GloucesterCast With Toby Pett and Joey Ciaramitaro Taped 4/19/14
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Topics Include: Gloucester MA, 01930, What up Homie?, Jim Casey, Lighten Up Francis, Toby Pett, Chamber License Plate, Bringing GMG Back Old School, Passports Wine Dinner, Killer Cheeses, Sidewalk Sweeping Day, Carry In/ Carry Out, Patti Amaral, 40 Barrels?, Masspirg, Effort To Get 5 Cent Deposit On Water and Juice Bottles, Big Mike’s Bikes, Getting Around Gloucester Via Bike and Water Taxi, Toby’s List of the Best Bartenders In Gloucester, Stoli O Tonic, Lime Shortage, Gene Silviera, Erika Baert, Ellen Tasker, Molly Marks, Halibut Point, Jack Muniz, Jamie Verga, Lobsta Land
Good Morning Gloucester 
I have not done this stitcher thing so I have not found a good way to listen to these podcasts but a TobyCast I cannot pass up. What an easy way to know all the names of bartenders in Gloucester, ask Toby.
I was surprised neither of you knew why limes have quadrupled in price. Three reasons, the blossoms all got knocked off by heavy rain in Mexico, armed gangs are now hijacking limes since the price is so high, and the wilting disease attacking all citrus. This bacterial infection is wiping out citrus groves in Florida and California. It has been wiping out citrus in other places for the past ten years or so and now it is here. The only thing to do is to destroy the trees and hope it does not spread but inevitably it does.
Fortunately they have already transferred antibacterial genes into oranges and there is no reason why it won’t work on limes. In a decade there will likely only be GMO citrus in the supermarket. The same technique saved Hawaii’s papayas. So if you like your Gin and Tonic, Go GMO!
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You grow limes, right?
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Yes, I have a twenty plus year old tree, about six feet tall, that goes out into the backyard after last frost. In the winter it sits next to the shop window. To anyone who has spent time in California or Mexico and has tasted an actual ripe lime off a tree, it’s worth the effort. And since the nearest citrus tree is in Georgia, it is unlikely to catch the wilting disease. It’s going to meet its maker by me forgetting to water it or by being optimistic about first or last frost in Rockport. (It is still indoors.)
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How many limes do you get?
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How many? Good question. It took me about four years to figure out how to both maximize yield and spread them out over the year. I get around 20-40 per year. On good years the tree will have flowers and limes of various sizes from marble sized to ping pong ball to full ripe fruit. When it flowers I let it go for a week and then pick all the flowers off but a dozen, on on each branch. That way the tree doesn’t drop them all and will also not drop the larger fruit already growing.
That and Citrus Tone fertilizer and one large iron nail stuck in the soil every year. Ask Sue what the nail is for.
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