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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] mulberries, apple pests

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  • From: ghg3@heirloomorchardist.com
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] mulberries, apple pests
  • Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:05:03 -0700

Melissa:
 
Welcome to the list.  The kinda quirky viewpoint that I try to provide here (not very successfully.  I'm new too.) is the viewpoint of an 19th century fruit grower.  Regarding pigs in the orchard, I've seen a few accounts in which the 19th century orchardist promotes the practice as a means of efficiently fattening the pig(s).  There's not much said about disrupting the life cycle(s) of insect pests, probably because the life cycle wasn't known..but to fatten your hog...boy, some of the old-timers were pretty enthusiastic on the practice.
 
But for either reason, I'd be concerned about letting a pig forage in one of today's home orchards.  Pigs don't just eat the stuff on top of the ground.  They go after insects in the soil as well, and to do this, they can be pretty disruptive...grubbing for grubs.  Sure, I haven't found anything in my old books about the damage that pigs cause to the orchard, but I just wouldn't recommend it in a home orchard full of dwarf trees.
 
Also, regarding Mulberries, there was a big push to grow mulberries in the first half of the 19th century.  But not for fruit production.  Why then (you ask)?...Well, for silk production.  A lot of farmers were experimenting with raising silk worms, and producing silk.  I'm guessing the new government was promoting this to see if a new industry would get going..and maybe I'll do some research on the topic someday.

George Gifford

Organic Farming & Gardening
Sustainable Living
18th & 19th Century Rural Life
www.HeirloomOrchardist.com

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] mulberries, apple pests
From: Melissa Kacalanos <mijwiz@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, April 11, 2008 12:25 pm
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Hi all. I just joined this list. I'll be moving to a
house with a much larger yard this year, so I'll
finally be able to plant the fruit trees I've always
wanted. I'd like to continue to garden organically, so
I'm looking for the most trouble-free fruit.

I read all this mulberry information with interest. As
a child, I ate the mulberries that naturalized all
over NYC, but as an adult, I find them bland. I now
suspect that these were all of the White Mulberry
species, (whatever color the berries happened to be)
and this species is not known for flavor. It would be
nice to grow a tastier variety, since they certainly
are easy. The Black Mulberry species sounds good, but
I'm in zone 5, so I guess it's not hardy here.

'Illinois Everbearing' is an interspecific cross
between White Mulberry and Red Mulberry, the native
American species. If this cross is tasty, it makes me
wonder how the pure Red Mulberry would taste,
undiluted by the bland White Mulberry. Is anyone
growing that?

On the topic of apple pests that are being discussed
here: I read somewhere about a novel solution to apple
pests in organic orchards: pigs. Apparently, a lot of
apple pests infest young fruit, causing them to drop
off the trees, and then the young insects mature in
the fallen fruit, fly out, and return to the trees to
do another generation's worth of damage. Removing
every last immature fallen fruit would stop this
cycle, but that's hard to do. So, one enterprising
organic orchardist pastured his pigs in his apple
orchard. They ate every last fallen fruit, and reduced
insect damage by a lot each year. This doesn't even
count as an expense (except for the fence to keep them
in I suppose) as he also sold the pork. This isn't
something I would want to do in a home garden, but
it's something for farmers to consider.

Melissa


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