Mustang. The apple orchards have turned white. The apple trees in the orchard are blooming and turning white.

Mustang is known as the apple capital of Nepal. Sher Bahadur Rawat, technical assistant at the Agriculture and Livestock Development Office, said that the apple trees have started turning white with the increase in summer. He said that apples need chilling.

According to him, the apple is known as the king of fruits of the temperate region. The apple needs a temperature of less than 7 degrees Celsius for 45 days to bloom and fruit. After that, the temperature of the apple should be at least 10 to 20 degrees Celsius during flowering and fruiting, said Raut, a technical assistant.

Raut, who is also the technical assistant of the apple, said that the apple flowers bloom in the months of March and April every year after the post-harvesting of apples is done in the months of September and October.

Pollination is required during flowering of apple trees to increase the quality and yield of apples. According to Raut, technical assistant, some species of apple are naturally pollinated and some species need cross-pollination.

He said that the wind and bees play a role in pollination. It is said that proper pollination of apple would increase its production and quality if around six to eight beehives could be managed in one hectare of apple land.

Although the apple trees have received six ÷seven times of rain and snowfall this year, adverse weather, rain and snowfall affect the flowering time of the apple plant. The flowering time of the apple is considered to be the most sensitive time for temperate flowers. The apple orchards in the area from Lomanthang to Thasang Rural Municipality of Lower Mustang have turned white after flowering. Up to seven flowers bloom in one apple flower. The Agriculture and Livestock Section, Mustang, has stated that if the flowers bloom on the branches of unauthorized apples, the flowers should be established in such a way that the flowers are necessary as a technician.

Bhupendra Sherchan, a farmer of Jomsom in Gharpajhong-4, said that the weather should be fully supportive during the flowering of apple flowers. According to farmers, if there is rainfall during pollination season and the weather is cloudy, mold can grow on apple trees and affect the quality of apples. He said that it will take a week for the apple tree to fully flower.

According to him, the government bodies related to agriculture have been providing training to the farmers by providing them information about apple farming. According to farmers, the government needs to formulate a policy to bring the barren land being wasted for apple farming under the purview of lease as there is potential for apple farming in the district. Stating that most of the youths go abroad for lack of employment opportunities, Sherchan said that if the government could use the government land after measuring and mapping, it would increase the income of the farmers and it would also help the government to collect revenue.

Apple farming has been done on 899.16 hectares of land in five local levels of the district. Traditional local apples have been cultivated in 837.16 hectares of land while the high-density hybrid apples imported from Italy have been cultivated in 62 hectares of land, according to the data of the Agriculture and Livestock Service Section. Among them, 572 hectares of apple is cultivated while 55 hectares of hybrid apple is cultivated.