Good Fruit Grower

April 15

Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/662797

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 27 of 55

28 APRIL 15, 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com Properly preparing the soil can help new plantings thrive. by Shannon Dininny photos by TJ Mullinax T here's a lot to consider when replanting an orchard: root- stock, scion, trellis type and irrigation method, to name a few. Soil type is another, and it's particularly important when matching specific rootstocks and scions to locations. So imagine the complexities involved when you're planting hundreds of thousands of trees across several sites. That's the case for Washington Fruit and Produce Co., which is removing some underperforming orchards and replac- ing them with more desirable cultivars, as well as filling in existing orchards. Orchard manager Dan Plath calls replanting a difficult puzzle, because, like many companies, Washington Fruit orders trees well in advance of planting. The company placed its tree orders with nurseries in 2014 without knowing exactly where any of those trees would be planted. "Now, as we get to 2016, we're looking at the deci- sions we made in 2014 in terms of variety selection and how can we best match to the available sites, which is kind of back- wards," he said. "Ideally, you have the site and you go out and get the right vari- ety to plant on it, but it's just the way it works when you order trees, because the demand for trees far outpaces supply." Low prices in 2014 prompted the company to accelerate plans to renovate some older orchards — that year saw an oversupply of Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith, and the company also saw an increase in the number of Fujis and Galas that didn't Centerpiece Stan Klabenes operates a large bulldozer in March across the slope of a new cooling and frost control pond at a future orchard owned Planting Dan Plath

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Good Fruit Grower - April 15