Do you have questions? We have answers.

If you have any questions about availability, please send us an email with your specific questions. If you have more specific questions about cultivation, varieties, and handling, please call us during our opening hours and we will advise you individually on all your concerns.

You are welcome to send us your inquiries by phone or email at info@graeb.com. If the trees are available, we will send you a non-binding quote. Once you confirm this, we will reserve the requested trees and send you a binding order confirmation. 

Our consultations are always free of charge. We want to use our expertise to share our knowledge of successful fruit growing with you. To this end, we have well-trained specialists and are in close contact with growers and institutes to keep track of variety developments. Depending on the region, we work with consultants and regional representatives. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact us.

Depending on the region and quantities, we plan the first routes two weeks before delivery. We try to find the most cost-effective option for all customers. We can often combine regions and customers and carry out deliveries accordingly. We always take your wishes into account and look for a solution for everything. A big thank you goes out to all customers who agreed to accept trees from other customers again last season and helped organize the pickup on site! 

In our experience, autumn planting has many advantages. The trees can establish themselves well in their new location over the winter. The root system gains more stability and is better supplied with water right from the start. Whereas with spring planting there is a greater risk of drying out, or even the need for watering, water supply is less of a critical factor with autumn planting. We store our trees in the forest during winter and do not have refrigeration facilities, so delivery must take place by the end of February unless it is not possible to switch to spring planting in individual cases. This may be necessary due to weather conditions and location. In some years, depending on the weather, delivery may also be possible until March. Storage in the forest can be arranged individually for a small surcharge. Please feel free to contact us.

The earlier the better 😊... especially for larger quantities, it is advisable to plan almost one to two years in advance. We have regular and popular varieties in stock in large quantities on common rootstocks, so it may be sufficient to inquire in the spring for the coming fall. If you have more specific requests, it is always a good idea to plan ahead. This can also have price advantages for you if we can plan with you two years in advance.

When choosing rootstock, the following questions always arise: Is it a replanting, is the location in a drier climate or a wetter one, and is it a high-yielding variety?

 In drier regions or for replanting, a more vigorous rootstock is generally recommended. Fertile varieties usually have higher yields, so a vigorous rootstock is also recommended here, but the location can also be a decisive factor. 

If you have any questions in this regard, please do not hesitate to contact us. For sweet cherries, we currently graft a lot onto Gisela 5 and increasingly onto Gisela 13. Others are available on request and as contract grafting.

We are very precise in our quality classifications. To this end, the stock and development of the trees are assessed several times throughout the year so that we can give our customers an indication of the expected quality even before delivery. The classification into four different grades has proven itself over the years, allowing us to discuss and take into account the wishes and requirements of our customers in advance for the majority of orders.

As soon as you receive the trees from us, you can moisten the roots well with a water hose and cover them with damp cloths if necessary. Please do not immerse them completely in water or leave them in water for long periods of time. Firstly, the trees and roots are already dormant in autumn and do not need much water. Even if they look dry on the outside, they have been well moistened by us prior to shipping, so they only appear “dry” on the outside. If you are unable to plant the trees immediately or within 2-5 days, place them in a pre-milled field strip in bundles of 5 so that all roots are covered. This will allow them to overwinter if necessary. Storage in a cold store is also possible, in which case the roots should ideally be covered with sand and kept moist. Storage with fruit, such as apples, is not recommended.

The license holder of a protected variety requires the grower to provide information regarding the tree planting. This serves to protect the variety, prevent illegal propagation, and thus ensure compliance with the license terms. Required information includes the number of trees, the planted area (field designation, parcel number), location, date, and signature. After a binding order is placed, we will send these forms to you via email. Prompt return of the completed forms is mandatory, as we are required to meet deadlines for submitting this information to the license holder. 

Yes, depending on the type of fruit, the trees are pruned after planting according to their desired training and cultivation method. If you would like specific advice on this, please do not hesitate to contact us.

One of the most decisive factors affecting fruit set is genetics!

Therefore, one can only make very vague generalizations, as there are other variables that are also crucial. Generally speaking, varieties with high yields tend to have better fruit set than varieties or years with lower yields, due to the distribution of water across a larger number of fruits. With higher flesh firmness, the tendency to crack is greater, though this still depends on the variety. In practical cultivation, there are certainly measures that can influence firmness, but here too, there are several factors to consider. These are highly dependent on location and weather conditions.

To evaluate our range, such as the yield characteristics and health of the respective varieties over the years, we have a 5-hectare trial site where specialist staff meticulously record all data throughout the year. 

The wine-growing climate at the site between the Rhine and Moselle rivers is characterized by low rainfall in summer. Average annual precipitation is between 500–600 mm/m². The average annual temperature is 10.8 °C. The local climate promotes early wood maturation and tree health during cultivation.

The volcanic weathered soil has a high pumice content, which promotes good aeration of the soil. Our soils are characterized by a high water storage capacity and rapid warming, thus offering optimal conditions for the cultivation of stone fruit trees. 

You will find information on fertility in our respective variety descriptions. As a rule, we expect 10% pollinator varieties in a plantation to ensure yields. Depending on the planting, this can also be varied. Please contact us if you have any questions. 

The cuttings from our own cutting garden are sampled regularly. For grafting, we mainly use material from varieties grown in our own cutting gardens. 

Not exclusively, but the common new and proven varieties are available in our own cutting garden. This allows us to maintain our standards of quality and virus prevention. Thanks to the short distances involved in the grafting process, we are able to achieve high success rates in the growth results.  Virus tests are carried out annually in our cutting gardens to ensure healthy starting material.

We focused on stone fruit in our nursery at an early stage. Thanks to our many years of experience in cultivation, in our own experimental gardens, and in close cooperation with breeders and licensors, we continue to see great opportunities for growers in this area. High-quality produce with the right characteristics is also valued by food retailers and end consumers. 

In particular, the apricot range is guaranteed to produce good yields with good fruit quality, depending on the location. In general, there are many well-established and new varieties in the current stone fruit range. 

In direct marketing in particular, customers respond positively to high-quality produce. Here, it is also possible to offer more specialized varieties to end consumers, such as bicolored cherries, which stand out with their round, fruity taste and appearance, and darker apricots, which are increasingly in demand compared to the usual single-color orange varieties.

In general, it is becoming increasingly difficult for growers to access suitable pesticides as approvals are becoming fewer and fewer. The increased immigration of invasive species will become an increasingly important issue. 

Currently, the cherry vinegar fly, the Mediterranean fruit fly, and various species of bugs are posing major challenges for growers. Here we see an economic problem of the efficiency of using plant protection products compared to the expected profit margins for the future, especially for late-ripening sweet cherry varieties.

The general trend is that periods of heavy rainfall or drought are becoming longer or more intense overall. 

Temperatures have also risen noticeably. Compared to 30 years ago, we now have a longer growing season in the nursery, which benefits our trees and their growth.

So far, only a small area of our nursery has irrigation. A small portion of our rootstock is grown there.

In general, stone fruit trees cope well with drier conditions. On the edge of the Eifel region, our trees benefit from nutrient-rich volcanic soil. We consider overly frequent irrigation to be problematic at our location.

It is important to us that our trees are robust and healthy. We are still able to cope well with the climatic conditions at our location.

Our focus is on serving commercial growers. Due to the volumes and quantities requested, individual trees involve too much effort for us and are not logistically feasible in our operational processes.