"I guess in the back of my mind, I am a science major. I went to Sam Houston State," Rangel said. "I have always really wanted something like this and I just didn't have enough time when I was working full-time, but then after I retired, that is when I planted these peaches.
"I do have some knowledge of plants because I took courses like advanced botany and pathology and that type of deal," he continued. "So I had this in my mind the whole time. So, when I retired, that was when I started planting. But I plant not to just harvest, I plant to experiment with what works and what doesn't work for the public to know."
Since beginning his experimental patch, he has been continually surprised by the public's thirst for fruit tree knowledge.
"I inform the public, I help people with their peach trees," he said. "I help them bring them back to life. I am really surprised by, in my wildest imagination, how many people are interested in this, you know, about fruit trees. I am really surprised."
Rangel belongs to the Texas Fruit Growers Association where he has gained and shared a wealth of knowledge.
"I go to their meetings and learn about how to plant and fertilize, and how to do any and everything," he explained. "In fact, I wrote a peach guide. This peach guide is for somebody who does not want to go into the big business of it.
"They might want to plant a dozen, half a dozen, two dozen something like that," Rangel said. "So, they can get this guide and follow it and have a knowledge of fruit trees and about the peaches. Also, this guide has 84 peach recipes -- a variety of them -- jams, baked good and stuff like that... You can take this guide and decide if you want to make a little business out of it because it does get a little expensive when you buy the trees, insecticides, you gotta buy the fungicides, you gotta buy all this if you want to irrigate."
In writing his guide, he shares what he has learned through trial and error. Over the past few years, Rangel's experiments have been put to the test, getting rid of bores that tried to devastate his peach trees.
"Peach trees are very sensitive; they are the pre-madonna of the fruit," he explained. "Not too hot, not too cold, not to, wet, not to, dry and we had gusher that summer and the bores got in. Little worms, little bores. I have been trying to get rid of them over here, I had a whole mess of them but a lot of them died, and now I think I salvaged this here. I'm still having a problem with bores, it has taken me about three years to come out of that.
"I lost some tree,s some real nice trees. I had over a hundred of them. Right now, I'm about, I don't know, 50 or 60. That's how many I lost, but that is the way it is. It is 24/7 you have to watch out for diseases."
During these past three years, the trees have been in what Rangel called a recovery period.
"When I say recovery, I almost lost them because of bores," he explained. "Bores come from a moth. The female moth. She has an orange band on her abdominal and every august she lays her eggs about two or three feet from the tree. Then these worm hatch and climbs up the tree and goes into the tree through every crevice of the tree.
"That is when your problems begin -- the cycle," he continued. "They stay there until the next year while they are eating the tree up and sap comes out. You can always tell when bores have a hold of your tree because you see the sap coming out of the bark, sap coming out of the limbs, sap coming out of the fruit. You got a canker."
When Rangel found that his trees where infested, he automatically began his research and experimenting to find the best methods and products to get rid of the bores.
"So, the first thing you do when you see that gooey looking stuff coming out of the tree trunk and all that, you immediately, if it is coming out of the limb, you cut that limb off -- that is one way. But you still got the bore inside the tree, so you can spray it just on the bark, not the leaves, not anything else. Splash it on there with just a hand pump."
Rangel found that between the chemical and the educated trimming and continuous supervision of his trees, he could get rid of the bores, it just required time.
"Then you spray also maybe two or three feet around the tree, because you have well, worms and termites, and stuff. Also orange oil will help if you don't want to use such a strong chemical. Don't do it in the heat of the day, spray it in the evening."
Rangel enjoys educating the public on fruit trees, as well as his time spent with his fellow fruit and vegetable growers at the Rains County farmers market in Emory where he takes his peaches to market. To contact Rangel, or find out how to get one of his peach guides, email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
