Thinning of organic apple production with Potassic Soap and Calcium Polysulfide at the North of Spain.
Year: 2008
Type: article
Abstract: Asturias, in the North West coast of Spain, is a region with old tradition at cultivation of \napple and its transformation to cider. The production of apple is mainly done under \ntraditional uses and semi-extensive or semi-intensive system and with local cultivars. \nThinning strategy is little practiced and the biennial bearing cycle is one of the main \nproblems for the farmers. The production of apple under organic techniques in Asturias is \nstill limited but increasing. Since 2005, experiments have been conducted on several \ncultivars (‘Raxao’, ‘Xuanina’ and ‘Gold-Rush’) to evaluate the effects of Potassic Soap \n(with or without olive oil) and Calcium Polysulfide as thinning products. We present here \nthe first promising results of these experiments. With different concentrations of both \nproducts we have increased the apple production of two cultivars for the period 2006- \n2007. There were positive effects on the vegetative growth of the trees and on the quality \nof apples. In the spring 2007 we initiated new experiments with other cultivars (‘Durona de \nTresali’, ‘Solarina’, ‘Raxao’, ‘Regona’) in order to confirm our results. The new experiments \nalso include the comparison of their effects with those of commonly used chemical \nproducts and with those of manual thinning techniques.
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1905738904