orchard report

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Orchard ReportJames Douglas, July 2010. [email protected]

Introduction 2PART 1: PLANTED GARDENS 2

Fukuoka-Inspired Gardens 2John Jeavons Inspired Gardens 3

PART 2: UNIVERSITY VISITS 5Orchard 5Post Processing Unit 5Extension Office 10

PART 3: FUTURE OF THE PROPERTY 12Observations 12Discussion And Recommendations 15Summary 18Contacts 19References 19

Appendix 1: Apple Belt Casting a Dark Shadow 21


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Introduction In July, 2010 I spent 20 days at an apple orchard near Chambatown,Uttarakhand, India. The orchard had no longer been in production for a number ofyears. The trees are approximately 16 years old and have productive life left in them butthe orchard has been mostly abandoned, with only sporadic pruning. Part of the

property is being used as a camp for tourists. My goal was to research options forbringing the property back into agricultural production. On many days I spent a period walking through the orchard, observing. Much ofmy time was spent at the nearby agricultural university campus, D.B. Pantnagar HillCampus, Rani Chauri. I was able to visit their orchard, spend time in their library andvisit their post processing facility. The people at the university were very welcoming,excepting the Extension department. I spent some time establishing miniature gardens,mostly for illustration and experimental purposes.

PART 1: PLANTED GARDENS

Fukuoka-Inspired Gardens Ive planted a number of very small areas near the house. The planting time forthe first crop of most vegetables was before I arrived, but I went ahead anyways. Fukuoka recommends planting vegetables in an area dominated by white cloverand other plants. That is, vegetables planted must be able to compete with thesurrounding turf. This offers many advantages over a tilled field, not the least of whichare that it doesnt have to be tilled! Ive noticed before the rains most of the water comesfrom dew. The frequent and heavy fog makes a heavy dew. Tilled soil cant properlycollect dew. Also a proper turf greatly prevents erosion. So I think his idea has a lot ofrelevance for your farm. As mentioned above, one of the key plants that Fukuoka usesis white clover, which is already growing naturally on your farm. I think its populationshould be raised by broadcasting seed but it is very good that it seems to be anindigenous species.

Peas Surrounding an apple tree to the SE of the cabin Ive planted some peas in radiallines, emanating outwards from the tree. They are planted in very narrow, about 5 cmtilled strips. Emergence has been poor but there will be some pea plants growing there,fixing nitrogen for the tree. The pea plant is also a good vegetable, not only the podsand seeds but the climbing tendrils (dragon whiskers).

Corn Ive set up an experiment with corn to investigate a bit the idea of planting seedsdirectly into the turf. There are four plots of three rows each:1 One with corn planted in a slice in the turf (planted july 9).2 One with corn planted just in a jab in the ground I made with a knife- not a slicethe full length of the row, just inserting the seed into the turf (planted july 10).3 One with corn planted in rows with the turf removed (planted July 11).4 One with corn planted in rows of a thoroughly tilled garden bed. (planted July 12)


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The beds are in this order, with number 1 being closest to my cabin. The rowsare marked with sticks where they are hard to see.

Amaranth Fukuoka frequently recommends digging trenches and putting branches (coarse

organic matter) in them, then coving the trenches (Ref. 3). He sites this as a rapid wayto build soil. Ive tried this in an area next to the carrot bed (see below). I ve dug threetrenches about 20 cm deep and put in quite a few dead kaalamaas sticks. I hope thekaalamaas doesnt have a herbicidal or other negative effect, as it is a medicinal plantand Im not sure of all its properties. On top of this I replaced the soil dug out from thetrench then Ive planted amaranth collected from a nearby plant. I think amaranth is anexcellent crop, and it is highly recommended by Vandana Shiva. It is useful for manythings but the reason I planted it is to create biomass for compost. Sir Albert Howard(Ref. 5) recommends keeping a patch on the farm for compost production, and treatingthe land exceptionally well in that patch. The patch can produce compost for the rest ofthe farm. I decided to set this up in a microcosm mostly as a demonstration. Compost is

used in the John Jeavons garden and he also recommends having a patch dedicated to

compost production. The difference is that John Jeavons recommends using a plant thatserves dual purpose, producing food and compost. So this one little plot is a fusion of noless than a fusion of the ideas from four great agricultural minds!

Wheat Ive planted a small wheat patch as well to see how well it produces compostcrop. It is quite a conventional piece of work; tilled land, and the wheat in furrows.

Daikon and Palak Simon and his friend tilled an area for a vegetable garden. For whatever reason

the plants were dead and gone when I got there so I planted some rows of daikon andpalak. I planned to plant the entire plot in this but it became obvious that it was doingwell as a biomass plot so I decided to see how it performed in this way instead.

I should note that as of my departure (July 30) none of the plots intended togenerate biomass are very well advanced compared to nearby established amaranthareas or areas thick in tall grass. The patches require time to become establishedbefore they can generate much, or at least should have been planted earlier in theseason.

John Jeavons Inspired Gardens The John Jeavons method (Ref. 4) is based on the principle that soil requires alot of air and compost. Also, if you plant at the right spacing then weeds will not competebecause they will be shaded out. This close planting also helps create a better soilclimate; as the Fukuoka method, this method is opposed to having bare soil. Mostconventional vegetable growing maintains substantial bare soil. I did an experiment with this method on the farm I was at in Canada (EverdaleOrganic Farm and Learning Center) and one thing that I noted was that this method isexcellent for growing carrots. Carrots like loose, aerated soil to grow in and this also


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makes them easy to harvest. The soil here is quite a heavy clay so it may settle to anextent that the carrots arent in an ideal situation but the soil is also free of rocks whichis good for carrots. This method is very labor intensive. The bed is prepared with a method calleddouble digging wherein essentially the top twelve inches in entirely moved and put

back, while the next lower twelve inches is loosened (a mumti and pickaxe are what Iused although these are not the recommended tools). This creates a very fluffy soil.Normally you would put compost in as well but we dont have any yet. I set up a double dug bed using the (repaired :-) ) mumti and pickaxe. On July 17I planted carrots in a hexagonal pattern at three inch spacing. The spacing is frommemory because I dont have the book available for reference; I m not sure if itscorrect. As of my departure the carrots have not emerged, and I have not tested theseeds for germination.


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PART 2: UNIVERSITY VISITS

Orchard On July 21 I visited the orchard. As you may already know they have baby treesfor sale, which I obviously recommend asking about if you want new trees.

Their soil is tilled in the spring, then the grass is cut intermittently. Grass is NOTremoved from the site. No animals are allowed to graze. Their terraces are well formed,show no evidence of erosion and the sides of the terraces are thoroughly held togetherby a wall of grass. Their soil is spongy to walk on after the rain. I have learned from anorchardist in Canada that this is a very good sign of soil fertility. It shows high aircontent, a lot of active organisms and lack of compaction. The growth of plants underthe trees is lush and thick. The soil at your orchard for the most part shows sparse vegetation (except in thevegetable garden area near the house), erosion, of terraces, and hard soil. I think it isbecause of the constant cutting and export of the grass. The soil needs this carbon tobe at full health. The grass should be essentially eaten by soil microorganisms andprovide microclimate. Instead, your neighbors are taking it off site to feed to theiranimals. Perhaps even worse, they sometimes bring their animals onto the land tograze, which compacts the soil as the animals walk on it. Animal manure is at least leftwhich returns some of the nutrients, but this manure also causes a problem with filthflies. It is my belief that during grazing, although some nutrients is returned throughmanure, most of the nutrients are lost, some becoming part of their flesh and much lostto the atmosphere. Fukuoka shares my uncommon opposition to grazing animals. The University is growing kiwi, which surprised me. They have a new walnutplantation and one chestnut tree. They are also growing plums, peaches and apricots. They showed me one pear tree which was quite old. It had been cut down andnew branches spliced onto it. I wonder if this would work as an orchard renewaltechnique as a way to circumvent replant disease. Ref. 2 recommends that to close the pruning cut one should use either asphaltsealing paint, as long as it has no toxic chemicals like creosote, or Chaubattia (if Iremember the name correctly) paste. The University orchard uses as green paste whichI think is this Chaubattia paste. I notice a mixture of things seem to have been used atyour farm.

Post Processing Unit On July 23 I visited Dr. S.K. Sarma at the Post Harvesting Lab (PHL). He wasvery intelligent, knowledgeable and helpful. Not only does he know a lot about technical

processing of fruit, he is also knowledgeable in the political situation of marketing,transport, packaging and so on. He has published a book for undergraduate studentsabout post harvesting technology. He is also starting a journal about hill agriculture,website: isharanichouri.webs.com. He shared some valuable insights with me into the current Indian situation afterfruit has been harvested. Much of it is wasted because it is carelessly handled,transported and processed. He thinks that it is absurd that people would be so carelessas to literally throw away up to 40% of their harvest; he compares it to earning 100 000


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Rs per year and throwing away 40 000 Rs. For some reason farmers have acceptedthis loss, but who else would accept a loss like this? As far as distribution is concerned he was very clear about his opinion that thefewer middle people in distribution, the better the model. Direct from producer toconsumer is best for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that the producer

can get up to five or more times the money for their produce. Obviously this is a highrecommendation to use as many apples as you can to people in your resort. This couldinclude juice, cider, dried apples, pies etc. The more apples you can use directly in yourresort, the more your profit margin is likely to increase. Besides, the more fine appleproducts you can serve people, the more atmosphere you will create for your appleorchard resort. Dr. Sarma spoke to me about successful apple orchards in India. Some peopleare making a lot of money from apples in the hills, especially in HP. He was of theopinion that initial capital is key. Perhaps most important, initial capital allows installationof irrigation which gives the ability to deliver water at key times. He noted a particularlysuccessful apple farmer, Ram Lal Johan, who went to the trouble of installing 6km of

pipe and a large tank to bring water to his farm, at his own expense. According to Ref. 1apples require a lot of water compared to other crops (which is an ecological complaintthat the author makes) and the trees must be watered at the correct time to achievehigh yield. The larger apple growers have advantages. For example, they can hire their owntrucks and fit about 300 boxes per truck. This is important because for small farmers theapples are collected from many different farms and put into one truck. During pricesetting, this truck is randomly sampled, and the price set for the entire load based uponthe apple quality in one box. So, if you have high quality apples you will likely notreceive a higher price for them. This is another reason to avoid the conventionalmarketing channels, assuming you intend to grow high quality apples.

He shared with me that there is a Market Intervention Scheme which thegovernment runs to buy apples at low prices for juice. This is a good backup for appleswhich are not good enough for other purposes. However, as I have mentioned Irecommend making your own juice. Also, he told me that there is a government insurance scheme for occurrenceslike hail. After your experience this year you might be interested! The Apple Growers Association of India is a powerful organization, but operatesalmost exclusively in H.P. They have three primary activities: 1. Pressure thegovernment to make sure they deliver the packing boxes on time (they are mostlyproduced at a government run factory). 2. Pressure government to repair and clearroads so that product can be delivered. 3. Lobby for the Market Intervention Scheme,

prices etc. He also told me that some people are growing poplar trees surrounding theirapple trees, then sell these poplars to the pulp factories to produce apple boxes. Theyare generally doing this just to make money. It seems like a good ecological practice tome and I recommend it. If the use of paper boxes is unavoidable then the pulp shouldbe responsibly produced, instead of cutting down good forest. Poplar trees can be veryeasily planted from cuttings collected in the winter. The University has poplar trees in itsorchard. They are a particularly fast growing tree.


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There are no controlled atmosphere storage facilities in this state, only in HP. I asked Dr. Sarma his opinion of pears, or sand pears as he called them. Hedoesnt seem to think very highly of them, saying the fruit doesnt taste very good. Idisagree but the taste of Indian people is your market and obviously more importantthan my own. Ref. 7 notes that some pear rootstocks are susceptible to pear decline

which can severely damage the tree. If the area is known to contain pear decline than P.Pyrifoliaor P. Ussuriensisshould not be used as rootstock. I dont know what the stateof this area is for pear decline but it would be good to check before planting. He showed me a number of their machines. I have chosen four which wouldcould potentially be useful for you:

Grater: Apples are washed and fed directly into this machine with no further processing.It produces a grated mass which can be pressed in the hydraulic press to produce apple

juice. Approx. 15 000 Rs. It is a very simple machine.Hydraulic Press:Used to squeeze the grated mass to produce apple juice. The gratedmass is put into a strong cloth bag then squeezed in the press. The traditional cider

press is a screw type design, very much the same as an oil press. A hydraulic pressallows more pressure and potentially higher throughput. The apple juice may then bepasteurized and packaged. It can also be made into a concentrate or frozen. Cost of theuniversity machine is approximately 60 000 Rs although I expect you could get or buildone for much less. A photograph is below.


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Baby Pulper: This simple machine breaks up the apples, separates the seeds and skinfrom the fruit and produces a pulp. Before being fed into the machine the apples arewashed then cut into eights or so and boiled for 10-15 minutes in water. This pulp canthen be used for making jam, and many other products. Capacity approximately 80 kg/hr, price approx. 25 000 Rs. Runs on single phase power. Photo below.


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Solar Dehydrator:This looks like a small greenhouse, with a simple wooden frame. Onewall has black plastic, the others have clear plastic. I recommend this item. I think dryingis a nutritious, low cost way to preserve many fruits and the dehydrator is extremely

cheap. Preserving can of course allow you to sell apples directly more easily becauseyou can take your time with distribution. The apples would need to be de-cored andsliced. The equipment for this is minimal; a glorified sharpened pipe is punched throughthe apple, then a food processor can be used for slicing. They have a potato slicingmachine at the PHL which would serve but I think it would be overkill. If you desired askinless product, in Canada I have seen fairly simple machines for skinning, coring andcutting apples. Photo of dehydrator below.


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Extension Office The person running the extension office was either joking around with me andbeing very unprofessional and unhelpful. He may be insane. He only badgered me withirrelevant questions, including asking for my identification and basically saying the entireproject was absurd without knowing anything about it. He would interrupt me whenever Itried to clarify the situation. Eventually I had to just walk out. I recommend avoiding thisoffice entirely.

At the University I also spoke to a few other professors and researchers aboutapples. During discussions I repeatedly asked about compost tea. None of them hadany awareness about the technology or Elaine Inghams techniques. Elaine Ingham is aresearcher in the UK whose methods have spread to Canada. Some organicorchardists in Canada are very excited about her methods. She has a good website,


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named after her concept The Soil Food Web. It is possible that you could introduce hermethods to this are if you were interested. I found that the pomologists at the universitywere in general not particularly interested in organic agriculture from a principled orecological point of view. Perhaps this is why they havent pursued techniques like thoseElaine Ingham has described.


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PART 3: FUTURE OF THE PROPERTY

General Observations Some trees produce well, some not at all. The only ones giving apples are near

the tents. I suppose these trees were pruned not long ago? I suppose I may have

missed some fruiting activity if there are earlier fruiting trees which were finishedbefore I arrived.

There are many beautiful birds in the area, and you could look into trying to attractbird watchers.

A fair number of fruit trees are being impinged upon by other trees, growingdirectly under them and literally through their canopy.

The shape of the current apple trees indicate that a number of pruning systemswere tried. I observed modified leader trees, and central leader but mostly opencenter pruning. They generally have a medium length stem, under 1 m.

There is white clover growing in the ground which is interesting because this plantplays such an important role in Fukuokas techniques.

Congress grass, although invading areas outside the farm on the roadside has notmade inroads into the farm area.

There are a number of tunnels dug throughout the farm, probably by an animal ofsome sort. They are contributing substantially to collapse of the terraces.

The soil is obviously high in brown clay. A soil texture test by the Rapid FeelMethod indicates either a clay loam or clay soil. The A horizon is not welldeveloped. The B horizon is quite thick in the areas where I can see the soil profilefrom eroding terraces.

There is substantial damage to many trees, including pines and oaks. I evenobserved that some were ringed (bark removed in a ring around the trunk) in orderto deliberately kill them.

There is a spice growing wild in the forest, either wild thyme or marjoram. Thissuggests that the area would be good to grow that of course. I think plants used fortea or medicine are an economically promising crop and can potentially be grownunderneath apple trees.

Trespass Related Observations There is substantial grazing and grass removal going on. This is extremely

important and has appeared as a theme throughout this document. It is connectedto the health of the soil, erosion, tree damage, sanitation and biodiversity. In anorganic farming situation the damage to biodiversity from the grazing is perhaps

even more important than in a chemical farming situation. As it is much of the plantbiodiversity probably resides in the hedge areas where grazers cannot reach. Neighbors seem to consider the property a public piece of land. They graze it, take

wood from the pines, export grass and take fruit from it almost as if the propertywas common property. I think this is really damaging the fertility of the property.This over-use of land is I think is a major trend in India. I have had people come upto the building and say they were just taking a walk in the garden as if it was apublic park! It is very strange.


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There is much erosion of the terraces. Many places are actively eroding and Icould see clearly patches of clay with nothing growing on them. A number of treesare struggling because the ground is washing away from their roots. There are anumber of trees perched on the edge of terraces. In the upper property there is abadly eroding area with rivulets forming. The terrace surfaces generally have quite

a downwards slope to them, rather than being flat. Obviously this means there is alot of water runoff compared to a flat terrace, especially given your relativelyimpermeable clay soil.

This is an eroding terrace found at your farm.


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Above is a stabilized terrace found at the University orchard. Note the thick andrich turf.

The state of the turf indicates that there is something wrong with the fertility of the

soil. The turf is not thick; you can easily see clay between the grass. The turf is nothealthy enough to properly prevent erosion.

Much of the water in the first week came as dew. I expect that during much of theyear this is the case. In this case I think it is important to leave the grass to catchdew, rather than cutting it short.

There are a number of wild pear trees establishing themselves, which may indicatethat this is an ecologically suitable crop for the area. Wild pears have spikes onthem that protect them from grazers, which is probably the main reason they areable to grow from seed.

Tree Survey

I counted most of the fruit trees on the property except the Scots Pines. Theresults for major fruit are:


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Tree Number

Healthy Apple 200

Standing Dead/Sick/Damaged Apple 40

Peach 10

Pear 15

There are some Kafal trees also, perhaps 8, generally stunted from grazing.There is one Tambru tree which is an intriguing tree. Another oddity is that there seemsto be a crabapple tree near the gate. The apples are small and do not taste good butthe tree gives many of them. It may have been planted for pollination purposes. There are many areas where apple trees have probably died and left emptyspaces. This may have disrupted the planning of the orchard in terms of location ofpollinator trees. There is room for quite a few more dwarf or semidwarf trees. The sick/

damaged apple trees are put in a separate category because I think they are damagedenough that they should be cut down instead of trying to restore them. There is a varietyof causes that have damaged them. Infected pruning cuts seems to be a major cause.Some are physically damaged by a human or monkey breaking branches and strippingbark. There are some fruit trees on the property that have been used for fodder and aredeformed. Most of the oak trees on the property have been stunted by grazing to thepoint that they have formed small bushes instead of trees. There are a number of youngScots Pines, especially on the lower level, that have been stunted from grazing as well.Someone seems to have cut down some wild roses and placed them around a fewtrees in a half hearted attempt to protect them from grazers. There is quite a bit of kaalamaas, kilmora, stinging nettle, indian wormwood, wild

rose and raspberry growing around the property. As far as perennials are concerned,plants that grazers wont eat have a tremendous advantage so spikey plants tend todominate. I expect the kaalamaas and wormwood taste bad to grazers. Annual diversityis probably better than perennial since during the rainy season there are many otherdistracting plants for grazers to eat; individual plants are safer in competition.

Discussion, Synthesis And Recommendations In most sustainable projects the key tiers addressed are social, environmentaland economic. The key social issue that I see for this project is co-operation withneighbors, overall social vision for the project and distribution of any final product.Environmentally there is an issue with erosion and potentially with crop selection.

Economically, crop selection is also important but post-processing and distribution isalso key. Obviously social, environmental and economic factors are all connected but Iwill try to discuss them with some separation. One of the foremost social issues in my mind is people coming onto the property,overgrazing it and generally using it as if it were public land to feed their animals, collectfirewood etc. No normal collection of plants can grow under these conditions. Youcannot plant new crops and expect them to become established if people are going to


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incessantly cut them down and trample them. Any new trees without a natural defensewould quickly become stunted and deformed or killed from grazers. One potential situation is to turn the farm into a social project, perhaps incollaboration with a nearby NGO, for example the Rotoract Club in Rani Chauri. Theyclaim to specialize in rural development, planting fruit trees etc. In my opinion they are a

rather colonial organization; maybe you could find a better one. You could go aboutrestoring the property by pruning, improving the soil by planting grass and clover andsee where things go from there. When people come to collect the fruit, instead ofguarding it and trying to sell it you could begin to teach people about planting their owntrees and how to take care of them, perhaps start a nursery and give away or sell trees.This is more in line with the idea of creating a center of organic farming than aneconomically profitable orchard. It contains a lot more constructive social vision. I like it.It has scope of building the whole area rather than just the area inside your fence. Overtime you may be able to convince people to stop bringing their animals here, let the soildevelop and you will be able to grow crops beneath the trees as well as plant new trees. The other apparent avenue is to post good signage, talk to neighbors, invest in a

fair bit of barbed wire fence and try to keep people out. It is more heavy handed andlacks a certain social vision. I think this wont really work unless there is someone livinghere willing to eject and fight with people to re-claim your space. You know the peoplehere better than I but I think they will probably cut through any fence unless there is aperson here to get rid of them and repair the fence. It is one thing to put up a fences tokeep animals out. When the humans feel it is their right to enter, putting up a fence is anoverly simplistic solution. Once the area is secure enough to plant new things the fact that people comeand take the fruit suggests clearly the idea of a pick your own commercial operation. InCanada this is quite popular. People are invited to the farm to harvest the fruit. Theypay by the weight of fruit they bring out. That is, the customer picks their own fruit and

takes it. Obviously this has its own challenges as a business model but it does lenditself well to local food distribution, with the many advantages that brings. It is potentiallygood for a situation where people cant pay much money for the fruit but have time topick it. As a farmer you have every reason to shorten the supply chain where possible,cutting out extraneous intermediate agents. An explanation of the full logic of localproduction is more out of the scope of this document but suffice to say it is certainlyrelevant to small scale farmers. Another choice, once the area is able to grow new things, is to create a projectbased around residency and self sufficiency. Using principles outlined by Bill Mollisonunder the concept Permaculture the property could become a very interesting exampleof a functional, beautiful living space. One of the central ideas of Bill Mollisons

Permaculture is that a small property, 5 acres is certainly large enough, is able to supplyall the needs of a house and do so in an indefinitely sustainable manner. Economic cropexport is certainly possible and not unlikely but the focus is on creating a sustainableecologically friendly residence and lifestyle. The trespass issue has a substantial ecological effect. There is a lot of erosionoccurring; the turf is not holding together the terraces effectively. I think it is because ofbiomass removal and soil compression, which is a result of people taking grass, grazingtheir animals and walking on the land. The soil needs biomass for good health, and that


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biomass is currently being removed at an excessive rate. A basic principle of soil healthis that the soil microflora and fauna eat carbon that normally would come from deadbiomass. Both dead and tall living grass in provide a mulch which reduces erosion,conserves soil moisture, lowers soil temperature and provides habitat for new plantsand fauna. If the cycle is left to itself or the grass is cut and left, a well aerated soil with

thick turf is developed, which checks erosion. If the biomass is removed excessively thecycle is interrupted and the turf disintegrates. This leads to erosion of the soil whichfurther damages fertility. Broadcasting grass and clover seeds may contribute to atechnical fix for erosion. I am not totally opposed to grazing. Grazing can be a fantastic soil buildingmeasure, as illustrated by the soil richness of the Canadian Prairies and the buffalo thatused to live there. In the practice of haying biomass is consistently removed from thefield and the soil does not seem to to suffer much; the practice is sustained for manyyears with no ill effect apparent. However, the intensity and method used on thisproperty seems to be taking a bad toll. Grazing has also checked the normal development of trees on the property and

skewed the biodiversity so that only plants which can survive grazers are able to grow.The oak trees are stunted, and have not developed into proper trees. Trees are stuntedby human grazing also as people climb trees and cut off branches. The next issue I would like to address is crop selection. Ref. 1 strongly suggestsgrowing crops other than apples, primarily on an ecological basis but also an economicand nutritional one. It suggests instead, Kafal (myrica esculenta) Bhamora (benthamide capitata) Walnut (junglans regia) Chestnut (cestenia sativa) Almond (prunus amygdalus)

Kilmora (berberis asiatica) Raspberries (rubus elipticus) Others for oil (wild apricot, native olive, Sal etc.) Because these trees are native to the area they do not pose a problem to thehydrologic cycle, as an invasive species etc. They also are not prone to disease in thesame way as apple so it is fairly easy to not use chemicals. They could be planted anddevelop while the apples live out the rest of their life span. As noted, kilmora, rasberryand kafal are already growing on the property to some extent. Reference 1 is generallyopposed to apple growing in the Central Himalaya and states that about 33% of theapple crop is affected by hail, also that the climate is conducive to high rate of fungaldisease. In the section devoted to finances it sites a paper saying that some indigenous

fruits in the Himalaya are more economically viable than apple (Shah, S.L. 1982.Ecological degradation and future of agriculture in the Himalayas, Indian J. Agri. Econ,37(1): 1-22). See Appendix 1 for an important socio-environmental portrait that this bookpresents. If you keep the currently healthy apple trees until the end life of their life span,the restoration of apple trees will probably take approximately three years of successivereconstructive surgery in order to give full crops again. This is the time period suggestedin Ref. 2 for restoration of trees that have not been pruned in a number of years and


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require heavy restoration. Ref. 2 outlines a basic step by step procedure. The trees willsuffer from shock if excessive pruning is performed in one year. You will either need tolearn about pruning yourself or hire someone skilled in the job. From my reading, toprune properly is obviously an involved skill. Ref. 2 describes a relatively simple andeasy pruning system, called spindlebrush, recommended for the Indian apple growing

regions but this isnt the system adopted in your farm and trees cannot be changed overwhen they are so old. One of the reasons it is recommended is because skilled pruners

may be difficult or impossible to find. Perhaps this situation has changed somewhat inthe 17 years since the book was published. Pollination is a very important part of apple production. You should considerkeeping bees. In Canada, orchards often keep a species called mason bees. They don tproduce honey but are more efficient pollinators because they have fuzzier bodies andperhaps different habits. As you may know, you can also hire bee colonies from thegovernment to come and pollinate your trees. I think that asian pears or sand pears are potentially a good crop. They don tseem to suffer from the same issues with rust and scab and the trees dont have to be

pruned. This fruit is recommended a lot by authorities in Canada as a fruit that peopleshould start growing. People at the university here didnt seem particularly enthusiasticabout it though. Judging by the zeal which people took them from your farm there mustbe some demand! Fresh, I enjoyed eating the asian pears perhaps more than theapples. But I have to say some of the pears I collected I threw away because they werebitter. Im not sure why. The apples seemed to develop an improved flavor over a fewdays. This is not uncommon in apples; there are even some storage varieties that havebest flavor after being stored for months.

Summary Grazing and removal of grass, along with the associated erosion and lack of

fertility is a major issue. It is damaging the soil and prevents normal cultural practicesbecause plants would be killed, not to mention the fruit taken (if fruit were the only issuea guard could be hired although not at trivial expense). I think you should consider options for this property besides a normal, evenorganic, commercial apple orchard. I recommend you to read any books by Fukuoka ifyou are inspired by the idea of farming in nature s image. His key books are available atthe Navdanya office. To create a project in which someone will live on the farm in asustainable manner the author Bill Mollison and his Permaculture philosophy is highlyrelevant. If you do start commercial production, local consumption can be a strongfinancial and ecological advantage. There is an ecology professor at D.B. Pantnagar who, through his book,recommends to grow something else entirely besides apples. From reading the book itis clear that he would favor organic apple production over conventional production.However, chemical contamination aside there are also other reasons that herecommends against apple production. He argues that other crops can be moreecologically friendly, socially relevant and economic. The orchard has many damaged and missing trees. There is room for muchplanting of new trees although replant disease may be an issue. There are


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approximately 200 trees on the property that could be brought back into appleproduction. Reconstructive pruning would take approximately three years to bring manyof these trees back to full production, provided a skilled pruner can be found. Thepollination situation should be checked to ensure good production.

ContactsMahipal Researcher, orchards P.B. Pantnagar University, Hill Campus, mobile:09997419447. Mahipal introduced me to many people.

Dr. S.K. Sarma Head of Post Harvest Laboratory, P.B. Pantnagar University, Hill Campus.

T.R. Chauhan Government processing unit for making apple juice.O: 01792-23251

R: 01792-23215Plant Manager, Parwanoo - 173220 Distt. Solam (H.P.)

Ajay Chadha Government processing unit for making paper apple boxes.Agro Industrial Packaging INdia Ltd.Nigam Vihar, Shimla, 171001HP, IndiaWorks: Pragati Nagar, Kotkhai, Shimla, HP, 01783253295

Dr. SP UniyalDr. Vinod SharmaDr. Lalit BhattAre all professors very interested in organic vegetable growing (Vegetable Department,D.B. Pantnagar hill campus). I didnt actually visit them.

Indore Biotech Inputs and Research Limited Is a company I just want to point out. I visited their facility in Indore, M.P. Theyare helping organic farmers with pest control mostly. They have a good product line butperhaps more importantly encourage farmers to learn about the biology of the soilthemselves and adopt some techniques which they have outlined.

References1. Ecological Impact of Apple Cultivation In the Himalayas, Dr. Vir Singh,

International Book Distributors, 1991.2. Apples - Production Technology and Economics, S.M. Kanwar, Tata McGraw-Hill

Publishing Co Ltd., New Delhi, 1987.3. The Natural Way of Farming, Masanobu Fukuoka, Japan Publications Inc., 1985.

Available online by donation from www.soilandhealth.org.


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4. How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Imagined on Less Land Than YouEver Thought Possible, John Jeavons, publisher and date unknown.

5. An Agricultural Testament, Sir Albert Howard, date and publisher unknown.Available by donation from www.soilandhealth.org.

6. Conversion to Organic Agriculture, A.K. Singh, International Book Distribution Co,

Lucknow, 2007.I didnt reference this book much because I only came across it later on. But it hasa lot of good information in it, including much information on becoming organicallycertified in India.

7. Plant Propagation, Principles and Practice, H.T. Hartman, D.D. Kester, Universityof California at Davis, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, 1986.


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Appendix 1: Apple Belt Casting a Dark Shadow

From Ref. 1,

Apple Belt Casting a Dark Shadow

The life of the hill people is closely related to the natural forests. With thedestruction of natural forests, the life- supporting base of hill villages is seriously eroded.In the Tehri Gharwal district of Central Himalaya, it can be clearly seen how a costlyhorticulture development programme (sic) which involved the prior destruction of naturaloak forests contributed only to the misery of ordinary people. This is the story ofcommon people in qite distant villages and how they are affected as a consequence ofhte destruction of forest cover to create a belt of fruit (apple) and vegetable cultivationmainly for well-to-do, often absentee farmers. A forested area of about 5000 acres between Chamba and Mussourie in theTehri Garhwal district was earmarked for creating apple belt in the early sixties. Mixeddense oak forests were destroyed, apple saplings planted and the apple belt came into

existence in June 1965 when it was formally inaugurated by late Mrs. Sucheta Kripalani,the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. The area soon bloomed with apple plants bymid-seventies. Each year more and more forest areas were replaced with appleorchards. The oak forests, now replaced by apple trees, had provided the orogin of about adozen of rivulets (tributaries of the Ganga) and a much larger number of springs andother water sources. But most of these have dried up or considerably thinned followingthe clearfelling of forests. Kafalpani region is located at the bottom of the eastern slope of apple belt. Whilethis area emerged on the map of the regions supplying apples for cities, the localvillagers lost their highly cherished, wild growing, freely available kafal fruit. In addition,a

serious shortage of even fuel, fodder and water has emerged following the destructionof natural forests. Till a few years back the fields of Kirgini village were well irrigated by the Kirginirivulet which also provided drinking water for the villagers and their animals. But thisrivulet has almost dried up now. Till 1970 (five years after the creation of the belt) mostfarmers were able to meet their subsistence needs on food grain and were even able tosell some grain in the market. But now not a single family is able to produce enoughgrain to meet the familys needs for even half the year. Soil erosion, shortage of natural fertilizers of decaying leaves and shortage ofirrigation -- all directly related to the destruction of natural forests -- have caused thisdecline of agriculture.

Shortage of fodder has resulted in the diminished ability of villages to maintaindomestic animals, as manifest in the fast decreasing number of domestic animals. Atpresent, in Kirgini village, there are only 40 buffaloes, 10 pairs of bullocks and five cows,for 100 families. Shortage of bullocks has seriously impaired agricultural and field work. Speaking of earlier days before the destruction of natural forests, local peoplesay that when Kafalpani was covered with the greenery of oaks and kafals, a singlefamily could keep up to 10 buffaloes, 20 cows and two or four pairs of bullocks. There


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was plenty of milk. Now there is hardly any milk or ghee even for children. Malnutritionis evident on the faces of several villagers. In the north-west of Kirgini is located Dang village. This village also used to be acenter of knowledge about medicinal plants which grew in the mixed natural forest. Butthe destruction of forests has dealt a heavy blow to these plants as well as the survival

of this knowledge. In the entire Kafalpani region, there is a serious shortage of food, water, fodder,fuel and people are driven to the plains below to earn their living. People point to theapples growing above their village and explain how these have eroded the base of theirlife and livelihood. This is the story of an area located some distance away, villagers living closerhave suffered even more. But in the official jargon, this areas development has taken abig step forward with the implementation of the apple orchards. If the present trends continue leading to the drying up or considerable thinning ofJijli and Henwal rivulets -- the rivers having their origin in the fruit belt -- the life andlivelihood of a much larger number of people will be seriously threatened.


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Appendix 2: Seed Germination Tests

I bought a number of seeds for planting on the property. Many of them I amtaking with me. For the seeds I left behind, the germination tests were as follows:

Peas: 23/26 or 88% in 10 days. Emergence was lower. These seeds were purchasedfrom a store in Chamba which had big bags of peas outside it. They were quite cheap, Ithink 27 rupees for 500g. This could be a good plant to roll into seedballs and distributearound the property. Better emergence may have been obtained if the peas had colderweather to germinate in (plant earlier).

Hybrid Corn: 8/11 in 7 days.

orchard report

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