Stephen Henning wrote:
wrote:
hi we live in norhtern california about 1 hour south of san francisco
(zone 9b i think).
we would like to plant asian pears, apricots, parismons and avacado
trees, all dwarf types.
is it possible to care for asian pears, apricots, and grapes without
using chemicals?
if so, are there any websites you can point me to for more information?
Modern fruit varieties are bred to produce high quality commercial fruit
but are highly dependent on pesticides. Many years ago before Monsanto
and DuPont, people raised nice fruit by selecting varieties that were
disease and pest resistant.
Not true. People looked for the best tasting and sometimes the best
keepers.
The newer trend is to develop fruit that it is genetically resistant, like
the
William's Pride Apple. If you find a heirloom apple that is disease
resistant, that
is unusual and just an added bonus.
Today, these varieties (which are inferior
to todays varieties in most other ways) are called heirloom varieties
and are sought after by the organic gardening crowd.
Organic people would be better off going for the genetically resistant
fruit.
The real fruit enthusists have always grown heirlooms for their taste and
special characteristics like good for pies, cider, etc.
You have to cut
out the worms and ignore the sting marks and never expect to be able to
sell them, but they are quite edible.
You can keep the worms out with organic sprays of dormant oil, sticky
traps,
and the latest technique of bagging the fruit. I grow lots of heirlooms
this way
and they are nice and clean. I will resort to chemical sprays between the
dormant
oil and the bagging, but that is just a precautinary move, plus I want all
my fruit
to be clean.
Sherwin D.
Here are some links:
Asian pears:
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/inde...&cPath=41_2_34
http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/plant_pear.pdf
Apricots:
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/inde...ex&cPath=41_10
http://www.ediblegarden.co.nz/cat-koanga-gardens.html
http://homeorchard.ucdavis.edu/plant_apricot.pdf
Grapes:
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/inde...ex&cPath=41_14
http://www.ediblegarden.co.nz/cat-koanga-gardens.html
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/xd...ng-grapes.html
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA
http://home.earthlink.net/~rhodyman