By MaryAnne Musilo

Solomon Maina is harvesting around 200 apples per tree per season in his new orchard in Nyahururu after using pyrethrum pesticides to control wooly apple aphids that had nearly stopped all fruit.

“In my first season of farming, that was after 9 months, my trees started flowering. But then I started to see white cottony substances on some of the shoots and branches. That season and the next, I harvested around 10 to 15 fruits per tree with some of the trees producing nothing,” he said.

Solomon nearly gave up as the pests sucked out the nutrients and weakened his trees, until an agronomist friend visited his farm.

“The agronomist said that I should use pyrethrum-based pesticides. That is when I started using Duduthrin.  But, first, I had to cut off the affected shoots and branches and bury them as advised, because the pest really multiplies really quickly. The pesticide was so effective that in that season flowers didn’t abort, my yields increased to approximately 20 to 30 fruits per tree,” he said.

Pyrethrum poisons the wooly aphids on contact, which combined with proper care, has now delivered even better results.

“We do organic farming and this means that we use compost manure.  Feeding and caring for the plant is very important. I always ensure that the plants get 20 litres of water per week, especially when it is not raining. Last season, my trees had around 150 to 200 fruits. With each fruit selling between Sh20 to Sh25,” he said.

At up to Sh5,000 per tree per season, and anything from 250 to 500 trees per acre, this puts apples at earnings of around Sh1.25m to Sh2,5m per acre per season.

Soloman said farming came to him at a very young age since his parents are also farmers in Laikipia County and this brought to life his new farm, the Conservator Gardens.

“I grow Anna apple, golden desert apple, Anna dwarf apple, crisp red appl,  and the green apple,” he said.

“Anna apples have a bigger size than other varieties, while the golden desert grows in cluster form hence has many fruits. This is why many farmers prefer these two varieties,” he said.

With the available market, and many people wanting to farm apples, Solomon has also now ventured into seedlingsn. 

“I have 2 acres just for a nursery, because seedlings are another area I want to focus on, and another 2 acres where I have just planted apples. For the nursery, it is not just apples, I have kiwi, figs, sarinum cherries, and many other fruit seedlings.”

” For the apple seedlings, I have had local and international clients and have exported twice to west Africa. I get all my buyers through social media. I sell seedlings at Sh500, with one recent buyer buying 3000 seedlings.”