North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[david.maxwell@dal.ca]

> My father-in-law uses ducks to keep down the pests in his organic
> orchard.  He farms in the Creston Valley, B.C. which is a fruit
> growers paradise and also a pest paradise due to being so warm and
> wet.  He had trouble with all kinds of bugs and diseases until he
> fenced his ducks into the orchard where they eat windfalls and bugs.
> Now he has no problems and always wins the fruit growers trophy at the
> local fall fair.
>
> Sarah
> zone 3
> Edmonton, AB
>
To quote Bill Mollison, "You don't have a snail problem; you've got a duck 
deficiency"
Fred Janson, (one of the founders of NAFEX, for you younger folk), used geese 
for the same
purpose.

> --- On Wed, 6/30/10, jelie@new.rr.com <jelie@new.rr.com> wrote:
>
> > From: jelie@new.rr.com <jelie@new.rr.com>
> > Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Apple pests and drops?
> > To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Received: Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 9:32 PM
> > Hi, Last year I read a summary of a
> > research project in Michigan that was experimenting with the
> > use of hogs for cleaning up drops.  I believe they
> > found that using young pigs for small periods proved quite
> > successful and safe for the trees.  This project may
> > have been through Michigan State University.  A few
> > googles should get the webpage.
> >
> > Good luck with all your growing endeavors!
> >
> > Jim
> > Green Bay WI
> > Zone 4/5

One of the people at the Kentville Research Station in Nova Scotia (Canada) 
actually did a
summer project on this  5 or 10  years ago, and reported it at the First 
International
Conference on Organic Agriculture, held in NS.  I have the proceedings of 
this conference,
but I am darned if I can find them.  What I recall of the results were that 
they did work, but
one had to keep the pigs for only a short time, as after they have consumed 
all the readily
accessible food, they will start to root, and will dig up ones trees.  So one 
needs them for only
a short time, and the issue becomes where to find hogs available for 
short-term loan.  Also
that they needed protection from the sun - shelters and sunscreen; some of 
them got
sunburned!
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