posted 8 years ago
Hi all!
So we've come sorta full-circle with our understory management in a production(ish) hard-cider holistic apple orchard.
After a few years of mulching, we've come to realize it takes far too much material/labor to keep up with the 600 trees.
Scything was awesome and I love it but as we expand the homestead, I've gotta be realistic on what I can get done on my own (tho our local Scything Club helps!).
So we've returned to mow-n'-blow in the understory.
A component we're adding is to correct a problem the mulch worsened - Voles! This corrective component is daffodil bulbs. They're poisonous vole repelling beauties.
Now I've transplanted hundreds from our own property, but am looking for an additional source. Also, I'd like to incorporate other bulb species such as crocus, iris, tulip, etc.
Most of these bulbs come from Holland-imported. This months article in Acres USA had an interview with Graham White where he said the Netherlands is one of the top consumers of neonic pesticides and they dip these bulbs in solutions of fungicides and neonics.
Anyone know a soured to find these bulbs chem free? I contacted Van Engelen who told me today they no longer use neonic a in Dutch bulb production, conflicting with the info from White. Peaceful Valley's supplier gets from supposed US sources but they're not able to give me much of a guarantee as they don't know where they're all coming from exactly, info isn't shared from their supplier..
