Soil treatments and rootstocks for organic apple production

Summary

The apple variety 'Retina' is recommended for organic production in Denmark. Yet, there is no knowledge regarding the optimal rootstock for this variety. Better knowledge is also needed on production techniques, such as weed control, where different machinery for mechanical weeding is available.
Therefore, we tested the combined effect of different rootstocks and weeding techniques including soil covering with straw. As organic growers discus the necessity of weed cleaning at all, the natural vegetation was used as control treatment in the trials.