A Japanese farmer by the name of Akinori Kimura grows
apple trees. Years ago he came across Masanobu
Fukuoka's book One
Straw Revolution which inspired him to grow his
apple trees without pesticides. He had a very difficult time converting his orchards to successfully grow apples without pesticides but after years of effort did succeed.
The book Miracle Apples is not written by Mr. Kimura himself, but rather the Japanese broadcasting corporation NHK who first featured Akinori Kimura on a television episode and later followed up with this book. Yoko Ono has made available an English translation of this book that can be read
online here:
http://imaginepeace.com/archives/11738 I have not finished reading the book, so I don't know all the details and it is my understanding that Akinori Kimura has written one or two
books himself that may provide more information on his practices. However neither of these books have English translations. If anyone here reads Japanese, it would
be nice to compare his methods with our other
Permie Idols.
I suspect one of the key difficulties faced is that an orchard setting is really a monoculture that we know to be a disaster waiting to happen w.r.t.
pests and diseases. But I haven't gotten that far in the book myself to confirm that.
I would like to know from those of you here who grow apple trees what have been your experiences? Are apple trees that grow in a
permaculture environment just as susceptible to pests and diseases as those that relied on pesticides for a good part of their life? Do the apples preserve the same as Kimura's? (ie: a cut apple left to its own devices will turn brown and rot, but Kimura's just shrivel and dry)