Tree species

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Treetop rejuvenating an old apple tree

As tree warden professionals are called, on care and maintenance as well as to professional trimming and finishing of fruit trees are specialized and fruit trees.

history

The profession has its origins when, for example, in Saxony around 1800 it was regulated in decrees that tree nurseries were to be set up in all places and that tree keepers had to be employed to look after them.

In 1837 Eduard Lucas held the first state maintenance courses in Hohenheim near Stuttgart. In the early years, almost seventy young people attended tree maintenance training every year. The first instructions for the community tree watchmen were also issued in 1848 at the suggestion of Eduard Lucas. It regulated the tasks of the tree attendant down to the last detail. Up until the mid-1960s, tree maintenance training was part of the agricultural training that came from the agricultural offices or chambers. The exam to be taken was a state exam. With the decreasing economic importance of the cultivation of orchards on high trunks, the training for tree maintenance ended in the 1970s. There are still tree maintenance associations, but for reasons of age they have often joined forces with specialist maintenance associations in Baden-Württemberg.

education

Austria

The tree maintenance training takes place through courses that are offered by various companies and associations. The courses generally include theoretical and practical parts, in which the trainees are introduced to the basics of fruit growing, pruning technology , cultivar science, history, processing and a comprehensive overview of pests in fruit growing and how to control them. The courses end with an examination and many course providers offer graduates a certificate with the professional title Baumart afterwards.

The Rural Training Institute (LFI) Carinthia offers training to become a tree guard in cooperation with the Fruit and Wine Center (OWZ) Carinthia in Sankt Andrä im Lavanttal ( Carinthia ). The course is intended to deepen theoretical and practical knowledge of fruit growing so that fruit growing work can be carried out in-house or outside the company. The training includes: Basics of fruit growing, establishment and maintenance of orchards, harvesting, storage, pruning and maintenance measures as well as the detection of pests and diseases. Excursions are also part of the training. The 90-hour training extends over 11 course parts in one-day blocks and takes place in the OWZ Carinthia. After completing their training, course participants who are aiming for the Baumart qualification can obtain it by passing an exam.

Germany

The tree maintenance training at the "Agricultural Educational Institutions in Triesdorf" has a long tradition. As early as 1869, the first tree guards were trained to act as multipliers for knowledge about fruit tree pruning, processing and diseases and pests in their home communities.

In connection with the increase in area productivity in agriculture in the 1960s, the orchards moved economically into the background. Until 1974, the European Community paid grubbing-up premiums for every standard fruit tree in order to promote orchards. Orchards around the villages disappeared to make way for building and commercial areas. Against this background, tree maintenance training in Triesdorf was discontinued in 1959.

After the orchards in Bavaria had decreased by millions of trees, tall fruit trees were planted again in the corridors in the 1980s as part of many land consolidation procedures and private initiatives. Furthermore, plantings were carried out due to the compensation area regulations for the sealing of areas through construction and commercial areas. What was striking, however, was the inadequate care of the newly planted trees, which resulted in the massive death of young trees. Losses of 50% were not uncommon.

In 2010 an initiative for the revitalization of the tree maintenance office, which is important for the preservation of the orchards, arose from the Central Franconia district. The Agricultural Educational Institutions in Triesdorf were commissioned to develop a corresponding concept that was brought to life by master gardener Simon Schnell. Since 2012, 25 new tree supervisors have been trained in Triesdorf every year.

The specialist advice center for fruit growing and horticulture at the Rastatt District Office offers tree maintenance training. The training lasts, similar to the previous state tree maintenance training, as before, seven weeks over two years - two complete growth periods should be included in practical lessons . The goal of tree maintenance training is named there: "Learning the professional care of fruit and ornamental trees as well as the necessary practical skills and theoretical knowledge for lawn and planting maintenance". After passing the exam, the Rastatt district office issues a certificate from the Karlsruhe regional council (file number 34d-8412.35-3), according to which both the training and the examination for tree species fully correspond to the previous state-certified tree species.

This training provides for one day of theoretical lessons and four days of practical lessons per training week. Topics include: planting of trees and shrubs, planting cut, fertilization , sapling education and care, creating shrub and tree grates , plant diseases and pests and their detection and control (integrated and ecological plant protection ,), crown and forms of education, average periods Wound closures , refinements and refinements, domestic and exotic fruit trees , street trees , municipal green maintenance, treatment of ecological trees (dead wood, breeding and nesting opportunities and so on), neophytes and neozoa, invasive neobiota and autochthonous species , nature and landscape protection and much more.

In addition to the points mentioned above, the training plan in the Odenwald region also includes soil maintenance and neighborhood law .

Professional recognition

In Austria, anyone can theoretically call themselves a tree species at the moment, as the job title is not yet protected.

Difference from gardening and other comparable professions

The tree species differs from the gardener , landscape gardener , landscaper and forestry worker in that his training and the specialist knowledge he has acquired is limited to fruit growing. While training to become a gardener, the basics of pruning fruit trees are taught, but mostly only relate to the shape of the trees. A tree species is therefore not automatically a gardener and vice versa. However, these professions can complement each other.

Further training

Many institutions that offer tree maintenance training also enable further training to become a cellar keeper and / or winemaker . The coupling of the baumart and winemaker training is interesting because it allows the field of activity to be expanded from fruit growing to viticulture.

But the pomologist , cider sommelier or orchard educator are also interesting additions. Such additional qualifications are important for many tree attendants; They not only gain extensive knowledge of fruit processing and refinement, but also the idea of ​​nature conservation in the preservation of trees in the ever rarer orchards and in nature and landscape protection areas.

Area of ​​responsibility

The area of ​​responsibility of the tree gardener extends from looking after one's own garden or orchard to the commercial care of house gardens and orchards. The care and maintenance of trees - even deadwood trees and dead trees - in landscape and nature conservation areas are increasingly coming into the focus of practical nature conservation and the public with regard to biodiversity .

Since many course graduates are farmers who have acquired the specialist knowledge mainly for their own use, there is an ever increasing demand for tree maintenance by private individuals for the care of gardens, properties and orchards.

This support includes not only the professional pruning of fruit trees, but also fertilization, replanting of young trees, disease detection ( e.g. fire blight) and refinement. Mostly, the baumart is also a competent contact person for questions of tree care in general and fruit growing in particular (fruit types and matching pollinators, disease and pest resistance and intolerances, novelties and current cultivation recommendations and so on).

After the trained tree attendants are becoming fewer and fewer today due to the often lacking training opportunities and obsolescence, since 1998 the State Association for Fruit Growing, Garden and Landscape Baden-Württemberg (LOGL) has been training specialist attendants (the exact name is "LOGL-tested fruit and Gartenfachwarte ”) the necessary knowledge of tree care - also with regard to the maintenance and development of the regional orchards  - passed on, maintained and expanded.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Oberthür : Johann Klör, a strange farmer in Franconia: together with Klör's portrait. Verlag Seidel, Sulzbach 1818, p. 57, online at Digitale-Sammlungen.de, accessed on January 1, 2017.
  2. ↑ Anonymous: Baumart. Online at Ulmer.de, accessed on December 27, 2016.
  3. ↑ History of the tree species. LOGL, accessed December 28, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Baumart specialty course. Fruit and Wine Center Carinthia, on OWZ-Kaernten.at, accessed on February 5, 2017.
  5. ^ Special course in fruit growing - baumart 2014. Course program, on OWZ-Kaernten.at, accessed on February 5, 2017 (PDF; 12 kB).
  6. ↑ Baumart 2021: Fruit trees as a cultural asset need competence. In: Education & Events> Fruit Growing. Education Center Triesdorf, accessed on August 12, 2019 .
  7. ↑ this corresponds to 350 teaching units, i.e. "lessons of 45 minutes each"
  8. ↑ a b Offer of the fruit and horticultural advice center of the district of Rastatt for tree maintenance training. Rastatt district, accessed January 12, 2017 .