On 1.5 kilometres the fruit cultivation, the history and some peculiarities of the varieties are explained. Between the apple and cherry orchards you can not only learn the theory, but also watch the farmers and bees at work.
The most industrious helpers in the Altes Land are the bees. They pollinate the flowers day in and day out and provide a rich harvest. It's hard to believe, but the Old Land has far more flowers than bee colonies that can pollinate. For this reason, many local beekeepers have to help out with bee colonies every year at flowering time. The bee migration takes about one month from the beginning of the cherry blossom to the end of the apple blossom.
Clever tricks from the fruit cultivation prove the expertise of the local fruit farmers
What is particularly striking during a tour of the fruit trail are the numerous roofing systems that protect the fruit from rain and birds. Especially when growing cherries, rainfall is a risk because the fruit can burst when it rains too heavily.
However, precipitation is not the only risk; frost also threatens the harvest in the early stages of flowering. Especially late frosts can severely damage the sensitive buds. Spraying with water has proven to be an effective frost protection measure. What sounds implausible at first turns out to be a clever physics trick. During crystallization, the freezing water releases enough energy to warm the buds and plants to such an extent that they are not damaged by frost. In this way, cold air bursts of up to minus seven degrees can be safely repelled.
Fruit is grown on over 10,000 ha in the Old Land
The Lower Elbe region, now known as the "Altes Land", is the largest contiguous fruit-growing region in Germany. There are documented references to fruit growing dating back to the 14th century. In total, more than 1,200 farms in the Alte Land cultivate over 10,000 hectares of orchard. Of these, around 9,000 ha are pure tree fruit.
Since 1989, more than 80% of the farms have already taken part in making cultivation environmentally friendly. At present, the conversion to organic farming is also increasingly taking place.
If you would like to find out more about fruit growing, we recommend that you visit the fruit trail in the Alte Land. The fruit trail begins behind the Altes Land Museum in Westminnerweg and ends directly opposite the Schuback fruit farm.
