Seasonal Work of Side-Job Farming in June

June in Japan is a humid season with a lot of rain and high temperatures. During this period, persimmons absorb a lot of water, and the fruits grow bigger. If you leave too many fruits on the branches at this time of year, something called “physiological loss” will occur. This is a natural phenomenon in which persimmon trees themselves avoid breaking their branches by reducing their excess fruits. However, there is a possibility that bad fruits will remain despite their efforts, so humans will finish the removal of all remaining excess buds and fruits in June.

Physiological loss fruit 1.

Physiological loss fruit 2.

At the same time, however, the number of pests increases. In particular, new branches are concentrated at the root of the dense growth.

The white lump in the center of the picture below is the shell bug.

The fruit of this insect becomes blackened, and white powder is applied to the persimmon. It doesn’t change the taste, but it looks very bad.

Fruit that has gotten dirty from pests.

Therefore, we summertime workers will remove the dense branches. This will reduce the amount of insecticide used.

2 Comments on “Seasonal Work of Side-Job Farming in June”

  1. Hello, Ko san.
    I’m Akiko, a member of Hapa buddies.
    There were some persimmon trees where I grew up, but I didn’t know the phenomenon at all. Very interesting!
    My grandfather often picked mature persimmons for me.
    I miss those days.

    1. Hi Akiko!
      Thank you for reading!
      I’m doing best to help my family for the November harvest.:)

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