Comments on: Is it the end of apple cycle in Himachal?

By: UDAY RANGTA

UDAY RANGTA — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:53:10 +0000

Global climate change will certainly affect the growth of apples……but it will take tym………..i guess at least for next 25 yrs apples r not leaving us…….:)

By: jagdishbali

jagdishbali — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:42:31 +0000

Don’t think so. It will take time to say adieu to apples.

By: Gaurav

Gaurav — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:19:29 +0000

We need to adopt new rootsrocks, low chill requiring apple varietes. People have done it successfully in hostile conditions like California and even Israel. Why can’t we do the same here.
People are still relying on old varietes and lots of hope. Even majority of new orchards are being planted with traditional varietes which won’t stand the test of changing weather patterns.
Technological awareness of orchardists needs to be increased in this direction. We are lagging far behind here. Let science do the trick where hopes and prayers have failed.

By: Abhishek

Abhishek — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:02:40 +0000

this is expected when our govt. is busy clearing cement plant projects in the state instead of doing something material upon conservation of natural resources. Needless to how much more loss than profit we suffer indirectly from such projects i.e. bad condition of road & pollution can be credited to cement plants where hundred of overloaded trucks ply daily to transport raw materials as well as final product. it is another reason the number of fatal accidents in state have risen over recent years. Of late everything seems to be on decline. and we people of India have a habit of looking out for alternative only when things go beyond neck level. this perception needs to be changed. solutions are there but govt. support is inevitable for the people of the state who have limited means.

By: vikram singh rawat

vikram singh rawat — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:34:51 +0000

We have formed group of farmers in Karsog area under Karsog Valley farmers group, a registered society.around 800 different type of farmers.We organise camps on diary,poultry vegetables,exotic vegetables and apples, high tech apples , mushrooms and organic farming. The results of dissemination are positive.
we are exporting around two tons of english vegetables every day through our Referigerated vans.
we are teaching growers the different techniques of farming.we have made self supporting groups for high risking agriculture ventures.
wherever we find platform we share .

By: Bonjour

Bonjour — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:19:21 +0000

Mr. Vikram,
thanks for a positive outlook on the apple production in HP and also for sahring the Chliean and Indonesian experiences.

Well, its interesting to find such great techniques, but at the same time awreness regarding them and risk to adopt them need to be disseminated to growers of HP.

By: aarkay

aarkay — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:41:28 +0000

God forbid, if the adage “all good things must come to an end” were to apply to himachal apple as well. Is it the global climatic change or slowly killing the hen that laid golden eggs due to negligence or lack of proper planning or even research ?

By: vikram singh rawat

vikram singh rawat — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:45:10 +0000

John M Aselage, renowned scientist and also apple grower form Arkansas, USA, consultant for our nursery farm thinks different. He agrees that there has been change in the climatic condition, but this warming is everywhere in the world , Global warming. we need to adopt low chilling promising varieties of apples, and in quality, they are not lower than our old conventional red delicious. He admires Himachal’s climate, which is the best in the world for apple production, But we have not exploited this. The only difference between us is we always look upward. Our belief lies on God, for, to be blessed by plenty of apples on our trees.
The orchardists who pay due attention to their orchards gets crop every year without fail.
Many pruners who prunes apple trees at altitude of 7000 feet, brings bud wood, from those orchards, to be grafted at 5000 feet in their apple trees/rootstock. The variety for the two altitude must be different.
From the climatic and topographic points of view, Chile is an extremely variable country. Being such a long and narrow country which lies in a north-south position, the climate varies from extremely dry and hot in the northern desert to wet and cold in the south. The apple yield in Himachal is just 3 tons /hectare against 30 tons of Chile. In apple producing countries our production is the lowest.
Apple growers know that the quality in terms of taste is the best in himachal apple, just because of the excellent climate and topography we have.

I would like to share an article in the Tribune, later on I confirmed it from my own sources and it turned out to be a surprising truth.
Java’s ( Indonesia) minimum temperature comes down to 18 degree centigrade and highest reaches 43. Their apple production is 67 tons per hectare. Isn’t it surprising? They bring their trees into dormancy manually , by removing leaves manually. Tree remains in dormancy at temperature of even at 30 degree for 60 days. After 60 days it start blooming. Another surprise is that they harvest apples round the year .If you visit their farm you will find some people removing leaves to bring it to dormancy, some harvesting apples, in some trees bloom and other have apples. So all stages of apple tree at one time.
So we need to DO something. Most of the young people running to the towns and becoming absentee land lords. Dependents on Nepali labourer. They are workers, caretakers and ….all and we are short of time to plan our orchards.

By: NITYIN

NITYIN — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:54:51 +0000

Yes sir, This is the END and we are writing obituary of Apple now.

A correction – It is Satyanand and not Sachidnand Stokes as mentioned in the story.