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  • From: "Ed Forest" <edforest55@hotmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] kaolin
  • Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 21:15:55 +0000

Doreen,
We have used Kaolin now for about 4 years I guess in Watertown, WI. I have gotten used to eating kaolin apples off the tree, I just rub it off on my shirt, I'm not too concerned about it since apparently there isn't anything toxic in it. We don't sell the apples commercially, only to CSA members who are educated on the subject and don't seem to mind much after an initial complaint.When we make cider, (I hope you can still make it to our cider pressing in October even though you're moving) we put the apples in a trough of water with a little chlorine and clean the apples off with a rag. It takes about two seconds per apple. (We do this not so much to remove the kaolin but rather the dirt, I suspect that since the kaolin has some type of surfactant or other, I think a detergent, and also some type of oil, I suspect palm or coconut oil, that it may not be the best cider if all the kaolin were left on although I don't think that the kaolin itself would be a problem, probably just sink to the bottom of the cider.
I recall someone mentioning that there is a commercially viable method of removing the kaolin, I believe the subject came up on this forum sometime in the last two years, but that it wasn't possible to remove it from the calyx and stem areas. I think that such apples wouldn't sell at all in a regular supermarket but here in Madison they would do fine at least I suspect so, in the coops where people actually read informative notices about the produce. I could ask the produce people at a couple coops next time I go if there has been a problem with public acceptance of kaolin, yes I think I'll do that, I'd like to know myself.
Kevin Bradley
www.edibleforestnursery.com


Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* >From cousinphil@acadia.net Fri Feb 28 16:23:29 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org Received: from mta1.prexar.com (mta1.prexar.com [142.167.5.11]) by happyhouse.metalab.unc.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id BC68420014 for ; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 16:23:28 -0500 (EST) Received: from acadia.net ([142.167.42.103]) by mta1.prexar.com 825bd1c9497ec8feaf544f28fddada32) with ESMTP id <20030228212648.GOOM24495.mta1@acadia.net> for ; Fri, 28 Feb 2003 16:26:48 -0500 Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 16:26:03 -0500 Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Apples & Kaolin Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v551) From: Phil Norris To: North American Fruit Explorers Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In-Reply-To: <003001c2df5f$ecc33b20$6781b542@oemcomputer> Message-Id: <3D7F09FE-4B63-11D7-97B8-003065F227F8@acadia.net> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.551) X-BeenThere: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: North American Fruit Explorers List-Id: North American Fruit Explorers List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 21:23:29 -0000 Doreen, I used kaolin clay on most of my apple trees last year and had very good control of plum curculio which is my nemesis here in Maine. I put it on just after petal fall and reapplied every time it rained for the next month or so. Then I stopped and watched to see what would happen. I subsequently had some codling moth damage which I am told could have been prevented by continuing the clay applications. At any rate, I had a pretty good crop overall and the clay had almost completely washed away by rain and dew by harvest time. Occasionally there would be a little white powder in the cavity of some of the apples but I never even bothered to wash them. Rubbing the apple on your shirt is enough to remove the clay residue. Interestingly enough, my Red Delicious apples showed a strange scalding everywhere that the clay touched them. I don't know which is worse, the curculio or the scald. The Keepsakes and Honeycrisps looked great at the end of the season. Phil Blue Hill ME On Friday, February 28, 2003, at 02:30 PM, Doreen Howard wrote: > I bought some Fuji apples at the local grocery store yesterday, and > they > obviously had been grown with kaolin clay cover. Some of the clay was > still > on the skins. I wrote a short article about kaolin last year and > talked to > several people who had used it, including Hector Black. Everyone says > kaolin is hard to scrub off skins, but it can be done. What are your > experiences? How hard is it to remove? I'm venturing into apples > this year > and will be planting Keepsake and Honeycrisp trees. It is my hope to > grow > apples organically, and I plan to use kaolin. So your experiences are > of > great interest to me. > Doreen Howard > Wisconsin Z4b, > soon to be Minneapolis, Z4a or 3b, depending on how far north we buy a > house. > > > _______________________________________________ > nafex mailing list > nafex@lists.ibiblio.org > Most questions can be answered here: > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex > File attachments are accepted by this list; please do not send binary > files, plain text ONLY! > Message archives are here: > https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/nafex > To view your user options go to: > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/nafex/XXXX@XXXX (where > XXXX@XXXX is > YOUR email address) > NAFEX web site: http://www.nafex.org/ >

  • [NAFEX] kaolin, Ed Forest, 02/28/2003

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