Palmen bald auf Helgoland - aber die deutsche Eiche stirbt  - please click on!

Article from one German newspaper "Bild am Sonntag" from July, 30th, 2006

Translation of the article:

Palms soon on Heligoland - but the German oak dies

In the agriculture the fight against the climate change already has begun. "New plant varieties are breeding constantly, which are better resistant against drought and heat", says Professor Hans-Joachim Weigel, President of the Bundesforschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft (FAL) in Braunschweig. Rye and wheat are counting in the particulary in addition. "The farming of soja might be possible in Germany in approx. 30 years." In the addition of that comes vegetable which are so far rather resident in the Mediterrean Area. "For tomatos and paprikas the condition will be ideal here," so the plant expert Professor Donat-Peter Haeder from the univesity of Erlangen-Nuremberg. "Of all one has to provide for artificial watering in particulary dry areas like  Brandenburg or Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Even the orange and lemon trees or palms will survive in particulary mild areas of Germany. "In addition count the North Sea island Heligoland and sheltered coast areas, in which the temperatures will not fall under the freezing point anymore thank of the warm North Sea in the winter too," so Haeder.

Good prospects also for German winegrowers: A wine from the Schlei River in Schleswig-Holstein? Haeder:"For our children and grandchildren it will be a matter of course." Even grape cultivars like Syrah Cabernet Sauvignon or the Italian Nebbiolo Grape could thrive at the Rhine and Neckar soon. "Already now the outdoor trials are running", agrees Norbert Weber, president of the German Winegrower Society.

The climate change brings also problems for the resident plants. Particulary endangered is the German oak. It's suffering strongly under the heat and drought. In the long term it will extinct in Central Europe", warns Karl-Jochen Rave, leader of the forest owner society Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Meanwhile are outdoor trials  running in Saxonia, Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with tree species which are taking the dry future climate better. Added to the American red oak and edible chestnut the forestry experts are prefering the cluster oak particulary.

Note of the Heligoland Exotic Team:

Palms are already growing on Heligoland since the eighties of the past century, the first trachys were planted by Prof. Dr. Warda on the island out and since 2004 were further palm species like e. g. the Chilean Wine Palm (Jubaea chilensis)  planted on Heligoland for the first time. Many have survived till today now. Even one Aloe cf. arborescens was planted on Heligoland out in 2004 and has survived all of the outdoor winters since that, this is still not possible on the mainland.

That not only in the particulary mild areas of Germany palms and citrus trees will survive without winter protection in the future, show the many areas in the Mediterrean Area, where are sometimes substantial night frosts can occur and there are never ice days occuring. Despite of that there are thriving date palms and washingtonias, Mediterrean palms (Chamaerops humilis), Jelly Palms (Butia species) and Chilenean Wine Palms very well. In the case of the citrus trees some hardy varieties like e. g. Satsuma mandarins and cumquats will be grown. In particulary sheltered and mild parts of Germany even commercially banana farming will be possible probably with cold tolerant varieties like Musa 'Dwarf Orinoco', triploidizied Musa sp. Helen's Hybrid, new fruit banana cultivars with Musa basjoo descent and triploidizied Musa sikkimensis, partly these new cultivars were already bred in the laboratory and are not tested yet. The future climate in Germany might be similar to the of Ticino, at the Garda Lake, in the southern states of the U.S.A., at the Turkish coast of the Black Sea and Mediterrean sea today.