North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[sam bucus <samm_bucus@yahoo.com>]

hello,

after much help from nafexer's i tracked down a copy of ecological fruit production in the north and got it sent over here.

 

the book is 270 pages long with several color photo plates of plants, stages of budding, diseases, pests, etc.  it also has several black and white photos of the same and drawings and photos detailing pruning techniques and grafting and budding techniques.

 

the authors claim this book is not a "replacement for standard fruit production texts, but rather as a supplement to them..designed for home gardeners and small commercial fruit producers...a practical handbook for anyone who is interested in ecological agriculture or northern fruit production".    this statement holds fairly true.  there is a lot of information, but much of it is quite common information that is available through many different sources.  basically i felt i could track it all down somewhere else, but it is quite convenient and worth 20 bucks to have it all compiled.  

 

the best parts of this book i feel are the soil and fetility sections for establishment of good soil for organic production of fruits and the swiss pruning section. 

 

basically it outlines necessary soil minerals, organic matter, nutrients, etc.  but more importantly he outlines the use of rye and buckwheat cover crops to improve soil fertility using organic methods.  still this is fairly common knowledge i have heard elsewhere.

 

the section on swiss pruning which jean richard pioneered in quebec and ontario and other parts of canada is particularly interesting and useful.  many organic growers in cold climates, primarily of apple and pear trees, from what i gather as i am certainly no expert just a student not in school, prefer to use standard size trees.  it primarily deals with restorative pruning of old apple trees, but the techniques and ideas carry over to training young trees.  basically as a tree grows up the branches get further and further from the ground and soil and take the shape of a tree growing in the wild.  obviously.  but in order to make efficient use of human labor and for optimum apple production, it is beneficial to keep the producing branches closer to the trunk and soil in order to facilitate efficient transfer of nutrients through the tree as well as harvesting.  (although this would really disrupt having grazing animals in the orchard due to the fruit hanging so low, but that is another thread!).  hte goal is to keep the tree shaped like a christmas tree versus a wild or "V" pruned tree.  the chapter is very interesting (maybe only bc i have never heard of swiss pruning before) and there are several photos of older standard apple trees that where horrible looking that four years later where totally inundated with fruit. 

 

there are 25 pages on propogation through grafting, budding, root division, stooling, layering, cuttings, and seedlings and some details on what fruit work best with which methods.

 

8 pages on planting voering site selection, frost drainage, using north sides of hills and windbreak trees to keep budding delayed until spring frosts have passed, etc. three spacing, holes, etc.

 

a good section on pest management though with the intro of kaolin clay and other methods of late i would think another book, maybe michael phillips "organic apple grower" may have some more useful information. but here they cover monitor traps and insecticides and particular pest of apple pear and cherry trees.

 

the major fruit covered is apples of course, followed by pears and cherries.  they all cover some basic requirements of each tree and then cultivars and root stocks.

 

there are also sections on small fruits which i quite enjoyed and plums, edible wild plants (lacking on info here) and apricots and peaches but nothing further north on apricots and peaches than zone five.

 

my honest opinion is that it is a good book but not completely sufficient.  it is good to have all this knowledge on organic production in one place, but its somewhat outdated on IPM and kaolin clay stuff.  i would make it part of a fruit prodcution study, and am, in combination with modern fruit science, biodynamic treatment of fruit trees, and the apple grower.  maybe some others. 

 

last and not least p 220 on propogation says, "The North American Fruit Explorers are the best group that i know of to put you touch with experienced plant propogators in your region. They also have testing groups for various fruits, and consulting staff in special areas such as soils, rootstocks, and grafting techniques." and says that, "One of the founders of NAFEX, Milo Gibson, is reported to have had over 450 varieties of apples on four trees! {grafted/budded}"

 

all in all a good book, great in combo with others of a more scientific and detailed background.

 

sincerely,

 

Andrew/Samm

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