People I've talked to who have these trees around their property tell me they are very prolific. If they cut a branch and let it lay it will sprout. Perhaps its your elevation ie lack of water. Use this to your advantage as a mitigation against spread! Get some seeds or cuttings from your trees any way you can. Treat them well. Once you create an environment like what is described in the USDA document they will grow fast and vigorous. May I suggest:
Try to build a little greenhouse to a standard size to keep cost down. Pick the site thoughtfully for ventilation, privacy and drainage because you don't want to swelter in heat, be walking in mud all the time or have passers-by see it. I would grow in troughs (Plastic window box or dranpipes?) set side to side on wire benches. Put a drain hole 3" up to create a reservoir in the bottom. Use a constant feed of water + soluble fertilizer like "Peters" at about 100ppm 3X/week. Water until the drains flow. (variations of this are commonly used in semi-hydroponic vegetables or for growing wetland restoration plants). Anyone asks just tell them your wife loves orchids. None are for sale.
There must also be some links out there.
If you get these things growing plan "A" would be to force seed production in the greenhouse using gibberellic acid. Then you could scale up and harvest in the houses just like greenhouse vegetables. The secret is to find which GIB, what rate and when to apply. It can be done though because flowers are forced all the time. Since flowers are the reproductive parts I would duplicate some of those regimes first.
If it doesn't work plan "B" is to use the seedlings from the greenhouse as resets in the field operation. Control the height using Paclobutrazol. They will stay short and still produce! Since technically they are an "ornamental not used for consumption" you can legally apply this to your advantage. Let me know when you are ready and I will be glad to help you find sources for the chemicals. (Disclaimer: I am a salesman for wholesale chemicals in commercial agriculture and horticulture.) You don't need me though, just look up that chemical names I gave you. Just passing on the information to my fellow Listeroids.
MORE IMPORTANTLY: I used the last of my spendable cash to to buy one last "pre ban" PS 10/1 and head from Joel Koch that is just now screaming for my attention. Dying to open the crates and I hear them now calling... CALLING and telling me to shut-up and get the sawzall! OK, I'm back. May I indulge in a paragraph of drama from a listeroid freak?
Now all Listeroid brothers think back to when you opened your first crate. Mine is sitting in front of me; the last barrier to my prize. It looks like something from an Indiana Jones movie. I hold the sawzall pointing skyward and sqeeze off several brief whines to make sure that sucker's plugged in good. Then I wail a loud whoooohhooo! My wife seriously considers dialing 911 and clutches the boys some distance behind me, one in each arm. The boys stand silent and wide eyed, recording every second in their young minds. I open my pocket knife and boldly slash open the shrinkwrap! ( I heard a distant female voice behind me say "careful with that, honey, dont get cut..") Carefully closing the kife and putting it away, the odor of moldy wood and rusty nails quickly fills the surrounding air. For a second I am standing at the docks in India....The excitement is just too much. (again I hear a distant female voice behind me saying "don't forget your gloves, honey") I start shouting: Gloves? I don't need no stinkin gloves! Stay back! Where are the boys!? Stay back! I cut through the top nails on the brittle old wooden crate. There are loud squeals and shreaks. At last the top nails are severed, my heart pounds and it feels great! ... Lord this is truly an addiction! Pulling the top off makes it creak and groan like an old casket...cool. The boys are dying to see....Stay back! I throw the top to the side and dust puffs into the air when it lands in the grass. Peering inside I expect to see my listeroid. But oh man its just a stinkin' bag! I am fustrated (the distant female voice is louder now and says "you almost hit us with the top of that crate, will-you-calm-down?") Ignoring her I jab my fingers through the plastic and rip open the bag with my bare hands. Behold! Its shiney green and smells like old oil. To me, it is gold. I am instantly 7yrs old raking hay on the old popper, at an engine show and back on the farm shop all at once in the same second. Holy hannah, I just reclaimed a feeling of my youth! I pat the top of the valve cover...mmmmmmmm its finally here.... more to follow in another thread.....
