Inventory of the Apple Trees in the Doupov Mountains Completed
2024-12-04 16:16
People may know a lot about apples. But do they know about apple trees?
In order to prove that we do, we invited Martin Lípa from the Meluzína Ecological Center to our location in Jakubov in the Doupov Mountains. Martin is a leading pomologist who has been specializing in tall fruit trees and their preservation for 30 years.
Our site in Jakubov has several apple trees that grow in this mosaic of ponds, meadows, forests, and rocky hillsides. We know that they are old (at least 100 years) and not in very good shape. We therefore asked Martin to identify what varieties they produce, whether they’re healthy, and how to take care of them.
After we collected samples, or rather ripe apples, using a very long pole with a special scoop, we finally have a verdict.
What kind of apples grow in the location?
🇨🇭Berner rosen – a Swiss variety from the 2nd half of the 19th century 🇸🇰 Honťan – a very old variety likely of Slovak origin (not well documented) 🇫🇷 Jacques Lebel – a French variety from the 1st half of the 19th century 🇬🇧 King of the Pippins – a variety that originated in England in the 1st half of the 18th century
“These varieties have been cultivated in more or less every fruit-growing region in Europe and sold in markets in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. Apart from personal consumption, they were widely used to make cider. In fact, King of the Pippins was a highly valued variety for this very purpose. Since the trees on the site aren’t the last surviving specimens of their variety, their value is more habitat-related. But, as nobody is likely to plant hundreds of thousands of them today, they’ll become increasingly rare,” says Martin Lípa.
He also recommended that the trees be treated in order to significantly extend their life. We’ve added this task to our plans for the winter.
The treatment of the apple trees together with the planting of new fruit trees (also under the direction of Martin Lípa) is part of the large-scale restoration of our Jakubov location. The financial partner of this biodiversity project is the FlixBus company.