The Environment Department in Orihuela Council is continuing to recover the agricultural use that characterises the Palmeral de Orihuela through the execution of the Plantation Plan that began to be developed in 2020.
On this occasion, and in accordance with the guidelines established in the Master and Management Plan for the palm grove, this spring the planting will continue, in the traditional alignments that delimit the agricultural orchards, of another 50 palm trees that are added to the 300 that have been established in their definitive location since September 2020, and that will progressively allow the rejuvenation of the Palm Grove.
“These specimens are going to be located in easily irrigated areas to guarantee their survival during the coming summer, however, it is expected to significantly increase the number of specimens planted at the beginning of autumn, as they require less maintenance at this time compared to the necessary irrigation”, according to Dámaso Aparicio, the councillor responsible for the department.
These planting tasks constitute one of the main axes of the “roadmap” established in the Master and Management Plan for the Palm Grove to achieve the appropriate density of palm trees, which is estimated at about 350 date palms per hectare (currently it is 220 palm trees per hectare). “The objective is that in the future palm trees of different heights and with well-balanced age structures coexist”, assured the councillor.
In addition, in the next few days fruit trees such as fig and olive trees will be replaced and new traditional herbaceous crops will be incorporated, such as cotton, which will be located in two plots with a combined surface area of 1,300 m².
“Alfalfa, a crop that improves the soil, is going to be planted in 6 agricultural plots (about 6,000 m²) that in some cases were beginning to be colonised by reeds, which in this way is intended to help limit their growth and In this way, we can recover from the agricultural use that characterises the BIC del Palmeral de Orihuela”, explained Aparicio.
Added to these cultivation spaces are the 4,500 m² that were sown with wheat at the end of last autumn (they are currently in full bloom), so more and more traditional species are being cultivated again in this unique space, and to which, in new planting stages, as indicated by the Councillor for the Environment, other traditional varieties of fruit trees will be added.
