Why did you choose VALENCIA in Spain for our orchard?
Spain is the largest exporter of citrus fruit in the world.
The tradition of Valencia oranges is so old that they are famous all over the world.
Valencian citriculture has gone through many phases in its history to become what it is today.
The video below shows you an overview of our farm and its challenges
#valencia #lacasadelimon #fingerlime #lliria #lemoncaviar
In 1956, due to the citrus tristeza virus in Spain, citriculture went through difficult times.
Citrus tristeza virus, or CTV, is a phytovirus species of the genus Closterovirus that affects most plant species of the genus Citrus. This disease, which causes the withering of trees, is the main scourge of citrus growing in the world.
However, since the mid-1970s, an innovative sanitation program has enabled the production and subsequent distribution of oranges and lemons without viruses.
"Valencia's oranges are the best in the world," do not they? They are labeled with an appellation of origin.
This citrus crop generates wealth for the Region of Valencia and allows many small farmers to benefit directly from citrus growing and marketing in this region. The region has great expertise in the cultivation, exploitation, and distribution of Citrus fruits.
It seems that, The first orange wine in the world was made from Valencia oranges, called Tarongino.
Other delicious dishes prepared with citrus fruits from the Region of Valencia, that we recommend you try, including the chickpea stew with orange peel, and a typical Christmas dessert, orange turrón
Why does the Valencia region have a specific climate?
Valencia is located on the seaside, but inside a circus lined with mountains, blocking the wet marine lifts.
But in addition, 70.000 hectares of swamps and rice fields, the Albufera, form a unique wetland.
The Albufera is a superb place to discover beautiful landscapes. You can get to the Albufera Natural Park by bus from the center of Valencia. During the trip, you can already start to see beautiful landscapes. The Albufera was declared a wetland of international importance in 1990 to protect this area.
The Valencia region therefore has a unique climate, favorable to our exploitation.
Why create a Citrus "Garden"?
In fact, the idea of creating a "GARDEN" citrus is simple: our production must be exemplary in terms of quality.
Thus, we can not produce irresponsibly.
Our orchard is therefore designed to promote bio diversity of insects, which will promote the reduction of pests and diseases.
Thus, the hedges we create in the orchard are made with plants that promote the barrier to pollutants, as well as the proliferation of insects beneficial to our varieties of fruit trees.
And always for this purpose, other fruit trees, which are not in our production, will be planted.
Like setting up grassland cover.
And many other things that all serve this purpose: a clean production, and of very good quality.
Is Caviar lemon tree hard to grow?
The answer is obviously yes!
But it's normal, this lemon tree does not come from hot and sunny country, but comes from a wet and dark environment, comes from the undergrowth of the Australian forest!
It is therefore necessary to take into account this very specific origin, to better cultivate it and that this shrub, this thorny bush produces pleasant and exceptional fruits.
So you can imagine, all the difficulty of cultivating these exceptional fruits in the Spanish climate (see picture below), hot and still arid!
That's why for the past 2 years we have been growing different varieties of finger lime or caviar lemons in our laboratory greenhouse to study their behavior.
And it's very informative!
Suffice to say that the results are very surprising, and can now predict their specific needs.
And that has nothing to do with their cousins, the usual and common lemon trees that we find easily everywhere.
