Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/43042
East Malling pilgrimage F East Malling Research Center in Kent, England, this summer, where Sir Ronald Hatton collected, catalogued, tested, and named the Malling apple rootstocks The Malling 9 rootstock originated here almost a century ago. Today, in view of climate change, East Malling Research is working to develop rootstocks that use water more efficiently. by Geraldine Warner that have been widely used around the world. The dwarfing Malling 9 rootstock, released almost a century ago, has enabled growers to plant intensive orchards and is the most prevalent apple rootstock today. Research continues there with the goal of developing fruit varieties and rootstocks to help growers meet today's challenges. "It's almost like coming to Mecca for us," commented Dr. Terence Robinson, horticulturist with Cornell University, New York. But William Sibley, chair of the East Malling Trust for Horticultural Research, says East Malling owes a lot to the United States. During the late nineteenth century, following numerous wars in Europe, the United Kingdom was in a poor state economically. Incomes were low, particularly for farmers, and a large number left their farms to go to the Americas. There, they found large-scale, organized fruit growing, which they had never seen in the United Kingdom. Until that time, most U.K. fruit was grown in backyards, and there was no transport system to take the fruit to market. Orchards were typically only an acre or two. Low yields Some people went back to the United Kingdom to set up commercial fruit-growing operations. But as they did so, they faced many horticul- tural questions that needed to be answered, Viruses caused havoc, and yields were low. For Cox's Orange Pippin, yields of five bins per acre or less were common, Sibley said during the IFTA tour. The East Malling and Wye Fruit Experiment Station was built in 1913 as a satellite station of Wye College in Kent. It consisted of a laboratory, office, and stable for the sole scientist, Captain R. Wellington, and his horse, and was funded by subscriptions from farmers. When he left to serve in the First World War in 1914, Dr. Ronald Hatton took over the task of acquiring and cataloguing the many apple rootstocks found around Europe, and named them after the Malling station. East Malling became independent of Wye College in 1920, and an endowment fund was created to help fund the center. The fund later became the East Malling Trust for Horticultural Research. "That trust was created by the most foresighted and forward-thinking growers we have ever seen," Sibley said. "We owe them a huge debt." Expanded Over the years, the land and buildings were expanded. In 1938, the trust purchased Bradbourne House with 200 acres of land from the Twisden family who had lived there for over 400 years. The trust provided East Malling with physical resources while the government paid the scien- tists to do the work. By the 1950s, East Malling had more than 500 acres of land. During the 1970s and 1980s, East Malling was a fully government-sponsored facility with strong ties to the fruit industry. As many as 500 growers would attend open days, Sibley recalled. Difficult time But in 1990, East Malling was brought together with all the other U.K. horticultural research stations under the newly formed private organization Horticulture Research International. 20 OCTOBER 2011 GOOD FRUIT GROWER ruit growers around the world have benefited greatly from the rootstock research conducted at East Malling in the United Kingdom. Forty members of the International Fruit Tree Association visited the revered Left: Carlos Chavez of Mexico opens the entrance to a root observation chamber built at East Malling in the 1960s to allow researchers to view tree roots. It was the first in the world and one of several at the research station. www.goodfruit.com