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December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree

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Alisa Lewandowski
Alisa Lewandowski

Compact Fruit Tree, the journal of the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA), is devoted to the publication of technical information for growers of deciduous tree fruits. It is published in April, August and December by IFTA.

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Compact Fruit Tree INTERNATIONAL FRUIT TREE ASSOCIATION Where fruit tree professionals grow. Volume 47, No. 3 December 2014 ifruittree.org
1.800.263.1287 905.563.8261 Beamsville, ON Canada A Bartlett Company info@provideag.ca Provide Agro www.provideag.ca Hol Spray Systems has developed sprayers specifically for HD orchards, combining their experiences with orchard equipment and new technologies to make a high efficiency machine that places product exactly where it needs to be. It uses a low-noise radial two-speed fan to draw in clean air for the unique distribution system that sends air equally to all outlets. The overcapacity of the fan makes it possible to operate with a slower PTO speed, enabling you to “gear up and throttle down”, reducing fuel consumption and noise. Excellent coverage can be obtained with varying water rates giving you custom control and flexibility based on the target pest and product being used. Sprayers are available in 1000, 1500, and 2000 Litre tanks with a 3 row option coming soon! THE ORIGINAL TYROLEAN HEDGER +25 Years Experience Initiate Fruit bud formation on 1 year wood Optional topper, skirter, and windows pruning attachments available. Rotary saw blade machines also available Easily controlled with joystick. Requires 10-13 GPM (dependent on options) Quality built hedgers that start at ~$8,000 USD Precise, reliable sprayers starting at ~$25,000 USD GREEFA packing PERFECT mowers ORSI platforms FRUIT TEC blossom thinners PULSE water treatment BARTLETT custom HOL sprayers FAMA hedgers Northern 2014 Italy SnapshotsThe 2014 IFTA Study Tour to Northern Italy Michigan growers Jim Engelsma, Chris Kropf and Steve Thome enjoy the booths. GREEFA packing line at MIVOR cooperative located in Latch, Italy. A four leader multi-leader fruiting wall tree at “Maso delle Part”– Fondazione E. MACH experiment farm in Italy. Michigan District Fruit Educators, Robert Tritten and Amy Irish- Brown pose,with the antique Porsche Tractor. IFTA grower tour participants at Komiss family farm reviewing the merits of machine assist harvest. Young orchard (2nd leaf) of Tall Slender Spindle tree system at Komiss farms.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 1 Compact Fruit TreeINTERNATIONAL FRUIT TREE ASSOCIATION In this issue ... Volume 47, No. 3 • December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree Journal of the International Fruit Tree Association December 2014 Volume 47, Number 3 International Fruit Tree Association 16020 Swingley Ridge Road Suite 300 Chesterfield, MO 63017 USA Phone: (636) 449-5083 Fax: (636) 449-5051 Email: info@ifruittree.org Website: ifruittree.org Compact Fruit Tree, the journal of the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA), is devoted to the publication of technical information for growers of deciduous tree fruits. It is published in April, August and December by IFTA. Annual subscription rate is US$175. One annual subscription to Compact Fruit Tree (three issues per year) is included with each IFTA membership. Payment of the IFTA membership fee of US$175 per year may be sent to the above address or may be paid online at ifruittree.org. Manuscripts and editorial comments should be emailed to info@ifruittree. org. All articles presented at the annual IFTA Conference are published in Compact Fruit Tree. Submission of additional manuscripts is encouraged. Editorial responsibility for the Compact Fruit Tree rests with the IFTA staff in consultation with a committee of members appointed by the IFTA president. However, IFTA and the CFT staff assume no responsibility for accuracy and validity of claims. No endorsements by IFTA of products named in articles is intended. The views expressed in the articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of IFTA. ©2014 By the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA). For reprint permission, please send a written request to info@ifruittree.org. IFTA Board of Directors Letter from the President – Phil Schwallier Thank You IFTA Research Foundation Donors 2013 Progress Report – Characteristics of New Apple Rootstock From the Cornell-USDA Apple Rootstock Breeding Program – Terence L. Robinson, Gennaro Fazio and Herb Aldwinckle The Steep Leader Training System for Cherries – Lynn Long, Linda Brewer and Clive Kaiser IFTA 58th Annual Conference – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Introducing New York’s First Homegrown Club Apples – Mark Russell Cherry Rootstocks for the Modern Orchard – Lynn E. Long IFTA News Briefs Italy Study Tour 2 3 4 5 10 14 20 24 29 30 Rick Dungey, Executive Director 16020 Swingley Ridge Rd., Suite 300 Chesterfield, MO 63017 USA (636) 449-5083 Fax: (636) 449-5051 info@ifruittree.org ifruittree.org Correction: In the August 2014 issue of Compact Fruit Tree (Volume 47, No. 2) the cover photo was incorrectly credited to Dr. Peter Toivonenn. The correct photo credit is Mr. Nick Ibuki. Cover photo: Bandit Xpress Harvest Platform in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Photo courtesy of Lisa Jenereaux. Back Cover: Rebecca Avila of Crist Bros. Orchards, Inc. holding a SnapDragon apple. Photo courtesy of Janet Baus.
2 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Dan Boyer Ridgetop Orchards P.O. Box 113 Fishertown, PA 15539 Phone: (814) 839-4181 Fax: (814) 839-2034 Email: dan@ridgetoporchards.com Jon Clements UMass Cold Spring Orchard 393 Sabin Street Belchertown, MA 01007 Phone: (413) 478-7219 Email: clements@umext.umass.edu Jeff Cleveringa Starr Ranch/Oneonta P.O. Box 4640 Wenatchee, WA 98807 Phone: (509) 750-0060 Fax: (509) 655-8330 Email: jeffc@starranch.com Sam DiMaria Sam DiMaria Orchards 120 Mail Road Kelowna, BC V1V-2H2 Canada Phone: (250) 763-5433 Email: sdo13@shaw.ca Bill Dodd Fruit Growers Marketing Association 50336 Telegraph Road Amherst, OH 44001 Phone: (440) 670-2883 Fax: (740) 498-8367 Email: bill@ohioapples.com Rod Farrow Lamont Fruit Farms 12703 Stillwater Road Waterport, NY 14571 Phone: (585) 682-4749 Fax: (585) 682-0522 Email: rodf12786@aol.com Wanda Heuser Gale International Plant Management, Inc. 55826 60th Avenue Lawrence, MI 49064 Phone: (800) 424-2765 Email: wanda@summittreesales.com Chris Hedges Martin’s Family Fruit Farm 1321 Windham Road 7 RR#3 Vanessa, ON N0E 1V0 Canada Email: chrish@martinsapples.com Lisa Jenereaux Spurr Bros Farms Ltd. 639 Stronach Mountain Road RR#2 Kingston, NS B0P 1R0 Canada Phone: (902) 765-4300 Email: lisa@spurrbros.ns.ca Hank Markgraf Okanagan Tree Fruit Company 880 Vaughan Avenue Kelowna, BC V1Y 7E4 Canada Phone: (250) 979-2612 Fax: (250) 763-7370 Email: hmarkgraf@bctree.com Trever Meachum – Treasurer High Acres Fruit Farm 60930 52nd Avenue Hartford, MI 49057 Phone: (269) 621-4713 Fax: (269) 621-3852 Email: jalapeno@cybersol.com Nathan Milburn Milburn Orchards Inc. 1495 Appleton Road Elkton, MD 21921 Phone: (443) 309-2077 Fax: (410) 398-4081 Email: nathan@milburnorchards.com Terence Robinson Dept of Horticultural Sciences – NYSAES Cornell 630 West North Street Geneva, NY 14456 Phone: (315) 787-2227 Fax: (315) 787-2216 Email: tlr1@cornell.edu Phil Schwallier – President MSU Extension 1185 Nine Mile Road NW Sparta, MI 49345 Phone: (616) 490-7917 Fax: (616) 693-2317 Email: schwalli@msu.edu Tim Welsh – Vice President Columbia Fruit Packers 2575 Euclid Avenue Wenatchee, WA 98807 Phone: (509) 662-7153 Cell: (509) 670-8080 Fax: (509) 662-0933 Email: tim@columbiafruit.com 2014 Board of Directors Komiss Family Farms employee packaging dried apple slices “Fruitty” product. IFTA tour member,Win Cowgill, Rutgers Exten- sion Agent from New Jersey, poses in Italy apple orchards with a gorgeous view of the Alps. Michigan growers Steve Thome, Jim Engelsma and Chris Kropf view high-density orchard equipment at IFTA’s 2014 Italy Study Tour.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 3 Compact Fruit Tree Letter from the President tysburg Summer Study Tour and on to $15,700 for 21 young grower scholar- ships at the 2014 IFTA Kelowna, Brit- ish Columbia Winter Conference. A special thanks to Tara Baugher, Nathan Milburn, Catherine Lara and Alana Anderson for all their work on this project. We want to continue to provide and expand this program into the future. Please contact us to get involved this year and help us expand the Young Grower Scholarship program. Also, be sure to tell other young growers about how they can receive scholarships. The IFTA Research Foundation is getting off to a great start, thanks to Ken Hall the foundation’s first president. Two major goals have occurred this year. First, the founda- tion has raised more than $120,000 for the permanent endowment and, to manage those funds, the trustees engaged state-registered investment adviser Bowers Wealth Manage- ment, Inc. Second, the IFTA Research Foundation recently received official designation from the IRS as a 501(c) (3) charitable organization. The IFTA Research Committee, under the leadership of Gary Mount, will con- tinue to manage research proposals; however, the IFTA Research Foundation will provide future funds recommended by the IFTA Committee. Before you know it we will be at the 58th IFTA Annual Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This conference is being planned by the capable leadership of board member and program chair Lisa Jenereaux and team members Larry Lutz, and Chris Duyvelshoff. Honeycrisp is a major part of this upcoming confer- ence starting with an intensive work- shop on Saturday. Then, we’ll top off the educational conference and tours through the beautiful countryside of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley includ- ing Wolfville, Kentville, and the Bay of Fundy. You won’t want to miss it, so get your flights early. Sponsors are needed for the 2015 Nova Scotia winter conference and Washington summer tour. Please consider being a sponsor of an event, refreshment break, speakers and especially Young Grower Scholarships. My thanks to past sponsors. See you in Halifax. Regards, Phil Schwallier I hope the harvest was good for all of you. Here in Michigan the crop was not as large as predicted, but the weather was absolutely outstanding. Our picking crews were plentiful and harvest wrapped up on schedule for most growers. The International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) continues to search for ways to help support young growers who want to attend the association’s educational events but may not have the resources to make it possible. Some of them are just getting established in farming or may have young families to support, so finding the extra funds to attend these events seems like a far cry. Helping get young growers to the IFTA Annual Conferences is an important endeavor for the IFTA Board. The last two years we have asked for sponsors to step forward and provide scholar- ships to young growers who want to attend an IFTA event for the first time. We have been very pleased and aston- ished with the generous support that came from many of you during that time. Thank you so much. We have asked some of the scholarship recipients to write short essays for this Compact Fruit Tree publication describ- ing their experience (See past issues). Because of numerous sponsors’ great support toward this project (our first sponsor: Northwest Michigan Horticul- tural Research Foundation) $5,000 was provided for five young grower scholar- ships at the 2013 IFTA Boston Winter Conference, which grew to 12 Young Grower Scholarship recipients receiving $2,400 combined in registration fee assistance to attend 2013 IFTA Get- IFTA President Phil Schwallier and Tour Leader Terence Robinson recognize the Italian speakers who presented on Tuesday, November 18 at the 2014 IFTA Study Tour. Pictured from left to right:Terence Robinson, Marcus Bradlwarter (SK, SudTYrol), Kurt Werth (Kurt Werth Consulting), Phil Schwallier (IFTA President), Michael Oberhuber (Director of the Laimburg Research Station), Jurgen Christanell (South Tyrol Extension Service), Robert Wirdmer (South Tyrol Extension Service),and Walter Rass (South Tyrol Extension Service). Photo credit: Win Cowgill
4 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Since the start of the 2014 fiscal year, IFTA has received many generous donations to its Perma- nent Endowment Fund and Rootstock Research Fund. IFTA wishes to recognize the following individuals and companies for their contribu- tions. Ongoing funding of research and asso- ciation projects would not be possible without the generous support of IFTA members. The IFTA staff strives to ensure this listing is ac- curate. If you would like your listing to appear differently in future acknowledgements, or feel there has been an error in this listing, please contact the IFTA office at (636) 449-5083 or by email at info@ifruittree.org. Thank You to 2014 IFTA Research Foundation Donors Dec. 1, 2013 – Nov. 30, 2014 (Fiscal year 2014) PERMANENT Endowment FUND* Platinum Supporters Donations of over $10,000 n Gary & Pam Mount, Terhune Orchards n Ken & Barb Hall, Edwards Apple Orchard, Inc. n Wallace Heuser / Wanda Heuser Gale, International Plant Management, Inc. n Willow Drive Nursery, Inc. Gold Supporters Donations of $5,000 to $9,999 n Jamie Kidston n TRECO Silver Supporters Donations of $1,000 to $4,999 n John Baugher, Adams County Nursery, Inc. n Scotian Gold Co-operative Limited Bronze Supporters Donations up to $999 n Belltown Hill Orchards n Blake Sarsfield n Craig Nichols Farms n Daniel & Lois Boyer n Donald DeMarree Fruit Farm n Doug & Leslie Balsillie n Evan Milburn n Jack Snyder, C & O Nursery n Ken & Jan Engle n Kym Green n Larry & Janice Lutz n Lutz Family Farm n Lisa Jenereaux n Matt Peters n Milburn Orchards, Inc. n Nathan Milburn n Neal Manly n Nova Scotia Fruit Grower’s Association n Schwallier’s Country Basket n Steve Applebaum n Tanners Orchard n Terence Robinson n Van Meekeren Farms n Washington White & Susan Butler n Win Cowgill *Cumulative donations since 2012.   2014 RESEARCH PROJECTS Platinum Supporters Donations of over $10,000 n Gisela, Inc. n Willow Drive Nursery, Inc. Gold Supporters Donations of $5,000 to $9,999 n Cameron Nursery, LLC n TRECO Silver Supporters Donations of $1,000 to $4,999 n Adams County Nursery n Domaine de Castang, S.A.S. n Gold Crown Nursery, LLC n Luis Gutierrez n Van Well Nursery Bronze Supporters Donations up to $999 n Arthur & Marlene Moyer n Cheryl Hampson n Denise Neilsen n Donald DeMarree Fruit Farm, Inc. n Eisses Farms Ltd n Evan Milburn n Gary Mount n Indiana Horticultural Society n Ken and Barb Hall n Mark Shurtleff n Maryland State Horticultural Society n Milburn Orchards, Inc. n Nathan Milburn n New Jersey State Horticultural Society n Schwallier’s Country Basket n Susan Frank n Tim Welsh n Tuttle Orchards, Inc. n Washington White & Susan Butler n William Stevenson n Wittenbach Orchards
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 5 introduction For many apple growers in North Amer- ica, the bacterial disease fire blight is a serious threat to dwarf apple orchards. Similarly apple replant disease limits tree growth and economic performance of many new high-density orchards. The Cornell University/USDA apple rootstock breeding project located at Geneva, New York has developed rootstock genotypes resistant to fire blight (Erwinia amylovora) and crown rot (Phytophthora spp.) (Cum- mins and Aldwinckle, 1983; Norelli, et al., 2003; Russo, et al., 2007). Some have been shown to have tolerance to apple replant disease (Auvil, et al., 2010; Isutsa and Merwin, 2000; Robinson and Hoying, 2005; Robinson, et al., 2012). Other trials have evaluated the horticultural produc- tivity and adaptability of the rootstocks to soils in NY (Robinson and Hoying, 2005); Washington (Auvil, et al., 2011); and many other locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico (Autio, et al., 2008; Autio, et al., 2011a,b: Marini, et al., 2006a,b; Marini, et al., 2009; Robinson, et al., 2003). Others have conducted trials in France (Masseron and Simard, 2002); Po- land (Czynczyk, et al., 2010); Switzerland (Egger, et al., 2010); and New Zealand (personal communication Stuart Tustin). This report details research we are doing Terence L. Robinson1 , Gennaro Fazio2 and Herb Aldwinckle3 1 Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Geneva, NY, 2 USDA-ARS, Plant Genetics Resources Unit, Geneva, NY, 3 Dept. of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Geneva, NY email: tlr1@cornell.edu Presented to the IFTA Research Committee per IFTA Research Funding Agreement resistant selection of Malus robusta). Progeny from these crosses underwent rigorous greenhouse screening proce- dures at the small seedling stage to se- lect for tolerance to fire blight and crown rot. When seedlings were about 2.5 cm tall they were inoculated via flooding of the roots with a mixture of isolates of the fungus Phytophthora cactorum. Surviving seedlings were inoculated via injection to the shoot tip with fire blight bacteria (Erwinia amylovora). Surviving genotypes were then tested for propagation char- acteristics in the nursery, and productivity and dwarfing at the New York State Ag- ricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY. Since 1991, the elite selections from these crosses have been tested in field tri- through an IFTA supported project, where we are testing the field and nursery per- formance as well as disease resistance of elite Geneva® rootstocks and other root- stocks from around the world. As a re- sult of this testing, we released four new apple rootstocks in 2010: Geneva® 210, Geneva® 214, Geneva® 890 and Geneva® 969. They have a range in vigor from M.9 size to MM.106 size. This report provides some of the data concerning the new and existing Geneva® rootstocks. Materials and Methods In 1975 and 1976 Dr. James Cummins and Dr. Herbert Aldwinckle of Cornell Univer- sity crossed Ottawa 3 apple rootstock with Robusta 5 (a cold hardy and disease 2013 Progress Report – Characteristics of New Apple Rootstock from the Cornell-USDA Apple Rootstock Breeding Program
6 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 als at various locations by Robinson, et al. (2003, 2005 and 2011). In 2001 a replicated field trials of seven Geneva® named and un-named elite root- stocks and two Malling rootstocks (M.7, and M.26), was planted at Wolcott, NY (Western part of State) using Golden De- licious as the scion cultivar. The plot was laid out as randomized complete block experiment with five replications and with each block containing three to five indi- vidual trees of each rootstock. All of the plant material was grown in a common nursery in Geneva, NY. The trees were planted as unbranched whips at a spacing of (1.8m X 4.5m) and were headed at 1m after planting. In 2004 a second replicated field trial of eight Geneva® named and un-named elite rootstocks and three Malling rootstocks (M.9, M.7 and MM.106) and one Buda- govsky stock (B.9) as controls was planted at Hilton, NY (Western part of state) us- ing Honeycrisp as the scion cultivar. The plot was laid out as randomized complete block experiment with five replications and with each block containing two indi- vidual trees of each rootstock. All of the plant material was grown in a common nursery in Geneva, NY. The trees were planted as unbranched whips at a spac- ing of (2.4 m X 4.8m) and were headed at 1m after planting. In 2005, a third replicated field trial of eight Geneva® named and un-named elite rootstocks and three Malling rootstocks (M.27, M.9, M.26, M.7 and MM.106) and one Budagovsky stock (B.118) as controls was planted at Marlboro, NY (eastern part of state) using Fuji as the scion culti- var. The plot was laid out as randomized complete block experiment with five rep- lications and with each block containing one to two individual trees of each root- stock. All of the plant material was grown in a common nursery in Geneva, NY. The trees were planted as unbranched whips at a spacing of (2.4 m X 4.8m) and were headed at 1m after planting. In 2010 a fourth replicated field trial of 14 Geneva® and 3 Malling rootstocks and two Budagovsky stocks was planted at Geneva, NY using Honeycrisp as the scion cultivar. The plot was laid out as random- ized complete block experiment with five replications and with each block contain- ing one to three individual trees of each rootstock. All of the plant material was grown in a common nursery in WA. The trees were planted as feathered trees at a spacing of (1.2 m X 4m) and were not headed at planting. With the first three field trials, trees were managed with the vertical axis tree train- ing system while the last trial trees were managed with the Tall Spindle system. The trees were fertilized annually with ni- trogen and potassium according to local recommendations. Trees were supported with a single wire trellis and a metal tube tree stake. Tree survival, number of root suckers and trunk circumference at 30cm above the graft union were measured annually in November. Fruit number and yield were recorded annually at harvest and fruit size (g) was calculated as the ratio of fruit yield divided by the number of fruit per tree. Cumulative yield effi- Figure 1 FIGURE 1 – Tree size and yield efficiency of Golden Delicious apple trees on several Geneva® rootstocks over 10 years at Wolcott, NY. Figure 2 FIGURE 2 – Tree size and yield efficiency of Honeycrisp apple trees on several Geneva® rootstocks over seven years at Hilton, NY.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 7 ciency was calculated by dividing cumu- lative yield by final trunk cross-sectional area. In the second experiment the bien- nial bearing tendency of each rootstock was assessed by calculating an alternate bearing index (ABI) for each two years of yield data using the formula: ABI = Abso- lute Value of (Fruit Number Year 2 - Fruit Number Year 1) divided by the Sum of (Fruit Number Year 2 + Fruit Number Year 1). This index gives values ranging from zero to one with zero equaling no bien- nial bearing and one equaling complete biennial bearing. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance and crop load was used as covariate to compare fruit sizes independent of crop load. Results Experiment 1 After 10 years, tree size of Golden Deli- cious was greatest on G.890 rootstock followed in descending order by G.969, M.7, CG.5087, G.214, G.41, M.26 and G.11 (Fig. 1). Cumulative yield efficiency was greatest for G.41 followed by G.11, CG.5087, G.969, G.890, G.214, M.26 and M.7. All rootstocks had greater than 90% survival (data not shown). Experiment 2 After seven years, tree size of Honey- crisp was greatest on MM.106 rootstock followed in descending order by M.7, G.890, G.222, G.30, G.935, G.969, G.16, M.9, G.214, B.9 and G.11 (Fig. 2). Cumu- lative yield efficiency was greatest for B.9 followed by G.969, G.30, G.214, G.935, M.9, G.890, G.11, G.222, MM.106 and M.7. All rootstocks had greater than 90% survival (data not shown). Biennial bear- ing tendency was lowest for trees on G.222 followed by G.969, G.935, G.30, G.890, M.9, G.214, MM.106, B.9, G.16, M.7, and G.11 (Fig. 3). Experiment 3 After four years, tree size of Fuji was greatest on G.890 rootstock followed in descending order by B.118, G.210, M.7, MM.106, G.935, G.222, CG.5087, G.969, M.26, G.214, M.9, G.11 and M.27 (Fig. 4). Cumulative yield efficiency was greatest for G.969 followed by CG.5087, G.935, G.214, G.222, G.11, M.9, G.890, M.27, M.26, G.210, MM.106, B.118 and M.7. All rootstocks had greater than 90% survival. Experiment 4 The most dwarfing stocks were CG.2034 and B.9 which were both too dwarfing for Honeycrisp. A more vigorous group of rootstocks included G.11, CG.4003, G.41TC and G.41N. This group had suf- ficient vigor for a Tall Spindle planting at three-foot in-row spacing. A slightly larger group of rootstocks included Sup.3, M.9Pajam2, G.935TC, M.9T337, B.10 and M.26. A larger group included only G.214. A fourth group which was slightly more vigorous included G.935N, CG.4013, CG.5202, CG.4004, CG.4814 CG.5087, G.202N, and G.202TC. The most vigorous stock was CG.3001 which was too vigorous for a high-density Tall Spindle planting. The most yield effi- cient stock was B.9, followed by G.41N, B.10, Sup.3, G.11, CG.2034, CG.4003, M.9T337, CG.4214, G.202N, CG.5087, G.202TC, CG.3001, CG.4004, CG.5202, M.9Pajam2, G.935TC, CG.4814, M.26 CG.4013, G.935N, and CG.41TC. Fruit size was large with almost all stocks. Those which had smaller fruit size were CG.4013 and CG.5087. discussion Eleven rootstocks genotypes have been released from the Geneva apple rootstock breeding program. They are G.65, G.30, G.16, G.11, G.202, G.41, G.935, G.214, Figure 3 FIGURE 3 – Biennial bearing of Honeycrisp apple trees on several Geneva® rootstocks over seven years at Hilton, NY. Figure 4 FIGURE 4 – Tree size and yield efficiency of Fuji apple trees on several Geneva® ærootstocks over four years at Marlboro, NY.
8 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 G.210, G.890 and G.969. The last four were released in 2010 based are: Geneva® 214 is derived from a cross made in 1975 between Ottawa 3 and Robusta 5. G.214 was evaluated as CG.4214. Field trials in NY indicate G.214 is a dwarfing rootstock similar in size to M.26 with Golden Delicious (Fig. 1) and Fuji (Fig. 2); however, with Honeycrisp (Fig.3) it was similar in size to M.9. In all three field trials, G.214 was highly yield efficient, similar to M.9 and M.26. With Fuji it was significantly more yield efficient than M.9. Other experiments with this rootstock have confirmed it is resistant to fire blight, Phytophthora root rot and woolly apple aphid. Nursery trials at Ge- neva, NY and in WA have shown it is easy to propagate in stoolbeds. G.214 is similar in size to G.41 but is easier to propagate in the stool bed. Field trials in WA have shown G.214 like G.41 has tolerance to apple replant disease (Auvil et al., 2011). It is not free standing and requires a trellis. G.214 like G.41 is a good replacement for M.9 on replant sites. Geneva® 969 is derived from a cross made in 1976 between Ottawa 3 and Robusta 5. G.969 was evaluated as CG.6969. Field trials indicate G.969 is a semi-dwarfing rootstock between the size of M.26 and M.7 (Figs. 1-3). It is similar in size to two other Geneva rootstocks, G.935 and G.222. G.969 has very high productivity similar to G.935 but is resis- tant to woolly apple aphid while G.935 is not. G.969 as well as G.935 and G.222 appear to induce less biennial bearing with Honeycrisp than other stocks (Fig. 4). It is resistant to fire blight (Russo, et al., 2007) and Phytophthora root rot and has good anchorage in the orchard. It is easy to propagate in stool beds. Its tolerance to apple replant disease is not yet known. G.969 may be an excellent rootstock for use with weak scion cultivars like Honey- crisp, SnapDragon, SweeTango and Spur Red Delicious in high-density plantings. Geneva® 210 is derived from a cross made in 1975 between Ottawa 3 and Robusta 5. G.210 was evaluated a CG.6210. There have been more than 20 field trials con- ducted with G.210, which have shown it is a highly productive semi-dwarfing root- stock similar in vigor to M.7 (Robinson et al., 2003). Often its yield efficiency is simi- lar to M.9. It is resistant to fire blight (Rus- so, et al., 2007), Phytophthora root rot and woolly apple aphid. It also has very good resistance to apple replant disease in field trials in NY (Isutsa and Merwin, 2001) and WA (Auvil et al., 2011). It is not free stand- ing and requires a trellis for supporting the trees, which can lean under wet soil con- ditions. Its high tolerance of apple replant disease suggests it is a good replacement rootstock when weak scions are planted in replant soils or for organic production. Geneva® 890 is derived from a cross made in 1976 between Ottawa 3 and Robusta 5. G.890 was evaluated as CG.5890. Field tri- als in NY indicate G.890 is a semi-vigorous rootstock either slightly larger than M.7 (Figs. 1 and 2) or slightly smaller than M.7 (Fig.3). It is much more productive than M.7 and is resistant to fire blight (Russo, et al., 2007), Phytophthora root rot and woolly apple aphid. It is easy to propagate in stool beds and is free standing in the or- chard. This rootstock is useful for medium density plantings for the processing mar- ket or for weak scions in replant soil. CURRENT COMMERCIALIZATION OF GENEVA® ROOTSTOCKS Over the last five years there has been a boom of Geneva rootstocks production in both stool bed and through tissue culture. This winter (2013/2014) the American, Canadian and Mexican stool bed produc- ers have harvested a total of about three million Geneva liners. These liners will result in finished trees for growers in the spring of 2015 and 2016. Apple growers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada will now be able to begin utilizing these improved rootstocks in their orchards. The primary rootstocks currently being grown and available for fruit growers are: Geneva® 41 is similar in size to vigorous clones on M.9 such as Nic29 or Pajam 2. It is usually the most efficient dwarf rootstock in our trials and reduces bienni- ally with Honeycrisp. It has excellent fruit size and induces wide branch angles. It is highly resistant to fire blight (Russo et al, 2007) and is strong against Phytoph- thora and woolly apple aphids. It has good tolerance of apple replant disease (Auvil, 2011, Robinson et al., 2011) and has good winter hardiness. In the stool bed, G.41 is a shy rooter and requires specialized rooting techniques including tissue cultured stool bed mother plants to improve its rooting (Adams, 2010). It has brittle roots and a brittle graft union especially with Honeycrisp, Envy and Pink Lady and must be handled with care. We believe its graft union strength with Hon- eycrisp will be acceptable with a whip and tongue graft, but with some more brittle varieties it may be too brittle. We are cur- rently studying cultural strategies to im- prove its graft union strength. Its stellar orchard performance in both eastern and western North America indicate it will be a good alternative to M.9 in high fire blight prone areas, in replant disease ar- Figure 5 FIGURE 5 – Production of rootstock liners of six Geneva rootstocks over the last five years.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 9 eas and in woolly aphid prone areas. Its stool bed production in the U.S. in 2013 was about 1,200,000 liners. We recom- mend this stock for replant soil. Geneva® 11 is similar in size to M.9T337 in others. It is very precocious, has very high-yield efficiency and reduces biennial- ity with Honeycrisp. However, with weak scions like Honeycrisp it should be planted at less than three feet in-row spacing. It is resistant to fire blight and Phytophthora root rot, but it is not resistant to woolly apple aphids and has only partial tolerance to apple replant disease. G.11 produces high-quality nursery trees. It is proving to be an excellent replacement for M.9 in North America and Europe. Its stool bed production in the U.S. in 2013 was about 1,000,000 liners. We recommend this stock for vigorous scion cultivars such as McIntosh, Fuji, Mutsu and Jonagold. Geneva® 935 is similar in size to M.26. It is highly precocious and has very high- yield efficiency. It induces wide branch angles, is highly resistant to fire blight and Phytophthora, and appears to have some tolerance of apple replant disease. It also appears to be very winter hardy, but it is not resistant to woolly apple aphid. Fruit size has been slightly smaller than M.9. It is an excellent new rootstock for weak growing cultivars like spur-type Delicious, Honeycrisp, SweeTango or SnapDragon (Robinson et al., 2010). Its stool bed pro- duction in the U.S. in 2013 was about 400,000 liners. We recommend this stock for high-density Red Delicious plantings or other weak scion cultivars. Geneva® 202 produces a tree slightly larger than M.26. It has high-yield effi- ciency and is precocious. It is resistant to fire blight, Phytophthora, apple replant disease and woolly apple aphid. It is use- ful with weak growing cultivars and as an alternative to M.26 in climates with wool- ly apple aphid problems. It has become a popular dwarfing rootstock in New Zea- land. Its stool bed production in the U.S. in 2013 was about 250,000 liners with substantial new stool beds in Mexico. We recommend this stock for high-density Red Delicious plantings or for stressful climates like California, Colorado or Chi- huahua, Mexico. Literature Cited Auvil, T.D., T.R. Schmidt, I. Hanrahan, F. Castillo, J.R. McFerson and G. Fazio. 2011. Evaluation of dwarfing rootstocks in Washington apple replant sites. Acta Hort. 903:265-271. Cummins, J.N. and Aldwinckle, H.S. 1983. Breed- ing apple rootstocks, p294-394. In J. Janick (ed.) Plant Breeding Reviews. Westport CT, USA, AVI Publishing. Isutsa, D.K. and Merwin, I.A. 2000. Malus germ- plasm varies in resistance or tolerance to apple replant disease in a mixture of NY orchard soils. HortScience 35:262-268. Norelli, J.L., Holleran, H.T., Johnson, W.C., Rob- inson, T.L. and Aldwinckle, H.S. 2003. Resistance of Geneva and other apple rootstocks to Erwinia amylovora. Plant Disease 8(1):26-32. Robinson, T.L. and Hoying, S.A. 2005. Perfor- mance of elite Cornell-Geneva apple rootstocks in long-term orchard trials on growers farms. Acta Hort. 658:221-229. Robinson, T, Anderson, L., Azarenko, A., Barritt, B., Baugher, T., Brown, G., Couvillon, G., Cowgill, W., Crassweller, R., Domoto, P., Embree, C., Fen- nell, A., Garcia, E., Gaus, A., Granger, R., Greene, G., Hirst, P. Hoover, E., Johnson, S., Kushad, M., Moran, R., Mullins, C., Myers, S., Perry, R., Rom, C., Schupp, J., Taylor, K., Warmund, M., Warner, J. and Wolfe, D. 2003. Performance of Cornell- Geneva apple rootstocks with Liberty as the scion in NC-140 trials across North America. Acta Hort. 622:521-530. Robinson, T.L., Hoying, S.A. and Fazio, G. 2011. Performance of Geneva® rootstocks in on-farm trials in NY. Acta Hort. 903:249-255. Robinson, T., W. Autio, J. Clements, W. Cowgill, C. Embree, G. Fazio, V. Gonzalez, S. Hoying, M. Kushad, M. Parker, R. Parra, J. Schupp. 2012. Rootstocks differ in tolerance to apple replant dis- ease for improved sustainability of apple produc- tion. Acta Hort. 940:521-528. Russo, N., Robinson, T.L., Aldwinckle H.S., and Fazio, G. 2007. Horticultural performance and fire blight resistance of Cornell-Geneva apple rootstocks and other rootstocks from around the world. HortScience 42:1517-1525. TABLE 1 – Geneva 2010 Honeycrisp Apple Rootstock Trial (2013 Data). CG2034 4.9 80.0 27.5 7.5 5.5 55.5 13.9 2.92 282.4 6.5 2 Bud9 5.0 100 10 11.6 8.4 93.8 20.8 4.14 238.8 10 1.7 G11 7.8 100 15.5 7.7 7.8 101.7 23.7 3.08 252.9 7.8 1.4 CG4003 8.0 100 29 4.1 12.4 104.6 22.3 2.79 214.1 8.2 0 G41 8.6 90.9 15 9.5 5.7 120.5 29.8 3.46 264.4 7.6 0.8 Sup3 9.1 83.3 18 9.4 6.0 126.2 29.3 3.23 246 7.7 2.3 M9Pajam2 9.4 100 16.7 6.5 4.9 96.8 22.5 2.38 248.6 5.7 13.9 M9337 9.6 100 22.5 5.5 7.2 95.8 24.3 2.75 260 6.4 4.8 Bud10 9.8 88.9 18.8 7.6 7.9 134.8 31.8 3.29 246.9 7.7 1 M26 9.8 87.5 26.4 4.5 6.6 90.4 21.1 2.21 246.9 5.6 3.5 CG4214 10.9 100 20.6 8.3 4.2 121.6 29.7 2.75 260 6.2 5.5 G935 11.9 80 23.1 5.1 6.0 110.4 25.1 2.13 244.8 5.5 1.5 CG4013 12.1 100 22.5 7.8 2.4 102.8 22.4 2.14 267.9 5.1 5 CG5202 12.1 85.7 29.2 5.8 5.4 117.5 28.0 2.40 247.2 5.6 10.3 CG4004 12.7 80 16.3 8.6 3.4 134 29.8 2.41 250.1 6 4.5 CG4814 12.8 87.5 22.1 5.1 5.6 117.7 29.9 2.37 261.6 5.3 3.9 CG5087 12.9 1100 16.7 7.4 6.7 154 32.3 2.57 238.1 7 7.7 G202N 13.1 80 22.5 6.8 7.5 123.3 28.3 2.62 244.4 6.3 3.8 CG3001 14.4 100 23.3 7.2 3.2 139.7 36 2.55 275.7 5.5 1.7 LSD P≤0.05 3.2 29 8.4 4.1 4.6 36 7.72 0.88 33.3 2.23 5 Cum. Fruit No.Stock TCA 2013 (cm2) Tree Surv. 2013 (%) % Leaf Clorosis 2013 Crop Load 2013 (no/cm2 TCA) Cum. Yield (kg/ tree) Cum. Yield Eff. *Rootstocks ranked by Trunk Cross-Sectional Area increase 2010-2013. Crop Load 2012 (no/cm2 TCA) Avg. Fruit Size (g) Avg. Crop Load Cum. Root Sucker Table 1
10 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 The Steep Leader (SL) system was devel- oped in the 1970s by growers in Wash- ington State. By the 1980s it had become widely planted throughout the state. The SL system provides significant advantages over the open vase system which it largely replaced. One of the biggest advantages was increased light penetration throughout the tree, which encourages development of high-quality fruit and reasonable yields from the top to the bottom of the tree. In addition, it increases labor efficiency by al- lowing a systematic approach to pruning. Finally, growers have the ability to use ei- ther full-size or size-controlling rootstocks. Trees trained to the SL system feature three or four vertical leaders emerging from the base of the tree with horizontal scaffold branches. The tree develops a py- ramidal shape. Fruit develops on tempo- rary lateral branches that grow from the vertical leaders and horizontal scaffolds. Each leader mimics a spindle tree. Training System Trial To determine which training system, vari- ety and rootstock combination produced the greatest quantity of high-quality fruit, a trial was established in Wasco County, OR in 2006. Bing, Regina, and Sweetheart cherries were grafted onto up to five root- stocks including Mazzard, Gisela 6, Max- Ma 14, Krymsk 5, and Krymsk 6. These trees were then trained to the Kym Green Bush (KGB), the Vogel Central Leader (VCL), or the SL system. Records for yield, fruit size, establishment labor, pruning la- as well as other Mazzard training system combinations, but had significantly lower yields with Gisela 6 and MaxMa 14. Bing fruit size on SL was similar to the oth- er training systems when grown on Gisela 6, and similar in size to KGB on Mazzard. However, SL fruit size trailed behind VCL on MaxMa 14 (Figure 4). Regina Regina is a variety of low productivity that bears a significant portion of fruit at the base of one-year-old wood, rather than spurs. All other tested varieties were spur- types. The performance of the three train- bor, and time to harvest were kept. Bing Bing is a variety of moderate productivity. The performance of the three training sys- tems with Bing is compared for yield and fruit size in Table 1. The Bing/KGB combination had the best overall performance. It provided the high- est yields when compared with the other systems grown on Mazzard and MaxMa 14 (Figure 1). However, when Bing was combined with Gisela 6 the Bing/KGB combination trailed the yields provided by VCL but out yielded Bing/SL. SL performed The Steep Leader Training System for Cherries Lynn E. Long, Linda J. Brewer and Clive Kaiser Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University email: lynn.long@oregonstate.edu, linda.brewer@oregonstate.edu and clive.kaiser@oregonstate.edu Presented at the 57th Annual IFTA Conference, February 2014, in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Table 1 Rootstocks Highest Yields Largest Fruit Size Mazzard KGB, SL KGB, SL Gisela 6 VCL KGB,VCL, SL MaxMa 14 KGB VCL TABLE 1 – Yield and fruit size comparison of Bing on five rootstocks and three training systems. Table 2 Rootstocks Highest Yields Largest Fruit Size Mazzard KGB,VCL, SL SL Gisela 6 VCL, SL KGB,VCL, SL MaxMa 14 VCL, SL KGB, SL Krymsk 5 KGB,VCL KGB,VCL, SL Krymsk 6 VCL KGB TABLE 2 – Yield and fruit size comparison of Regina on five rootstocks and three training systems.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 11 ing systems with Regina is compared for yield and fruit size in Table 2. In evaluating yields, Regina/VCL performed the best overall, producing among the highest yields with all rootstocks. KGB significantly underperformed with Gisela 6 and had the lowest yields of all three systems with MaxMa 14. Regina bears a significant amount of fruit on the base of one year old shoots, which are removed annually with the KGB pruning process. SL was a steady performer on all but Krymsk 6 where it significantly trailed the other two systems (Figure 2). Regina/SL fruit were similar to or greater in size than fruit from other training sys- tems with all rootstocks except Krymsk 6 (Figure 4). Sweetheart Sweetheart is a highly precocious and productive variety. See Table 3 for a com- parison of Sweetheart performance with the three training systems. The Sweetheart/KGB combination pro- duced the highest yields with all root- stocks except Gisela 6, where it was second only to SL. SL also produced the highest yields with MaxMa 14, which did not differ from Sweetheart on MaxMa 14 trained with KGB (Figure 3). All training systems provided similar fruit size across all tested rootstocks (Figure 4). Labor requirements Labor inputs for establishing this trial were highest for VCL and lowest for KGB in the early training years. However, by the fourth leaf, labor inputs for the three train- ing systems were similar and remained so throughout the study (Figure 5). Two densities of trees trained with SL were compared to high-density plantings (840 trees/ha) trained to KGB and VCL for pruning efficiency. The SL high-density trees, at 840 trees/hectare, were approxi- mately three meters (10 ft.) tall. SL low density trees, at 225 trees/hectare, were approximately six meters (20 ft.) tall. Rou- tine pruning labor was similar for all trees planted at the higher density regardless of training system. However, the lower density SL trees (225 trees per hectare), grown on Mazzard rootstock, required less time per hectare to prune than the high-density system trees (Figure 6). Table 3 Rootstocks Highest Yields Largest Fruit Size Mazzard KGB KGB,VCL, SL Gisela 6 SL KGB,VCL, SL MaxMa 14 KGB, SL KGB,VCL, SL Krymsk 5 KGB,VCL KGB,VCL, SL TABLE 3 – Yield and fruit size comparison of Sweetheart on four rootstocks and three training systems. Figure 1 FIGURE 1 – Fourth through sixth leaf cumulative yield of Bing sweet cherry on three rootstocks and three training systems. Figure 2 FIGURE 2 – Fourth through sixth leaf cumulative yield of Bing sweet cherry on three rootstocks and three training systems.
12 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Harvest efficiency was greatest on the KGB system which was harvested without ladders, compared to the VCL or SL which were partially harvested from ladders. More fruit was harvested per hour on the pedestrian system high-density plantings, trained to KGB—78 kg/hr (171 lbs/hr)— than on standard density ladder-picked trees—45 kg/hr (100 lbs/h)—using 3.7 m (12 ft) ladders (Figure 7). Summary The SL system is a reasonable choice for and VCL were not able to match the faster harvest labor levels of the fully pedestrian KGB system. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Greg Johnson of The Dalles, Oregon for host- ing the trial and IFTA for partial funding of this work. Additional resources: Long, L.E. (2003). Cherry Training Systems: Selec- tion and Development. PNW 543. Oregon State University. growers looking for a system suitable for full-size or dwarfing rootstocks. The sys- tem performed especially well with Re- gina, where yields were among the high- est on Mazzard, Gisela 6, and MaxMa 14 rootstocks. Regina trained to SL produced some of the largest fruit on all rootstocks except Krymsk 5. Total establishment labor was similar to KGB and much lower than VCL. Pruning and harvest labor levels were similar to the other two higher density systems but SL Figure 3 FIGURE 3 – Fourth through sixth leaf cumulative yield of Sweetheart sweet cherry on four rootstocks and three training systems. Figure 4 FIGURE 4 – Average fruit size of three varieties on up to five rootstocks trained to three systems. The final form of the steep leader tree should be a pyramid,allowing good light distribution within the canopy from the top of the tree to the base. Illustration by Corianne Denby. The steep leader tree consists of three or four permanent upright leaders and a horizontal base that produce fruit off of renewable lateral branches. Photos are used by permission and remain the property of Oregon State University.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 13 Figure 5 FIGURE 5 – Labor per year required to establish training systems, 2006 to 2013. Tree yields and fruit quality data were recorded for three varieties on up to five rootstocks. Stub cuts are made to regenerate fruiting wood. Figure 6 FIGURE 6 – Labor required to prune one hectare of mature trees. Figure 7 FIGURE 7 – Average labor required to harvest one kg of Sweetheart cherries in the fifth leaf by training system (840 trees/ha-1 ).
14 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 TH Profitable Orchard Management A Maritime Perspective more ›› Schedule of Events Saturday, February 21, 2015 8:00 am - 4:30 pm – Pre-Conference Honeycrisp Intensive Workshop FEBRUARY 21-25, 2015 • HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA Photo: Destination Halifax/B.McWhirter Photo: Communications Nova Scotia Economics of High Density Honeycrisp Alison De Marree, Cornell University Honeycrisp is more expensive to bring into bearing, grow and har- vest than other apple varieties. Honeycrisp also packs out lower than other varieties due to bitterpit, color, stem punctures, over-cropping and storage disorders. This presentation will compare potential returns for 2-3 tree densities and review the additional expenses required in establishing, growing and harvesting high quality Hon- eycrisp (as compared to other apple varieties). Soil Preparation for High Density Orchards in Nova Scotia: What Have We Learned? Keith Fuller, Agriculture & Agri Food Canada Successful establishment of high density orchards on dwarfing root- stocks in Nova Scotia has always been a challenge. This presentation focuses on past successes and failures with an emphasis on soil manipulation strategies to optimize soil health and maximize the performance of young trees. Honeycrisp Systems for Maximum Performance Bruce Allen, Chiawana Orchards, LLC We’ll take a tour of Bruce Allen’s 15 years of experience with Axe, V, Tall Spindle and 2-D training systems in search of the elusive best system for Honeycrisp. The interaction of site and rootstock with these systems will be explored. Growing Trees Jim Engelsma, J Engelsma Orchards, Inc. Successful establishment of a new apple orchard is dependent on good orchard management from the beginning. Jim Engelsma’s ap- proach is to provide best management practices to the new orchard at every step of tree growth and not allow any limitations to reduce tree establishment. With correct soil management, proper trellising structure, drip irrigation, foliar nutrition and tree growth manipu- lation, the grower can be successful in the initial establishment, maximum growth, increased early production of large, high-quality fruit, and thus better grower return. Register online today at www.ifruittree.org
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 15 Maximizing Potential of Young Orchards Hank Markgraf, BC Tree Fruits Cooperative Hank Markgraf will review key points to maximize the success of a new young orchard including sharing successes and mistakes made by British Columbia growers during this important stage in the orchard’s life. Nutrient Management for Honeycrisp Lailiang Cheng, Cornell University Honeycrisp is susceptible to bitterpit and biennial bearing, and fruit quality is affected by cropload to a large degree. To produce high quality Honeycrisp, tree nutrition must be carefully man- aged. This talk will be focused on two key aspects of Honeycrisp nutrient management: improve fruit Ca level to reduce bitterpit and optimize nitrogen management to balance tree vigor, bien- nial bearing and fruit quality. Disease Management Strategies for Honeycrisp David Rosenberger, Cornell University Disease management for Honeycrisp apples presents unique challenges because this cultivar is especially susceptible to summer fruit rots and postharvest decays. Bitter rot has been causing damage on Honeycrisp in growing regions where bitter rot was never a problem on other cultivars. Honeycrisp has also proven very susceptible to black rot and white rot decays in the field and to blue mold and gray mold decays in storage. Some of these diseases cannot be controlled using fungicides alone. In this session, we will review integrated strategies for managing fruit decays and other disease problems on Honeycrisp. Honeycrisp Pruning and Thinning for Optimum Quality and Return Bloom Terence Robinson, Cornell University Our studies have shown three management factors have a large impact on Honeycrisp fruit quality and should be managed by growers very precisely. They are crop load, fruit nitrogen content and irrigation. In this presentation Terence Robinson will explore how to optimize each of these variables to reduce bitter pit and improve fruit quality at harvest and after storage. Fruit thinning with a combination of precision pruning and precision chemical thinning should be used to optimize crop load. Crop Load Management in Honeycrisp: A Grower Perspective Mike Robinson, Double Diamond Fruit Plantings of Honeycrisp are expanding rapidly in Washington State. Future profitability of the variety will be dependent on our ability to manage crop load and its impact on tree vigor and fruit quality. Mike Robinson will discuss current on-farm efforts in pruning and tests of chemical, mechanical blossom and hand blossom thinning techniques. Saturday, February 21, 2015 (continued) 8:00 am - 4:30 pm – Pre-Conference Honeycrisp Intensive Workshop Strategies for Thinning/ReTain on Honeycrisp Phil Schwallier, Michigan State University Getting the correct level of crop on Honeycrisp is not easy. Return bloom will suffer if too many apples are on the tree and too few will get you problems with bitterpit. Numerous thinning trials conducted in Michigan will be presented as well as novel approaches to Honeycrisp Precision Fruitset will be reviewed. Thinning starts early at dormant pruning time. Harvest Management of Honeycrisp Larry Lutz, Scotian Gold Cooperative There has never been a more profitable or problematic variety grown in North America. Harvest management including maturity monitoring, harvest techniques and fruit handling will be discussed from an eastern Canadian perspective, with special emphasis being placed on the recent development and use of the DA meter. Determination of Optimal Harvest Boundaries for Honeycrisp Fruit Using a New Chlorophyll Meter Tool John Delong, Agriculture & Agri Food Canada A new chlorophyll measurement tool [the delta absorbance (DA) meter] was used to develop an optimal harvest maturity model for Honeycrisp fruit grown in Nova Scotia. The DA meter values associated with the harvests having high commercial fruit quality and the least collective expression of disorders, delin- eated the optimal harvest boundaries. The DA model approach is potentially applicable to all commercial apple cultivars, but should be developed for each within a distinct growing region. Honeycrisp Maturity Indicators and Optimization of Postharvest Performance Ines Hanrahan, Washington State University Dr. Hanrahan will discuss methods of maturity assessment for Honeycrisp destined for long term storage in Washington State including, but not limited to: crop load, time of harvest, use of common maturity indicators, titratable acidity and other ways to determine maturity. She will emphasize the need for timely har- vest to preserve excellent eating quality in storage and discuss strategies for storage success. The discussion will be framed with practical tips for growers and storage operators. IFTA is excited to be heading back to Nova Scotia! Here IFTA members are enjoying the maritime experi- ence at the 2009 IFTA Study Tour in Nova Scotia. Register online today at www.ifruittree.org
16 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 10:30 am - 3:00 pm – Optional Half-day Cultural Tours Spend some time touring the area to learn about Nova Scotia history during the optional half-day Cultural Tours before the Annual Conference Welcome Reception. Tickets for the optional tours are included only with the Whole Fruit Pie registration, other conference attendees can purchase tickets for either of these optional tours. Both optional sight- seeing tours on Sunday need a minimum of 30 people to register or the tour will be cancelled. In the event we do not have a minimum of 30 people registered for the tour by February 1, we will contact the registrants and refund the registration fee for the tour. See sidebar for more information on Sunday tours. 5:00 pm – Annual Conference Welcome Reception See old friends and make new industry acquaintances as you join other conference attendees for the 58th Annual IFTA Conference Welcome Reception. The Welcome Reception will be held at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, just a short walk from the host hotel, the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront. Sunday, February 22, 2015 MONday, February 23, 2015 8:00 am - 5:00 pm – Educational Sessions Welcome Lisa Jenereaux, Spurr Brothers Farm, Conference Host Committee Co-Chair Introduction to Nova Scotia Larry Lutz, Scotian Gold Cooperative, Conference Host Committee Co-Chair Being the oldest area producing tree fruit in North America, as well as one of the smallest and with the shortest growing season, has presented some unique opportunities and difficulties over the centuries. The history and evolution of the area and the industry, as well as the impact that Honeycrisp has had on the industry will be presented. The cur- rent status of the varieties and production systems used here will be explained as well. Pear Rootstock and Systems for High Density Orchards Stefano Musacchi, Washington State University The main trend in European orchard design today is to increase planting density. High density planting (HDP) in pear is expanding due to the widespread use of quince root- stocks to reduce tree size and induce early bearing. However, since HDP entails high out- lays, the break-even point occurs 5 to 8 years after planting. Stefano Musacchi will discuss the latest research in pear rootstocks and training systems for high density pear plantings. Optimal Weed Control in Young Orchards with New Herbicides Debbie Breth, Cornell University Weed control is essential for optimal tree growth and apple production. All previous work in identifying critical weed free timing was done on Empire and Jonagold on M111 planted at 3 X 6 m spacing. Breth has tested the critical timing for weed free strips for two seasons in the rows of new high density tall spindle plantings and has been able to identify the best timing for optimal tree growth and relate that to potential yield. Results of various herbicide trials will also be presented. Register online today at www.ifruittree.org Optional Cultural Tours Halifax Highlights + Peggy’s Cove w/ Lunch – 4 hours Join your local guide for a fun-filled ride through the streets of Halifax to learn about the people and places that have shaped one of the most captivating cities in North America. Your tour will lead you out of town on the Lighthouse Route and on to Peggy’s Cove, an artists’and explor- ers’paradise for well over 150 years. This village is located right on the rugged Atlantic shoreline, standing on solid rock above the crashing surf. The coastline is famous for pirates, shipwrecks, and rum-running while the village is known for weather- worn fishing shacks, colourful buoys, lobster traps and awe-inspiring rock formations that have been carved out by the glaciers of the last Ice Age. Enjoy a delicious two-course lunch overlooking one of the most pho- tographed lighthouses in the world before returning to Halifax. Historic Halifax + Alexander Keith’s Brewery – 2 ½ hours Join your local guide for an overview of Halifax. Learn about the city’s war years and of the role of the Citadel Fortress, of the exploits and heroism of the citizens who lived through the devastating Halifax Explosion, and of the local connection to the Titanic Disaster. Next, step back in time with a tour of the Alexander Keith’s Brewery as it was in 1863. The great Brew-master, and former mayor of Halifax, is brought alive in song and story as actors in period costume and character show you everything there is to know about Nova Scotia’s favorite beer, Keith’s Pale Ale. Register online today at www.ifruittree.org Photo: Scott Munn, courtesy Nova Scotia Tourism Agency Photo: Destination Halifax/B.McWhirter
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 17 Register online today at www.ifruittree.orgRegister online today at www.ifruittree.org Past President Steve Blizzard returns as the Master of Ceremonies for the 2015 IFTA Awards Banquet. Banquet tickets are included with Whole Fruit Pie registration, other conference attendees can purchase tickets for this year’s awards banquet. Updates on Trials from NC140 and Their Applications to Tree Fruit Industry Terence Robinson, Cornell University The NC-140 rootstock research group continues to evaluate apple, cherry and pear rootstocks in multiple locations in North America. Recent findings show the potential for dwarfing cherry rootstocks planted at high densities with new pruning strategies to produce large crops with large fruit size. The apple trials are showing the potential of various new rootstocks including the Geneva rootstocks to improve yield efficiency. The pear rootstock trials have shown that the current OHF stocks and the new Pyro 2-33 combined with new pruning strategies have good potential in high density orchards which should allow the North American pear industry to modernize and adopt high density orchards. Living Without Neonics in Tree Fruit Art Agnello, Cornell University Since their introduction in the late 1990s, the Neonicotinoids have become the most widely used class of insecticides in the world. The fruit industry has come to rely on this chemistry as a replacement for many of the older chemistries including the organophosphates. These products are now under intense scrutiny due to suspected environmental impacts. This presen- tation will address what the future may hold in the event that we lose access to this class of insecticides. Crop Adapted Spraying (CAS) for High Density Orchards Jason Deveau, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) After several years of trials, Crop-Adapted Spraying is a promising decision-making model for reducing pesticide requirements in apple orchards. As growers continue to shift to high-density plantings, this method of sprayer calibration and spray-coverage confirmation can potentially save as much as 50% of typical annual pesticide loads. MONday, February 23, 2015 (continued) The Retail Apple Landscape from an Eastern Shipper’s Perspective John Rice, Rice Fruit Company New varieties of apples are being offered to retailers every month. How are retailers reacting, and which varieties are likely to be the long-term winners? What barriers do they face, and what is the store apple section likely to look like five years from now? Ten years from now? One of the largest Eastern apple packers and growers weighs in. Young Grower Session: Encouraging Young Folks to Stay in This Business Chris Duyvelshoff, Perennia, Moderator; Adele Wunsch, Wunsch Farms; Peter Eisses, Eisses Farms; Jenny Crist Kohn, Crist Brothers Orchards; Mark Stennes, Cascade Crest Organics Four inspiring young growers will be featured from New York, Michigan, Washington and Nova Scotia. Each will be discussing their background, involvement on the farm, future plans and what makes a successful young grower. These next generation growers will ensure a vibrant tree fruit industry for generations to come. A Systems Approach to Mechanization: Grower Panel Karen Lewis, Washington State University, Moderator; Mo Tougas, Tougas Family Farm; Tim Welsh, Columbia Fruit Packers; Rod Farrow, Lamont Fruit Farm; Dave Rennhack, Rennhack Orchards; Mike Robinson, Double Diamond Fruit Horticulture. Engineering. Economics. Discussion will be focused on evaluating and adopting labor assist mechanical tools for thinning, pruning and harvest. Can we optimize our horticultural systems with mechanization? Is the engineering and marketplace meeting our needs and demands? What is the economic bottom line – mitigation of labor-related risks, improved fruit quality or getting the job done well and on time? Five“early adopters”will share their experiences with mechanization, their methods for evaluating new tools and their efforts to develop a systems ap- proach to mechanization. 6:00 pm – IFTA Awards Banquet
18 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Canard Orchards – Gerry and Shonna VanOostrum Originally started by Gerry’s father, Peter, this farm has always been a leader in planting new high-density systems. Gerry now plants almost exclusively M-9 and B-9, as they have performed very well on this site. The main varieties grown are Gala, Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, Jonagold, SweeTango and red strains of Cortland. We will also see a variety of training and support systems, with new plantings primarily trained to the tall spindle system. Sarsfield Farms – Blake and Paulette Sarsfield Sarsfield Farms is located in the shadow of Cape Blomidon, one of the most scenic areas of Nova Scotia. Sarsfield Farms was one of the first to plant Honeycrisp in Nova Scotia, as well as other new varieties such as Ambrosia, SweeTango and Sonya. They also have one of the largest cherry plantings in Nova Scotia, as well as peaches, day neutral strawberries and high bush blueberries. We will be looking briefly at some of the new plantings on M-9, M-26, M7, M4 and Supporter 4. The main attraction at this stop will be an inside display of orchard equipment including platforms, mechanical thinners, harvest assists and other specialized orchard equipment. Eisses Family Farm – John and Trudy Eisses and Family This was once a mixed operation with dairy cows, field crops and tree fruit. John has concentrated more on the apple enterprise in the last 25 years and has expanded and replanted extensively. In recent years John has seen three of his children and their spouses return to the farm, so the future looks bright indeed. We will also view extensive planting of Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, SweeTango, So- nya, Gala, and Gravenstein. Of special interest will be the progres- sion of support systems and training methods, and the extensive use of the new Cornell rootstocks such as G-11, G-16, CG-30 and G-41. Extensive plantings on M-9 and older plantings of Honey- crisp on M-7 will also be viewed. Scotian Gold Cooperative Ltd. Started in 1917 as the United Fruit Companies, Scotian Gold Cooperative is the largest storage operator and apple packer in Atlantic Canada. This grower owned facility in Coldbrook continu- ously adds new CA facilities and has recently added new pre-sort facility. The cooperative also operates a Farm Supply, Retail Market, Fertilizer Plant and a Fresh Cut facility. The co-op services about 50 growers, handling both fresh and processing apples as well as pears, peaches, cherries, potatoes and strawberries. Andy and Gail Parker Andy and Gail started planting their orchard in the early 1980s with semi dwarf M111’s and M26’s. The farm now consists of ap- proximately 100 acres of orchard with the main varieties being Mc- Intosh and Honeycrisp. About half of the Honeycrisp production is from older trees that have been top worked. They have recently started a renewal planting program based on the tree wall system using a standardized 11 foot row spacing. The intent is to utilize mechanized systems to achieve labor efficiencies where possible. Most of the new plantings will be budded in place, on M26 root- stock, to Pazazz, Honeycrisp and other higher value varieties. TUESday, February 24, 2015 Van Meekeren Farms Owned and operated by Stephen and Michael Van Meekeren, the farm was purchased by their father Frank Van Meekeren in 1964 as a mixed fruit, vegetable and dairy operation. Since the mid-80s the business has focused primarily on apples and pears. The farm is about 100 acres. Some older plantings on MM111 still exist but are continually being replaced by B9, G935, G11, and some M26 at a density of 1200-1400 trees/acre. The Van Meekerens have a Controlled Atmosphere Storage and Packing facility that handles the production from their own farm as well as those from other growers in the Valley. Register online today at www.ifruittree.orgRegister online today at www.ifruittree.org
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 19 Register online today at www.ifruittree.orgRegister online today at www.ifruittree.org WEDNESday Orchard Tours Spurr Brothers Farm – Bill, Gordon, Lisa, Katie (and the rest of the family!) Very diverse and ever evolving, this farm has had apples since the mid 1800s and is now heading into the sixth generation in the same family. Always the innovators, they had one of the first blocks of McIntosh in Nova Scotia as well as one of the first commercial plantings of Jonagold in 1985, and Honeycrisp in 1996. The farm consists of about 100 acres of apples, mainly on M-26, CG-30, M-9, B-9 and G-16. The farm also grows and packs 400 acres of potatoes, onions, and carrots. New to the farm are a series of specialty crops such as strawber- ries, garlic, Haskap berries and other vegetable crops. Of special interest is a multi-leader block of pears planted in 2012. These are primarily the Fireblight resistant cultivars from the Vine- land breeding program. Birchleigh Farms – Waldo and Judy Walsh Originally started by Waldo’s father, Fred, the Walsh family currently grow about 95 acres of apples and pears. The main varieties grown are Honeycrisp, SweeTango, Ambrosia, Gala, and a host of traditional varieties such as Graven- stein and Northern Spy. New plantings are primarily on M-26 and Supporter 4 rootstock, with consideration being given to some of the stronger Geneva rootstocks to make up for the fine textured soils at the home farm. The Walsh family has been devoting a lot of effort to become more labor efficient, utilizing close row spacings, bin trailers, and a platform for prun- ing, tree training and trellis installation. Crisp Growers Inc. Formed out the ashes of a corporate fruit farm which dissolved in 2013, Crisp Growers is a venture owned by a number of growers who also happen to be growers for Scotian Gold Cooperative. Originally encompassing some 240 acres of apples, mostly older varieties, the orchard has mostly been removed and is rapidly being replanted to newer high value va- rieties such as Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, Gala and Sonya. We will see some of the new plantings and have a discussion of the unique business model being followed. Nova Scotia’s 2014 Fire Blight Epidemic Chris Duyvelshoff, Perennia Nova Scotia experienced its most severe fire blight outbreak in the province’s history in 2014. Reasons for the severity of the outbreak will be examined using graphic visual imagery. Lessons learned and questions for the future will be discussed. Fire Blight Management Considerations for 2015 George Sundin, Michigan State University Fire blight is a destructive bacterial disease of pome fruit that caused significant damage in eastern North America in 2014. This disease can be explosive under conducive environmental conditions and is extremely difficult to control on highly susceptible apple varieties. The reasons for the rapid onset of disease will be outlined, and best management options for control of blossom and shoot blight will be discussed. Apple Biodiversity Collection/Breeding Implications Sean Myles, Dalhousie University The use of DNA sequence information can be used to accelerate the breeding of improved fruit cultivars. Dr. Myles will explain why the use of genomics-assist- ed breeding holds particular promise for tree fruits and what his research team is doing to accelerate the development of improved apple varieties in Canada. You Have to Dance With the One What Brung Ya Steve Blizzard, Largomarsino Group Carlson Lecture A look in the rear view mirror of how a grower oriented, grower financed organization influenced an entire industry, not only in North America but all over the world. Annual Conference General Session The final day of the conference starts early! Attendees will be boarding buses at the hotel at 7:30 am to travel back to the Annapolis Valley for classroom sessions in the morning and more field learning in the afternoon. The day concludes with a Traditional Nova Scotia Lobster Supper with buses returning to the hotel around 9 pm. WEDNESday, February 25, 2015 All conference speakers, topics and times subject to change.
20 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Introducing New York’s First Homegrown Club Apples Mark Russell, Whittier Fruit Farm LLC email: mwrussell1969@gmail.com Presented at the 57th Annual IFTA Conference, February 2014, in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Bringing two great apple brands to market, the NYAG way I’m here on behalf of NYAG to talk about our partnership with Cornell, as well as to introduce two great new apple brands and New York’s first homegrown apple club. I’m sure many of you were in Boston last year and recall Dr. Susan Brown’s talk about the development of these apples. I plan to pick up where she left off. I remember where I was when I first learned about the club apple concept. I was here, at IFTA in Kelowna in 2002. Through a chance meeting I struck up a conversation with Alan White from New Zealand. He told me about a great new apple they had called Jazz. But the im- portant thing I learned was that he was in charge of selecting the growers for it, and it would not be available in New York. I was fascinated by the idea of an apple I wouldn’t be allowed to grow. It im- plied the possibility for a medium-acreage grower like me to have access to a limited variety. I had a feeling I was seeing the fu- ture of the industry, and wanted to know how my operation could be a part of it. A year earlier—again at IFTA—I had met Dennis Courtier. Word was he was in negotiations with the University of Min- nesota for exclusive rights to a promising Honeycrisp-Zestar! hybrid. After a lot of research and conversation, I was glad to be invited to join the Next Big Thing (NBT) co-op, and plant the apple that would become Minneiska and marketed as SweeTango™ . This is where things get in- teresting for New York growers. With the advent of NBT, New York State got a front row seat to what the club concept could look like: only 15 New York growers were invited and around 300 acres planted, but Names and logos unveiled at Geneva field day. Photo credit: Mark Russell
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 21 it was enough for Cornell extension to be involved in, and for the NYAA to support. In a state with over 600 apple growers, this served as a real wake-up call. If you hadn’t known about the club concept, you sure knew about it now. The New York project began with a small group of growers forming an apple vari- ety task force. They knew Dr. Brown had some promising varieties in the pipeline, and they knew the old system for releas- ing apples to the public was about to end. So they set about making a plan that would meet their two primary goals: n Deliver value to New York growers by negotiating exclusive rights to great new apples. n Support the Cornell breeding pro- gram with a reworked, dedicated funding stream. Cornell sought an exclusive rights partner for its new apples. NYAG LLC was formed and a contract was drawn that gave NYAG exclusive North American rights to grow and market the apples, now named NY-1 and NY-2. NYAG went to work to form a growers’ organization to help meet their goals and also to live up to their core values: n Manage the production, quality, and marketing. n Allow any grower to join. To do this we used the New York Apple Marketing Order membership as a re- source to make sure every grower was invited twice. Growers were allowed to: n Plant either or both apples. n Choose how many acres to plant. n Choose between direct or commercial sales channels, or both. This got us 144 grower-owners, covering about 60% of the state’s production. Orchard establishment was complicated by the inconvenient fact of an industry- wide planting boom that led to a deficit of rootstock choices. NY-1 was a runty tree that needed a boost. NY-2 proved to be susceptible to fire blight. In a perfect world, we would have access to all the great new Geneva roots we needed. In- stead, NY-1’s success as a tree will depend mostly on NIC 29 and NY-2 on Bud-9. With propagation underway the NYAG organization started to take shape. A Board of Directors leads the way with a number of committees formed to handle big picture issues, like marketing plans and variety evaluation, as well as critical details, such as orchard establishment, administration and trademarking. All told, about a third of our member farms have a committee presence. This is an organiza- tion dedicated to inclusiveness, communi- cation and transparency. NYAG’s founders brought a lot of experi- ence and talent to the table—but none of us was a marketing firm, so we hired one to fill in the gaps. This firm helped turn these apples into strong brands and cre- ated the toolkit to reach our consumers. We also hired a professional administrator with a marketing and apple background. At the same time we were also working closely with Cornell. NYAG and Cornell are partners in this venture. With partner- ship comes strength and opportunity but also compromise. Here’s what we got: n North American production and mar- keting rights. n A seat at the table for new selections. n A collection of royalties split 50/50 between NYAG and Cornell to endow a dedicated revenue stream for Dr. Brown’s breeding program. The final result was a 50/50 royalty split between NYAG and Cornell, with Cornell agreeing to pass along a portion of their funds directly to the apple breeding program. Harvest gathering at Crist Bros. Orchards, Inc. in New York. Photo credit: Janet Baus.
22 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 For NY-1 we chose SnapDragon™ . One of our goals was to put some fresh words in the apple category, and we thought “crisp” had been played out. We used “snap” as a stand-in for “crisp”, and “dragon” brings with it imagination, ex- citement and fun. Initial name recognition from the public has been outstanding. NY-2 will be sold as RubyFrost® . We wanted the name to express the beau- ty of the fruit, in a luxurious way, while frost stood in as a mouth-feel message, suggesting the fruits’ crisp and refresh- ing qualities. RubyFrost® got immediate attention from the public as a name too, appearing in a “lip-gloss or apple-variety” quiz on Bon Appétit’s website. We love these names, and think they are strong trademarks and worthy brands for two of the finest apples available. To introduce our brand names to the growers and the public, we chose the annual field day at the Geneva research station, and invited all the members—and the press—to join us in the celebration, with Cornell’s public relations team help- ing spread the word. The name announcement got 158 unique The partnership with Cornell has been strong in so many ways. From research, Dr. Brad Rickard conducted a taste test focus group that studied the economic impact of naming. We created a Cornell internship for early market research. We put the project in the classroom: an undergraduate business class developed marketing plans and some inventive names, and an MBA program’s students conducted market analysis. Best help of all was from the CALS faculty and extension. They worked eagerly with growers every step of the way. It’s been a great advantage having Dr. Terence Rob- inson involved in challenging the growers toward excellence. There is an apparent sense in New York’s fruit tree extension that these are world-class apples and de- serve to be done right. The work of extension, through the East- ern Horticulture team and Lake Ontario Fruit teams, has been constant and invalu- able. Even the new Director of Extension, longtime friend of the industry Dr. Chris Watkins, still finds time to do storage re- search for both of these varieties. Obviously, the most pressing task was “naming” the apples, and having a mar- keter involved made sure we built a co- hesive brand definition with the apples’ associated emotion, target consumer and placement up front. This was a big help in informing the naming process. Once we had our apples defined and positioned, we needed to choose wor- thy names for them. NY-1 was a superior out-of-hand snack apple, with an excit- ing crunch and an immediate, endearing sweet flavor. NY-2 was a gorgeous apple that elicited emotions of comfort and lux- ury. It has a firm, crisp, juicy texture and a delicate sweet-tart balance. Finding suitable names is frustrating work going through hundreds of options in search of something more perfect. You also have to avoid the tendency to gravi- tate toward existing names. It can take a lot of time—years, in fact. You can run out of apples to eat and have to go months working from your memory. A lot of fruit needs to be eaten, a lot of brains need to be picked, and a lot of words need to be mashed around. In the end, the apple brands were chosen through a proprietary process, including but not limited to brainstorming, thesau- rus reading, focus groups, taste testing, conference calls, coffee drinking, market research, naming contests and Robert’s Rules of Order. And remember: If it’s a good apple, people will like the name you pick anyway. First pack of SnapDragon. Photo credit: Austin Fowler.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 23 stories the first day, with more than 450 repeats of the Associated Press story and local TV news coverage in nearly every market in the state. We couldn’t be hap- pier about the adulation and recognition it brought to Susan Brown and Kevin Ma- loney at the breeding program. It was a snapdragons. Photo credit: NYAG LLC long time coming and much deserved. We parlayed all this strong press into a direct marketing blitz for SnapDragon™ with the fruit from our commercial grow- ers distributed to the member farm stands to bolster quantity. Our website—snap- dragonapple.com—directed folks to the direct markets nearest them, and our members did the rest. For RubyFrost® , our marketing debut con- sisted of a test run at the retail level. Three supermarket partners were chosen for the test and about 3,000 bushels of fruit went out late January to over 150 outlets. We look forward to repeating that retail test this October with SnapDragon™ . Going forward our biggest challenges will be nailing down harvest indices and stor- age protocols, maintaining quality stan- dards, and balancing retailer demand with the growth of production. Marketing chal- lenges include working with sales desks and the constant fight to get shelf space. Our old model is all about giving retailers a 52-week supply, and they learned to ex- pect it. With club apples they can’t neces- sarily have that, so we have to find ways that work to the growers’ advantage. There’s a lot of unique supply chain issues to sort out. Those are the consequences when you invite every grower in the state. I don’t think any packing house is going to happy about handling and splitting out 105 grower lots, so there will need to be some cooperation and coordination. The folks working on this are busy people, with their own businesses to manage and they do this on a volunteer basis. So we have some work to do. Since the club concept first came into play over a decade ago, there has been much deliberation over all these new varieties in the marketplace. “Surely there was not enough shelf space to go around for more than a few lucky winners” was the pre- vailing wisdom. But as the emerging clubs have come into view, it is apparent their combined production plans are still far below five percent of domestic volume… and years away from exceeding that. It could be just as likely that we have merely entered a new, better era of what used to be derisively called “niche” marketing. The apple display is a big place. The win- dow for a variety can be as long as a whole year. There’s plenty of room to profitably sell quality apples. And with the excite- ment that all these new varieties are bring- ing to the segment, new apple lovers will be looking for something good to munch on after this year’s SnapDragon™ and RubyFrost® are sold out. So don’t disap- point them!
24 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Cherry Rootstocks for the Modern Orchard Lynn E. Long, Linda J. Brewer and Clive Kaiser, Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University email: lynn.long@oregonstate.edu, linda.brewer@oregonstate.edu and clive.kaiser@oregonstate.edu Presented at the 57th Annual IFTA Conference, February 2014, in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Traditional rootstocks for commercial cherry production include Mazzard and Mahaleb. These rootstocks support a moderate crop load, and with routine care, a proper leaf to fruit ratio is gener- ally easy to maintain. However, none of them confer precocity, and all can be very vigorous, making plantings more difficult to manage and harvest. Growers today have the advantage of many fully- or semi-dwarfing rootstocks that offer precocity, allow for high-density plantings, and bring a faster return on investment. These precocious rootstocks include the Gisela® series, the Krymsk® series and MaxMa 14® , among others. Five sour cherry rootstocks from Michigan State University are still under evaluation, but have significant potential to transform cherry growing practices. All of these precocious rootstocks make high-density plantings possible and en- able new systems that are easily trained, easily pruned and more easily harvested. Higher early returns and more sustainable yields through maturity are also possible. In many cases labor demands are reduced and efficiencies are increased. Summary of rootstock attributes With the exception of the MSU rootstock series mentioned above and two new Gisela® rootstocks, all of these rootstocks have been grown commercially for at least a decade. In that time a great deal has been learned about their attributes. Gisela 3 Prunus cerasus Schattenmorelle × Prunus canescens Gisela 3 is the most dwarfing of the Gise- la series. Although it has gained accep- tance by growers in northern Europe, it has not been widely planted in the U.S. or most other cherry production areas of the world. Due to its very dwarfing nature it is recommended for planting only in Vogel Central Leader trees growing on five rootstocks.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 25 deep, fertile soils. Reports from Germany indicate Gisela 3 provides high early yields and when intensively pruned and man- aged can produce high-quality fruit. Trees are free of suckers and produce wide branch angles. Trees should be sup- ported. Gisela 3 is recommended for very high-density plantings such as the Super Slender Axe system. Gisela 3 is particularly well adapted to covered orchards. Gisela 5 P. cerasus x P. canescens Gisela 5 has gained wide acceptance in northern Europe and in the northeastern United States where summer tempera- tures tend to be relatively cool. However, Gisela 5 has failed to gain widespread ac- ceptance in the major cherry production areas on the west coast of the United States, Chile or other hot summer regions. Gisela 5 produces trees about 50% the size of Mazzard. The medium-low vigor of this rootstock coupled with very high fruit production means that trees must be pruned and managed intensively in order to produce high quality fruit. This issue is accentuated when Gisela 5 is combined with productive cultivars such as Lapins and Sweetheart. When properly pruned and grown on deep, fertile soils, Gisela 5 may be suitable for very high density plantings, especially when combined with an extremely high-density system such as the Super Slender Axe. Gisela 6 P. cerasus x P. canescens Gisela 6 is the most popular rootstock for new plantings in the Pacific North- west (PNW) of the U.S. Even though it is a relatively vigorous rootstock, it is easy to manage. Typical planting densities are 300 to 500 trees per acre (740-1235 trees per hectare). Although it exhibits medium-high vigor, it is also very precocious, producing harvestable crops by the third leaf with full production possible by the fifth leaf. High production potential continues on Gisela 6 into maturity, so proper pruning is essential to maintain adequate leaf-to-fruit ratio and good fruit size. High fruit quality is possible with cultivars of moderate-to-low produc- tivity such as Bing, Skeena and Regina, but more difficult with very productive cultivars such as Lapins and Sweetheart. Gisela 6 is well suited for a wide range of soil types from light to heavy; however, good drainage is essential. Anchorage can be a problem, especially on windy sites, although most growers in the PNW do not provide support. Gisela 12 (P. cerasus x P. canescens Gisela 12 generally produces a tree with slightly more vigor than Gisela 6 when combined with Regina and several other varieties, but it exhibits slightly less vigor with Bing. Gisela 12 is both precocious and productive, producing heavy early crops, with full production possible by the fifth leaf. Good fruit size and quality is possible with proper pruning. Gisela 12 is adapted to a wide range of soils and is somewhat better anchored than Gisela 6 although there have been some reports of trees leaning in the wind. The tree structure is open and spreading and new branches form readily. Scion compatibility has not been a problem. Dormant pruning KGB trees.
26 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Gisela 13 Schattenmorelle x P. cansecens According to information provided by Gisela, Inc., Gisela 13 is similar to or slightly more vigorous than Gisela 6 with about the same yield capacity, although both of these traits varied with the evalu- ation site. These trees were reported to be well anchored with few root suckers. Gisela 17 P. canescens x P. avium According to Gisela, Inc. (giselacherry. com/), Gisela 17 produces a tree some- what larger than Gisela 6 or Gisela 13 with a yield potential similar to or somewhat less than Gisela 6. They further reported that Gisela 17 shows somewhat reduced potential to over-crop compared to Gisela 5 or Gisela 6, suggesting this rootstock would do well with the more productive self-fertile cultivars. Gisela 17 is reported to be less demanding as to soil and climat- ic conditions than Gisela 5 and has per- formed well in replant sites in Germany. Krymsk 5 P. fruticosa x P. lannesiana Krymsk 5 has been used in commercial production in Oregon for more than 10 years. Tree size is similar to Gisela 12 but it is neither as precocious nor as productive. Commercial production of Lapins and Skeena on Krymsk 5 through the twelfth leaf in Oregon indicates premium quality fruit can be consistently produced on this rootstock when properly managed. Krymsk 5 is adapted to a wide range of soil types, with reports it will grow well in heavier soils than Mazzard. Accounts from Russia, where this rootstock originates, in- dicate it is well adapted to cold climates. In addition, it has performed well in the hot climate production regions of the western U.S. Trees are well anchored and do not need support. Low-to-moderate levels of crown suckers have been noted. Trees grafted onto Krymsk 5 rootstock are hypersensitive to prune dwarf virus (PDV) and Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV). Krymsk 6 P. cerasus x (P. cerasus x P. maackii) Krymsk 6 produces a tree that is only 75 to 80% the size of trees on Krymsk 5 or Gisela 12, so higher density plantings are possible with this rootstock. In one commercial orchard in Oregon, Lapins and Skeena fruit size and quality on this rootstock has been excellent through the twelfth leaf. Like Krymsk 5, Krymsk 6 rootstocks seem to be adapted to both cold and hot cli- mates as well as heavier soils. Trees are well anchored, with low-to-moderate root suckering. Tree form is good, with wide crotch angles. Like Krymsk 5, Krymsk 6 is hyper sensitive to PDV and PNRSV. MaxMa 14 P. mahaleb x P. avium Although MaxMa 14 has gained broad ac- ceptance in southern France for its good performance in calcareous soils, it has ob- tained only moderate acceptance in other production areas globally. A perception by growers in Chile that it provides some resis- tance to bacterial canker has encouraged growers there to plant MaxMa 14. Some growers in the PNW like its semi-vigorous growth habit and moderate precocity. MaxMa 14 shows good scion compatibil- ity and a broad adaptation to soil types and environmental conditions. Very little suckering has been noted. MSU rootstock series Five sour cherry rootstocks are currently being evaluated in Michigan and the PNW for their ability to serve as sweet cherry rootstocks. The five rootstocks, Cass, Clair, Clinton, Crawford and Lake, have each shown some very interesting character- istics. In all cases these rootstocks are at least as dwarfing as Gisela 5, while Clare produces an even smaller tree. In addition, all rootstocks trend towards more flowers per leader cross-sectional area than Gisela The variety, rootstock and training system trial being pruned.
Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 27 5 or Gisela 6. However, after two years of trials at Prosser, Washington, fruit size on all rootstocks was similar to Gisela 5 and Gisela 6 (Personal communication, Dr. Amy Iezzoni, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University). However, similar fruit size was only ob- tained in 2012 because pea-sized fruit were thinned by 50%. In 2013 fruit were thinned to achieve standard crop loads for each selection. In many parts of the world, high labor costs would constrain growers from using hand labor to thin flowers or fruitlets. The use of pruning and chemicals could reduce the demand for hand thinning and allow growers to obtain consistently high yields and reduce annual yield fluctuations. In addition, Lake, Cass and Clare signifi- cantly advance fruit ripening by up to one week. For some markets, this may be a considerable advantage, providing growers with higher returns and greater revenue. Variety, rootstock, training system trial In order to grow consistently high-quality fruit, these precocious rootstocks must be well matched with the proper scion. A trial was established in The Dalles, Or- egon in 2006 with the goal of determin- ing which rootstock, variety and training system combinations produced the best yields of high-quality fruit. The first objective of this work was to as- sess the influence of three training sys- tems on fruit yield and quality of Bing, Regina and Sweetheart trees. Training systems included 1) a multi-leader bush (Kym Green Bush (KGB)), 2) a spindle system (Vogel Central Leader (VCL)) and 3) a tri-axe system (Steep Leader (SL)). The second objective was to determine the influence on yield and fruit quality of up to five different rootstocks on Bing, Regina and Sweetheart trees. The final objective was to evaluate the influence of the interaction of these cultivars, root- stocks and training systems on yield and fruit quality. Regina scion-wood was budded onto Mazzard, MaxMa 14, Gisela 6, Krymsk 5 and Krymsk 6 and planted in a commer- cial orchard in 2006 in The Dalles, Oregon, USA. Bing was budded onto rootstocks Mazzard, MaxMa 14 and Gisela 6. Sweet- heart was budded onto rootstocks Maz- zard, MaxMa 14, Gisela 6 and Krymsk 5. Each variety-rootstock combination was Figure 1 FIGURE 1 – Relative tree size of Sweetheart grown on four rootstocks and trained to three systems as expressed by trunk cross sectional area (cm2 ). Figure 2 FIGURE 2 – Fruit size on all training systems, Bing, Regina,and Sweetheart 4th through 7th leaf.
28 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 trained to each of three systems: the KGB, VCL and SL. Tree size When combined with Sweetheart, Maz- zard produced the largest trees with all training systems (Fig. 1). Krymsk 5, MaxMa 14 and Gisela 6 produced trees that were relatively similar in size with Gisela 6 trend- ing slightly smaller than other rootstocks. Yield and fruit size: Select a rootstock to match the variety and training system Regina. With a variety of lower produc- tivity, such as Regina, it is important to choose rootstocks and training systems to maximize productivity. Our trials showed that Regina grafted to any of the root- stocks produced fruit of the highest qual- ity (Fig. 2). The five rootstocks evaluated in this trial with Regina produced the largest fruit on the following systems (Fig. 2): Mazzard SL Gisela 6 KGB MaxMa 14 KGB, SL Krymsk 5 KGB Krymsk 6 KGB The greatest yields were from Regina on Krymsk 6, Krymsk 5 and Gisela 6. Com- pared to Mazzard the following root- stocks, through the sixth leaf, produced as follows (Fig. 3): n 3.2 times greater yield on Krymsk 6; n 3.1 times greater yield on Krymsk 5; n 2.6 times greater yield on Gisela 6; and n 1.7 times greater yield on MaxMa 14. Bing is a variety of moderate productiv- ity with yields intermediate between the low-yielding Regina and the high-yielding Sweetheart. Highest yields were obtained on Gisela 6 rootstock (Fig. 3). The three rootstocks evaluated in this trial with Bing produced the largest fruit on the following systems (Fig. 2): Mazzard KGB Gisela 6 KGB, VCL, SL MaxMa 14 VCL Overall Gisela 6 was the best rootstock se- lection to provide a good balance of yield and fruit size. Compared to Mazzard the following rootstocks, through the sixth leaf, produced as follows: • 6.9 times greater yield on Gisela 6; • 5.1 times greater yield on MaxMa 14. Sweetheart is a highly productive variety, and proper pruning is critical on any root- stock to obtain a balanced leaf-to-fruit ratio and high-quality fruit. On Gisela 6 rootstock, Sweetheart bore fruits of excel- lent size (Fig. 2). The four rootstocks evaluated in this trial with Sweetheart produced the largest fruit on the following systems (Fig. 2): Mazzard KGB, VCL, SL Gisela 6 VCL, SL MaxMa 14 KGB, VCL, SL Krymsk 5 KGB, VCL, SL Overall Gisela 6 was the best rootstock selection to provide a balance of yield and fruit size. Compared to Mazzard the fol- lowing rootstocks, through the sixth leaf, produced as follows: n 2.3 times greater yield on Gisela 6; n 1.5 times greater yield on MaxMa 14; n 1.4 times greater yield on Krymsk 5. Although Gisela 6 produced greater quan- tities of high-quality fruit compared to the other rootstocks, Sweetheart on Gisela 6 is a challenging combination for many growers. The production of consistently high-quality fruit is made difficult by the productive nature of both the scion and rootstock. Both MaxMa 14 and Krymsk 5 provide greater precocity than Mazzard while more easily maintaining the proper leaf-to-fruit ratio than Gisela 6. Summary With productive rootstocks, the impor- tance of proper training and pruning can- not be overemphasized. If mismanaged, trees can quickly become imbalanced, producing small, poor quality fruit. How- ever, when properly managed, all of these precocious rootstocks can provide early high yields of premium quality fruit. This research helps to identify the best combinations of variety and training sys- tem for a number of important, preco- cious rootstocks. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Greg Johnson of The Dalles, Oregon for host- ing the trial and IFTA for partial funding of this work. Additional resources: Long, L.E. 2007. Four Simple Steps to Pruning Cherries on Gisela and other Productive Root- stocks. PNW 592. Oregon State University Exten- sion Service, Corvallis OR. Long, L.E. and C. Kaiser. 2010. Sweet Cherry Rootstocks for the Pacific Northwest. PNW 619. Oregon State University Extension Service, Cor- vallis OR. https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/ bitstream/handle/1957/18464/pnw619.pdf   Figure 3 FIGURE 3 – Average per tree fourth through sixth leaf yield of three varieties combined with four rootstocks.
December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree
December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree
December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree
December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree
December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree
December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree

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December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree

  • 1. Compact Fruit Tree INTERNATIONAL FRUIT TREE ASSOCIATION Where fruit tree professionals grow. Volume 47, No. 3 December 2014 ifruittree.org
  • 2. 1.800.263.1287 905.563.8261 Beamsville, ON Canada A Bartlett Company info@provideag.ca Provide Agro www.provideag.ca Hol Spray Systems has developed sprayers specifically for HD orchards, combining their experiences with orchard equipment and new technologies to make a high efficiency machine that places product exactly where it needs to be. It uses a low-noise radial two-speed fan to draw in clean air for the unique distribution system that sends air equally to all outlets. The overcapacity of the fan makes it possible to operate with a slower PTO speed, enabling you to “gear up and throttle down”, reducing fuel consumption and noise. Excellent coverage can be obtained with varying water rates giving you custom control and flexibility based on the target pest and product being used. Sprayers are available in 1000, 1500, and 2000 Litre tanks with a 3 row option coming soon! THE ORIGINAL TYROLEAN HEDGER +25 Years Experience Initiate Fruit bud formation on 1 year wood Optional topper, skirter, and windows pruning attachments available. Rotary saw blade machines also available Easily controlled with joystick. Requires 10-13 GPM (dependent on options) Quality built hedgers that start at ~$8,000 USD Precise, reliable sprayers starting at ~$25,000 USD GREEFA packing PERFECT mowers ORSI platforms FRUIT TEC blossom thinners PULSE water treatment BARTLETT custom HOL sprayers FAMA hedgers Northern 2014 Italy SnapshotsThe 2014 IFTA Study Tour to Northern Italy Michigan growers Jim Engelsma, Chris Kropf and Steve Thome enjoy the booths. GREEFA packing line at MIVOR cooperative located in Latch, Italy. A four leader multi-leader fruiting wall tree at “Maso delle Part”– Fondazione E. MACH experiment farm in Italy. Michigan District Fruit Educators, Robert Tritten and Amy Irish- Brown pose,with the antique Porsche Tractor. IFTA grower tour participants at Komiss family farm reviewing the merits of machine assist harvest. Young orchard (2nd leaf) of Tall Slender Spindle tree system at Komiss farms.
  • 3. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 1 Compact Fruit TreeINTERNATIONAL FRUIT TREE ASSOCIATION In this issue ... Volume 47, No. 3 • December 2014 Compact Fruit Tree Journal of the International Fruit Tree Association December 2014 Volume 47, Number 3 International Fruit Tree Association 16020 Swingley Ridge Road Suite 300 Chesterfield, MO 63017 USA Phone: (636) 449-5083 Fax: (636) 449-5051 Email: info@ifruittree.org Website: ifruittree.org Compact Fruit Tree, the journal of the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA), is devoted to the publication of technical information for growers of deciduous tree fruits. It is published in April, August and December by IFTA. Annual subscription rate is US$175. One annual subscription to Compact Fruit Tree (three issues per year) is included with each IFTA membership. Payment of the IFTA membership fee of US$175 per year may be sent to the above address or may be paid online at ifruittree.org. Manuscripts and editorial comments should be emailed to info@ifruittree. org. All articles presented at the annual IFTA Conference are published in Compact Fruit Tree. Submission of additional manuscripts is encouraged. Editorial responsibility for the Compact Fruit Tree rests with the IFTA staff in consultation with a committee of members appointed by the IFTA president. However, IFTA and the CFT staff assume no responsibility for accuracy and validity of claims. No endorsements by IFTA of products named in articles is intended. The views expressed in the articles are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of IFTA. ©2014 By the International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA). For reprint permission, please send a written request to info@ifruittree.org. IFTA Board of Directors Letter from the President – Phil Schwallier Thank You IFTA Research Foundation Donors 2013 Progress Report – Characteristics of New Apple Rootstock From the Cornell-USDA Apple Rootstock Breeding Program – Terence L. Robinson, Gennaro Fazio and Herb Aldwinckle The Steep Leader Training System for Cherries – Lynn Long, Linda Brewer and Clive Kaiser IFTA 58th Annual Conference – Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Introducing New York’s First Homegrown Club Apples – Mark Russell Cherry Rootstocks for the Modern Orchard – Lynn E. Long IFTA News Briefs Italy Study Tour 2 3 4 5 10 14 20 24 29 30 Rick Dungey, Executive Director 16020 Swingley Ridge Rd., Suite 300 Chesterfield, MO 63017 USA (636) 449-5083 Fax: (636) 449-5051 info@ifruittree.org ifruittree.org Correction: In the August 2014 issue of Compact Fruit Tree (Volume 47, No. 2) the cover photo was incorrectly credited to Dr. Peter Toivonenn. The correct photo credit is Mr. Nick Ibuki. Cover photo: Bandit Xpress Harvest Platform in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Photo courtesy of Lisa Jenereaux. Back Cover: Rebecca Avila of Crist Bros. Orchards, Inc. holding a SnapDragon apple. Photo courtesy of Janet Baus.
  • 4. 2 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Dan Boyer Ridgetop Orchards P.O. Box 113 Fishertown, PA 15539 Phone: (814) 839-4181 Fax: (814) 839-2034 Email: dan@ridgetoporchards.com Jon Clements UMass Cold Spring Orchard 393 Sabin Street Belchertown, MA 01007 Phone: (413) 478-7219 Email: clements@umext.umass.edu Jeff Cleveringa Starr Ranch/Oneonta P.O. Box 4640 Wenatchee, WA 98807 Phone: (509) 750-0060 Fax: (509) 655-8330 Email: jeffc@starranch.com Sam DiMaria Sam DiMaria Orchards 120 Mail Road Kelowna, BC V1V-2H2 Canada Phone: (250) 763-5433 Email: sdo13@shaw.ca Bill Dodd Fruit Growers Marketing Association 50336 Telegraph Road Amherst, OH 44001 Phone: (440) 670-2883 Fax: (740) 498-8367 Email: bill@ohioapples.com Rod Farrow Lamont Fruit Farms 12703 Stillwater Road Waterport, NY 14571 Phone: (585) 682-4749 Fax: (585) 682-0522 Email: rodf12786@aol.com Wanda Heuser Gale International Plant Management, Inc. 55826 60th Avenue Lawrence, MI 49064 Phone: (800) 424-2765 Email: wanda@summittreesales.com Chris Hedges Martin’s Family Fruit Farm 1321 Windham Road 7 RR#3 Vanessa, ON N0E 1V0 Canada Email: chrish@martinsapples.com Lisa Jenereaux Spurr Bros Farms Ltd. 639 Stronach Mountain Road RR#2 Kingston, NS B0P 1R0 Canada Phone: (902) 765-4300 Email: lisa@spurrbros.ns.ca Hank Markgraf Okanagan Tree Fruit Company 880 Vaughan Avenue Kelowna, BC V1Y 7E4 Canada Phone: (250) 979-2612 Fax: (250) 763-7370 Email: hmarkgraf@bctree.com Trever Meachum – Treasurer High Acres Fruit Farm 60930 52nd Avenue Hartford, MI 49057 Phone: (269) 621-4713 Fax: (269) 621-3852 Email: jalapeno@cybersol.com Nathan Milburn Milburn Orchards Inc. 1495 Appleton Road Elkton, MD 21921 Phone: (443) 309-2077 Fax: (410) 398-4081 Email: nathan@milburnorchards.com Terence Robinson Dept of Horticultural Sciences – NYSAES Cornell 630 West North Street Geneva, NY 14456 Phone: (315) 787-2227 Fax: (315) 787-2216 Email: tlr1@cornell.edu Phil Schwallier – President MSU Extension 1185 Nine Mile Road NW Sparta, MI 49345 Phone: (616) 490-7917 Fax: (616) 693-2317 Email: schwalli@msu.edu Tim Welsh – Vice President Columbia Fruit Packers 2575 Euclid Avenue Wenatchee, WA 98807 Phone: (509) 662-7153 Cell: (509) 670-8080 Fax: (509) 662-0933 Email: tim@columbiafruit.com 2014 Board of Directors Komiss Family Farms employee packaging dried apple slices “Fruitty” product. IFTA tour member,Win Cowgill, Rutgers Exten- sion Agent from New Jersey, poses in Italy apple orchards with a gorgeous view of the Alps. Michigan growers Steve Thome, Jim Engelsma and Chris Kropf view high-density orchard equipment at IFTA’s 2014 Italy Study Tour.
  • 5. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 3 Compact Fruit Tree Letter from the President tysburg Summer Study Tour and on to $15,700 for 21 young grower scholar- ships at the 2014 IFTA Kelowna, Brit- ish Columbia Winter Conference. A special thanks to Tara Baugher, Nathan Milburn, Catherine Lara and Alana Anderson for all their work on this project. We want to continue to provide and expand this program into the future. Please contact us to get involved this year and help us expand the Young Grower Scholarship program. Also, be sure to tell other young growers about how they can receive scholarships. The IFTA Research Foundation is getting off to a great start, thanks to Ken Hall the foundation’s first president. Two major goals have occurred this year. First, the founda- tion has raised more than $120,000 for the permanent endowment and, to manage those funds, the trustees engaged state-registered investment adviser Bowers Wealth Manage- ment, Inc. Second, the IFTA Research Foundation recently received official designation from the IRS as a 501(c) (3) charitable organization. The IFTA Research Committee, under the leadership of Gary Mount, will con- tinue to manage research proposals; however, the IFTA Research Foundation will provide future funds recommended by the IFTA Committee. Before you know it we will be at the 58th IFTA Annual Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This conference is being planned by the capable leadership of board member and program chair Lisa Jenereaux and team members Larry Lutz, and Chris Duyvelshoff. Honeycrisp is a major part of this upcoming confer- ence starting with an intensive work- shop on Saturday. Then, we’ll top off the educational conference and tours through the beautiful countryside of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley includ- ing Wolfville, Kentville, and the Bay of Fundy. You won’t want to miss it, so get your flights early. Sponsors are needed for the 2015 Nova Scotia winter conference and Washington summer tour. Please consider being a sponsor of an event, refreshment break, speakers and especially Young Grower Scholarships. My thanks to past sponsors. See you in Halifax. Regards, Phil Schwallier I hope the harvest was good for all of you. Here in Michigan the crop was not as large as predicted, but the weather was absolutely outstanding. Our picking crews were plentiful and harvest wrapped up on schedule for most growers. The International Fruit Tree Association (IFTA) continues to search for ways to help support young growers who want to attend the association’s educational events but may not have the resources to make it possible. Some of them are just getting established in farming or may have young families to support, so finding the extra funds to attend these events seems like a far cry. Helping get young growers to the IFTA Annual Conferences is an important endeavor for the IFTA Board. The last two years we have asked for sponsors to step forward and provide scholar- ships to young growers who want to attend an IFTA event for the first time. We have been very pleased and aston- ished with the generous support that came from many of you during that time. Thank you so much. We have asked some of the scholarship recipients to write short essays for this Compact Fruit Tree publication describ- ing their experience (See past issues). Because of numerous sponsors’ great support toward this project (our first sponsor: Northwest Michigan Horticul- tural Research Foundation) $5,000 was provided for five young grower scholar- ships at the 2013 IFTA Boston Winter Conference, which grew to 12 Young Grower Scholarship recipients receiving $2,400 combined in registration fee assistance to attend 2013 IFTA Get- IFTA President Phil Schwallier and Tour Leader Terence Robinson recognize the Italian speakers who presented on Tuesday, November 18 at the 2014 IFTA Study Tour. Pictured from left to right:Terence Robinson, Marcus Bradlwarter (SK, SudTYrol), Kurt Werth (Kurt Werth Consulting), Phil Schwallier (IFTA President), Michael Oberhuber (Director of the Laimburg Research Station), Jurgen Christanell (South Tyrol Extension Service), Robert Wirdmer (South Tyrol Extension Service),and Walter Rass (South Tyrol Extension Service). Photo credit: Win Cowgill
  • 6. 4 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Since the start of the 2014 fiscal year, IFTA has received many generous donations to its Perma- nent Endowment Fund and Rootstock Research Fund. IFTA wishes to recognize the following individuals and companies for their contribu- tions. Ongoing funding of research and asso- ciation projects would not be possible without the generous support of IFTA members. The IFTA staff strives to ensure this listing is ac- curate. If you would like your listing to appear differently in future acknowledgements, or feel there has been an error in this listing, please contact the IFTA office at (636) 449-5083 or by email at info@ifruittree.org. Thank You to 2014 IFTA Research Foundation Donors Dec. 1, 2013 – Nov. 30, 2014 (Fiscal year 2014) PERMANENT Endowment FUND* Platinum Supporters Donations of over $10,000 n Gary & Pam Mount, Terhune Orchards n Ken & Barb Hall, Edwards Apple Orchard, Inc. n Wallace Heuser / Wanda Heuser Gale, International Plant Management, Inc. n Willow Drive Nursery, Inc. Gold Supporters Donations of $5,000 to $9,999 n Jamie Kidston n TRECO Silver Supporters Donations of $1,000 to $4,999 n John Baugher, Adams County Nursery, Inc. n Scotian Gold Co-operative Limited Bronze Supporters Donations up to $999 n Belltown Hill Orchards n Blake Sarsfield n Craig Nichols Farms n Daniel & Lois Boyer n Donald DeMarree Fruit Farm n Doug & Leslie Balsillie n Evan Milburn n Jack Snyder, C & O Nursery n Ken & Jan Engle n Kym Green n Larry & Janice Lutz n Lutz Family Farm n Lisa Jenereaux n Matt Peters n Milburn Orchards, Inc. n Nathan Milburn n Neal Manly n Nova Scotia Fruit Grower’s Association n Schwallier’s Country Basket n Steve Applebaum n Tanners Orchard n Terence Robinson n Van Meekeren Farms n Washington White & Susan Butler n Win Cowgill *Cumulative donations since 2012.   2014 RESEARCH PROJECTS Platinum Supporters Donations of over $10,000 n Gisela, Inc. n Willow Drive Nursery, Inc. Gold Supporters Donations of $5,000 to $9,999 n Cameron Nursery, LLC n TRECO Silver Supporters Donations of $1,000 to $4,999 n Adams County Nursery n Domaine de Castang, S.A.S. n Gold Crown Nursery, LLC n Luis Gutierrez n Van Well Nursery Bronze Supporters Donations up to $999 n Arthur & Marlene Moyer n Cheryl Hampson n Denise Neilsen n Donald DeMarree Fruit Farm, Inc. n Eisses Farms Ltd n Evan Milburn n Gary Mount n Indiana Horticultural Society n Ken and Barb Hall n Mark Shurtleff n Maryland State Horticultural Society n Milburn Orchards, Inc. n Nathan Milburn n New Jersey State Horticultural Society n Schwallier’s Country Basket n Susan Frank n Tim Welsh n Tuttle Orchards, Inc. n Washington White & Susan Butler n William Stevenson n Wittenbach Orchards
  • 7. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 5 introduction For many apple growers in North Amer- ica, the bacterial disease fire blight is a serious threat to dwarf apple orchards. Similarly apple replant disease limits tree growth and economic performance of many new high-density orchards. The Cornell University/USDA apple rootstock breeding project located at Geneva, New York has developed rootstock genotypes resistant to fire blight (Erwinia amylovora) and crown rot (Phytophthora spp.) (Cum- mins and Aldwinckle, 1983; Norelli, et al., 2003; Russo, et al., 2007). Some have been shown to have tolerance to apple replant disease (Auvil, et al., 2010; Isutsa and Merwin, 2000; Robinson and Hoying, 2005; Robinson, et al., 2012). Other trials have evaluated the horticultural produc- tivity and adaptability of the rootstocks to soils in NY (Robinson and Hoying, 2005); Washington (Auvil, et al., 2011); and many other locations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico (Autio, et al., 2008; Autio, et al., 2011a,b: Marini, et al., 2006a,b; Marini, et al., 2009; Robinson, et al., 2003). Others have conducted trials in France (Masseron and Simard, 2002); Po- land (Czynczyk, et al., 2010); Switzerland (Egger, et al., 2010); and New Zealand (personal communication Stuart Tustin). This report details research we are doing Terence L. Robinson1 , Gennaro Fazio2 and Herb Aldwinckle3 1 Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Geneva, NY, 2 USDA-ARS, Plant Genetics Resources Unit, Geneva, NY, 3 Dept. of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Geneva, NY email: tlr1@cornell.edu Presented to the IFTA Research Committee per IFTA Research Funding Agreement resistant selection of Malus robusta). Progeny from these crosses underwent rigorous greenhouse screening proce- dures at the small seedling stage to se- lect for tolerance to fire blight and crown rot. When seedlings were about 2.5 cm tall they were inoculated via flooding of the roots with a mixture of isolates of the fungus Phytophthora cactorum. Surviving seedlings were inoculated via injection to the shoot tip with fire blight bacteria (Erwinia amylovora). Surviving genotypes were then tested for propagation char- acteristics in the nursery, and productivity and dwarfing at the New York State Ag- ricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY. Since 1991, the elite selections from these crosses have been tested in field tri- through an IFTA supported project, where we are testing the field and nursery per- formance as well as disease resistance of elite Geneva® rootstocks and other root- stocks from around the world. As a re- sult of this testing, we released four new apple rootstocks in 2010: Geneva® 210, Geneva® 214, Geneva® 890 and Geneva® 969. They have a range in vigor from M.9 size to MM.106 size. This report provides some of the data concerning the new and existing Geneva® rootstocks. Materials and Methods In 1975 and 1976 Dr. James Cummins and Dr. Herbert Aldwinckle of Cornell Univer- sity crossed Ottawa 3 apple rootstock with Robusta 5 (a cold hardy and disease 2013 Progress Report – Characteristics of New Apple Rootstock from the Cornell-USDA Apple Rootstock Breeding Program
  • 8. 6 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 als at various locations by Robinson, et al. (2003, 2005 and 2011). In 2001 a replicated field trials of seven Geneva® named and un-named elite root- stocks and two Malling rootstocks (M.7, and M.26), was planted at Wolcott, NY (Western part of State) using Golden De- licious as the scion cultivar. The plot was laid out as randomized complete block experiment with five replications and with each block containing three to five indi- vidual trees of each rootstock. All of the plant material was grown in a common nursery in Geneva, NY. The trees were planted as unbranched whips at a spacing of (1.8m X 4.5m) and were headed at 1m after planting. In 2004 a second replicated field trial of eight Geneva® named and un-named elite rootstocks and three Malling rootstocks (M.9, M.7 and MM.106) and one Buda- govsky stock (B.9) as controls was planted at Hilton, NY (Western part of state) us- ing Honeycrisp as the scion cultivar. The plot was laid out as randomized complete block experiment with five replications and with each block containing two indi- vidual trees of each rootstock. All of the plant material was grown in a common nursery in Geneva, NY. The trees were planted as unbranched whips at a spac- ing of (2.4 m X 4.8m) and were headed at 1m after planting. In 2005, a third replicated field trial of eight Geneva® named and un-named elite rootstocks and three Malling rootstocks (M.27, M.9, M.26, M.7 and MM.106) and one Budagovsky stock (B.118) as controls was planted at Marlboro, NY (eastern part of state) using Fuji as the scion culti- var. The plot was laid out as randomized complete block experiment with five rep- lications and with each block containing one to two individual trees of each root- stock. All of the plant material was grown in a common nursery in Geneva, NY. The trees were planted as unbranched whips at a spacing of (2.4 m X 4.8m) and were headed at 1m after planting. In 2010 a fourth replicated field trial of 14 Geneva® and 3 Malling rootstocks and two Budagovsky stocks was planted at Geneva, NY using Honeycrisp as the scion cultivar. The plot was laid out as random- ized complete block experiment with five replications and with each block contain- ing one to three individual trees of each rootstock. All of the plant material was grown in a common nursery in WA. The trees were planted as feathered trees at a spacing of (1.2 m X 4m) and were not headed at planting. With the first three field trials, trees were managed with the vertical axis tree train- ing system while the last trial trees were managed with the Tall Spindle system. The trees were fertilized annually with ni- trogen and potassium according to local recommendations. Trees were supported with a single wire trellis and a metal tube tree stake. Tree survival, number of root suckers and trunk circumference at 30cm above the graft union were measured annually in November. Fruit number and yield were recorded annually at harvest and fruit size (g) was calculated as the ratio of fruit yield divided by the number of fruit per tree. Cumulative yield effi- Figure 1 FIGURE 1 – Tree size and yield efficiency of Golden Delicious apple trees on several Geneva® rootstocks over 10 years at Wolcott, NY. Figure 2 FIGURE 2 – Tree size and yield efficiency of Honeycrisp apple trees on several Geneva® rootstocks over seven years at Hilton, NY.
  • 9. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 7 ciency was calculated by dividing cumu- lative yield by final trunk cross-sectional area. In the second experiment the bien- nial bearing tendency of each rootstock was assessed by calculating an alternate bearing index (ABI) for each two years of yield data using the formula: ABI = Abso- lute Value of (Fruit Number Year 2 - Fruit Number Year 1) divided by the Sum of (Fruit Number Year 2 + Fruit Number Year 1). This index gives values ranging from zero to one with zero equaling no bien- nial bearing and one equaling complete biennial bearing. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance and crop load was used as covariate to compare fruit sizes independent of crop load. Results Experiment 1 After 10 years, tree size of Golden Deli- cious was greatest on G.890 rootstock followed in descending order by G.969, M.7, CG.5087, G.214, G.41, M.26 and G.11 (Fig. 1). Cumulative yield efficiency was greatest for G.41 followed by G.11, CG.5087, G.969, G.890, G.214, M.26 and M.7. All rootstocks had greater than 90% survival (data not shown). Experiment 2 After seven years, tree size of Honey- crisp was greatest on MM.106 rootstock followed in descending order by M.7, G.890, G.222, G.30, G.935, G.969, G.16, M.9, G.214, B.9 and G.11 (Fig. 2). Cumu- lative yield efficiency was greatest for B.9 followed by G.969, G.30, G.214, G.935, M.9, G.890, G.11, G.222, MM.106 and M.7. All rootstocks had greater than 90% survival (data not shown). Biennial bear- ing tendency was lowest for trees on G.222 followed by G.969, G.935, G.30, G.890, M.9, G.214, MM.106, B.9, G.16, M.7, and G.11 (Fig. 3). Experiment 3 After four years, tree size of Fuji was greatest on G.890 rootstock followed in descending order by B.118, G.210, M.7, MM.106, G.935, G.222, CG.5087, G.969, M.26, G.214, M.9, G.11 and M.27 (Fig. 4). Cumulative yield efficiency was greatest for G.969 followed by CG.5087, G.935, G.214, G.222, G.11, M.9, G.890, M.27, M.26, G.210, MM.106, B.118 and M.7. All rootstocks had greater than 90% survival. Experiment 4 The most dwarfing stocks were CG.2034 and B.9 which were both too dwarfing for Honeycrisp. A more vigorous group of rootstocks included G.11, CG.4003, G.41TC and G.41N. This group had suf- ficient vigor for a Tall Spindle planting at three-foot in-row spacing. A slightly larger group of rootstocks included Sup.3, M.9Pajam2, G.935TC, M.9T337, B.10 and M.26. A larger group included only G.214. A fourth group which was slightly more vigorous included G.935N, CG.4013, CG.5202, CG.4004, CG.4814 CG.5087, G.202N, and G.202TC. The most vigorous stock was CG.3001 which was too vigorous for a high-density Tall Spindle planting. The most yield effi- cient stock was B.9, followed by G.41N, B.10, Sup.3, G.11, CG.2034, CG.4003, M.9T337, CG.4214, G.202N, CG.5087, G.202TC, CG.3001, CG.4004, CG.5202, M.9Pajam2, G.935TC, CG.4814, M.26 CG.4013, G.935N, and CG.41TC. Fruit size was large with almost all stocks. Those which had smaller fruit size were CG.4013 and CG.5087. discussion Eleven rootstocks genotypes have been released from the Geneva apple rootstock breeding program. They are G.65, G.30, G.16, G.11, G.202, G.41, G.935, G.214, Figure 3 FIGURE 3 – Biennial bearing of Honeycrisp apple trees on several Geneva® rootstocks over seven years at Hilton, NY. Figure 4 FIGURE 4 – Tree size and yield efficiency of Fuji apple trees on several Geneva® ærootstocks over four years at Marlboro, NY.
  • 10. 8 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 G.210, G.890 and G.969. The last four were released in 2010 based are: Geneva® 214 is derived from a cross made in 1975 between Ottawa 3 and Robusta 5. G.214 was evaluated as CG.4214. Field trials in NY indicate G.214 is a dwarfing rootstock similar in size to M.26 with Golden Delicious (Fig. 1) and Fuji (Fig. 2); however, with Honeycrisp (Fig.3) it was similar in size to M.9. In all three field trials, G.214 was highly yield efficient, similar to M.9 and M.26. With Fuji it was significantly more yield efficient than M.9. Other experiments with this rootstock have confirmed it is resistant to fire blight, Phytophthora root rot and woolly apple aphid. Nursery trials at Ge- neva, NY and in WA have shown it is easy to propagate in stoolbeds. G.214 is similar in size to G.41 but is easier to propagate in the stool bed. Field trials in WA have shown G.214 like G.41 has tolerance to apple replant disease (Auvil et al., 2011). It is not free standing and requires a trellis. G.214 like G.41 is a good replacement for M.9 on replant sites. Geneva® 969 is derived from a cross made in 1976 between Ottawa 3 and Robusta 5. G.969 was evaluated as CG.6969. Field trials indicate G.969 is a semi-dwarfing rootstock between the size of M.26 and M.7 (Figs. 1-3). It is similar in size to two other Geneva rootstocks, G.935 and G.222. G.969 has very high productivity similar to G.935 but is resis- tant to woolly apple aphid while G.935 is not. G.969 as well as G.935 and G.222 appear to induce less biennial bearing with Honeycrisp than other stocks (Fig. 4). It is resistant to fire blight (Russo, et al., 2007) and Phytophthora root rot and has good anchorage in the orchard. It is easy to propagate in stool beds. Its tolerance to apple replant disease is not yet known. G.969 may be an excellent rootstock for use with weak scion cultivars like Honey- crisp, SnapDragon, SweeTango and Spur Red Delicious in high-density plantings. Geneva® 210 is derived from a cross made in 1975 between Ottawa 3 and Robusta 5. G.210 was evaluated a CG.6210. There have been more than 20 field trials con- ducted with G.210, which have shown it is a highly productive semi-dwarfing root- stock similar in vigor to M.7 (Robinson et al., 2003). Often its yield efficiency is simi- lar to M.9. It is resistant to fire blight (Rus- so, et al., 2007), Phytophthora root rot and woolly apple aphid. It also has very good resistance to apple replant disease in field trials in NY (Isutsa and Merwin, 2001) and WA (Auvil et al., 2011). It is not free stand- ing and requires a trellis for supporting the trees, which can lean under wet soil con- ditions. Its high tolerance of apple replant disease suggests it is a good replacement rootstock when weak scions are planted in replant soils or for organic production. Geneva® 890 is derived from a cross made in 1976 between Ottawa 3 and Robusta 5. G.890 was evaluated as CG.5890. Field tri- als in NY indicate G.890 is a semi-vigorous rootstock either slightly larger than M.7 (Figs. 1 and 2) or slightly smaller than M.7 (Fig.3). It is much more productive than M.7 and is resistant to fire blight (Russo, et al., 2007), Phytophthora root rot and woolly apple aphid. It is easy to propagate in stool beds and is free standing in the or- chard. This rootstock is useful for medium density plantings for the processing mar- ket or for weak scions in replant soil. CURRENT COMMERCIALIZATION OF GENEVA® ROOTSTOCKS Over the last five years there has been a boom of Geneva rootstocks production in both stool bed and through tissue culture. This winter (2013/2014) the American, Canadian and Mexican stool bed produc- ers have harvested a total of about three million Geneva liners. These liners will result in finished trees for growers in the spring of 2015 and 2016. Apple growers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada will now be able to begin utilizing these improved rootstocks in their orchards. The primary rootstocks currently being grown and available for fruit growers are: Geneva® 41 is similar in size to vigorous clones on M.9 such as Nic29 or Pajam 2. It is usually the most efficient dwarf rootstock in our trials and reduces bienni- ally with Honeycrisp. It has excellent fruit size and induces wide branch angles. It is highly resistant to fire blight (Russo et al, 2007) and is strong against Phytoph- thora and woolly apple aphids. It has good tolerance of apple replant disease (Auvil, 2011, Robinson et al., 2011) and has good winter hardiness. In the stool bed, G.41 is a shy rooter and requires specialized rooting techniques including tissue cultured stool bed mother plants to improve its rooting (Adams, 2010). It has brittle roots and a brittle graft union especially with Honeycrisp, Envy and Pink Lady and must be handled with care. We believe its graft union strength with Hon- eycrisp will be acceptable with a whip and tongue graft, but with some more brittle varieties it may be too brittle. We are cur- rently studying cultural strategies to im- prove its graft union strength. Its stellar orchard performance in both eastern and western North America indicate it will be a good alternative to M.9 in high fire blight prone areas, in replant disease ar- Figure 5 FIGURE 5 – Production of rootstock liners of six Geneva rootstocks over the last five years.
  • 11. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 9 eas and in woolly aphid prone areas. Its stool bed production in the U.S. in 2013 was about 1,200,000 liners. We recom- mend this stock for replant soil. Geneva® 11 is similar in size to M.9T337 in others. It is very precocious, has very high-yield efficiency and reduces biennial- ity with Honeycrisp. However, with weak scions like Honeycrisp it should be planted at less than three feet in-row spacing. It is resistant to fire blight and Phytophthora root rot, but it is not resistant to woolly apple aphids and has only partial tolerance to apple replant disease. G.11 produces high-quality nursery trees. It is proving to be an excellent replacement for M.9 in North America and Europe. Its stool bed production in the U.S. in 2013 was about 1,000,000 liners. We recommend this stock for vigorous scion cultivars such as McIntosh, Fuji, Mutsu and Jonagold. Geneva® 935 is similar in size to M.26. It is highly precocious and has very high- yield efficiency. It induces wide branch angles, is highly resistant to fire blight and Phytophthora, and appears to have some tolerance of apple replant disease. It also appears to be very winter hardy, but it is not resistant to woolly apple aphid. Fruit size has been slightly smaller than M.9. It is an excellent new rootstock for weak growing cultivars like spur-type Delicious, Honeycrisp, SweeTango or SnapDragon (Robinson et al., 2010). Its stool bed pro- duction in the U.S. in 2013 was about 400,000 liners. We recommend this stock for high-density Red Delicious plantings or other weak scion cultivars. Geneva® 202 produces a tree slightly larger than M.26. It has high-yield effi- ciency and is precocious. It is resistant to fire blight, Phytophthora, apple replant disease and woolly apple aphid. It is use- ful with weak growing cultivars and as an alternative to M.26 in climates with wool- ly apple aphid problems. It has become a popular dwarfing rootstock in New Zea- land. Its stool bed production in the U.S. in 2013 was about 250,000 liners with substantial new stool beds in Mexico. We recommend this stock for high-density Red Delicious plantings or for stressful climates like California, Colorado or Chi- huahua, Mexico. Literature Cited Auvil, T.D., T.R. Schmidt, I. Hanrahan, F. Castillo, J.R. McFerson and G. Fazio. 2011. Evaluation of dwarfing rootstocks in Washington apple replant sites. Acta Hort. 903:265-271. Cummins, J.N. and Aldwinckle, H.S. 1983. Breed- ing apple rootstocks, p294-394. In J. Janick (ed.) Plant Breeding Reviews. Westport CT, USA, AVI Publishing. Isutsa, D.K. and Merwin, I.A. 2000. Malus germ- plasm varies in resistance or tolerance to apple replant disease in a mixture of NY orchard soils. HortScience 35:262-268. Norelli, J.L., Holleran, H.T., Johnson, W.C., Rob- inson, T.L. and Aldwinckle, H.S. 2003. Resistance of Geneva and other apple rootstocks to Erwinia amylovora. Plant Disease 8(1):26-32. Robinson, T.L. and Hoying, S.A. 2005. Perfor- mance of elite Cornell-Geneva apple rootstocks in long-term orchard trials on growers farms. Acta Hort. 658:221-229. Robinson, T, Anderson, L., Azarenko, A., Barritt, B., Baugher, T., Brown, G., Couvillon, G., Cowgill, W., Crassweller, R., Domoto, P., Embree, C., Fen- nell, A., Garcia, E., Gaus, A., Granger, R., Greene, G., Hirst, P. Hoover, E., Johnson, S., Kushad, M., Moran, R., Mullins, C., Myers, S., Perry, R., Rom, C., Schupp, J., Taylor, K., Warmund, M., Warner, J. and Wolfe, D. 2003. Performance of Cornell- Geneva apple rootstocks with Liberty as the scion in NC-140 trials across North America. Acta Hort. 622:521-530. Robinson, T.L., Hoying, S.A. and Fazio, G. 2011. Performance of Geneva® rootstocks in on-farm trials in NY. Acta Hort. 903:249-255. Robinson, T., W. Autio, J. Clements, W. Cowgill, C. Embree, G. Fazio, V. Gonzalez, S. Hoying, M. Kushad, M. Parker, R. Parra, J. Schupp. 2012. Rootstocks differ in tolerance to apple replant dis- ease for improved sustainability of apple produc- tion. Acta Hort. 940:521-528. Russo, N., Robinson, T.L., Aldwinckle H.S., and Fazio, G. 2007. Horticultural performance and fire blight resistance of Cornell-Geneva apple rootstocks and other rootstocks from around the world. HortScience 42:1517-1525. TABLE 1 – Geneva 2010 Honeycrisp Apple Rootstock Trial (2013 Data). CG2034 4.9 80.0 27.5 7.5 5.5 55.5 13.9 2.92 282.4 6.5 2 Bud9 5.0 100 10 11.6 8.4 93.8 20.8 4.14 238.8 10 1.7 G11 7.8 100 15.5 7.7 7.8 101.7 23.7 3.08 252.9 7.8 1.4 CG4003 8.0 100 29 4.1 12.4 104.6 22.3 2.79 214.1 8.2 0 G41 8.6 90.9 15 9.5 5.7 120.5 29.8 3.46 264.4 7.6 0.8 Sup3 9.1 83.3 18 9.4 6.0 126.2 29.3 3.23 246 7.7 2.3 M9Pajam2 9.4 100 16.7 6.5 4.9 96.8 22.5 2.38 248.6 5.7 13.9 M9337 9.6 100 22.5 5.5 7.2 95.8 24.3 2.75 260 6.4 4.8 Bud10 9.8 88.9 18.8 7.6 7.9 134.8 31.8 3.29 246.9 7.7 1 M26 9.8 87.5 26.4 4.5 6.6 90.4 21.1 2.21 246.9 5.6 3.5 CG4214 10.9 100 20.6 8.3 4.2 121.6 29.7 2.75 260 6.2 5.5 G935 11.9 80 23.1 5.1 6.0 110.4 25.1 2.13 244.8 5.5 1.5 CG4013 12.1 100 22.5 7.8 2.4 102.8 22.4 2.14 267.9 5.1 5 CG5202 12.1 85.7 29.2 5.8 5.4 117.5 28.0 2.40 247.2 5.6 10.3 CG4004 12.7 80 16.3 8.6 3.4 134 29.8 2.41 250.1 6 4.5 CG4814 12.8 87.5 22.1 5.1 5.6 117.7 29.9 2.37 261.6 5.3 3.9 CG5087 12.9 1100 16.7 7.4 6.7 154 32.3 2.57 238.1 7 7.7 G202N 13.1 80 22.5 6.8 7.5 123.3 28.3 2.62 244.4 6.3 3.8 CG3001 14.4 100 23.3 7.2 3.2 139.7 36 2.55 275.7 5.5 1.7 LSD P≤0.05 3.2 29 8.4 4.1 4.6 36 7.72 0.88 33.3 2.23 5 Cum. Fruit No.Stock TCA 2013 (cm2) Tree Surv. 2013 (%) % Leaf Clorosis 2013 Crop Load 2013 (no/cm2 TCA) Cum. Yield (kg/ tree) Cum. Yield Eff. *Rootstocks ranked by Trunk Cross-Sectional Area increase 2010-2013. Crop Load 2012 (no/cm2 TCA) Avg. Fruit Size (g) Avg. Crop Load Cum. Root Sucker Table 1
  • 12. 10 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 The Steep Leader (SL) system was devel- oped in the 1970s by growers in Wash- ington State. By the 1980s it had become widely planted throughout the state. The SL system provides significant advantages over the open vase system which it largely replaced. One of the biggest advantages was increased light penetration throughout the tree, which encourages development of high-quality fruit and reasonable yields from the top to the bottom of the tree. In addition, it increases labor efficiency by al- lowing a systematic approach to pruning. Finally, growers have the ability to use ei- ther full-size or size-controlling rootstocks. Trees trained to the SL system feature three or four vertical leaders emerging from the base of the tree with horizontal scaffold branches. The tree develops a py- ramidal shape. Fruit develops on tempo- rary lateral branches that grow from the vertical leaders and horizontal scaffolds. Each leader mimics a spindle tree. Training System Trial To determine which training system, vari- ety and rootstock combination produced the greatest quantity of high-quality fruit, a trial was established in Wasco County, OR in 2006. Bing, Regina, and Sweetheart cherries were grafted onto up to five root- stocks including Mazzard, Gisela 6, Max- Ma 14, Krymsk 5, and Krymsk 6. These trees were then trained to the Kym Green Bush (KGB), the Vogel Central Leader (VCL), or the SL system. Records for yield, fruit size, establishment labor, pruning la- as well as other Mazzard training system combinations, but had significantly lower yields with Gisela 6 and MaxMa 14. Bing fruit size on SL was similar to the oth- er training systems when grown on Gisela 6, and similar in size to KGB on Mazzard. However, SL fruit size trailed behind VCL on MaxMa 14 (Figure 4). Regina Regina is a variety of low productivity that bears a significant portion of fruit at the base of one-year-old wood, rather than spurs. All other tested varieties were spur- types. The performance of the three train- bor, and time to harvest were kept. Bing Bing is a variety of moderate productivity. The performance of the three training sys- tems with Bing is compared for yield and fruit size in Table 1. The Bing/KGB combination had the best overall performance. It provided the high- est yields when compared with the other systems grown on Mazzard and MaxMa 14 (Figure 1). However, when Bing was combined with Gisela 6 the Bing/KGB combination trailed the yields provided by VCL but out yielded Bing/SL. SL performed The Steep Leader Training System for Cherries Lynn E. Long, Linda J. Brewer and Clive Kaiser Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University email: lynn.long@oregonstate.edu, linda.brewer@oregonstate.edu and clive.kaiser@oregonstate.edu Presented at the 57th Annual IFTA Conference, February 2014, in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Table 1 Rootstocks Highest Yields Largest Fruit Size Mazzard KGB, SL KGB, SL Gisela 6 VCL KGB,VCL, SL MaxMa 14 KGB VCL TABLE 1 – Yield and fruit size comparison of Bing on five rootstocks and three training systems. Table 2 Rootstocks Highest Yields Largest Fruit Size Mazzard KGB,VCL, SL SL Gisela 6 VCL, SL KGB,VCL, SL MaxMa 14 VCL, SL KGB, SL Krymsk 5 KGB,VCL KGB,VCL, SL Krymsk 6 VCL KGB TABLE 2 – Yield and fruit size comparison of Regina on five rootstocks and three training systems.
  • 13. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 11 ing systems with Regina is compared for yield and fruit size in Table 2. In evaluating yields, Regina/VCL performed the best overall, producing among the highest yields with all rootstocks. KGB significantly underperformed with Gisela 6 and had the lowest yields of all three systems with MaxMa 14. Regina bears a significant amount of fruit on the base of one year old shoots, which are removed annually with the KGB pruning process. SL was a steady performer on all but Krymsk 6 where it significantly trailed the other two systems (Figure 2). Regina/SL fruit were similar to or greater in size than fruit from other training sys- tems with all rootstocks except Krymsk 6 (Figure 4). Sweetheart Sweetheart is a highly precocious and productive variety. See Table 3 for a com- parison of Sweetheart performance with the three training systems. The Sweetheart/KGB combination pro- duced the highest yields with all root- stocks except Gisela 6, where it was second only to SL. SL also produced the highest yields with MaxMa 14, which did not differ from Sweetheart on MaxMa 14 trained with KGB (Figure 3). All training systems provided similar fruit size across all tested rootstocks (Figure 4). Labor requirements Labor inputs for establishing this trial were highest for VCL and lowest for KGB in the early training years. However, by the fourth leaf, labor inputs for the three train- ing systems were similar and remained so throughout the study (Figure 5). Two densities of trees trained with SL were compared to high-density plantings (840 trees/ha) trained to KGB and VCL for pruning efficiency. The SL high-density trees, at 840 trees/hectare, were approxi- mately three meters (10 ft.) tall. SL low density trees, at 225 trees/hectare, were approximately six meters (20 ft.) tall. Rou- tine pruning labor was similar for all trees planted at the higher density regardless of training system. However, the lower density SL trees (225 trees per hectare), grown on Mazzard rootstock, required less time per hectare to prune than the high-density system trees (Figure 6). Table 3 Rootstocks Highest Yields Largest Fruit Size Mazzard KGB KGB,VCL, SL Gisela 6 SL KGB,VCL, SL MaxMa 14 KGB, SL KGB,VCL, SL Krymsk 5 KGB,VCL KGB,VCL, SL TABLE 3 – Yield and fruit size comparison of Sweetheart on four rootstocks and three training systems. Figure 1 FIGURE 1 – Fourth through sixth leaf cumulative yield of Bing sweet cherry on three rootstocks and three training systems. Figure 2 FIGURE 2 – Fourth through sixth leaf cumulative yield of Bing sweet cherry on three rootstocks and three training systems.
  • 14. 12 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Harvest efficiency was greatest on the KGB system which was harvested without ladders, compared to the VCL or SL which were partially harvested from ladders. More fruit was harvested per hour on the pedestrian system high-density plantings, trained to KGB—78 kg/hr (171 lbs/hr)— than on standard density ladder-picked trees—45 kg/hr (100 lbs/h)—using 3.7 m (12 ft) ladders (Figure 7). Summary The SL system is a reasonable choice for and VCL were not able to match the faster harvest labor levels of the fully pedestrian KGB system. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Greg Johnson of The Dalles, Oregon for host- ing the trial and IFTA for partial funding of this work. Additional resources: Long, L.E. (2003). Cherry Training Systems: Selec- tion and Development. PNW 543. Oregon State University. growers looking for a system suitable for full-size or dwarfing rootstocks. The sys- tem performed especially well with Re- gina, where yields were among the high- est on Mazzard, Gisela 6, and MaxMa 14 rootstocks. Regina trained to SL produced some of the largest fruit on all rootstocks except Krymsk 5. Total establishment labor was similar to KGB and much lower than VCL. Pruning and harvest labor levels were similar to the other two higher density systems but SL Figure 3 FIGURE 3 – Fourth through sixth leaf cumulative yield of Sweetheart sweet cherry on four rootstocks and three training systems. Figure 4 FIGURE 4 – Average fruit size of three varieties on up to five rootstocks trained to three systems. The final form of the steep leader tree should be a pyramid,allowing good light distribution within the canopy from the top of the tree to the base. Illustration by Corianne Denby. The steep leader tree consists of three or four permanent upright leaders and a horizontal base that produce fruit off of renewable lateral branches. Photos are used by permission and remain the property of Oregon State University.
  • 15. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 13 Figure 5 FIGURE 5 – Labor per year required to establish training systems, 2006 to 2013. Tree yields and fruit quality data were recorded for three varieties on up to five rootstocks. Stub cuts are made to regenerate fruiting wood. Figure 6 FIGURE 6 – Labor required to prune one hectare of mature trees. Figure 7 FIGURE 7 – Average labor required to harvest one kg of Sweetheart cherries in the fifth leaf by training system (840 trees/ha-1 ).
  • 16. 14 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 TH Profitable Orchard Management A Maritime Perspective more ›› Schedule of Events Saturday, February 21, 2015 8:00 am - 4:30 pm – Pre-Conference Honeycrisp Intensive Workshop FEBRUARY 21-25, 2015 • HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA Photo: Destination Halifax/B.McWhirter Photo: Communications Nova Scotia Economics of High Density Honeycrisp Alison De Marree, Cornell University Honeycrisp is more expensive to bring into bearing, grow and har- vest than other apple varieties. Honeycrisp also packs out lower than other varieties due to bitterpit, color, stem punctures, over-cropping and storage disorders. This presentation will compare potential returns for 2-3 tree densities and review the additional expenses required in establishing, growing and harvesting high quality Hon- eycrisp (as compared to other apple varieties). Soil Preparation for High Density Orchards in Nova Scotia: What Have We Learned? Keith Fuller, Agriculture & Agri Food Canada Successful establishment of high density orchards on dwarfing root- stocks in Nova Scotia has always been a challenge. This presentation focuses on past successes and failures with an emphasis on soil manipulation strategies to optimize soil health and maximize the performance of young trees. Honeycrisp Systems for Maximum Performance Bruce Allen, Chiawana Orchards, LLC We’ll take a tour of Bruce Allen’s 15 years of experience with Axe, V, Tall Spindle and 2-D training systems in search of the elusive best system for Honeycrisp. The interaction of site and rootstock with these systems will be explored. Growing Trees Jim Engelsma, J Engelsma Orchards, Inc. Successful establishment of a new apple orchard is dependent on good orchard management from the beginning. Jim Engelsma’s ap- proach is to provide best management practices to the new orchard at every step of tree growth and not allow any limitations to reduce tree establishment. With correct soil management, proper trellising structure, drip irrigation, foliar nutrition and tree growth manipu- lation, the grower can be successful in the initial establishment, maximum growth, increased early production of large, high-quality fruit, and thus better grower return. Register online today at www.ifruittree.org
  • 17. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 15 Maximizing Potential of Young Orchards Hank Markgraf, BC Tree Fruits Cooperative Hank Markgraf will review key points to maximize the success of a new young orchard including sharing successes and mistakes made by British Columbia growers during this important stage in the orchard’s life. Nutrient Management for Honeycrisp Lailiang Cheng, Cornell University Honeycrisp is susceptible to bitterpit and biennial bearing, and fruit quality is affected by cropload to a large degree. To produce high quality Honeycrisp, tree nutrition must be carefully man- aged. This talk will be focused on two key aspects of Honeycrisp nutrient management: improve fruit Ca level to reduce bitterpit and optimize nitrogen management to balance tree vigor, bien- nial bearing and fruit quality. Disease Management Strategies for Honeycrisp David Rosenberger, Cornell University Disease management for Honeycrisp apples presents unique challenges because this cultivar is especially susceptible to summer fruit rots and postharvest decays. Bitter rot has been causing damage on Honeycrisp in growing regions where bitter rot was never a problem on other cultivars. Honeycrisp has also proven very susceptible to black rot and white rot decays in the field and to blue mold and gray mold decays in storage. Some of these diseases cannot be controlled using fungicides alone. In this session, we will review integrated strategies for managing fruit decays and other disease problems on Honeycrisp. Honeycrisp Pruning and Thinning for Optimum Quality and Return Bloom Terence Robinson, Cornell University Our studies have shown three management factors have a large impact on Honeycrisp fruit quality and should be managed by growers very precisely. They are crop load, fruit nitrogen content and irrigation. In this presentation Terence Robinson will explore how to optimize each of these variables to reduce bitter pit and improve fruit quality at harvest and after storage. Fruit thinning with a combination of precision pruning and precision chemical thinning should be used to optimize crop load. Crop Load Management in Honeycrisp: A Grower Perspective Mike Robinson, Double Diamond Fruit Plantings of Honeycrisp are expanding rapidly in Washington State. Future profitability of the variety will be dependent on our ability to manage crop load and its impact on tree vigor and fruit quality. Mike Robinson will discuss current on-farm efforts in pruning and tests of chemical, mechanical blossom and hand blossom thinning techniques. Saturday, February 21, 2015 (continued) 8:00 am - 4:30 pm – Pre-Conference Honeycrisp Intensive Workshop Strategies for Thinning/ReTain on Honeycrisp Phil Schwallier, Michigan State University Getting the correct level of crop on Honeycrisp is not easy. Return bloom will suffer if too many apples are on the tree and too few will get you problems with bitterpit. Numerous thinning trials conducted in Michigan will be presented as well as novel approaches to Honeycrisp Precision Fruitset will be reviewed. Thinning starts early at dormant pruning time. Harvest Management of Honeycrisp Larry Lutz, Scotian Gold Cooperative There has never been a more profitable or problematic variety grown in North America. Harvest management including maturity monitoring, harvest techniques and fruit handling will be discussed from an eastern Canadian perspective, with special emphasis being placed on the recent development and use of the DA meter. Determination of Optimal Harvest Boundaries for Honeycrisp Fruit Using a New Chlorophyll Meter Tool John Delong, Agriculture & Agri Food Canada A new chlorophyll measurement tool [the delta absorbance (DA) meter] was used to develop an optimal harvest maturity model for Honeycrisp fruit grown in Nova Scotia. The DA meter values associated with the harvests having high commercial fruit quality and the least collective expression of disorders, delin- eated the optimal harvest boundaries. The DA model approach is potentially applicable to all commercial apple cultivars, but should be developed for each within a distinct growing region. Honeycrisp Maturity Indicators and Optimization of Postharvest Performance Ines Hanrahan, Washington State University Dr. Hanrahan will discuss methods of maturity assessment for Honeycrisp destined for long term storage in Washington State including, but not limited to: crop load, time of harvest, use of common maturity indicators, titratable acidity and other ways to determine maturity. She will emphasize the need for timely har- vest to preserve excellent eating quality in storage and discuss strategies for storage success. The discussion will be framed with practical tips for growers and storage operators. IFTA is excited to be heading back to Nova Scotia! Here IFTA members are enjoying the maritime experi- ence at the 2009 IFTA Study Tour in Nova Scotia. Register online today at www.ifruittree.org
  • 18. 16 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 10:30 am - 3:00 pm – Optional Half-day Cultural Tours Spend some time touring the area to learn about Nova Scotia history during the optional half-day Cultural Tours before the Annual Conference Welcome Reception. Tickets for the optional tours are included only with the Whole Fruit Pie registration, other conference attendees can purchase tickets for either of these optional tours. Both optional sight- seeing tours on Sunday need a minimum of 30 people to register or the tour will be cancelled. In the event we do not have a minimum of 30 people registered for the tour by February 1, we will contact the registrants and refund the registration fee for the tour. See sidebar for more information on Sunday tours. 5:00 pm – Annual Conference Welcome Reception See old friends and make new industry acquaintances as you join other conference attendees for the 58th Annual IFTA Conference Welcome Reception. The Welcome Reception will be held at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, just a short walk from the host hotel, the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront. Sunday, February 22, 2015 MONday, February 23, 2015 8:00 am - 5:00 pm – Educational Sessions Welcome Lisa Jenereaux, Spurr Brothers Farm, Conference Host Committee Co-Chair Introduction to Nova Scotia Larry Lutz, Scotian Gold Cooperative, Conference Host Committee Co-Chair Being the oldest area producing tree fruit in North America, as well as one of the smallest and with the shortest growing season, has presented some unique opportunities and difficulties over the centuries. The history and evolution of the area and the industry, as well as the impact that Honeycrisp has had on the industry will be presented. The cur- rent status of the varieties and production systems used here will be explained as well. Pear Rootstock and Systems for High Density Orchards Stefano Musacchi, Washington State University The main trend in European orchard design today is to increase planting density. High density planting (HDP) in pear is expanding due to the widespread use of quince root- stocks to reduce tree size and induce early bearing. However, since HDP entails high out- lays, the break-even point occurs 5 to 8 years after planting. Stefano Musacchi will discuss the latest research in pear rootstocks and training systems for high density pear plantings. Optimal Weed Control in Young Orchards with New Herbicides Debbie Breth, Cornell University Weed control is essential for optimal tree growth and apple production. All previous work in identifying critical weed free timing was done on Empire and Jonagold on M111 planted at 3 X 6 m spacing. Breth has tested the critical timing for weed free strips for two seasons in the rows of new high density tall spindle plantings and has been able to identify the best timing for optimal tree growth and relate that to potential yield. Results of various herbicide trials will also be presented. Register online today at www.ifruittree.org Optional Cultural Tours Halifax Highlights + Peggy’s Cove w/ Lunch – 4 hours Join your local guide for a fun-filled ride through the streets of Halifax to learn about the people and places that have shaped one of the most captivating cities in North America. Your tour will lead you out of town on the Lighthouse Route and on to Peggy’s Cove, an artists’and explor- ers’paradise for well over 150 years. This village is located right on the rugged Atlantic shoreline, standing on solid rock above the crashing surf. The coastline is famous for pirates, shipwrecks, and rum-running while the village is known for weather- worn fishing shacks, colourful buoys, lobster traps and awe-inspiring rock formations that have been carved out by the glaciers of the last Ice Age. Enjoy a delicious two-course lunch overlooking one of the most pho- tographed lighthouses in the world before returning to Halifax. Historic Halifax + Alexander Keith’s Brewery – 2 ½ hours Join your local guide for an overview of Halifax. Learn about the city’s war years and of the role of the Citadel Fortress, of the exploits and heroism of the citizens who lived through the devastating Halifax Explosion, and of the local connection to the Titanic Disaster. Next, step back in time with a tour of the Alexander Keith’s Brewery as it was in 1863. The great Brew-master, and former mayor of Halifax, is brought alive in song and story as actors in period costume and character show you everything there is to know about Nova Scotia’s favorite beer, Keith’s Pale Ale. Register online today at www.ifruittree.org Photo: Scott Munn, courtesy Nova Scotia Tourism Agency Photo: Destination Halifax/B.McWhirter
  • 19. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 17 Register online today at www.ifruittree.orgRegister online today at www.ifruittree.org Past President Steve Blizzard returns as the Master of Ceremonies for the 2015 IFTA Awards Banquet. Banquet tickets are included with Whole Fruit Pie registration, other conference attendees can purchase tickets for this year’s awards banquet. Updates on Trials from NC140 and Their Applications to Tree Fruit Industry Terence Robinson, Cornell University The NC-140 rootstock research group continues to evaluate apple, cherry and pear rootstocks in multiple locations in North America. Recent findings show the potential for dwarfing cherry rootstocks planted at high densities with new pruning strategies to produce large crops with large fruit size. The apple trials are showing the potential of various new rootstocks including the Geneva rootstocks to improve yield efficiency. The pear rootstock trials have shown that the current OHF stocks and the new Pyro 2-33 combined with new pruning strategies have good potential in high density orchards which should allow the North American pear industry to modernize and adopt high density orchards. Living Without Neonics in Tree Fruit Art Agnello, Cornell University Since their introduction in the late 1990s, the Neonicotinoids have become the most widely used class of insecticides in the world. The fruit industry has come to rely on this chemistry as a replacement for many of the older chemistries including the organophosphates. These products are now under intense scrutiny due to suspected environmental impacts. This presen- tation will address what the future may hold in the event that we lose access to this class of insecticides. Crop Adapted Spraying (CAS) for High Density Orchards Jason Deveau, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) After several years of trials, Crop-Adapted Spraying is a promising decision-making model for reducing pesticide requirements in apple orchards. As growers continue to shift to high-density plantings, this method of sprayer calibration and spray-coverage confirmation can potentially save as much as 50% of typical annual pesticide loads. MONday, February 23, 2015 (continued) The Retail Apple Landscape from an Eastern Shipper’s Perspective John Rice, Rice Fruit Company New varieties of apples are being offered to retailers every month. How are retailers reacting, and which varieties are likely to be the long-term winners? What barriers do they face, and what is the store apple section likely to look like five years from now? Ten years from now? One of the largest Eastern apple packers and growers weighs in. Young Grower Session: Encouraging Young Folks to Stay in This Business Chris Duyvelshoff, Perennia, Moderator; Adele Wunsch, Wunsch Farms; Peter Eisses, Eisses Farms; Jenny Crist Kohn, Crist Brothers Orchards; Mark Stennes, Cascade Crest Organics Four inspiring young growers will be featured from New York, Michigan, Washington and Nova Scotia. Each will be discussing their background, involvement on the farm, future plans and what makes a successful young grower. These next generation growers will ensure a vibrant tree fruit industry for generations to come. A Systems Approach to Mechanization: Grower Panel Karen Lewis, Washington State University, Moderator; Mo Tougas, Tougas Family Farm; Tim Welsh, Columbia Fruit Packers; Rod Farrow, Lamont Fruit Farm; Dave Rennhack, Rennhack Orchards; Mike Robinson, Double Diamond Fruit Horticulture. Engineering. Economics. Discussion will be focused on evaluating and adopting labor assist mechanical tools for thinning, pruning and harvest. Can we optimize our horticultural systems with mechanization? Is the engineering and marketplace meeting our needs and demands? What is the economic bottom line – mitigation of labor-related risks, improved fruit quality or getting the job done well and on time? Five“early adopters”will share their experiences with mechanization, their methods for evaluating new tools and their efforts to develop a systems ap- proach to mechanization. 6:00 pm – IFTA Awards Banquet
  • 20. 18 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Canard Orchards – Gerry and Shonna VanOostrum Originally started by Gerry’s father, Peter, this farm has always been a leader in planting new high-density systems. Gerry now plants almost exclusively M-9 and B-9, as they have performed very well on this site. The main varieties grown are Gala, Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, Jonagold, SweeTango and red strains of Cortland. We will also see a variety of training and support systems, with new plantings primarily trained to the tall spindle system. Sarsfield Farms – Blake and Paulette Sarsfield Sarsfield Farms is located in the shadow of Cape Blomidon, one of the most scenic areas of Nova Scotia. Sarsfield Farms was one of the first to plant Honeycrisp in Nova Scotia, as well as other new varieties such as Ambrosia, SweeTango and Sonya. They also have one of the largest cherry plantings in Nova Scotia, as well as peaches, day neutral strawberries and high bush blueberries. We will be looking briefly at some of the new plantings on M-9, M-26, M7, M4 and Supporter 4. The main attraction at this stop will be an inside display of orchard equipment including platforms, mechanical thinners, harvest assists and other specialized orchard equipment. Eisses Family Farm – John and Trudy Eisses and Family This was once a mixed operation with dairy cows, field crops and tree fruit. John has concentrated more on the apple enterprise in the last 25 years and has expanded and replanted extensively. In recent years John has seen three of his children and their spouses return to the farm, so the future looks bright indeed. We will also view extensive planting of Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, SweeTango, So- nya, Gala, and Gravenstein. Of special interest will be the progres- sion of support systems and training methods, and the extensive use of the new Cornell rootstocks such as G-11, G-16, CG-30 and G-41. Extensive plantings on M-9 and older plantings of Honey- crisp on M-7 will also be viewed. Scotian Gold Cooperative Ltd. Started in 1917 as the United Fruit Companies, Scotian Gold Cooperative is the largest storage operator and apple packer in Atlantic Canada. This grower owned facility in Coldbrook continu- ously adds new CA facilities and has recently added new pre-sort facility. The cooperative also operates a Farm Supply, Retail Market, Fertilizer Plant and a Fresh Cut facility. The co-op services about 50 growers, handling both fresh and processing apples as well as pears, peaches, cherries, potatoes and strawberries. Andy and Gail Parker Andy and Gail started planting their orchard in the early 1980s with semi dwarf M111’s and M26’s. The farm now consists of ap- proximately 100 acres of orchard with the main varieties being Mc- Intosh and Honeycrisp. About half of the Honeycrisp production is from older trees that have been top worked. They have recently started a renewal planting program based on the tree wall system using a standardized 11 foot row spacing. The intent is to utilize mechanized systems to achieve labor efficiencies where possible. Most of the new plantings will be budded in place, on M26 root- stock, to Pazazz, Honeycrisp and other higher value varieties. TUESday, February 24, 2015 Van Meekeren Farms Owned and operated by Stephen and Michael Van Meekeren, the farm was purchased by their father Frank Van Meekeren in 1964 as a mixed fruit, vegetable and dairy operation. Since the mid-80s the business has focused primarily on apples and pears. The farm is about 100 acres. Some older plantings on MM111 still exist but are continually being replaced by B9, G935, G11, and some M26 at a density of 1200-1400 trees/acre. The Van Meekerens have a Controlled Atmosphere Storage and Packing facility that handles the production from their own farm as well as those from other growers in the Valley. Register online today at www.ifruittree.orgRegister online today at www.ifruittree.org
  • 21. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 19 Register online today at www.ifruittree.orgRegister online today at www.ifruittree.org WEDNESday Orchard Tours Spurr Brothers Farm – Bill, Gordon, Lisa, Katie (and the rest of the family!) Very diverse and ever evolving, this farm has had apples since the mid 1800s and is now heading into the sixth generation in the same family. Always the innovators, they had one of the first blocks of McIntosh in Nova Scotia as well as one of the first commercial plantings of Jonagold in 1985, and Honeycrisp in 1996. The farm consists of about 100 acres of apples, mainly on M-26, CG-30, M-9, B-9 and G-16. The farm also grows and packs 400 acres of potatoes, onions, and carrots. New to the farm are a series of specialty crops such as strawber- ries, garlic, Haskap berries and other vegetable crops. Of special interest is a multi-leader block of pears planted in 2012. These are primarily the Fireblight resistant cultivars from the Vine- land breeding program. Birchleigh Farms – Waldo and Judy Walsh Originally started by Waldo’s father, Fred, the Walsh family currently grow about 95 acres of apples and pears. The main varieties grown are Honeycrisp, SweeTango, Ambrosia, Gala, and a host of traditional varieties such as Graven- stein and Northern Spy. New plantings are primarily on M-26 and Supporter 4 rootstock, with consideration being given to some of the stronger Geneva rootstocks to make up for the fine textured soils at the home farm. The Walsh family has been devoting a lot of effort to become more labor efficient, utilizing close row spacings, bin trailers, and a platform for prun- ing, tree training and trellis installation. Crisp Growers Inc. Formed out the ashes of a corporate fruit farm which dissolved in 2013, Crisp Growers is a venture owned by a number of growers who also happen to be growers for Scotian Gold Cooperative. Originally encompassing some 240 acres of apples, mostly older varieties, the orchard has mostly been removed and is rapidly being replanted to newer high value va- rieties such as Honeycrisp, Ambrosia, Gala and Sonya. We will see some of the new plantings and have a discussion of the unique business model being followed. Nova Scotia’s 2014 Fire Blight Epidemic Chris Duyvelshoff, Perennia Nova Scotia experienced its most severe fire blight outbreak in the province’s history in 2014. Reasons for the severity of the outbreak will be examined using graphic visual imagery. Lessons learned and questions for the future will be discussed. Fire Blight Management Considerations for 2015 George Sundin, Michigan State University Fire blight is a destructive bacterial disease of pome fruit that caused significant damage in eastern North America in 2014. This disease can be explosive under conducive environmental conditions and is extremely difficult to control on highly susceptible apple varieties. The reasons for the rapid onset of disease will be outlined, and best management options for control of blossom and shoot blight will be discussed. Apple Biodiversity Collection/Breeding Implications Sean Myles, Dalhousie University The use of DNA sequence information can be used to accelerate the breeding of improved fruit cultivars. Dr. Myles will explain why the use of genomics-assist- ed breeding holds particular promise for tree fruits and what his research team is doing to accelerate the development of improved apple varieties in Canada. You Have to Dance With the One What Brung Ya Steve Blizzard, Largomarsino Group Carlson Lecture A look in the rear view mirror of how a grower oriented, grower financed organization influenced an entire industry, not only in North America but all over the world. Annual Conference General Session The final day of the conference starts early! Attendees will be boarding buses at the hotel at 7:30 am to travel back to the Annapolis Valley for classroom sessions in the morning and more field learning in the afternoon. The day concludes with a Traditional Nova Scotia Lobster Supper with buses returning to the hotel around 9 pm. WEDNESday, February 25, 2015 All conference speakers, topics and times subject to change.
  • 22. 20 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Introducing New York’s First Homegrown Club Apples Mark Russell, Whittier Fruit Farm LLC email: mwrussell1969@gmail.com Presented at the 57th Annual IFTA Conference, February 2014, in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Bringing two great apple brands to market, the NYAG way I’m here on behalf of NYAG to talk about our partnership with Cornell, as well as to introduce two great new apple brands and New York’s first homegrown apple club. I’m sure many of you were in Boston last year and recall Dr. Susan Brown’s talk about the development of these apples. I plan to pick up where she left off. I remember where I was when I first learned about the club apple concept. I was here, at IFTA in Kelowna in 2002. Through a chance meeting I struck up a conversation with Alan White from New Zealand. He told me about a great new apple they had called Jazz. But the im- portant thing I learned was that he was in charge of selecting the growers for it, and it would not be available in New York. I was fascinated by the idea of an apple I wouldn’t be allowed to grow. It im- plied the possibility for a medium-acreage grower like me to have access to a limited variety. I had a feeling I was seeing the fu- ture of the industry, and wanted to know how my operation could be a part of it. A year earlier—again at IFTA—I had met Dennis Courtier. Word was he was in negotiations with the University of Min- nesota for exclusive rights to a promising Honeycrisp-Zestar! hybrid. After a lot of research and conversation, I was glad to be invited to join the Next Big Thing (NBT) co-op, and plant the apple that would become Minneiska and marketed as SweeTango™ . This is where things get in- teresting for New York growers. With the advent of NBT, New York State got a front row seat to what the club concept could look like: only 15 New York growers were invited and around 300 acres planted, but Names and logos unveiled at Geneva field day. Photo credit: Mark Russell
  • 23. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 21 it was enough for Cornell extension to be involved in, and for the NYAA to support. In a state with over 600 apple growers, this served as a real wake-up call. If you hadn’t known about the club concept, you sure knew about it now. The New York project began with a small group of growers forming an apple vari- ety task force. They knew Dr. Brown had some promising varieties in the pipeline, and they knew the old system for releas- ing apples to the public was about to end. So they set about making a plan that would meet their two primary goals: n Deliver value to New York growers by negotiating exclusive rights to great new apples. n Support the Cornell breeding pro- gram with a reworked, dedicated funding stream. Cornell sought an exclusive rights partner for its new apples. NYAG LLC was formed and a contract was drawn that gave NYAG exclusive North American rights to grow and market the apples, now named NY-1 and NY-2. NYAG went to work to form a growers’ organization to help meet their goals and also to live up to their core values: n Manage the production, quality, and marketing. n Allow any grower to join. To do this we used the New York Apple Marketing Order membership as a re- source to make sure every grower was invited twice. Growers were allowed to: n Plant either or both apples. n Choose how many acres to plant. n Choose between direct or commercial sales channels, or both. This got us 144 grower-owners, covering about 60% of the state’s production. Orchard establishment was complicated by the inconvenient fact of an industry- wide planting boom that led to a deficit of rootstock choices. NY-1 was a runty tree that needed a boost. NY-2 proved to be susceptible to fire blight. In a perfect world, we would have access to all the great new Geneva roots we needed. In- stead, NY-1’s success as a tree will depend mostly on NIC 29 and NY-2 on Bud-9. With propagation underway the NYAG organization started to take shape. A Board of Directors leads the way with a number of committees formed to handle big picture issues, like marketing plans and variety evaluation, as well as critical details, such as orchard establishment, administration and trademarking. All told, about a third of our member farms have a committee presence. This is an organiza- tion dedicated to inclusiveness, communi- cation and transparency. NYAG’s founders brought a lot of experi- ence and talent to the table—but none of us was a marketing firm, so we hired one to fill in the gaps. This firm helped turn these apples into strong brands and cre- ated the toolkit to reach our consumers. We also hired a professional administrator with a marketing and apple background. At the same time we were also working closely with Cornell. NYAG and Cornell are partners in this venture. With partner- ship comes strength and opportunity but also compromise. Here’s what we got: n North American production and mar- keting rights. n A seat at the table for new selections. n A collection of royalties split 50/50 between NYAG and Cornell to endow a dedicated revenue stream for Dr. Brown’s breeding program. The final result was a 50/50 royalty split between NYAG and Cornell, with Cornell agreeing to pass along a portion of their funds directly to the apple breeding program. Harvest gathering at Crist Bros. Orchards, Inc. in New York. Photo credit: Janet Baus.
  • 24. 22 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 For NY-1 we chose SnapDragon™ . One of our goals was to put some fresh words in the apple category, and we thought “crisp” had been played out. We used “snap” as a stand-in for “crisp”, and “dragon” brings with it imagination, ex- citement and fun. Initial name recognition from the public has been outstanding. NY-2 will be sold as RubyFrost® . We wanted the name to express the beau- ty of the fruit, in a luxurious way, while frost stood in as a mouth-feel message, suggesting the fruits’ crisp and refresh- ing qualities. RubyFrost® got immediate attention from the public as a name too, appearing in a “lip-gloss or apple-variety” quiz on Bon Appétit’s website. We love these names, and think they are strong trademarks and worthy brands for two of the finest apples available. To introduce our brand names to the growers and the public, we chose the annual field day at the Geneva research station, and invited all the members—and the press—to join us in the celebration, with Cornell’s public relations team help- ing spread the word. The name announcement got 158 unique The partnership with Cornell has been strong in so many ways. From research, Dr. Brad Rickard conducted a taste test focus group that studied the economic impact of naming. We created a Cornell internship for early market research. We put the project in the classroom: an undergraduate business class developed marketing plans and some inventive names, and an MBA program’s students conducted market analysis. Best help of all was from the CALS faculty and extension. They worked eagerly with growers every step of the way. It’s been a great advantage having Dr. Terence Rob- inson involved in challenging the growers toward excellence. There is an apparent sense in New York’s fruit tree extension that these are world-class apples and de- serve to be done right. The work of extension, through the East- ern Horticulture team and Lake Ontario Fruit teams, has been constant and invalu- able. Even the new Director of Extension, longtime friend of the industry Dr. Chris Watkins, still finds time to do storage re- search for both of these varieties. Obviously, the most pressing task was “naming” the apples, and having a mar- keter involved made sure we built a co- hesive brand definition with the apples’ associated emotion, target consumer and placement up front. This was a big help in informing the naming process. Once we had our apples defined and positioned, we needed to choose wor- thy names for them. NY-1 was a superior out-of-hand snack apple, with an excit- ing crunch and an immediate, endearing sweet flavor. NY-2 was a gorgeous apple that elicited emotions of comfort and lux- ury. It has a firm, crisp, juicy texture and a delicate sweet-tart balance. Finding suitable names is frustrating work going through hundreds of options in search of something more perfect. You also have to avoid the tendency to gravi- tate toward existing names. It can take a lot of time—years, in fact. You can run out of apples to eat and have to go months working from your memory. A lot of fruit needs to be eaten, a lot of brains need to be picked, and a lot of words need to be mashed around. In the end, the apple brands were chosen through a proprietary process, including but not limited to brainstorming, thesau- rus reading, focus groups, taste testing, conference calls, coffee drinking, market research, naming contests and Robert’s Rules of Order. And remember: If it’s a good apple, people will like the name you pick anyway. First pack of SnapDragon. Photo credit: Austin Fowler.
  • 25. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 23 stories the first day, with more than 450 repeats of the Associated Press story and local TV news coverage in nearly every market in the state. We couldn’t be hap- pier about the adulation and recognition it brought to Susan Brown and Kevin Ma- loney at the breeding program. It was a snapdragons. Photo credit: NYAG LLC long time coming and much deserved. We parlayed all this strong press into a direct marketing blitz for SnapDragon™ with the fruit from our commercial grow- ers distributed to the member farm stands to bolster quantity. Our website—snap- dragonapple.com—directed folks to the direct markets nearest them, and our members did the rest. For RubyFrost® , our marketing debut con- sisted of a test run at the retail level. Three supermarket partners were chosen for the test and about 3,000 bushels of fruit went out late January to over 150 outlets. We look forward to repeating that retail test this October with SnapDragon™ . Going forward our biggest challenges will be nailing down harvest indices and stor- age protocols, maintaining quality stan- dards, and balancing retailer demand with the growth of production. Marketing chal- lenges include working with sales desks and the constant fight to get shelf space. Our old model is all about giving retailers a 52-week supply, and they learned to ex- pect it. With club apples they can’t neces- sarily have that, so we have to find ways that work to the growers’ advantage. There’s a lot of unique supply chain issues to sort out. Those are the consequences when you invite every grower in the state. I don’t think any packing house is going to happy about handling and splitting out 105 grower lots, so there will need to be some cooperation and coordination. The folks working on this are busy people, with their own businesses to manage and they do this on a volunteer basis. So we have some work to do. Since the club concept first came into play over a decade ago, there has been much deliberation over all these new varieties in the marketplace. “Surely there was not enough shelf space to go around for more than a few lucky winners” was the pre- vailing wisdom. But as the emerging clubs have come into view, it is apparent their combined production plans are still far below five percent of domestic volume… and years away from exceeding that. It could be just as likely that we have merely entered a new, better era of what used to be derisively called “niche” marketing. The apple display is a big place. The win- dow for a variety can be as long as a whole year. There’s plenty of room to profitably sell quality apples. And with the excite- ment that all these new varieties are bring- ing to the segment, new apple lovers will be looking for something good to munch on after this year’s SnapDragon™ and RubyFrost® are sold out. So don’t disap- point them!
  • 26. 24 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Cherry Rootstocks for the Modern Orchard Lynn E. Long, Linda J. Brewer and Clive Kaiser, Department of Horticulture, Oregon State University email: lynn.long@oregonstate.edu, linda.brewer@oregonstate.edu and clive.kaiser@oregonstate.edu Presented at the 57th Annual IFTA Conference, February 2014, in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada Traditional rootstocks for commercial cherry production include Mazzard and Mahaleb. These rootstocks support a moderate crop load, and with routine care, a proper leaf to fruit ratio is gener- ally easy to maintain. However, none of them confer precocity, and all can be very vigorous, making plantings more difficult to manage and harvest. Growers today have the advantage of many fully- or semi-dwarfing rootstocks that offer precocity, allow for high-density plantings, and bring a faster return on investment. These precocious rootstocks include the Gisela® series, the Krymsk® series and MaxMa 14® , among others. Five sour cherry rootstocks from Michigan State University are still under evaluation, but have significant potential to transform cherry growing practices. All of these precocious rootstocks make high-density plantings possible and en- able new systems that are easily trained, easily pruned and more easily harvested. Higher early returns and more sustainable yields through maturity are also possible. In many cases labor demands are reduced and efficiencies are increased. Summary of rootstock attributes With the exception of the MSU rootstock series mentioned above and two new Gisela® rootstocks, all of these rootstocks have been grown commercially for at least a decade. In that time a great deal has been learned about their attributes. Gisela 3 Prunus cerasus Schattenmorelle × Prunus canescens Gisela 3 is the most dwarfing of the Gise- la series. Although it has gained accep- tance by growers in northern Europe, it has not been widely planted in the U.S. or most other cherry production areas of the world. Due to its very dwarfing nature it is recommended for planting only in Vogel Central Leader trees growing on five rootstocks.
  • 27. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 25 deep, fertile soils. Reports from Germany indicate Gisela 3 provides high early yields and when intensively pruned and man- aged can produce high-quality fruit. Trees are free of suckers and produce wide branch angles. Trees should be sup- ported. Gisela 3 is recommended for very high-density plantings such as the Super Slender Axe system. Gisela 3 is particularly well adapted to covered orchards. Gisela 5 P. cerasus x P. canescens Gisela 5 has gained wide acceptance in northern Europe and in the northeastern United States where summer tempera- tures tend to be relatively cool. However, Gisela 5 has failed to gain widespread ac- ceptance in the major cherry production areas on the west coast of the United States, Chile or other hot summer regions. Gisela 5 produces trees about 50% the size of Mazzard. The medium-low vigor of this rootstock coupled with very high fruit production means that trees must be pruned and managed intensively in order to produce high quality fruit. This issue is accentuated when Gisela 5 is combined with productive cultivars such as Lapins and Sweetheart. When properly pruned and grown on deep, fertile soils, Gisela 5 may be suitable for very high density plantings, especially when combined with an extremely high-density system such as the Super Slender Axe. Gisela 6 P. cerasus x P. canescens Gisela 6 is the most popular rootstock for new plantings in the Pacific North- west (PNW) of the U.S. Even though it is a relatively vigorous rootstock, it is easy to manage. Typical planting densities are 300 to 500 trees per acre (740-1235 trees per hectare). Although it exhibits medium-high vigor, it is also very precocious, producing harvestable crops by the third leaf with full production possible by the fifth leaf. High production potential continues on Gisela 6 into maturity, so proper pruning is essential to maintain adequate leaf-to-fruit ratio and good fruit size. High fruit quality is possible with cultivars of moderate-to-low produc- tivity such as Bing, Skeena and Regina, but more difficult with very productive cultivars such as Lapins and Sweetheart. Gisela 6 is well suited for a wide range of soil types from light to heavy; however, good drainage is essential. Anchorage can be a problem, especially on windy sites, although most growers in the PNW do not provide support. Gisela 12 (P. cerasus x P. canescens Gisela 12 generally produces a tree with slightly more vigor than Gisela 6 when combined with Regina and several other varieties, but it exhibits slightly less vigor with Bing. Gisela 12 is both precocious and productive, producing heavy early crops, with full production possible by the fifth leaf. Good fruit size and quality is possible with proper pruning. Gisela 12 is adapted to a wide range of soils and is somewhat better anchored than Gisela 6 although there have been some reports of trees leaning in the wind. The tree structure is open and spreading and new branches form readily. Scion compatibility has not been a problem. Dormant pruning KGB trees.
  • 28. 26 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 Gisela 13 Schattenmorelle x P. cansecens According to information provided by Gisela, Inc., Gisela 13 is similar to or slightly more vigorous than Gisela 6 with about the same yield capacity, although both of these traits varied with the evalu- ation site. These trees were reported to be well anchored with few root suckers. Gisela 17 P. canescens x P. avium According to Gisela, Inc. (giselacherry. com/), Gisela 17 produces a tree some- what larger than Gisela 6 or Gisela 13 with a yield potential similar to or somewhat less than Gisela 6. They further reported that Gisela 17 shows somewhat reduced potential to over-crop compared to Gisela 5 or Gisela 6, suggesting this rootstock would do well with the more productive self-fertile cultivars. Gisela 17 is reported to be less demanding as to soil and climat- ic conditions than Gisela 5 and has per- formed well in replant sites in Germany. Krymsk 5 P. fruticosa x P. lannesiana Krymsk 5 has been used in commercial production in Oregon for more than 10 years. Tree size is similar to Gisela 12 but it is neither as precocious nor as productive. Commercial production of Lapins and Skeena on Krymsk 5 through the twelfth leaf in Oregon indicates premium quality fruit can be consistently produced on this rootstock when properly managed. Krymsk 5 is adapted to a wide range of soil types, with reports it will grow well in heavier soils than Mazzard. Accounts from Russia, where this rootstock originates, in- dicate it is well adapted to cold climates. In addition, it has performed well in the hot climate production regions of the western U.S. Trees are well anchored and do not need support. Low-to-moderate levels of crown suckers have been noted. Trees grafted onto Krymsk 5 rootstock are hypersensitive to prune dwarf virus (PDV) and Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV). Krymsk 6 P. cerasus x (P. cerasus x P. maackii) Krymsk 6 produces a tree that is only 75 to 80% the size of trees on Krymsk 5 or Gisela 12, so higher density plantings are possible with this rootstock. In one commercial orchard in Oregon, Lapins and Skeena fruit size and quality on this rootstock has been excellent through the twelfth leaf. Like Krymsk 5, Krymsk 6 rootstocks seem to be adapted to both cold and hot cli- mates as well as heavier soils. Trees are well anchored, with low-to-moderate root suckering. Tree form is good, with wide crotch angles. Like Krymsk 5, Krymsk 6 is hyper sensitive to PDV and PNRSV. MaxMa 14 P. mahaleb x P. avium Although MaxMa 14 has gained broad ac- ceptance in southern France for its good performance in calcareous soils, it has ob- tained only moderate acceptance in other production areas globally. A perception by growers in Chile that it provides some resis- tance to bacterial canker has encouraged growers there to plant MaxMa 14. Some growers in the PNW like its semi-vigorous growth habit and moderate precocity. MaxMa 14 shows good scion compatibil- ity and a broad adaptation to soil types and environmental conditions. Very little suckering has been noted. MSU rootstock series Five sour cherry rootstocks are currently being evaluated in Michigan and the PNW for their ability to serve as sweet cherry rootstocks. The five rootstocks, Cass, Clair, Clinton, Crawford and Lake, have each shown some very interesting character- istics. In all cases these rootstocks are at least as dwarfing as Gisela 5, while Clare produces an even smaller tree. In addition, all rootstocks trend towards more flowers per leader cross-sectional area than Gisela The variety, rootstock and training system trial being pruned.
  • 29. Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 27 5 or Gisela 6. However, after two years of trials at Prosser, Washington, fruit size on all rootstocks was similar to Gisela 5 and Gisela 6 (Personal communication, Dr. Amy Iezzoni, Department of Horticulture, Michigan State University). However, similar fruit size was only ob- tained in 2012 because pea-sized fruit were thinned by 50%. In 2013 fruit were thinned to achieve standard crop loads for each selection. In many parts of the world, high labor costs would constrain growers from using hand labor to thin flowers or fruitlets. The use of pruning and chemicals could reduce the demand for hand thinning and allow growers to obtain consistently high yields and reduce annual yield fluctuations. In addition, Lake, Cass and Clare signifi- cantly advance fruit ripening by up to one week. For some markets, this may be a considerable advantage, providing growers with higher returns and greater revenue. Variety, rootstock, training system trial In order to grow consistently high-quality fruit, these precocious rootstocks must be well matched with the proper scion. A trial was established in The Dalles, Or- egon in 2006 with the goal of determin- ing which rootstock, variety and training system combinations produced the best yields of high-quality fruit. The first objective of this work was to as- sess the influence of three training sys- tems on fruit yield and quality of Bing, Regina and Sweetheart trees. Training systems included 1) a multi-leader bush (Kym Green Bush (KGB)), 2) a spindle system (Vogel Central Leader (VCL)) and 3) a tri-axe system (Steep Leader (SL)). The second objective was to determine the influence on yield and fruit quality of up to five different rootstocks on Bing, Regina and Sweetheart trees. The final objective was to evaluate the influence of the interaction of these cultivars, root- stocks and training systems on yield and fruit quality. Regina scion-wood was budded onto Mazzard, MaxMa 14, Gisela 6, Krymsk 5 and Krymsk 6 and planted in a commer- cial orchard in 2006 in The Dalles, Oregon, USA. Bing was budded onto rootstocks Mazzard, MaxMa 14 and Gisela 6. Sweet- heart was budded onto rootstocks Maz- zard, MaxMa 14, Gisela 6 and Krymsk 5. Each variety-rootstock combination was Figure 1 FIGURE 1 – Relative tree size of Sweetheart grown on four rootstocks and trained to three systems as expressed by trunk cross sectional area (cm2 ). Figure 2 FIGURE 2 – Fruit size on all training systems, Bing, Regina,and Sweetheart 4th through 7th leaf.
  • 30. 28 Compact Fruit Tree • December 2014 trained to each of three systems: the KGB, VCL and SL. Tree size When combined with Sweetheart, Maz- zard produced the largest trees with all training systems (Fig. 1). Krymsk 5, MaxMa 14 and Gisela 6 produced trees that were relatively similar in size with Gisela 6 trend- ing slightly smaller than other rootstocks. Yield and fruit size: Select a rootstock to match the variety and training system Regina. With a variety of lower produc- tivity, such as Regina, it is important to choose rootstocks and training systems to maximize productivity. Our trials showed that Regina grafted to any of the root- stocks produced fruit of the highest qual- ity (Fig. 2). The five rootstocks evaluated in this trial with Regina produced the largest fruit on the following systems (Fig. 2): Mazzard SL Gisela 6 KGB MaxMa 14 KGB, SL Krymsk 5 KGB Krymsk 6 KGB The greatest yields were from Regina on Krymsk 6, Krymsk 5 and Gisela 6. Com- pared to Mazzard the following root- stocks, through the sixth leaf, produced as follows (Fig. 3): n 3.2 times greater yield on Krymsk 6; n 3.1 times greater yield on Krymsk 5; n 2.6 times greater yield on Gisela 6; and n 1.7 times greater yield on MaxMa 14. Bing is a variety of moderate productiv- ity with yields intermediate between the low-yielding Regina and the high-yielding Sweetheart. Highest yields were obtained on Gisela 6 rootstock (Fig. 3). The three rootstocks evaluated in this trial with Bing produced the largest fruit on the following systems (Fig. 2): Mazzard KGB Gisela 6 KGB, VCL, SL MaxMa 14 VCL Overall Gisela 6 was the best rootstock se- lection to provide a good balance of yield and fruit size. Compared to Mazzard the following rootstocks, through the sixth leaf, produced as follows: • 6.9 times greater yield on Gisela 6; • 5.1 times greater yield on MaxMa 14. Sweetheart is a highly productive variety, and proper pruning is critical on any root- stock to obtain a balanced leaf-to-fruit ratio and high-quality fruit. On Gisela 6 rootstock, Sweetheart bore fruits of excel- lent size (Fig. 2). The four rootstocks evaluated in this trial with Sweetheart produced the largest fruit on the following systems (Fig. 2): Mazzard KGB, VCL, SL Gisela 6 VCL, SL MaxMa 14 KGB, VCL, SL Krymsk 5 KGB, VCL, SL Overall Gisela 6 was the best rootstock selection to provide a balance of yield and fruit size. Compared to Mazzard the fol- lowing rootstocks, through the sixth leaf, produced as follows: n 2.3 times greater yield on Gisela 6; n 1.5 times greater yield on MaxMa 14; n 1.4 times greater yield on Krymsk 5. Although Gisela 6 produced greater quan- tities of high-quality fruit compared to the other rootstocks, Sweetheart on Gisela 6 is a challenging combination for many growers. The production of consistently high-quality fruit is made difficult by the productive nature of both the scion and rootstock. Both MaxMa 14 and Krymsk 5 provide greater precocity than Mazzard while more easily maintaining the proper leaf-to-fruit ratio than Gisela 6. Summary With productive rootstocks, the impor- tance of proper training and pruning can- not be overemphasized. If mismanaged, trees can quickly become imbalanced, producing small, poor quality fruit. How- ever, when properly managed, all of these precocious rootstocks can provide early high yields of premium quality fruit. This research helps to identify the best combinations of variety and training sys- tem for a number of important, preco- cious rootstocks. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Greg Johnson of The Dalles, Oregon for host- ing the trial and IFTA for partial funding of this work. Additional resources: Long, L.E. 2007. Four Simple Steps to Pruning Cherries on Gisela and other Productive Root- stocks. PNW 592. Oregon State University Exten- sion Service, Corvallis OR. Long, L.E. and C. Kaiser. 2010. Sweet Cherry Rootstocks for the Pacific Northwest. PNW 619. Oregon State University Extension Service, Cor- vallis OR. https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/ bitstream/handle/1957/18464/pnw619.pdf   Figure 3 FIGURE 3 – Average per tree fourth through sixth leaf yield of three varieties combined with four rootstocks.