Organic plum production is affected by a variety of factors: unmarketable cultivar characteristics (flavour, soluble solids content, stone adherence), reduced storage, small size and low resistance to fungal diseases and Plum Pox Virus (PPV).
Solution
We propose a list of robust cultivars suitable for plum organic orchards establishment.
Description
Choosing the best height/size plum cultivars will give a stable yield of high-quality and good flavour fruits harvested in prolonged periods from August to November and suitable for fresh consumption.
Practical recommendations
• High-quality European plum cultivars suitable for organic production:
o Very early ripening: Ruth Gersteter
o Early ripening: Katinka
o Middle early ripening: Čačanska lepotica, Franzi, Opal
o Middle late ripening: Jojo, Toptaste, Čačanska rodna, Gabrovska
o Late ripening: Jofela, Joganta, Moni, Haganta, Stanley
o Very late ripening: Presenta, Jolina
• Combine PPV hypersensitive resistance cultivars (Jojo, Jofela, Joganta, Jolina, Moni) with PPV hypersensitive resistance rootstocks (Docera 6, Dospina 235) to prevent infection.
• Check with your advisors about the ripening time of the described cultivars and if they fit your climatic conditions.
• Aim for a wide ripening period, high and regular cropping, fruit size and fruit quality.
• Extend the harvesting period by introducing new cultivars with ripening from the end of August to the beginning of October.
• Self-fertile and partly self-fertile cultivars provide more regular yields and are very good pollinators for other cultivars.
• Most of the new large-fruited cultivars have excellent taste and fruit quality with a higher sugar content than 21°Brix.
• Consumers prefer new plum cultivars with attractive yellow/orange flesh and lose stone adherence.
• Large-fruited plum cultivars with high market quality can lead to more efficient labour costs and support incomes from established organic orchards.
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When you activate this function, your browser establishes a direct connection with the servers of the third-party provider. We would like to point out that data is transmitted to the third-party provider after activation, and the latter may set cookies that can also be used for analysis and marketing purposes. For more information, please refer to our privacy policy.
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