Back cover: Papple
Look out for a ‘papple,’ an Asian pear with an intense red colourwhich is now being grown in small
commercial quantities, mostly around the Nelson area.
Marketed as “looks like an apple, tastes like a pear”, the papple is a Plant and Food bred ‘Kosui’
(Japanese pear) and ‘Huobali’ (Chinese pear) cross.
Apparently the Prevar-licensed variety is a precocious bearer but the fruit needs very careful
handling and cooling to stay in optimum condition. But with China’s pear (largelyAsian) consumption
increasing a staggering 64% overthe past decade to almost 10kg per person per annum, its future
may be as rosy as its skin. See www.papplepear.comA rat trap that works
After a long seven years, I am expecting my nut trees to bear this autumn, and have no intention
of sharing my first crop with the resident rats who have built a metropolis around the neighbouring
pig trough.
l have tried just about every type of trap and bait (though not poison) and all have been to no avail.
Why go for human-tainted bait when you have more pig food than you can eat?So I copied the idea shown at Waikato Conference by Idan Shapira — using a live rat as a lure. I simply built a rat cage on one end of my DOC 200 predator trap. Seven rats were caught within the first two weeks (look at the size of them!) and still counting.
See tvnz.co.nz/national-news/new-rat-control-measure-could-hold-key-video-4820980 [needs Flash player] Sheryn
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