Good Fruit Grower

October 2012

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® 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 Tom Putt is a sharp variety that is tart and acidic. 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 My Orchard-Rites® Brookside Farms; Gobles, Michigan paid for themselves For nearly two decades, I Cider Medaille d'Or is a bittersweet apple, with high tannins and astringency. 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 Roxbury Russet is a sweet apple that can either be eaten fresh, or used for cider. Database She and her colleagues are compiling a database on the characteristics of the apples. Some varieties are suit- able for making single-variety ciders, while others have useful characteristics for blending. They will analyze the juice of 50 varieties from the test plot and select four to make cider for further evaluation. They will collect samples of identical varieties from sev- eral commercial orchards in different locations in west- ern and central Washington for juice analysis and compare the results. Miles will assemble a trained sen- sory-evaluation panel to help producers evaluate and understand their own products. Cideries will be able to use that information to produce different styles of cider and educate consumers about them. Her research is supported by grants from the Washing- ton State Department of Agriculture, WSU's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Washington State Wine Advisory Committee, and the Northwest Cider Association. • www.goodfruit.com 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. 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 OCTOBER 2012 17 PHOTOS BY GERALDINE WARNER

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