Second batch of trials has been conduced this year among 6 european nurseries :
Rebschule Scheiblhofer in Austria
Kun Nursery in Hungary
Jidvei nursery in Romania
Multivitis in Switzerland
Ioannis Politikos In Greece
Covidaï in Spain
Grafted vines with organic wax during and after planting at Jidvei Nursery, Romania :
Results of trial
Nurseries have rated bee wax following 7 different criterias. They all seem very satisfied since its general performance has a very good 4,3/5 rating :
Visual appearance : excellent (2,8/3)
Smell : nice (2,6/3)
Easy to use : as easy to use as conventional wax
Adherence before planting : 4,4/5
Elasticity : 4,2/5
Callus protection : 4,4/5
Estimate success rate (average of nurseries) : 54%
General performance : 4,3/5
A melting point to be improved ?
A recurrent observation says that wax melting temperature seems slightly lower, which means that its use might not be appropriate for nurseries located in regions with very high spring temperatures :
“The soaking temperature of the organic wax must be well idetificated. If the temperature is higher than it is appropriate the coverage is very thin so the protection is not effective even on the rootstock surface and even on the callus.”
However, no nursery observed any problem due to callus protection this year since it has been rated 4,4/5.
The price, a prohibitive factor for organic wax? Maybe not for long…
Bee wax price has been so far much higher than paraffin wax. But now due to the petrol crisis that has emerged with the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, this gap tends to narrow.
Look at our 4 reasons wax organic wax is the future :
To be continued…
In October we’ll visit the Romanian nursery Jidvei which is the nursery that have made the biggest organic wax trial so far… and has probably the most significant results.
Other results coming out from Southern Hemisphere
Southern nurseries also interested by this new product began to send us feedbacks
Ormond Nurseries (New-Zealand) have now ended first trial : they found out bee wax provided nearly same results than Cirka wax, even better sometimes (78.78% success rate with yellow organic wax vs 76,41% success rate with Cirka wax)
Ryset (Australia) has tested the organic wax on vines, but also on ornamental plants and fruit trees
PW Botha (South Africa) has ordered samples to conduct trials among various nurseries in Wellington