Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/590163
42 NOVEMBER 2015 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com A pple growers try many ways to coerce their trees to produce more and better fruit earlier, and torture is right there on the list. While there are no reports of waterboard- ing, growers will score or girdle trunks or cut the roots off recalcitrant trees. While these are old practices, root pruning seems to be trending. A number of growers in the fruit-growing region near Grand Rapids, Michigan, are using it. Some are dusting off machines they used 25 years ago; others are ordering new ones. Extreme situations call for extreme stresses. If dwarf- ing rootstocks and applications of Apogee won't keep the trees small and productive, chopping off a third of their roots may help. Phil Brown, at Phil Brown Welding in Conklin, Michigan, built and sold machines back in the early 1990s. Now, he's building new and bigger ones that make two cuts at once, cutting off roots on trees on both sides of an alley in one pass. His older machines do one side only. Basic research on the practice was done 30 years ago. Growers essentially follow guidelines developed by Dr. Root pruning is making a COMEBACK Old practice finds new application by solving modern problems in apples. by Richard Lehnert Consider for your next planting: • BRUCE PONDER • SUSAN WILKINSON • ADAM WEIL • DAVE WEIL 503-538-2131 • FAX: 503-538-7616 info@treeconnect.com www.treeconnect.com BENEFITS: • Disease tolerant • Cold hardy • Adapts well to all cherry-growing districts • Forms flower buds and comes into bearing quicker than Mazzard with a better distribution of flower buds Dwarfing Cherry Rootstock Krymsk ® 5 Krymsk ® 6 [cv. VSL-2, USPP 15,723] [cv. LC-52, USPP 16,114] "Krymsk ® 5 and Krymsk ® 6 cherry rootstocks have proven to be the best rootstock for our orchards. They are yield efficient, grow and adapt well, and are cold hardy." —John Morton The Dalles, Oregon Adapts well to all cherry-growing districts [cv. VSL-2, [cv. VSL-2, USPP 15,723] 15,723] USPP 15,723] USPP 15,723] 15,723] [cv. LC-52, [cv. LC-52, USPP 16,114] 16,114] USPP 16,114] USPP 2016 ROOTS AVAILABLE NOW Call Tree Connection: 800-421-4001