Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/418083
62 DECEMBER 2014 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com O wnership has changed at two of the tree fruit world's best-known businesses. Wally Heuser, the 85-year-old founder of Summit Tree Sales and International Plant Management, in Lawrence, Michigan, has transferred ownership and become a con- sultant for the two companies. Transfer of ownership was completed in 2012. Summit Tree Sales is now owned by Katie Schuld and Jan Melvin, two long-time employees who are now busi- ness partners. International Plant Management is now owned by Wanda Heuser Gale, Wally Heuser's daughter. The four have worked together for many years and were involved in building the two companies that Heuser created after Hilltop Orchards, the Heuser family orchard and nursery business, was sold in 1989. Little has changed in the ways the companies operate. They, along with Jan's daughter-in-law, Dawn Melvin, continue in their offices in the lower level of Heuser's home. Summit Sales "Summit Sales sells trees to commercial growers," Schuld said. While it grows no trees itself, it works as a go-between for growers seeking fruit trees and the nurseries that grow them. "We're a one-stop source for growers," Melvin added. "And it costs the growers nothing for our services. We work on a commission basis and are paid by the nurseries." "We provide services to both the growers and the nurseries," Schuld said. "The nurseries provide updated inventories to us on a regular basis. We can help the growers in deciding what to plant and place orders with the nurseries to get them. We take pride in the relation- ships we have developed with both the growers and the nurseries as well as our contacts in the industry." "In years past," Melvin said, "growers ordered trees and Summit Sales found them and filled the orders. Now, with a shortage of rootstocks and a proliferation of varieties, nurseries do less budding on speculation and work more on contract orders from growers. We are much more proactive in urging growers to book ahead. Even if they don't know what they want to plant, they can reserve rootstock and decide on varieties at a later time. With current demand for trees vastly exceeding supplies, Summit is taking orders for delivery of trees in 2017 and later." International Plant Management Wally Heuser's rise to fame in the fruit industry came from his work with rootstocks for apples and cherries and with the introduction of new varieties of apples, peaches, sweet and tart cherries, and plums. His daughter, who has worked with him, will take over that work, a continuation of what she has been doing for years. Early in his career, Heuser became interested in dwarfing rootstocks and, in 1957, became a founder of the International Dwarf Fruit Tree CHANGING of the GUARD Wally Heuser's nursery and variety management companies have new owners. by Richard Lehnert PHOTO BY RICHARD LEHNERT Wally Heuser, an expert on fruit varieties and rootstocks, has turned ownership of his companies to his daughter, Wanda Heuser Gale (left), and to Katie Schuld and Jan Melvin (right). Wanda now owns International Plant Management, while Katie and Jan own Summit Sales.