The region of Quinta das Balsas is dotted with chestnut trees that are 200, or even 300, years old. Unfortunately, many of these trees have been abandoned, left to rot, plagued by parasitic organisms, and overtaken by wild forest. SIAPO invests significant resources to recover these trees by cleaning the area around them, trimming the branches, covering the cuts with protective foam and copper, and removing the irrecoverable sick trees that might contaminate others. The Asian Chestnut Gall Wasp (Dryocosmus kuriphilus) is the single biggest threat to these majestic trees. We are supported by the Sabugal Municipality in our efforts to control this parasite with their annual release of the wasp’s larval predator the “Torymus sinensis” fly.
The combination of global warming with abandonment of forests creates the perfect conditions for the occurrence of devastating forest fires. At SIAPO we continue to make significant investments to clean the forests on our farms. This requires the relevant manpower involvement, which is difficult to find in the sparsely-populated, aged population of our region. After cleaning the forest, we start to raise free-range cattle to make sure the forest stays healthy. We have cleaned more than 200ha in our three farms and the objective is to clean another 100ha by the end of 2023.
In the Quinta do Melro, our lowest altitude farm at 900 m, we have succeeded in the experimental plantation of 10ha of walnut trees of the Franquette and Fernor varieties. We have planted 1,200 walnut trees to-date.
In the Quinta das Balsas farm we have planted close to 5,600 hybrid chestnut trees which are resistant to some of the most pervasive plagues in the area. We have favoured the Martainha, Judia, Longal and Rebordã varieties as they are better adapted to the local environment. We have installed an advanced irrigation system (fully solar-powered) to increase the tree survival rate in the first five years and secure both better yields per hectare and a higher calibre of chestnut. Luckily this area is rich in groundwater and river streams which facilitates our access to water.
We have many ancient stone structures on our farms: old mountain houses, water wells and reservoirs, walls, tombs, etc., with some of them being thousands of years old. Because these ruins no longer have economic value, they have been abandoned for centuries. SIAPO is committed to the rebuild and preservation of these structures to maintain the memory and legacy of the people that have worked on this land for so many generations.
The cultivation of wild mushrooms, especially the Penny Bun (Boletus edulis) and the Parasol (Macrolepiota procera) varieties, present a promising economic opportunity to explore in the humid, oak tree forests of our region. We have successfully developed one 1ha through the micorriza seeding methodology. In the coming years, our objective is to increase the total area dedicated to growing wild mushrooms to 50ha.
