Juice scales and pruning

Around 30 hobby gardeners took part in the fruit tree pruning course organized by the westheim association for horticulture and landscape gardening. Certified gardener edwin fella had a lot of advice to offer. Kick-off was the preservation of tree health. Lichen growth does not damage the tree, fella emphasized. Lichens are a sign of good air quality.
Medlars, on the other hand, are parasites that weaken the tree and must be kept in check. When it comes to planting fruit trees, "frustration and pleasure begin with the choice of location". The proximity to other plants and woods must also be taken into account, for example, thuja plants challenge pear lattice rust, and when planting biennial fruit trees such as sub-cherries, attention must be paid to the proximity of suitable pollinators.
The tree crown must allow light and air to enter, so the rule of thumb for pruning fruit trees, according to fella, is: "remove anything that is crisscrossed, dead, growing too steeply upwards, or growing ruber towards the neighbor." Those present learned what the sap scale means when pruning fruit trees and that the first eight years of a fruit tree's life are the most important: "what hanschen doesn't learn …". In the young tree, pruning shapes the tree architecture in the form of a pyramid.
If the pruning is too severe and if aste is not cut close enough to the trunk, water shoots will occur. In summer, when they are soft, they can simply be twisted out by hand at the base. In conservation pruning, the predefined tree growth form is maintained and light pruning is done.
More severe rejuvenation pruning can be done on old trees. To optimize the fruit harvest, fella advises reducing the use of pesticides to a minimum and instead calling for beneficial plants. One to two bird nesting boxes and one insect hotel per garden are sufficient. With a starling rafter in the nesting box of a cherry tree, other birds are prevented from plundering the cherries.
The participants were also instructed in the refinement techniques of fruit woods. The participants learned that good tools are essential for all work. Due to the high level of interest, the board is planning an extra course in 2019 on the refinement of fruit woods or a cutting course for precious woods. 

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Ten injured after explosion and fire in refinery

Ten injured after explosion and fire in refinery

At least ten people have been injured in an explosion and subsequent blaze at a refinery site in vohburg an der donau, upper bavaria. Around 2000 residents had to temporarily leave their homes and apartments on saturday.

Why the explosion occurred in the morning was initially unclear. Dense clouds of dark smoke hung over the countryside, the flames were visible from afar, and a foul smell was in the air. Residents reported the bang in the morning around 5.00 o’clock had been heard for miles around.

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Gone for years – runaway tomcat returned to owner

The police returned an animal that had allegedly escaped 18 years ago to a cat owner in berlin. The black tomcat kimba had been handed over in a neglected condition at a police station, the police wrote on facebook on wednesday.

According to the report, he had drawn attention to himself last friday on a footpath in the suburb of marienfelde with a "plaintive meowing".

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Usa facing administrative shutdown: hundreds of thousands threatened with forced leave

Usa facing administrative shutdown: hundreds of thousands threatened with forced leave

The government is thus threatened with financial paralysis as of midnight (local time), the start of the new budget year. From tuesday on, up to 800,000 state employees had to be laid off without pay, and many offices and institutions remained closed. Health care and safety, however, would remain guaranteed, he said in washington.

U.S. President barack obama made it clear once again monday that he will not compromise on his health care reform, which conservatives are demanding as a condition for transitional funding. He urged republicans on the sidelines of a meeting with israeli leader benjamin netanyahu to put aside short-term political calculations and do "what’s right".

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The bahamas struggle with the aftermath of hurricane dorian

The bahamas struggle with the aftermath of hurricane dorian

After the departure of hurricane dorian, the bahamas struggles with the aftermath of the severe hurricane. In the caribbean island nation where "dorian" first made landfall about a week ago, at least 43 people died as a result of the storm, according to official figures.

The government there expects a further increase in the number of deaths. Hundreds of people – according to some reports even thousands – are still considered missing.

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The cultural landscape has a high value

The conflict has been smoldering for a long time, as district chairman karl-heinz vogler puts it: "we farmers need the saale meadows for our cows and roughage eaters, but the water management authority (freistaat) wants to leave the saale close to nature almost everywhere and give it more space on the left and right." About 500 hectares of farmland are at stake, and with it the forage base for 1100 cows, which has been lost.

The farmers therefore took the opportunity to sensitize walter heindl, the president of the bavarian farmers’ association, to their cause and ask him for support, and met him on the occasion of his visit to the district farmers’ day at the saal meadows near bad bocklet. Beforehand, deputy mayor andreas sandwall had made it clear at a small reception that even a health resort is dependent on farmers. They contributed to the preservation of the cultural landscape of the saale valley, assets that the region can also use to attract tourists.
The "interessengemeinschaft (IG) zur erhaltung der kulturlandschaft frankischer saale-auen" (community of interests for the preservation of the cultural landscape of the frankish saale floodplains) under the leadership of the aschach farmer norbert gotz, there have been since 2005. At that time, the land reorganization process began. IG represents about 40 farmers and was awarded the "state prize for special community and public services" in 2007 for a project involving voluntary land use swaps in the bad bocklet market." At that time, the farmers had contractually committed themselves to voluntary land use reductions and had defined on-site riparian strips which they used extensively. Since then, they have also been regularly mowing the banks and using the lush saal meadows for grazing or growing fodder on a leasing basis. But in 2017 the lease expires. Until then, the free state, which owns a lot of land on and off the saale, wants to own all of it and is striving to do so through a voluntary land swap.
But the farmers would like to maintain the status quo for the entire 80 kilometers of the saale meadow between bad neustadt and gemunden. In their opinion, this would be the best and most favorable solution for the free state. But the water management office (WWA), which drafted its water development concept for the frankische saale in 1999, wants to give the river more space and return it to the way it was before the embankment constructions of the 1950s that are gradually crumbling away. On the left and on the right on average 15 meters are to be designated and differently strongly cultivated. According to WWA chief leonhard rosentritt, the first five meters should belong to the shore vegetation, because: "we also have to do something for the water quality."

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Coje presented a piece on “enlightenment with humor”

When young people have their first butterflies in their stomachs, it’s time for an age-appropriate and sensitive education – for "love, love and the sexperts" of the witten acting group "theaterspiel. Around 250 schoolchildren followed the production in the coje with great interest. In the subsequent discussion round, the actors led by beate albrecht, ellen knoch (pregnancy counseling health office) and ulrike heinze-zelger (diakonisches werk pregnancy counseling) as well as maciej danko (ejott) addressed the questions and ideas of the young people.
In the case of the main characters in the play, lucy and robin, it happened quite suddenly. Suddenly friendship turned into the first rough love. The problems and questions that arise from this for the two young people are taken up in the piece. Lucy and robin are confronted with contraception, unwanted pregnancy and their first relationship problems and show how young people deal with the side effects of growing up.
"Young people and children are confronted with sexuality and love in the media at a very early age, often without any increase in knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to offer young people age-appropriate offers, without scaring them off and yet enlightening them in a humorous way", says christina dietze from the association for social pedagogical youth aid.
The production deliberately incorporated age-appropriate methods such as rap singing, comedy and street dancing, which went down well with the young audience. "Young people can recognize themselves in the questions they are confronted with", uli heinze-zelger said. "Young coburgers need to communicate with their peers in their own language in order to take preventive action. Only in this way can misinformation, such as ‘no one gets pregnant from the first time’, be corrected in the long term", female ellen knoch.
"In the everyday life of youth clubs, the issues raised are not only present through digital media, says maciej danko, who works at the "treffpunkt" on the bertelsdorfer high tatig is. Confidants in youth work are key sources of information here. Theater play is a good way to talk about topics from young people’s everyday lives without shame or alienation.

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