St.Vincent de Paule Fruit Tree Nursery
This nursery is the only nursery on the Islands accredited to produce Virus Free/Virus Tested fruit tree plants. Certification of all plants produced in this nursery is carried out by the Department’s Plant Biotechnology Centre at Lija, who keep strict control and frequent testing of soil and plant conditions.

This nursery specialises in the production of stone fruit trees like Peaches, Plums, Nectarines, and Apricots. The bookings for the sale of these fruit trees usually takes place during the last fifteen days of August.

The production of olive tree plants is now well under way, and its popularity is steadily growing among farmers. Thousands of olive rootstock are grafted each year and grown to a healthy plant which is sold two years after grafting.

St. Vincent de Paule Nursery, which has an area of 9 hectares (80 tumoli), has been officially inaugurated in January 2000. Production of certified stone fruit trees rose from 2,410 in 1999 to 5,340 in 2002. This season close to 20,000 fruit trees have been grafted. It is situated in an excellent position, well isolated from other fruit tree orchards, being a disease-free nursery.

The nursery was established with the technical and expertise help of CIHEAM through the Istituto Agronomico Mediterraneo of Bari. Nursery staff are sent from time to time to this Agronomic Institute to train in the running of the nursery and the cultivation of disease-free plant material. Technical experts also visit the nursery when needed.

Viticulture
Plans are underway to establish also a vine nursery at St. Vincent de Paule. High quality, disease-free mother plants will be planted this season in preparation for production of vines and vine rootstock.

Demonstration Orchards
St. Vincent de Paule Nursery also boasts of a 7 tumoli demonstration orchard, in which 399 trees from 132 varieties of stone fruit trees are grown. These serve as a demonstration to local growers who can observe the particular properties of any chosen variety.

Another demonstration orchard consists of 68 olive trees from 8 different varieties of olive trees. One can observe not only the varieties (table and oil) but also the distance of planting, grafting and other technical details.

A similar demonstration vineyard is being established, projected to contain wine and table grapes.

	List of fruit trees grown at St. Vincent de Paule Nursery
	Peaches		Flash Colour		Fruit maturity
	Maycrest		Yellow		beginning of June
	Suncrest		Yellow		mid-July
	Springcrest		Yellow		mid-June
	Springtime		Yellow		beginning of June
	Baby Gold 9		Yellow		end of August, beginning of September
	Regina Bianca		White		mid-August
	Procedere di Novembre				mid-October

	Plums		Flash Colour		Fruit maturity
	Friar		Black		beginning of August
	Santa Rosa		Red		end of July, beginning of August
	Angeleno		Yellow		beginning of September
	Shiro		White		beginning of July
	Autumn Giant		Red		mid-September

	Nectarines		Flash Colour		Fruit maturity
	Armking		Yellow		mid-June
	Fairlane		Yellow		beginning of September
	Caldesi 2000		White		end of June, beginning of July
	Fantasia		Yellow		beginning of August
	Firebrite		Yellow		beginning of July

	Apricots		Fruit maturity
	Harcot		mid-June
	Orangered		mid-June
	Ninfa		mid-May
	San Canino Tardivo		mid-July

	Pears		Fruit maturity
	Bella di Guigno		June
	Coscia Precoce		July

	Bambinella
	Rummien
	Bajtar ta' San Gwann
	Cawsli

	List of olive tree varieties grown
			Type		Fruit Maturity
	Santa Agostina		Table		mid-September to mid-October
	Uva di Piccione		Table		end of September / October
	Piscioline		Table/Oil		October to December
	Carolea		Table/Oil		October to December
	Nocellara Messinese		Table/Oil		mid-September to mid-October
	Itrana		Table/Oil		mid-November to end January
	Nocellara del Bellice		Table/Oil		beginning of October

List of Vine varieties

Table white
Regina
Madam Victoria

Table red
Alphonse Lavalle
Michele Paglieri

Wine white
Cataratto
Muscat Blanc a Petit Grains
Chardonnay
Sauvignon Blanc
Chenin Blanc

Wine red
Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon/Franc
Syrah
Petit Verdot
Sangiovese

	Vine Rootstocks
	Paulsen 1103:		for heavy soils
	Ruggieri 140:		for light soils

	Fruit Tree Rootstocks
	GF 677:		for Peach & Nectarine grafting
	29 C:		for Plum & Apricot grafting
	Pyrus Comunis:		for Pear & Bambinella