Orchard
Information about: Scattered fruit trees | Domestic apple & Types of pears | New old varieties | variety garden | Orchar- novation competition | Projects
Orchard trees
Where to buy?
- In our sales garden:
Genussmosthof Veitlbauer
Bichl 3, 8932 St. Gallen // www. veitlbauer.at
Information on the sales garden at the Veitlbauer cider farm:- Christian Weissensteiner:
+43 (0) 664/350 88 31
office@veitlbauer.at - or from our contact person in the nature park
Lisa Kniewasser
+43 (0) 664/5264688
l.kniewasser@eisenwurzen.com
- Christian Weissensteiner:
Note: All trees in our sales garden at the Veitlbauer cider farm have been sold out since April 2023! New trees will be delivered in October 2023. You are welcome to place tree orders using the form above and they will then be made available in our sales garden in October 2023.
- In regional Landmarkt stores:
from Landl, St. Gallen via Admont and Aigen to Plant’s Corner in Liezen - In the Grabnerhof farm shop:
Hall 225, 8911 Admont (except July and August)
Every Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m
Phone: 0664 / 404 20 37
By properly planting different apple and pear trees, you can have fruit from your own garden almost all year round. Vitamins to bite into, jams to get your day off to a good start, juice to help with any dry spell or refined hard liquor for every celebration. A meadow orchard helps in all situations and is also the ideal source of shade. It accompanies you and your garden for a lifetime – your bees, birds and many more will also be happy. So do something good for nature…
Our fruit salad
Our table fruit
Our economic fruit
Our allrounder
Our cider pear
Our sizes
Watch out! Our trees all grow tall with proper care, but the height of the crown varies. But there is a simple farmer’s rule:
“If the farmer still wants to mow the meadow with the tractor, he should already sow a standard tree. Because in the bush, there is a fanfare with the tractor.”
Local apple and pear varieties from the nature park
Note: All trees sold out since April 2023! New tree delivery will be in October 2023.
The following lists provide an overview of the current stock of domestic apple and pear varieties, broken down into standard, half-stem and bush. All trees were grafted to seedlings and/or M7. The “Open PDF” button provides additional information about the respective properties. Standard, half-stem or bush in these cases only indicates the current growth and size of the trees grafted 2 years ago.
New old
5 reasons for a clear commitment to orchards & old types of fruit
Orchards have “almost” always been there in the Steirische Eisenwurzen and in the Gesäuse. They also characterize our landscape between St. Gallen and Wildalpen and, alongside forests, natural rivers and alpine pastures, are now indispensable. As a nature park, we are currently aware of over 150 apple varieties and over 35 pear varieties. A variety that we would like to preserve together with you for future generations.
Why? Our 5 reasons:
- The taste
Here you can already find the variety of orchards to enjoy: A more or less harmonious interplay of sugar, acid and tannins enables a variety of uses. Dessert fruit, strudel, cider, schnapps and much more. - Biodiversity & landscape picture
Orchards are considered to be the most species-rich habitats in our cultural landscape. Up to 5,000 species of animals, plants and fungi can be found here. For centuries, they provided our ancestors with the fruits of the Garden of Eden – without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. - Our health
Children grow up in a sterile environment, the number of allergies increases drastically. The clinically clean apple fits into this overall picture. Where are the days when you picked up the Gravensteiner from the ground in the garden and simply bit it off. Orchards are healthy because they are full of hundreds of vital substances and because they are eaten when they are ripe. - Climate change & Regionality
In times of climate change, regional self-sufficiency with short transport routes is the order of the day. In addition, new varieties adapted to climate change can only be bred through the robust properties of the “old varieties”. - Fairness
Farmers today rightly ask why they should still deal with orchards at all in view of rock-bottom prices. “Pick up 1,000 kilos yourself and then get 40 euros” is the legitimate accusation. We want to improve this fairness again to a certain extent – with our local partners. What we offer is on the next page.
Text by Mag. Alois Wilfing, OIKOS on behalf of the Styria Nature Park
Spring and Fall
Our professionals for fruit tree pruning:
- Norbert Haase: 0676/3086165
- Rainer Tramberger: 0664/3566772
For fall
Contract presses, fruit purchase, fruit tree sale and much more:
- Genussmosthof Veitlbauer is our regional Gesäuse partner when it comes to orchards. There is a fair price for your fruit here: €0.30 per kg.
- Contact: Genussmosthof Veitlbauer
Susanne & Christian Weissensteiner
A-8932 St. Gallen, Bichl 3
0664/3508831
Late summer and fall
Always curious about the varieties in your orchard? We are regularly on the road with pommologists (that’s what the “fruit identification experts” are called) to identify regional varieties. We were able to rediscover new “old” orchard varieties and preserve them for the future: Eisenwurzenbirne, Gesäuseapfel or, for example, Salzatal Raftingapfel.
Curious? Simply report to the nature park office.
All year
We, the Nature and Geopark, organize events all year round about orchards: pruning courses, identification courses, care days and much more. There are variety gardens in the communities of Wildalpen and Landl as well as at Veitlbauer to immerse yourself in the world of orchards.
Orchard variety garden
In Wildalpen, Gams and Palfau
Orchards in the district of Hopfgarten in the nature park community Wildalpen and in the districts of Palfau and Gams in the nature park community Landl are used to preserve old and rare types of fruit (mainly apples and pears) from orchards in the Steirische Eisenwurzen Nature and Geopark. In cooperation with the Österr. Bundesforsten AG, Styria forestry company, set the goal of preserving the different varieties in this so-called gene conservation garden for future generations in Wildalpen and Landl. Further information on the varieties can be found on site. The freely accessible orchards are also ideal for a walk. Keep your eyes peeled – meadow orchards can be discovered everywhere along the path.
