Introduction: A farmer, dairy cow breeder practicing mixed farming in Eastern France, uses the full range of SWT products for his cereal and fruit crops, as well as for his slurry and manure. He shared with us the good results obtained on his 8 hectares of Mirabelle trees in 2022, despite a severe frost of -5°C in April during full bloom.
Products used:
Slurry and bedding were respectively treated with SW Lisier and SW Compost & Bedding.
As with the field crops, the fruit trees were treated with SW Sol and SW Plantes + SW Protéo and boron before flowering.
Protocol:
End of September 2020: spreading of 25 m³ of slurry + 25 m³ of manure per ha and SW Sol at a rate of 1 liter/ha.
In the following years, only SW Sol was applied.
The prunings were shredded and left on the ground, adding extra organic matter. The aim, as with all other farm crops, was to obtain a living, well-nourished soil so that biological life would improve structure (aeration, porosity, etc.), thus favoring good soil/plant exchanges. The final goal was to optimize photosynthesis and proteosynthesis.
Bud stage: treatment with an insecticide against aphids.
Before flowering: 100g of SW Plantes + 1l of SW Protéo per ha + a little boron.
April 4: the day before the first frost, treatment with 100g of SW Plantes + 1l of SW Protéo per ha. The goal was to saturate the sap with minerals and trace elements so that the frost would be less damaging.
Night of April 4–5: Fires were lit to try to raise air temperature, but shifting winds prevented heat from consistently reaching the orchards.
Campaign result:
Since the frost caused no damage, 30 tons of Mirabelles were harvested on 8 ha, i.e. an average of 3.75 tons per ha. By comparison, other Mirabelle producers in the same village harvested two-thirds less.
Farmer’s testimony:
One thing surprised me: 10% of the crop was attacked by codling moth, but strangely, the caterpillars all left the fruits without causing damage and therefore no loss, unlike my neighbors’ orchards. In previous years, without using SW products, the caterpillars ate the inside of the Mirabelles.
Conclusion:
I am very satisfied with this result, especially since the April frost could have had a very negative impact on the harvest. It seems that saturating the sap with SW Plantes and SW Protéo the day before the frost was effective.
My entire harvest was sold to a single buyer without sorting, as the fruits were beautiful and uniform, as shown in the photos below.