www.goodfruit.com Good Fruit Grower OCTOBER 2016 13
These third-leaf apple trees on Malling 9 rootstock on Open Tatura have twice the number of apples on the tree as their
average trunk size should have. This has not only restricted canopy development, but also has resulted in more than six
different sizes of apples in the unthinned crop.
These sixth-leaf slender spindle Pink Lady trees on
Malling 26 at 2,850 trees per hectare have deep V-shaped
unproductive gaps in the canopy.
These traditional central leader trees at 1,000 trees per
hectare lose at least one-third of their potential crop each
year because of the gaps between the tree canopies.
Continuous thin, angular canopies, such as this Open Tatura, regularly produce high yields of good quality apples of
marketable sizes. Notice the distribution of apples from the top of the canopy to the bottom. The shade pattern on the
orchard floor between the rows also indicates good distribution of sunlight throughout the canopy. These trees have been
meticulously trained in the first three years, and the orchard now reaps the long-term benefits.
