Products and providers

While working with Life in our day-to-day, we must make sure to be as respectful, careful and demanding as we can, in everything we do. And this is something we find particularly relevant when it comes to choosing products we will use on our plants and soils.

For this reason, at the Orchard of Flavours, we always pay close attention to whatever inputs and tools we use, making sure we’re well-informed and in tune with what they are and what they do.

We know how difficult it can be to find good products, so we want to show you which ones we work with and where to find them. We are not commercially affiliated with any of the products or companies mentioned.
If you know of any other ‘products or services’ you think might be helpful to us, please contact miguel@orchardofflavours.com.

Mycorrhizae biostimulants

Nowadays, it’s becoming more apparent that the use of biostimulants can make a significant difference in growing resilient living systems and, as we explain in our article on mycorrhizae, this kind of fungi can be a fantastic helper for the development and health of plants and trees, as well as of all soil life. Unfortunately, there are very few companies selling mycorrhizae biostimulants in Europe at the moment. These are some of the ones we know:

PHC - Plant Health Cure
A Dutch company that has mycorrhiza products and mycorrhiza in their mixes of soil enhancers. Very informative website in several languages.

Symbiom
This Czech company sells Symbivit. The company is not very informative about the contents of their products. They barely give any information about the type of mycorrhizae they include in their products.

Asfertglobal
This Portuguese company sells Mycoshell (which can be found at the Messinagro Lda shops throughout Algarve).

Organic soil amendments

At Orchard of Flavours, we try to use locally produced soil amendments, or at least ones that are produced in Portugal.

Generally, we use three different soil amendment products:

• Plant-based compost from a local center. We use tons of it ! In most cases we add between one to four full wheelbarrows in a 1 cubic meter hole. The price is around 30 EUR per ton.

• Siro Agro 2, a very well composted organic-certified horse manure. We use between 35 to 70 liters per tree at the plantation in a 1 cubic meter hole. Approx 6 eur for a 70 liters bag.

• Siro Agro 1, a compost made of pine tree humus which means it is slightly acidic. We use it generously when we want to decrease the PH. Approx 6 eur for a 70 liters bag.

• Peat moss: we now try to avoid it and instead we use Siro Agro 1.

SIRO (Integrated Organic Recycling Systems) is the very professional Portuguese provider that produces Siro Agro 1 and Siro Agro 2 products. They have a very diverse portfolio of organic products for show on their website.

Organic liquid fertilizer

We found it very difficult to find organic liquid fertilizer here in Portugal. We now use the products of two well-established Dutch companies called Ferm O Feed and PHC (Plant Health Cure). We regularly use the following products: Fertiplus Liquid 5.2.4, Fertiplus Liquid 3.2.7 and Fertiplus Aminoacids. The Ferm O Feed products are now provided in Portugal via Pelarigo.

Micro-irrigation materials and tools

We found it very difficult to come upon a local company offering high-quality irrigation material, coupled with friendly professional advice.. But we did!

We warmly recommend Vivída Lda (Aquamatic). This company, located in Almancil, is managed by a young English-speaking and very knowledgeable Portuguese guy, Sileno, and his assistant João. If you have a big project, call Sileno for an appointment and we’re sure you won’t be disappointed (tel + 351 939 802 859).

Vivída provides Rainbird and Netafim irrigation products. At Orchard of Flavours, we only use those two brands because they guarantee that all their products have a UV protection filter. This extra protection is essential in the Algarve or any other place with similar hours of strong sunlight, so we strongly advise taking that extra precaution when fitting your garden or orchard. You can be sure that the extra money you’ll spend on these higher quality parts will translate to huge savings in not only money but also the headaches and trouble you’d go through over the years if deciding on cheaper alternatives.

Among the products sold at Vivída are the extremely useful Netafim pressure-compensated drippers, which allow you to irrigate a precise number of liters per hour. The shop also sells a good selection of Bellota gardening tools, as well as very reliable irrigation computers with a wifi link.

Agricultural weather station and water sensors

In the beginning of 2021, we conducted an extensive research about weather stations that could give us real-time information about the weather and soil conditions in the Orchard. We came across many excellent products with incredibly high prices which we could not afford. Then we found this great company, Meteobot, who is selling affordable weather stations specifically designed for farmers and gardeners.

Meteobot automatic weather stations offer excellent value for money and are very user-friendly (all is controlled on your mobile phone). Our station allows us to know exactly the amount of rainfall, calculates precisely the evapotranspiration, gives a precise indication of the soil moisture at different depths, and others. It also allows us to set up alarms (in case of light frosts, strong winds, high temperatures, water deficit, etc).

So far we are very satisfied and we also appreciated their after-sale service very much.