There is a sweet smell of rapeseed along the country road leading to Pometet. A Burger King cup lies abandoned in the ditch. A tractor and a lorry roar past at an ambitious speed, and further away, behind the wavy, yellow fields you hear the constant hum of the Holb\u00e6k freeway.<\/p>\n
Heavy clouds hang above us, threatening rain.<\/p>\n
\u00bbIt\u2019s not going to rain today,\u00ab says Lasse Lose. It is as much a statement as a prayer.<\/p>\n
He needs dry weather. Today they are spraying against fungal diseases, and that becomes difficult if the sky suddenly decides to opens. He is dressed in work trousers and a fleece jacket and describes his own job as \u00bb20 per cent gardener and 80 per cent manager.\u00ab<\/p>\n
On the ground stand endless rows of black pots with almost bare branches sticking out of them. One of them carries a white label reading \u00bbJytte Abildstr\u00f8m\u00ab, the name of a beloved Danish actor who died a couple of years ago. If you squint, you can just about imagine that all these pots will one day become flowering apple trees spread across the large grounds. But for now, they stand here in the nursery section, forming a maze for the site\u2019s youngest employee: a black-and-white cat named Iris.<\/p>\n
\u00bbShe\u2019s our youngest employee,\u00ab says Lasse Lose. \u00bbShe catches rats and mice here.\u00ab<\/p>\n
We are at Pometet, the University of Copenhagen\u2019s living gene bank in Taastrup. It is at once an orchard, a research facility, a laboratory, and a cultural archive. Old varieties of fruit trees and berry bushes are grafted, studied, propagated and preserved here, while new ones are constantly added to the collections.<\/p>\n
But the history of Pometet began long before Taastrup.
\n<\/p>\n
In 1858, at what was then called the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Frederiksberg, an orchard was established with the ambition of collecting as many fruit varieties as possible. Students were to learn how to distinguish between them and assess their suitability for Danish conditions.<\/p>\n
The problem was that there was never quite enough space.<\/p>\n
J.R. Dybdahl, a lecturer in horticulture who took charge of the garden in 1863, \u00bbappeared to acquire more fruit trees than there was room for,\u00ab as one old account of Pometet puts it.
\n
\nAt the time, several varieties would be grafted onto the same tree simply to fit them all in. As Copenhagen expanded, the orchard repeatedly had to give up land for new buildings, railways and roads. Urban development had not exactly planned around a large fruit plantation in the middle of Frederiksberg.<\/p>\n
POMETET<\/p>\n
The name Pometet derives from the Latin word pomum, meaning fruit growing on trees. Pometet was established in 1858 as part of the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Frederiksberg, but only received its current name when the entire collection was moved to Taastrup in 1956.<\/p>\n
Pometet is part of the Nordic Gene Bank network. Its core mission is to support research and teaching at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n
There are 17 duplicate collections across Denmark containing copies of Pometet\u2019s collections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Eventually, the entire collection had to be moved out of the city. In 1956 and 1957, around 1,000 trees were relocated to H\u00f8jbakkeg\u00e5rd near Taastrup. About 20 students helped with the move and were rewarded with apple juice for their efforts.<\/p>\n
Pometet is still here today, slightly hidden behind shelterbelts and fields on a sloping site where the wind continues to batter the trees.<\/p>\n
\u00bbIt\u2019s very windy out there,\u00ab Professor Anton Pedersen wrote as early as the 1950s. \u00bbShelter is a necessity.\u00ab<\/p>\n
Pometet is many things, but first and foremost it is a gene bank, explains Lasse Lose as we walk among the bare branches. He is the head of Pometet, or Pometmester, as it is called in Danish.<\/p>\n
Here, fruit varieties are preserved and categorised because they are valuable \u2014 or may one day become so. The University of Copenhagen houses many libraries, but this must surely be its most vibrant one.<\/p>\n
There are around 800 different apple varieties here. Some 350 are Danish, and a few date back to the 17th century. Others are newer creations with names like Karen Blixen, beloved Danish author, and Jytte Abildstr\u00f8m.<\/p>\n
Some of the newer trees are what Lasse Lose calls \u00bbrailway apples\u00ab.<\/p>\n
They are varieties that emerged because over the years train passengers sat in their seats eating Granny Smith apples, throwing the cores out the windows back when train windows could still be opened. Some of the seeds sprouted, grew into trees and were pollinated by bees from far and near. Over time, new varieties appeared along the old railway lines.
\n
\nIn the basement beneath the main building, the air smells sweet and musty, of cherries and the first signs of decay. Bottles, fermentation balloons and oak barrels filled with wine made from the orchard\u2019s fruit stand in rows.<\/p>\n
If you go back a few decades, they used a lot of chemicals out here. Everything had to look spotless.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Upstairs, the staff room is packed with grafting cuttings, plastic buckets and tools. A pot of grafting wax sits with a hardened brush inside, and chestnut branches that Lasse Lose had been grafting earlier this morning lie on the table. In here, the place feels less like an orchard and more like an archive of living organisms.<\/p>\n
Pometet is not organic, Lasse Lose explains as we move away from Jytte and the other young plants towards the mature trees. In the distance, a small blue tractor moves through a white mist. Their main task is to keep the varieties alive, and if diseases or pests attack the trees, they need to be able to fight back.<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe lost the entire pear collection 14 years ago because a new pest arrived in Denmark,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n
Still, they have significantly reduced their use of chemicals.<\/p>\n
\u00bbIf you go back a few decades, they used a lot of chemicals out here. Everything had to look spotless. But that obviously comes at a cost.\u00ab<\/p>\n
He likes that he and the other gardeners can walk freely among the trees, pick fruit and taste things without worry. He likes being able to let his children visit without concern.<\/p>\n
\u00bbInstead of thinking about the maximum we\u2019re allowed to use, we start with a minimum and work from there.\u00ab<\/p>\n
Dandelions, bees and orderly rows<\/h3>\n
We move among the mature trees. Row after row of small apple trees stand covered in white and pink blossoms. If pollination succeeds, this will be a good fruit year. Apples, pears, stone fruits, cherries. Berry bushes with currants, blackcurrants and gooseberries.<\/p>\n
Everywhere in the grass, bright yellow dandelions sway in the wind.<\/p>\n
Lasse Lose is often asked why he lets them stay instead of mowing them down.<\/p>\n
Yes, they spread quickly, he says. But the bees need something to feed on too. Once the fruit trees are in full bloom, the insects move on to them, and then the gardeners can cut the grass and dandelions.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s both-and, not either-or. That is why they also sow flower strips, so there is still something left in the pollinator buffet after the fruit trees finish flowering.<\/p>\n
The trees stand in pairs \u2014 A and B. Clones. There must always be at least two versions of the same variety. In a few places, there are empty gaps in the rows.<\/p>\n
\u00bbThat\u2019s sad,\u00ab says Lasse Lose. \u00bbBecause it means a variety has died.\u00ab<\/p>\n
Often, however, duplicates exist elsewhere in the nursery or collection.<\/p>\n
We pass the elderberry collection: around 80 varieties, many of them bred back in the 1960s and 70s.<\/p>\n
\u00bbPeople talk so much about all these superberries nowadays,\u00ab he says. \u00bbBut elderberries are the healthiest thing you can get.\u00ab
\n<\/p>\nGetting your hands dirty<\/h3>\n
Lasse Lose has been head gardener at Pometet for eight years. He trained as a gardener and grew up next door to a nursery.<\/p>\n
He likes order. Straight rows. Plants and trees that look good.<\/p>\n
There is not much \u00bbrewilding\u00ab under his leadership.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re used to picking and tasting fruit when it\u2019s perfectly ripe, buying apples in a supermarket becomes the dullest thing in the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But in Pometet\u2019s forest garden, gardening students are allowed to experiment. Here everything grows denser and more unruly. There is no dedicated funding for the project, but when it rains and pruning is impossible, the students are allowed to continue working on it.<\/p>\n
University students also come here to take soil samples and conduct analyses. There are no straight rows here \u2014 instead, different forms of cooperation are at play. One large tree towers above the others and binds nitrogen in the soil, benefiting the more shade-loving shrubs below.<\/p>\n
\u00bbThe idea is that you should be able to eat from every level of the garden. It\u2019s a cultivation system that exists in reasonable harmony with itself and draws on the principles of permaculture.\u00ab<\/p>\n
Lose says he was not particularly interested in fruit trees before he started working here. But this place made him picky.<\/p>\n
\u00bbWhen you\u2019re used to picking and tasting fruit when it\u2019s perfectly ripe, buying apples in a supermarket becomes the dullest thing in the world. Working here has completely ruined me.\u00ab<\/p>\n
Butterflies on the balcony<\/h3>\n
We continue towards a blue shipping container with the words URBAN FARMING painted on the side. Around it stands raised beds filled with thyme, strawberries, rhubarb and kale.<\/p>\n
\u00bbWhen I was hired, it was written into my contract that I had to make sure Pometet got some urban farming,\u00ab he laughs.<\/p>\n
Interest in self-sufficiency and growing your own food has increased significantly during his time here. Urban gardens, rooftop tomatoes and balcony farming are in vogue.<\/p>\n
\u00bbThere are two sides to it. One is about wanting to grow food and feed us. The other is the social aspect.\u00ab<\/p>\n
In practical terms, a balcony planter or forest garden cannot compete with modern agriculture, he says. But it offers something else.
\n
\nI tell him I recently got my first balcony and hung flower boxes there. That a butterfly visited for the first time the other day, fluttering among the carnations.<\/p>\n\u00bbThere\u2019s something about touching the soil,\u00ab he says. \u00bbIt does something mentally.\u00ab<\/p>\n
\u00bbSometimes we have students who\u2019ve been through a difficult period. Then they come out here, work with the plants, get their hands in the soil and experience success. It helps them move their thoughts elsewhere. There\u2019s just something about it.\u00ab<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe have to open the doors\u00ab<\/h3>\n
Once a year, Pometet hosts an open house event. When the trees are heavy with fruit in September, visitors arrive from across the country.<\/p>\n
They try to create activities that appeal to families with children, so that it does not become \u00bbjust a pensioners\u2019 rally going to get apple cake,\u00ab as Lasse Lose puts it.<\/p>\n
One year they created a sunflower maze. It was a hit with children.<\/p>\n
And Pometet must show the outside world why the place matters, says the head gardener.<\/p>\n
\u00bbHistorically, Denmark has been very good at forgetting to take care of places like this,\u00ab he says. \u201cThen they disappear, and suddenly people realize they have to recreate them.\u00ab<\/p>\n
Michelin restaurants like Noma and Alchemist have been regular visitors. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen are working with organic strawberries in the greenhouses. Food company Chr. Hansen \u2014 now Novonesis \u2014 has investigated whether some of Pometet\u2019s old, nearly black strawberry varieties could be used as natural food colourings.<\/p>\n
\u00bbI got tired of people seeing Pometet as an apple museum,\u00ab says Lasse Lose, who considers public outreach one of his core responsibilities. \u00bbIt\u2019s a treasure chamber out here.\u00ab<\/p>\n
They experiment with Danish wine production, old fruit varieties and hazelnuts grown as small trees instead of bushes. Constantly trying to find new ways of using old varieties.<\/p>\n
\u00bbWe need to open the doors and let people come here and get ideas. Otherwise, you know what happens to places like this. If they\u2019re not used, they slowly disappear.\u00ab<\/p>\n
I got tired of people seeing Pometet as an apple museum. It\u2019s a treasure chamber out here<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nThe flowering rows, Iris the mouse-hunting cat, the nearly black strawberries and the old varieties grafted onto new rootstocks make the place feel like it is suspended somewhere between reality and fantasy. Sometimes, Lose and the gardeners push the limits of what is possible.<\/p>\n\u00bbWe once made a tree that grew apples, pears, quince and medlar all at once.\u00ab<\/p>\n
It survived for a while.<\/p>\n
\u00bbBut then the tree started favoring one and ignoring the others.\u00ab<\/p>\n
The Frankenstein tree was not a success. But Lasse Lose still dreams of creating a family tree carrying many different apple varieties on the same trunk.<\/p>\n
\u00bbBut won\u2019t the same thing happen?\u00ab I ask. \u00bbWon\u2019t the trunk just favor whichever variety grows best?\u00ab<\/p>\n
\u00bbOh yes,\u00ab he laughs. \u00bbThe trunk will always favor whatever grows best. But then you just have to manage it with the pruning shears.\u00ab<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a little bit wild and a little controlled. Crazy experiments and cultivated trees trying to remain relevant in a society rapidly changing because of climate change.<\/p>\n
Some old varieties are hardier than newer ones and better suited for a future with more extreme weather. So Lasse Lose and his team experiment with grafting old apple varieties onto dwarf rootstocks to make them more attractive to homeowners. Or with growing hazelnuts \u2014 an old Danish hedgerow staple \u2014 on a single trunk to make them easier for Danish farmers to cultivate and harvest as green protein.<\/p>\n
They have imported hazel trees from Oregon, where large-scale nut production is common, and now Lose and his gardeners are testing how they perform against old Danish varieties.
\n
\nWe have wandered through the orchard for an hour and a half, and to Lasse Lose\u2019s irritation, it has started raining.<\/p>\nI spot Jytte Abildstr\u00f8m standing in her pot.<\/p>\n
\u00bbSo, does the apple actually taste good?\u00ab I ask.<\/p>\n
\u00bbIt tastes insanely good,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n
Shortly after actress Jytte Abildstr\u00f8m\u2019s death, Pometet was contacted by a local journalist who told him that the actress and lifelong environmental activist had always dreamed of having an apple tree named after her.<\/p>\n
And by coincidence, that was possible here.<\/p>\n
For years, Pometet had been mapping old varieties together with Danish garden owners and now had several unnamed trees. Including the particularly delicious number 0005.<\/p>\n
\u00bbThe gardening students kept going down there to pick fruit from the same tree,\u00ab says Lasse Lose. \u00bbSo I figured there had to be something special about it.\u00ab<\/p>\n
This year, as Pometet celebrates its 70th anniversary, they have planted 70 apple trees of the Jytte Abildstr\u00f8m variety.<\/p>\n
They will be ready for the open house in September.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For 70 years, the University of Copenhagen\u2019s living gene bank Pometet has preserved old fruit varieties, experimented with new cultivation methods, and fought to hold on to space in a surrounding world that has repeatedly tried to build over it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":190873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,3160,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-people","category-science","expression-visual_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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for the future","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":190872,"id":190872,"title":"DSC_8852","filename":"dsc_8852.jpg","filesize":845488,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/i-taastrup-eksperimenterer-lasse-med-frankensteintraeer-og-froe-til-fremtiden\/dsc_8852\/","alt":"","author":"109","description":"Pometmester Lasse Lose Pometet","caption":"","name":"dsc_8852","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:33","modified":"2026-05-22 07:56:11","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1536,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":1024,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"full","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Head gardener Lasse Lose calls Pometet in Taastrup \u00bba treasure chamber.\u00ab It has been located here for 70 years."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Treasure chest","text":"This is a story about what will follow","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>There is a sweet smell of rapeseed along the country road leading to Pometet. A Burger King cup lies abandoned in the ditch. A tractor and a lorry roar past at an ambitious speed, and further away, behind the wavy, yellow fields you hear the constant hum of the Holb\u00e6k freeway.<\/p>\n<p>Heavy clouds hang above us, threatening rain.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt\u2019s not going to rain today,\u00ab says Lasse Lose. It is as much a statement as a prayer.<\/p>\n<p>He needs dry weather. Today they are spraying against fungal diseases, and that becomes difficult if the sky suddenly decides to opens. He is dressed in work trousers and a fleece jacket and describes his own job as \u00bb20 per cent gardener and 80 per cent manager.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>On the ground stand endless rows of black pots with almost bare branches sticking out of them. One of them carries a white label reading \u00bbJytte Abildstr\u00f8m\u00ab, the name of a beloved Danish actor who died a couple of years ago. If you squint, you can just about imagine that all these pots will one day become flowering apple trees spread across the large grounds. But for now, they stand here in the nursery section, forming a maze for the site\u2019s youngest employee: a black-and-white cat named Iris.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbShe\u2019s our youngest employee,\u00ab says Lasse Lose. \u00bbShe catches rats and mice here.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>We are at Pometet, the University of Copenhagen\u2019s living gene bank in Taastrup. It is at once an orchard, a research facility, a laboratory, and a cultural archive. Old varieties of fruit trees and berry bushes are grafted, studied, propagated and preserved here, while new ones are constantly added to the collections.<\/p>\n<p>But the history of Pometet began long before Taastrup.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"MultiImage","images":[{"image":{"ID":190862,"id":190862,"title":"DSC_8820","filename":"dsc_8820.jpg","filesize":834747,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8820.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/i-taastrup-eksperimenterer-lasse-med-frankensteintraeer-og-froe-til-fremtiden\/dsc_8820\/","alt":"","author":"109","description":"Pometmester Lasse Lose Pometet","caption":"","name":"dsc_8820","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:25","modified":"2026-05-22 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i Taastrup","caption":"","name":"dsc_8843","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:29","modified":"2026-05-22 08:46:46","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1024,"height":1587,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843-480x744.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":744,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843-768x1190.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1190,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1587,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843-991x1536.jpg","1536x1536-width":991,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":1587,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843-290x449.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":449,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843-700x1085.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":1085,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8843-990x1534.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":1534}},"caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":false,"alternative_caption":""}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<h3>A place that kept having to move<\/h3>\n<p>In 1858, at what was then called the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Frederiksberg, an orchard was established with the ambition of collecting as many fruit varieties as possible. Students were to learn how to distinguish between them and assess their suitability for Danish conditions.<\/p>\n<p>The problem was that there was never quite enough space.<\/p>\n<p>J.R. Dybdahl, a lecturer in horticulture who took charge of the garden in 1863, \u00bbappeared to acquire more fruit trees than there was room for,\u00ab as one old account of Pometet puts it.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":190902,"id":190902,"title":"DSC_8989","filename":"dsc_8989.jpg","filesize":932058,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/i-taastrup-eksperimenterer-lasse-med-frankensteintraeer-og-froe-til-fremtiden\/dsc_8989\/","alt":"","author":"109","description":"Pometet i Taastrup","caption":"","name":"dsc_8989","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:51","modified":"2026-05-22 07:58:08","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1536,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":1024,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8989-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"full","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":false,"alternative_caption":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>At the time, several varieties would be grafted onto the same tree simply to fit them all in. As Copenhagen expanded, the orchard repeatedly had to give up land for new buildings, railways and roads. Urban development had not exactly planned around a large fruit plantation in the middle of Frederiksberg.<\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\">\n<p class=\"factbox-header feature-color\">POMETET<\/p>\n<p>The name Pometet derives from the Latin word pomum, meaning fruit growing on trees. Pometet was established in 1858 as part of the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Frederiksberg, but only received its current name when the entire collection was moved to Taastrup in 1956.<\/p>\n<p>Pometet is part of the Nordic Gene Bank network. Its core mission is to support research and teaching at the University of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<p>There are 17 duplicate collections across Denmark containing copies of Pometet\u2019s collections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Eventually, the entire collection had to be moved out of the city. In 1956 and 1957, around 1,000 trees were relocated to H\u00f8jbakkeg\u00e5rd near Taastrup. About 20 students helped with the move and were rewarded with apple juice for their efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Pometet is still here today, slightly hidden behind shelterbelts and fields on a sloping site where the wind continues to batter the trees.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt\u2019s very windy out there,\u00ab Professor Anton Pedersen wrote as early as the 1950s. \u00bbShelter is a necessity.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>800 apple varieties and a few nearly extinct pears<\/h3>\n<p>Pometet is many things, but first and foremost it is a gene bank, explains Lasse Lose as we walk among the bare branches. He is the head of Pometet, or Pometmester, as it is called in Danish.<\/p>\n<p>Here, fruit varieties are preserved and categorised because they are valuable \u2014 or may one day become so. The University of Copenhagen houses many libraries, but this must surely be its most vibrant one.<\/p>\n<p>There are around 800 different apple varieties here. Some 350 are Danish, and a few date back to the 17th century. Others are newer creations with names like Karen Blixen, beloved Danish author, and Jytte Abildstr\u00f8m.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the newer trees are what Lasse Lose calls \u00bbrailway apples\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p>They are varieties that emerged because over the years train passengers sat in their seats eating Granny Smith apples, throwing the cores out the windows back when train windows could still be opened. Some of the seeds sprouted, grew into trees and were pollinated by bees from far and near. Over time, new varieties appeared along the old railway lines.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"MultiImage","images":[{"image":{"ID":190921,"id":190921,"title":"DSC_9028","filename":"dsc_9028.jpg","filesize":714501,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9028.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/i-taastrup-eksperimenterer-lasse-med-frankensteintraeer-og-froe-til-fremtiden\/dsc_9028\/","alt":"","author":"109","description":"Vinsamling i k\u00e6lderen under Pometet","caption":"","name":"dsc_9028","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:53:07","modified":"2026-05-22 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08:47:18","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1536,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":1024,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9037-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"In the wine cellar beneath Pometet, they experiment with making wine from the orchard\u2019s own varieties. It is a far cry from the sickly sweet cherry wine that laid the foundation for many a teenage drunken disaster."}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>In the basement beneath the main building, the air smells sweet and musty, of cherries and the first signs of decay. Bottles, fermentation balloons and oak barrels filled with wine made from the orchard\u2019s fruit stand in rows.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If you go back a few decades, they used a lot of chemicals out here. Everything had to look spotless.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Upstairs, the staff room is packed with grafting cuttings, plastic buckets and tools. A pot of grafting wax sits with a hardened brush inside, and chestnut branches that Lasse Lose had been grafting earlier this morning lie on the table. In here, the place feels less like an orchard and more like an archive of living organisms.<\/p>\n<p>Pometet is not organic, Lasse Lose explains as we move away from Jytte and the other young plants towards the mature trees. In the distance, a small blue tractor moves through a white mist. Their main task is to keep the varieties alive, and if diseases or pests attack the trees, they need to be able to fight back.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe lost the entire pear collection 14 years ago because a new pest arrived in Denmark,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p>Still, they have significantly reduced their use of chemicals.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIf you go back a few decades, they used a lot of chemicals out here. Everything had to look spotless. But that obviously comes at a cost.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>He likes that he and the other gardeners can walk freely among the trees, pick fruit and taste things without worry. He likes being able to let his children visit without concern.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbInstead of thinking about the maximum we\u2019re allowed to use, we start with a minimum and work from there.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Dandelions, bees and orderly rows<\/h3>\n<p>We move among the mature trees. Row after row of small apple trees stand covered in white and pink blossoms. If pollination succeeds, this will be a good fruit year. Apples, pears, stone fruits, cherries. Berry bushes with currants, blackcurrants and gooseberries.<\/p>\n<p>Everywhere in the grass, bright yellow dandelions sway in the wind.<\/p>\n<p>Lasse Lose is often asked why he lets them stay instead of mowing them down.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, they spread quickly, he says. But the bees need something to feed on too. Once the fruit trees are in full bloom, the insects move on to them, and then the gardeners can cut the grass and dandelions.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s both-and, not either-or. That is why they also sow flower strips, so there is still something left in the pollinator buffet after the fruit trees finish flowering.<\/p>\n<p>The trees stand in pairs \u2014 A and B. Clones. There must always be at least two versions of the same variety. In a few places, there are empty gaps in the rows.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThat\u2019s sad,\u00ab says Lasse Lose. \u00bbBecause it means a variety has died.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Often, however, duplicates exist elsewhere in the nursery or collection.<\/p>\n<p>We pass the elderberry collection: around 80 varieties, many of them bred back in the 1960s and 70s.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbPeople talk so much about all these superberries nowadays,\u00ab he says. \u00bbBut elderberries are the healthiest thing you can get.\u00ab<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":190911,"id":190911,"title":"DSC_9008","filename":"dsc_9008.jpg","filesize":724991,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/i-taastrup-eksperimenterer-lasse-med-frankensteintraeer-og-froe-til-fremtiden\/dsc_9008\/","alt":"","author":"109","description":"Pometmester Lasse Lose Pometet","caption":"","name":"dsc_9008","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:57","modified":"2026-05-22 07:56:28","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1024,"height":1431,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008-480x671.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":671,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008-768x1073.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1073,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1431,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1431,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":1431,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008-290x405.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":405,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008-700x978.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":978,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9008-990x1383.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":1383}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Lasse Lose trained as a gardener and had never really worked with fruit before becoming head gardener at Pometet. Now he says the place has \u00bbruined\u00ab him \u2014 he can no longer bring himself to buy bland supermarket fruit."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<h3>Getting your hands dirty<\/h3>\n<p>Lasse Lose has been head gardener at Pometet for eight years. He trained as a gardener and grew up next door to a nursery.<\/p>\n<p>He likes order. Straight rows. Plants and trees that look good.<\/p>\n<p>There is not much \u00bbrewilding\u00ab under his leadership.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When you\u2019re used to picking and tasting fruit when it\u2019s perfectly ripe, buying apples in a supermarket becomes the dullest thing in the world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But in Pometet\u2019s forest garden, gardening students are allowed to experiment. Here everything grows denser and more unruly. There is no dedicated funding for the project, but when it rains and pruning is impossible, the students are allowed to continue working on it.<\/p>\n<p>University students also come here to take soil samples and conduct analyses. There are no straight rows here \u2014 instead, different forms of cooperation are at play. One large tree towers above the others and binds nitrogen in the soil, benefiting the more shade-loving shrubs below.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe idea is that you should be able to eat from every level of the garden. It\u2019s a cultivation system that exists in reasonable harmony with itself and draws on the principles of permaculture.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Lose says he was not particularly interested in fruit trees before he started working here. But this place made him picky.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWhen you\u2019re used to picking and tasting fruit when it\u2019s perfectly ripe, buying apples in a supermarket becomes the dullest thing in the world. Working here has completely ruined me.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>Butterflies on the balcony<\/h3>\n<p>We continue towards a blue shipping container with the words URBAN FARMING painted on the side. Around it stands raised beds filled with thyme, strawberries, rhubarb and kale.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWhen I was hired, it was written into my contract that I had to make sure Pometet got some urban farming,\u00ab he laughs.<\/p>\n<p>Interest in self-sufficiency and growing your own food has increased significantly during his time here. Urban gardens, rooftop tomatoes and balcony farming are in vogue.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThere are two sides to it. One is about wanting to grow food and feed us. The other is the social aspect.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>In practical terms, a balcony planter or forest garden cannot compete with modern agriculture, he says. But it offers something else.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"MultiImage","images":[{"image":{"ID":190892,"id":190892,"title":"DSC_8926","filename":"dsc_8926.jpg","filesize":1193556,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8926.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/i-taastrup-eksperimenterer-lasse-med-frankensteintraeer-og-froe-til-fremtiden\/dsc_8926\/","alt":"","author":"109","description":"Pometet i Taastrup","caption":"","name":"dsc_8926","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:45","modified":"2026-05-22 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i Taastrup","caption":"","name":"dsc_8945","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:48","modified":"2026-05-22 07:58:03","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1536,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":1024,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8945-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"In Pometet\u2019s Urban Garden, purple kale has gone to flower. It survived the winter from last year, and just before the flowers bloom, the buds can be picked and eaten like asparagus."}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>I tell him I recently got my first balcony and hung flower boxes there. That a butterfly visited for the first time the other day, fluttering among the carnations.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThere\u2019s something about touching the soil,\u00ab he says. \u00bbIt does something mentally.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbSometimes we have students who\u2019ve been through a difficult period. Then they come out here, work with the plants, get their hands in the soil and experience success. It helps them move their thoughts elsewhere. There\u2019s just something about it.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>\u00bbWe have to open the doors\u00ab<\/h3>\n<p>Once a year, Pometet hosts an open house event. When the trees are heavy with fruit in September, visitors arrive from across the country.<\/p>\n<p>They try to create activities that appeal to families with children, so that it does not become \u00bbjust a pensioners\u2019 rally going to get apple cake,\u00ab as Lasse Lose puts it.<\/p>\n<p>One year they created a sunflower maze. It was a hit with children.<\/p>\n<p>And Pometet must show the outside world why the place matters, says the head gardener.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbHistorically, Denmark has been very good at forgetting to take care of places like this,\u00ab he says. \u201cThen they disappear, and suddenly people realize they have to recreate them.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>Michelin restaurants like Noma and Alchemist have been regular visitors. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen are working with organic strawberries in the greenhouses. Food company Chr. Hansen \u2014 now Novonesis \u2014 has investigated whether some of Pometet\u2019s old, nearly black strawberry varieties could be used as natural food colourings.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbI got tired of people seeing Pometet as an apple museum,\u00ab says Lasse Lose, who considers public outreach one of his core responsibilities. \u00bbIt\u2019s a treasure chamber out here.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>They experiment with Danish wine production, old fruit varieties and hazelnuts grown as small trees instead of bushes. Constantly trying to find new ways of using old varieties.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe need to open the doors and let people come here and get ideas. Otherwise, you know what happens to places like this. If they\u2019re not used, they slowly disappear.\u00ab<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I got tired of people seeing Pometet as an apple museum. It\u2019s a treasure chamber out here<\/p><\/blockquote>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"MultiImage","images":[{"image":{"ID":190876,"id":190876,"title":"DSC_8874","filename":"dsc_8874.jpg","filesize":662000,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8874.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/i-taastrup-eksperimenterer-lasse-med-frankensteintraeer-og-froe-til-fremtiden\/dsc_8874\/","alt":"","author":"109","description":"Pometet i Taastrup","caption":"","name":"dsc_8874","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:35","modified":"2026-05-22 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Lasse Lose Pometet","caption":"","name":"dsc_8969","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:50","modified":"2026-05-22 07:56:19","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1536,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":1024,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8969-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":" A tiny visitor drops by \/ A buffet for bees \/ A single-trunk hazel tree that may become the future of Danish green protein production."}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>The flowering rows, Iris the mouse-hunting cat, the nearly black strawberries and the old varieties grafted onto new rootstocks make the place feel like it is suspended somewhere between reality and fantasy. Sometimes, Lose and the gardeners push the limits of what is possible.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWe once made a tree that grew apples, pears, quince and medlar all at once.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>It survived for a while.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbBut then the tree started favoring one and ignoring the others.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The Frankenstein tree was not a success. But Lasse Lose still dreams of creating a family tree carrying many different apple varieties on the same trunk.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbBut won\u2019t the same thing happen?\u00ab I ask. \u00bbWon\u2019t the trunk just favor whichever variety grows best?\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbOh yes,\u00ab he laughs. \u00bbThe trunk will always favor whatever grows best. But then you just have to manage it with the pruning shears.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a little bit wild and a little controlled. Crazy experiments and cultivated trees trying to remain relevant in a society rapidly changing because of climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Some old varieties are hardier than newer ones and better suited for a future with more extreme weather. So Lasse Lose and his team experiment with grafting old apple varieties onto dwarf rootstocks to make them more attractive to homeowners. Or with growing hazelnuts \u2014 an old Danish hedgerow staple \u2014 on a single trunk to make them easier for Danish farmers to cultivate and harvest as green protein.<\/p>\n<p>They have imported hazel trees from Oregon, where large-scale nut production is common, and now Lose and his gardeners are testing how they perform against old Danish varieties.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":190906,"id":190906,"title":"DSC_9005","filename":"dsc_9005.jpg","filesize":619299,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/i-taastrup-eksperimenterer-lasse-med-frankensteintraeer-og-froe-til-fremtiden\/dsc_9005\/","alt":"","author":"109","description":"Pometmester Lasse Lose Pometet","caption":"","name":"dsc_9005","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":190854,"date":"2026-05-22 07:52:54","modified":"2026-05-22 07:56:23","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1536,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005.jpg","2048x2048-width":1536,"2048x2048-height":1024,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_9005-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"full","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Pometet needs to open itself to the outside world, says Lasse Lose \u2014 otherwise it will slowly wither and die. It must remain a living laboratory, helping to find answers to the future of food production in the fruit varieties of the past."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>We have wandered through the orchard for an hour and a half, and to Lasse Lose\u2019s irritation, it has started raining.<\/p>\n<p>I spot Jytte Abildstr\u00f8m standing in her pot.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbSo, does the apple actually taste good?\u00ab I ask.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt tastes insanely good,\u00ab he says.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after actress Jytte Abildstr\u00f8m\u2019s death, Pometet was contacted by a local journalist who told him that the actress and lifelong environmental activist had always dreamed of having an apple tree named after her.<\/p>\n<p>And by coincidence, that was possible here.<\/p>\n<p>For years, Pometet had been mapping old varieties together with Danish garden owners and now had several unnamed trees. Including the particularly delicious number 0005.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe gardening students kept going down there to pick fruit from the same tree,\u00ab says Lasse Lose. \u00bbSo I figured there had to be something special about it.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>This year, as Pometet celebrates its 70th anniversary, they have planted 70 apple trees of the Jytte Abildstr\u00f8m variety.<\/p>\n<p>They will be ready for the open house in September.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get an email with upcoming events and University of Copenhagen News","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":43,"name":"Culture","slug":"culture","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":43,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":563,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3160,"name":"People","slug":"people","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3160,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":59,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":46,"name":"Science","slug":"science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":834,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":19,"name":"Visual Article","slug":"visual_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":19,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":84,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":679,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dsc_8852-1280x853.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191048"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191053,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191048\/revisions\/191053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}