Filling Space Part 2

 Filling Space Part 2.  I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

Matthew Whiting from WSU recently spoke at the Washington Hort convention about creating or refurbishing orchard space and how best to fill that space. Light is an important aspect to consider.

WHITING: So when you look at an orchard in the course of a season of course you’ve got the woody perennial structure of the tree which is going to intercept a little bit of light  and as leaves emerge from spurs and new shoots are developing you get towards full canopy. And generally depending on your system, the species you are growing that’s going to be about 45 days after bud break. 

He says there are some differences depending on the fruit you are planting.

WHITING: It came to me that apples by the third leaf, in an apple system by the third leaf you should have filled the space. Certainly I didn’t see anybody say later than beyond a fourth leaf. Cherries it’s a different situation. We have different planting material but generally we’re looking at the fourth to the seventh year before we fill the space entirely.

Whiting now starts to look at how to fill the space.

WHITING: Preplanting. There’s some things that you may need to consider. First of which would be soil preparation. A lot of people said this is the first thing I begin thinking about in terms of filling the space because it’s about the vigor, it’s about the genetics you’ve put into that space. But we also want to start with good soil, we want to know what’s in the soil, what kind of horsepower is in the soil so that means doing some soil fertility testing to understand what you’re beginning with; what’s in the hopper.

More tomorrow with Matt Whiting.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.