Production process

Each year, Carolus Trees produces over 2 million apple and pear trees for professional fruit growers at home and abroad. In doing so, we go through a set production process, which has been honed and refined over the years based on our longstanding experience. The various production stages are detailed below.

Planting

At first the field is prepared for obtaining an optimal soil structure to plant young grafts. When the soil temperature is sufficiently high, the planting season begins and the planting machines take over.

Grafting

Winter is when we graft the trees. We usually go for copulation, also known as ‘English graft’ as our grafting method of choice. This approach is especially advisable when the rootstock and the scion more or less have the same thickness.

Chip budding

Chip budding is done from mid-July till mid-September and under dry weather conditions only. In this specific period the cambium activity in the plant – necessary for a good concrescence – reaches its highest level.

Steel bars

We no longer use old-fashioned bamboo sticks but steel rods to support the fruit trees. A transport band covering 16 rows simultaneously was developed for both putting the rods into the soil and removing them. Moreover, every rod is oriented toward the southwest to limit grating damages.

Portal spraying

In our nursery we use 3 portal spraying machines. These machines are mainly used for weed control, sideway treatments against parasites and diseases as well as for covering up wounds against fungus.

Topping

Dominance of the apex means that the apex grows stronger than the lateral branches of the tree. There are two different ways to break the dominance of the apex to obtain a well-branched tree

Tree grubbing

As soon as the trees have lost all their leaves, they are lifted. This is possible as from November (till February at the latest). These trees are stored in our modern cooling installation of 45.000m³ (surface of 6.000 m²).

Deliveries

After a growth process of 2 to 3 years, the trees are ready to be delivered. In consulation with the client a delivery period is fixed in order to guarantee the quality in this stage as well.