Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/366055
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER SEPTEMBER 2014 17 Nursery, which recently reorganized to better serve commercial fruit growers. It grows the trees in Essex, near Windsor across the peninsula from its main headquarters near Niagara-on-the-Lake. So far, general manager Robert Haynes said growers have planted about 30,000 trees, and another 100,000 are growing in the nursery. At a 4.5- by 12-foot spacing, it takes 760 trees to plant an acre. The trees are rooted on OHxF 87 or 97, he said, both just somewhat smaller than seedling rootstock. "I think it's the best way to go," he said of the two- leaders-per-root, biaxis system. "I think it's a very good idea. We don't have a really good rootstock to control vigor." The trees are quite upright, he said, so "growers are being forced to pull branches down to bring them into production quickly. It works just like the tall spindle system for apples." MaxCel, he believes, will also work as well on pears as on apples when applied in the nursery to develop more branching. In Nova Scotia, Larry Lutz, Scotian Gold's director of grower services, said the Vineland Growers Cooperative has licensed Scotian Gold as its sales agent in eastern Canada, and that four members of Scotian Gold had planted trees. "We're still working out the marketing details," he said. "Nova Scotia was a traditional Clapps and Bartlett pear-growing area until the 1980s when the canneries closed and efforts to penetrate fresh markets fizzled," he said. "Harovin Sundown has rated highly in taste tests. Grower interest in pears is reviving." • PHOTO COURTESY OF LISA JENEREAUX MARKETING ROLLOUT for Sundown coming in 2015 A Canada-wide marketing campaign for the Harovin Sundown pear will start in 2015, when volume has grown enough to justify a big rollout. That's according to Michael Ecker, president of Vineland Growers Cooperative, whose members and subcontracted growers combined will have about 100 acres bearing the fruit. More are being planted. The Vineland Growers Cooperative has exclusive rights to grow and market the pear in all of Can- ada. The owner of the pear, the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, is looking for growers in the western United States. While no concrete plan for marketing the pear has been developed, Ecker said they have put aside some money for a fairly aggressive marketing campaign, which will be a big launch, by Canadian standards. Canada has about 33 million people, a tenth the pop- ulation of the United States.The pear ripens in Octo- ber and stores well, Ecker said, so marketing will go on from December through February. —R. Lehnert