Scouts in St. Ingbert: Apple trees planted for a green future!

Scouts in St. Ingbert: Apple trees planted for a green future!

Last Saturday, a small team of scouts was active in St. Ingbert when they planted a dozen small apple trees on the Römerweg above Oberwürzbach. This initiative underscores the Scout Code, which emphasizes living in and with nature. The youngest members of the local tribe showed great enthusiasm and curiosity. One of the youngest participants described working with a spade and hoe as strenuous, but also interesting. The apple trees were provided by a private donor, while the Saarforst provided the necessary browsing protection for the plants free of charge, as Saarbrücker Newspaper reports.

Orchard cultivation, in which the scouts are now active, is viewed as an extensive farming method that includes tall fruit trees. These diverse types of fruit are not only of great cultural value, but are also vital for many animal species. NABU provides information about around 6,000 types of fruit that are cultivated in Germany, including apples, pears, cherries, walnuts, damsons and plums. In Rhineland-Palatinate, organizations such as NABU, the Working Group on Historical Fruit Varieties of the Palatinate and the Pomologists Association have defined a selection of robust, regionally suitable orchard fruit varieties and offer recommendations for cultivation, as on the website of NABU can be read.

Importance of orchard growing

Orchards are considered important cultural landscape biotopes and provide habitat for around 5,000 species, many of which are under threat. Fruit growing practices have played an important role in the cultural landscape for centuries. These orchards often characterize many regions and represent a valuable gene reservoir. More than 3,000 varieties are cultivated in orchards, with the aim of propagating robust varieties with high health benefits. This information comes from LFL Bayern.

The decline in orchards in Germany between 1950 and 2010 is an alarming 73-80%. In Bavaria alone, around 70% of orchard trees have been lost, while in Baden-Württemberg the number of trees fell from 18 million in 1965 to just 9.3 million in 2005. Forecasts indicate that without appropriate care, 30-50% of orchards could disappear in the next 10-20 years. To counteract this, measures to care for old trees and new plantings are urgently needed.

The need for an economic perspective for orchard cultivation is also crucial. Previously neglected uses must be modernized in order to maintain and increase the attractiveness of this cultural form. Orchard fruit is not only very important as processed fruit, especially for apple juice production, but also increases the attractiveness of the landscape and supports regional value chains.