Good Fruit Grower

January 15

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46 JANUARY 15, 2015 GOOD FRUIT GROWER Blake Slaybaugh grower / Gettysburg, Pennsylvania age / 20 crops / apples, peaches business / Mt. Ridge Farms other experience / Blake is a fi fth-generation orchardist and participated in a one-year internship as a research assistant with the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission in Washington in 2014. PLAY goodfruit.com/yg scan to watch the interview LAST BITE More Young Growers at goodfruit.com/yg " " " What differences do you see between the Pennsylvania and Washington apple industries? In Adams County, many of the farms grow apples for processing. It's kind of dif- fi cult to grow fresh quality apples for the fact it rains 35 inches of rainfall each year. Going on an internship and working with a horticulturist, and seeing the day- in and day-out work, is really different than what I've learned at home. I've learned new tree training and pruning techniques and everything you do to help provide good growth. What will you do differently when you go back to Pennsylvania? We are going to go deeper into soil nutrition at our farm. I really want to know what is in our soil, what are we lacking, and what nutrition we need in the soil to help make our trees grow stronger. In the Northwest, you are able to get eight feet of growth, and in our orchard we only get three feet a year. I know sunlight is a major factor — but what are the other things Northwest growers are doing to help the trees grow that way? There are a few things on this internship that I've learned and I hope to incorporate back home to help our trees grow. " I really want to know what is in our soil. by TJ Mullinax More from this interview and other Young Growers at goodfruit.com/yg.

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