Growing organic apples in the Venosta valley (South Tyrol, Italy)

The Venosta Valley is situated in the west of South Tyrol, is characterized by an average precipitation of 500mm/year and ca. 300 days of sunshine/year. The dry conditions of this valley make irrigation – organized mostly in consortia- indispensable. In the 1970s, some producers began already to cultivate organic apples. In 2000, the VI.P Bio was founded, an umbrella organization that is responsible for the marketing of the fruits.

The following apple varieties are grown in organic farming in the Venosta valley:
- Golden Delicious (31%): susceptible to scab and russeting
- Gala (24,6%): short vegetation period, less interventions for plant protection.
- Pinova (14,3%): partially resistant to scab.
- Others (Red Delicious, Braeburn, Jonagold, Fuji, Topaz…)
- Interest in new varieties.

Plant protection:
- Choice of the right variety for a specific area
- Products based on cupper and sulfur
- Lime sulfur is very important, as plant protection and complementary to manual and mechanic thinning
- Against the codling moth, the method of pheromonic confusion is applied
- Apple proliferation poses the biggest problem of organic apple production in the Vinschgau valley. The used products need to be applied frequently and do not lead to sadisfactory results.

Documents

Il successo della melicoltura biologica in Val Venosta () Josef Telfser, Markus Kelderer, Christian Gamper, " Il successo della melicoltura biologica in Val Venosta", Rivista di frutticoltura e di ortrofloricoltura, anno 78°, Nr. 3., 20-22.

Details

Activity type

Publication in technical journal

Activity work package

Reduction in pesticide residues

Activity number

Laimburg - WP3 - A26

Activity contact

Dr. Markus Kelderer
Laimburg Research Centre
Laimburg 6 - Pfatten
I-39040 Post Auer (BZ), Italy
[email protected]

Activity partner

Laimburg Research Centre

Activity country

Italy

Last edit

31-05-2018