Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/40315
Michigan grower sees bright future for plums He prefers European varieties like Vibrant. by Richard Lehnert cherry prices for them, and they don't crack when it rains. They yield as well as peaches, about 300 bushels per acre. And they don't get fireblight." They're more precocious than pears, bearing a crop in four years. Rood has planted, and still plants, European plums W from a group released about 25 years ago from the Cana- dian breeding program at Vineland, Ontario, and which he planted as test varieties before they were released. The three plums are Vibrant, Vanette, and Voyageur. "I like Vibrant best," he said. These plums ripen in mid-July and early August and fit into the marketing niche just after strawberries and sweet cherries. "Because they don't crack, I can leave hile Paul Rood is known in Michigan as the fruit grower with the pears, he thinks a real future for state growers lies in plums. He has grown plums for more than 30 years. "I'm enthused about plums," he said. "I can get sweet them on the trees to get very sweet and pick them multiple times," he said. In July, Rood put in a new Vibrant planting using pot- ted trees budded in early March and grown in the green- house until June. By July, the new trees were three feet tall. Greenhouse-grown trees in pots are a new offering from Matt Moser at Moser's Nursery in nearby Coloma to save a year getting trees to bearing age, and Rood wanted to try it. He provided the budwood from his trees. As with all fruit crops, experience is the best teacher, Rood says. Plums, he finds, do best with pollinizers. Stan- ley is mostly self-fertile, but the other European plums benefit from pollinizerss. Japanese plums and European plums are different species, so they can't pollinate each other. Many of Rood's older plums have not reached full yield potential because of rootstock compatibility problems. Many trees have large trunks perched on roots much smaller in diameter. Some of Rood's older plum trees show there can be problems. This tree shows rootstock compatibility problems, and the bark cracks persistently, even when painted and several years old. His advice: "Use vigorous rootstocks like Myrobalan, which set the trees up to grow fast. Then space them widely enough to get good air flow so they dry out and don't stay dewy all morning. Brown rot is a problem with plums." While Rood has closely watched the development of dwarfing rootstocks in apples for some 60 years and wit- nessed the move to high-density plantings, he has stayed with wider spacings and more vigorous rootstocks, like Malling 7 for his apples. "The payback for high density is very slow in pears and reasonably slow in apples," he said. Roods sits on the Michigan Plum Advisory Board and New Holland New & Lease NH T4050V 4WD w/Cab (NEW) Return Tractors for Orchards and Vineyards Low APR or Cash Back NH Boomer 50 4 WD (NEW) NH T4040 4 WD w/Cab (NEW) NH T4040V 2 WD (NEW) (2) NH T 4030V 4WD (2) NH T 4040V 4WD (7) NH 1510 4WD NH T4030V 4 WD (NEW) (2) NH TN95FA (1) NH 1520 4WD, 80 PTO HP 4WD (1) NH T 4040F 2WD w/cab (2) NH T 4040F 4WD w/cab (2) NH TN85FA 4WD (1) Edwards DYNA-SCAT All Terrain Forklift NH T4040F 4 WD (NEW) NH WorkMaster 55 2 WD (NEW) SUNNYSID 509-837-2714 NEW HOLLAND, INC 22 SEPTEMBER 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER The Farmer's Friend! E 526 W. YAKIMA VALLEY HIGHWAY SUNNYSIDE, WASHINGTON NH Rustler 120 dsl 4X4 w/electric tilt bed (NEW) NH T4050F 4 WD (NEW) Call About Lease Returns 136 hrs 330 hrs 100 – 300 hrs 270 hrs 177 hrs/212 hrs NH T4030V 2 WD (NEW) works with other growers to find better varieties and bet- ter practices and to advance commercial prospects by increasing crop volumes and the packing and marketing infrastructure that go with it. Rood is pleased with the plums. "Anyone wanting to see these new plum varieties as they ripen can come and see them," Rood said. • ROOD STAYS up-to-date M any fruit growers know Paul Rood. The Covert, Michigan, fruit grower is a frequent traveler on International Fruit Tree Association trips, where his opinions are carefully presented and atten- tively listened to. He travels extensively to other scien- tific symposia as well, and he's been all over the world. His 125-acre farm has 40 acres devoted to pears, 10 to apples, and about 20 to plums. One important part of the Rood Fruit Farm operation is the shortage of winter work. Winter is for travel and study. Pear pruning starts in November, after the fruit is marketed. And by December, he's ready to attend the winter horticulture shows in Michigan and in Wash- ington State and the IFTA winter meeting. He also attends pear meetings in the Pacific Northwest. One part of Rood's college education 60 years ago was the requirement that students learn a second language, and Rood chose Spanish. "I speak Spanish," he said, "and it has helped me immensely. Mexican workers have been the saviors of the American fruit industry. We cannot do it with- out them." Being able to communicate with them has turned out to be a great asset. Two-thirds of his workers are "settled out" migrants who now live in the local area, but still work in agriculture. Rood's main hired man, who has been with him 20 years, finishes up the pruning work, and then, he, too, leaves to visit Mexico in the winter. —R. 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