e.g. pear onto an apple tree tends to fail.

Though even if it wasn’t necessary, it would be a good policy – if the city has planted ornamental apples, edible apples are no more or less messy, so no additional maintenance requirement is added.

By: banchara

banchara — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:21:00 +0000

This is fantastic all around. Ignore anyone who says otherwise. If you are from CA, you know that fruit trees are all around. A few branches of fruit on non-fruit trees doesn’t hurt ANYONE.

By: stuck411

stuck411 — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:16:00 +0000

I’ve heard of guerrilla gardening before but this one takes it to another level of cool.

By: banchara

banchara — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:06:00 +0000

So, Michael, I guess you’d like the location of these trees so you can make some easy lawsuit money? Way to be a schmuck. The rest of the world is not as a$$h0le-ish as you might think.

By: Snig

Snig — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:57:00 +0000

Rats totally live in cities for the fruit trees. Has nothing to do with garbage, sewage, water systems and litter.

By: scav

scav — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:52:00 +0000

They have already helped with it. OK, in that exact scenario the litigious entitled whiner refusing to take responsibility for their own safety survived the fall. But you have to expect some of them will not :)

By: Gutierrez

Gutierrez — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:36:00 +0000

“The group only grafts trees that are nominated by a steward in the neighborhood, who promises to maintain it and make sure that fruit is harvested and does not become a hazard. Trees also are grafted within species, fruit-bearing apple onto ornamental apple, for example.” ~ LA Times

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/11/local/la-me-guerrilla-grafters-20120912

By: xiagang

xiagang — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:34:00 +0000

I’m sure someone can tell me, but really, what’s not to love about this?