Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/64944
Cherries "That's what gives the larger fruit its size—a greater proportion of large cells, not more total cells." —Dave Gibeaut Return bloom In following an 8.5-row cherry from bloom to harvest, he found that average cell size increases as fruit size increases and that larger cells are dispersed throughout the inner and outer mesocarp. "The larger cells lead to bigger fruit size. Low crop loads tend to have a greater number of large cells, which lead to larger fruit." He will be exploring ways to manipulate the cell num- ber—using plant growth regulators in the postharvest and/or prebloom stages—to try to increase cell numbers of fruit. He also plans to look at return bloom for the effect of bud thinning. "With half of the cells in the final fruit already present at bloom, and the remaining cell divisions completed within the first two weeks of growth, any manipulation must be done early in the growth cycle," he said. "But if we could increase the number of cells in the fruit through some means, we may be able to increase the size." Gibeaut is working with OSU's Dr. Todd Einhorn and Washington State University's Dr. Matt Whiting to improve year to year yield and quality of sweet cherries. Research includes timing and rate of gibberellic acid to influence fruit size and growth. • Cherry fruit growth Pit PREBLOOM (not shown) cell division cell division & expansion cell expansion only (Before fertilization) FULL BLOOM Inner flesh Outer flesh Skin (pit hardening) STAGE II MID- HARVEST (ripe fruit) Courtesy of David Gibeaut, OSU Orchard-Rite® Wind Machines • www.orchard-rite.com "I believe the best investment you can make in your orchard is the money you spend on frost protection." ® "We believe in Orchard-Rite® wind machines because they have delivered excellent protection and depend able service. We tried a different brand of machine a while back and found that the coverage and reliability was not what we had experienced with our Orchard-Rite® machines. Since then, we have purchased only Orchard- Rite® machines." Scott McDougall General Manager/Orchard Operations www.goodfruit.com Cascade Wind Machine Service 1615 W. Ahtanum • Yakima, WA 98903 509-457-9196 Sales: Virgil Anders, ext 114 3766 Iroquois Lane • Wenatchee, WA 98801 509-662-2753 Sales: Dana Morgan, ext 215 Dave Harmening, ext 214 For your nearest representative: www.orchard-rite.com "Orchard-Rite's Auto-Start option has become quite valuable to us. It reduces the likelihood of machines being started 20 minutes late due to a sudden drop of temperature that was missed by the frost protection staff." Bob Murphy Operations Manager/ Columbia Basin Orchards Orchard-Rite® machine they purchase, and have begun retrofitting this equipment to their machines in cold and isolated areas. McDougall & Sons are now adding this option to every new GOOD FRUIT GROWER MAY 15, 2012 33