Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/662797
30 APRIL 15, 2016 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com meet target size — but the central motivation is to stay current. "We're constantly renovating older orchards to stay modern on genetics," he said. "We're maybe doing a little bit less expansion than we normally would had we not gone through the 2014 crop with those prices. The same thing very well could happen in 2016." A nutrient analysis at each of the five sites helps to determine the fertilizer program for the first year, which varies by baseline. "Deficiencies aren't really a problem because you can fix it. But say the previous site used a lot of manure or particular fertilizer in certain areas of the farm, and you're starting really hot, with high levels. That's where it causes you to change your plan a little bit more," Plath said. Standard practice at any replant or planting site is for workers to rip the soil in two different directions, trying to dig at least 3 feet beneath the soil surface. They then go back and disk the soil to clean out any remaining debris, taking as many as four passes depending on what was previously planted there. The company uses a three-row tree planter that has big shanks opening up the ground to plant the tree. It requires a crew of six, plus the driver and another crew bringing trees to the planter from the trailers. "If there's a lot of organic matter left in the soil, big chunks of grass or whatever it might be, it makes the tree planter very inefficient," he said. Here's a rundown of how Washington Fruit approaches planting and replanting at multiple sites in one season. To fumigate or not to fumigate? Outside the small town of Plymouth, Washington, overlooking the Columbia River, Washington Fruit is pushing out an old, 80-acre block of Fuji and Gala apple trees that weren't producing target fruit size, which is anywhere from 64 to 100. The site sits on sandy loam, and with plans to replant there, Plath said fumigating the site was an easy call. He recounted the advice of Washington State University Extension educator Tim Smith about fumiga- tion: "Any time you are going from something with bark to apples, you need to fumigate. If there have been trees on the ground before, then we're going to fumigate," he said. If there haven't been trees, then Washington Fruit tests the soil for nematodes and, depending on those levels, will make a determination about fumigating. At this site, the company is planting Cripps Pink on Geneva 41 rootstock. In addition, the Plymouth site is where the company has elected to invest in cherries, because it's one of the earliest sites to harvest with higher returns to the farm. Varieties being planted are Tieton cherries on Gisela 12 and Tieton and Santina cherries on Gisela 6. Up the highway near Zillah, the company elected to fumigate 60 purchased acres that had not been planted in tree fruit for about 15 years. "It was one that was kind of questionable, whether we fumigate it or not," Plath said. "But if you're going to invest $40,000 to $50,000 an acre, by the time you've brought it up to production where you can go cash-flow positive on it, there's no reason to skimp on the last $700 an acre." Also on sandy loam, the land sits in the Roza Irrigation District, which has a junior water right and faces water curtailments in drought years. That was a consideration in the decision to plant Grannys on Malling 9.337 and Cripps Pink on M9.337 and G.41. "You can farm those without overhead cooling," he said. Higher elevation Overall, a large quantity of the trees ordered are on M9.337, followed by M.106, which has been popular for Reds. "We were planting Reds. Then we saw what happens when the industry has 50 million boxes of Reds, so our secondary variety selection for 106 is Honeycrisp," he said.