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® growing with growers since 1946 Managing Editor Jim Black jim.black@goodfruit.com • 509-853-3512 Editor Geraldine Warner gwarner@goodfruit.com • 509-665-3330 Associate Editors Melissa Hansen mhansen@goodfruit.com • 509-968-3922 Richard Lehnert lehnert@goodfruit.com • 616-984-6001 Advertising Manager Doug Button dbutton@goodfruit.com • 509-853-3514 Advertising Sales Rick Larsen rick@goodfruit.com • 509-853-3517 Theresa Currell theresa@goodfruit.com • 509-853-3516 Production Manager Nancy Jo Born nancyb@goodfruit.com • 509-853-3513 Production Aurora Lee rorielee@goodfruit.com • 509-853-3518 Circulation Steve Call steve@goodfruit.com • 509-853-3515 Advisory Board Jeff Colombini, Lindsay Hainstock, Denny Hayden, Steve Hoying, Jim Kelley, Jim McFerson, Ian Merwin, Don Olmstead, Mercy Olmstead, Marvin Owings, Mark Roy, Vicky Scharlau, Mark Tudor, Chris Van Well, Mike Wittenbach U.S. SUBSCRIPTIONS: $35.00 per year, 3 years $75.00. CANA- DIAN SUBSCRIPTIONS: $55.00 per year (U.S. funds, Canadian G.S.T. included: G.S.T. Registration #135100949). SUBSCRIP- TIONS OUTSIDE U.S.A. & CANADA: $100.00 per year (pay- ment by credit card only). WASHINGTON STATE GROWER SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $2.00 per year to deciduous tree fruit growers in the state of Washington who pay assessments on com- mercially shipped fruit, either to the Washington State Fruit Commission or to the Washington Apple Commission. Back issues are not available. Single copies of current issues are $5.00. To subscribe, call 1-800-487-9946. Good Fruit Grower (ISSN 0046-6174) is published semi-monthly January through May, and monthly June through December, by the Washington State Fruit Commission, 105 South 18th Street, Suite 205, Yakima, WA 98901-2149. Periodical postage paid at Yakima, WA, and additional offices. Publications Mail Agreement No. 1795279. The publication of any advertisement is not to be construed as an endorsement by the Washington State Fruit Commission or Good Fruit Grower magazine of the product or service offered, unless it is specifically stated in the advertisement that there is such approval or endorsement. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Good Fruit Grower, 105 South 18th Street, Suite 217, Yakima, WA 98901-2177. © 2012 by Good Fruit Grower Printed in U.S.A. 105 S. 18th St., #217, Yakima, WA 98901 509⁄ 853-3520, 1-800-487-9946, Fax 509⁄853-3521 E-mail: growing@goodfruit.com www.goodfruit.com www.goodfruit.com 1615 W. Ahtanum • Yakima, WA 98903 • 509-248-8785, ext. 612 For the representative nearest you, visit our website: www.orchard-rite.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER SEPTEMBER 2012 7 My Orchard-Rites® The standard by which all others are measured "My Brother Bill and I farm 300 acres of blueberries here in WIND MACHINES— These machines really work Michigan. We have solid-set irrigation and use water to frost protect, we have four Orchard Rite® Wind Machines to protect where we can't get water (pumping 3,000 gallons of water per minute, we just don't have enough water to cover the farm). We'll often have temperatures around 26 to 28 degrees. With our wind machines, we can gain 3 to 5 degrees. The auto start option has been our sav- ior on cold nights. It just gives me 4 less things to do. I wouldn't buy anoth- er one without autostart. We have nine more Wind Orchard Rite® Machines in partnership operations in Washington and Oregon. I can tell you these machines really work: They've saved a lot of fruit." George and Bill Fritz Brookside Farms; Gobles, Michigan paid for themselves For nearly two decades, I have been farming vinifera grapes in the Grand River Val- ley of Ohio. Starting with a 2- acre leased field, my family now owns 85 acres and man- ages another 80 acres for three wineries. Today hun- dreds of wind machines dot the east coast fruit region, but back in 1995 when we installed our first machine, nobody was running them. Today we use five machines to move cold air winter and spring in frost/winterkill areas. The original propane machine now has 500 hours and still starts on the first or second crank at sub- zero temperatures. The most commonly asked question about our Orchard Rites® are: 1). Do they work? & 2). How much do they raise the winter low temperature? In our best site, currently protected by one 165hp. unit, the machine protects up to 15 at-risk acres and raises temper- ature 8-12° F. on the coldest January nights when started early. On poorer sites, less temperature increase is to be expected (3-4° F.), although the machines clearly lessen the time that the vineyard spends at the nights lowest temperatures. On a 10 acre site, with wine grapes at $1,500/ton, avoiding a one-time 1.6 tpa loss will cover the initial investment. On any one of the coldest nights between 2003-2005, each Orchard Rite® paid for itself." Gene Sigel South River Vineyard, Grand River Valley, Ohio Let us help you solve your unique frost control needs.