Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/629538
10 FEBRUARY 1, 2016 GOOD FRUIT GROWER www.goodfruit.com "If you're going to make a change, this is the perfect time to make a change," he said. Sometimes, steep leaders in Sweethearts give growers more control than KGB, Redman said. Redman also warned that the winter damage might lead to an increase in tree borers, a category of insects that seek out stressed and weakened fruit trees. He had been hearing more reports of borers, so he encouraged farmers to discuss control methods with field representatives early. • developing the lower canopy for future fruit production. "We're trying to grow a tree; we're not trying to grow fruit," Redman said. He suggested growers prune some- time before bloom and in the summer, and train lower laterals horizontally, encouraging earlier fruit production. A few growers balked at the labor-intensive suggestion of training, including Marcus Morgan, who owns a nearby orchard. "Too much money," he said. Einhorn recommended cutting branches in the tops all the way to the leader to avoid leaving stubs that will generate many new shoots and affect canopy light. Touring orchards The tour started at Anderson Fruit, one of the more extreme examples of cold damage. The freeze completely killed 5 to 10 percent of Bill Anderson's trees in his low-lying blocks, while taking the rest out of production for two years. "At 12 below, nothing stood a chance," Anderson said. In response, he pruned aggressively, all the way down to his three leaders, but the trees are regrowing. Anderson said he planned to prune in the winter and in the summer to slow down growth. "It's going to be pretty costly, but you got to do it," Anderson said. He plans to harvest 4 to 5 tons per acre of Skeenas in 2017, ramping up to his normal 10 tons per acre in the years following. Things were not as bad at the next tour stop, a nearby hillside Omeg Family Orchard block where most freeze dam- age happened below an invisible line slicing across the slope, below which cool air pooled. Trees above the line lost some spurs but ended up producing fruit at the tops of limbs, Redman said. Below that line trees produced no fruit, prompting the orchard managers to cut all the way to the stubs to restructure. Redman demonstrated pruning Sweetheart trees, planted in a KGB system, that stood up to his chest. He cut back a tree to resemble a bush, leaving roughly 20 to 30 similarly sized upward shoots. He also removed some of the thickest, strongest branches, attempting to slow down tall growth and encourage a healthy, fruitful structure lower in the tree. He recommended 30 growing points on Mazzard rootstock, 20 growing points on Gisela rootstock. He also demonstrated how to train one of the Sweethearts, previously trained to a KGB canopy, into a steep leader system, something the Omegs were consid- ering in the wake of the damage. "We're trying to grow a tree; we're not trying to grow fruit." —Gipp Redman ORSat ® PRODUCT REVIEW ORSat™ is a custom designed satellite communication network and service for the operation and monitoring of wind machines. ORSat™ allows growers to monitor and control wind machines, fuel tanks, and weather stations with just a few simple steps, via an Internet enabled device, and is the only solution available that integrates with the Orchard-Rite® Auto-Start. The overall goal of the ORSat™ system is to partner with growers to make frost protection more effi cient, economical & eff ective than ever before. We operate 14 wind machines on 325 acres of apples and cherries spread out over 3 miles. In the past it was diffi cult to confi rm that our wind machines started, ran, and shut down appropriately during the course of a cold night. The ORSat System changed all that. Now we have the ability to start and stop our machines remotely, saving us money on fuel, labor and maintenance. ORSat also notifi es us when the machines are starting and stopping via the Auto-Start, and warns us of any problems. The ORSat System gives us yet another layer of protection above and beyond the Auto-Start and the Wind Machines themselves. " It provides us peace of mind on long, cold nights." ORSat ™ -- another innovative product from Orchard-Rite ® "ORSat puts frost protection at our fi ngertips." --Marcus & John Griggs 1611 W Ahtanum Union Gap WA 98903 Phone: (509) 457-9196 3766 Iroquois Wenatchee WA 98801 Phone:(509) 662-2753