North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Karen Tillou <arboretum@homeorchardsociety.org>]

the gist i got from the article about pigs in orchards was that in  
using them to control curculio larvae, they are not permanent  
fixtures to the orchard.  the article said the pigs were let in to  
eat the june drops, and in 3 days had devoured them.  as they were  
let in, i assume they were also ushered out after their work was  
done.  as with so many kinds of animals, poultry included, having  
your orchard/garden/farm set up with different paddocks that you can  
rotate your animals through is the best way.  this way, your fruit  
drops get cleaned up, or your garden beds scratched, and then when  
that is done, there is somewhere else for the animals to move to, so  
further damage to valuable plants/trees won't occur.
karen


On Mar 9, 2008, at 2:57 PM, Goat Gal wrote:

> I saw the article on pigs for cleaning up fruit drops...my first  
> thoughts were what's to prevent them from rooting up the orchard  
> and rubbing the bark off the trees (scratching themselves or eating  
> it?)  Not to mention, you couldn't run them where there were young  
> trees as they'd root them up.  Would like to know more  
> details...age of pigs, are they ringed, etc. before trying it!
>
> On poultry and gardens...geese will eat whatever appeals to them  
> and will nest (dig holes) in the garden as well.  We fence them  
> out.  Ducks are incredibly messy and will crush plants as well as  
> uproot and possibly eat some of them.  Chickens scratch up newly  
> planted seeds, although I've had less trouble with chickens in the  
> garden once the plants are mature (if you don't mind the manure).   
> And don't even ASK about GOATS and fruit trees (a continuous battle  
> to keep mine OUT!)
>
> deb
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