Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable & Farm Market EXPO

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Abner French
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1 Apple I Gret Lkes Fruit, Vegetle & Frm Mrket EXPO Tuesdy fternoon 2: pm Where: Bllroom D MI Recertifiction credits: 2 (1C,COMM CORE, PRIV CORE) CCA Credits: PM(1.) CM(1.) Modertor: Dvid Smeltzer, MSHS Bord, Ber Lke, MI Decemer 1-12, 213 DeVos Plce Convention Center, Grnd Rpids, MI 2: pm Honey Bees Running the Risk; Pesticide Exposure During Pollintion? Mrynn Frzier, Entomology Dept., Penn Stte Univ. 2:3 pm The Fruiting Wll: From Hedging to Window Mechnicl Pruning Alerto Dorigoni, Istituto Agrrio Di Sn Michele All'Adige, South Tyrol Region, Itly 3: pm Optimizing the Delivery of Crop Protection Mterils for Apple IPM John Wise, Entomology Dept., MSU 3:3 pm Automtion - Is Your Orchrd Redy? 4: pm Session Ends Jeff Clevering, Strr Rnch Growers R&D, Wentchee, WA

2 THE FRUITING WALL: From Hedging to Window Mechnicl Pruning Alerto Dorigoni, Centro Trsferimento Tecnologico F.E.M.- Istituto Agrrio S. Michele, S. Michele ll Adige, (Trento ITALY) Trditionl mechnicl pruning (T.M.P.) In the lst 3 yers, yields hve grown stedily, pssing in the est pple growing regions of the world from 3 to out 7 tons/h. Now the min gol is to increse economic nd ecologic sustinility of the pple industry y lowering production costs nd moving towrds environmentl enign techniques tht require less chemicls nd lour. In other words the min gol now is to get these high yields with less input. Trditionl Mechnicl Pruning (T.M.P.) ws performed in the Sixties nd Seventies in Europe on vigorous pple nd per trees in winter, ut it resulted in excessive regrowth nd poor fruit qulity. Tody, thnks to dwrfing stocks, multileder trining where necessry nd correct timing, lot of orchrds re suitle to mechniztion: even on vigorous trees, for instnce, summer pruning results in good growth control nd fine crop qulity. The essentil question efore moving the first steps into this technique is which trining system will e most needed in the future. Both long (centrifugl) nd short (centripetl) re efficient in producing pples, ut short implies severl enefits tht re likely to ecome incresingly importnt in new vision. While long pruning systems require certin mount of structurl, unproductive wood, fruit wll systems hve just 1 or more leders s the only structurl wood, with the rest s cropping wood. The fruiting wll system is sed on two pillrs: mechnicl pruning on one hnd nd high density (HD) on the other, the ltter eing the result of either dense plnting or multileder trining (Fig. 1). A short fruiting wll simplifies hndwork, from winter nd summer pruning, to ny other culturl prctices including hrvest. The simplifiction is so remrkle tht even mchines cn effectively execute trditionlly hndmde tsks, like pruning, thinning nd weed control. The strong reduction of the tree row volume improves qulity of sprying so much tht fruiting wlls cn mke use of tunnel spryers commonly used in modern viticulture or other low-drift sprying techniques. The fruiting wlls re lso suitle to the multi-tsking nets tht provide hil protection, ird nd moth control, nd possily even thinning. By diverting most of the sp, normlly destined to the tips, towrd the stipulry eyes t the se of the leves, summer pruning is prticulrly interesting nd results in new spur formtion ner the cut (Fig. 2). By repeting these cuts over the yers the rnches re encourged to form new shoots nd flower uds ner the tree trunk. By doing so, summer TMP cts lmost s centripetl resetting tool for long rnches, oth in the side rnches (hedging) nd in the tree top (topping). The trils crried out in the lst 7 yers in two FEM experiment frms compred existing trditionl hnd pruned spindle to similr trees trnsformed into fruiting wlls with summer pruning nd lso pruned y hnd in winter. In terms of productivity nd fruit qulity, trnsformed spindle trees which were not plnned to ecome fruiting wlls, gve similr or slightly lower performnces compred to stndrd pruning (Fig. 3, 4 nd 5). The limited prcticl experience done without ny hnd correction in winter suggests tht trees end up with excessive shding nd qulity loss. Pre-requisite for mechnicl pruning Not ny orchrd cn e trnsformed into fruiting wll y TMP. The most suitle ones hve nrrow lleywys (<3.75m etween rows) nd high density plnting (<1.m etween trees) or multi-

3 leder trining. When pplied to outsized cnopies tht fter the trnsformtion end up with excessively lrge lleywys, TMP inevitly results in crop loss. To get the most of TMP the mjority of the rnches should e horizontl nd pointing to the outside of the cnopy, prerequisite of oth HD nd multileder trining, ut lso good indiction to chieve fruit qulity nd growth lnce. However even lrge cnopies cn e trimmed it y M.P. to fcilitte the pssge of trctors, ut in this cse the gol is not fruiting wll. In prticulr summer topping is growth control tool to prevent the tree from hitting the hilnets. MP cn e performed ll yer round with different ims nd intensity, ccording to site, cultivr nd yer: 1) Winter: mostly in moderte-growing orchrds, with the im of shping trees nd mke them suitle to the following Lorette pruning in erly summer; 2) Pink ud: to prevent little it regrowth; 3) Erly summer (8-14 leves) is proly the est time to comine flower differentition, wood ripening of regrowing lims nd control of growth; 4) Full summer when suppressing growth is the min im, ut in this cse tip flower uds re lost nd immture wood normlly follows; 5) In pre-hrvest or fter the first pick to fvour fruit colouring, without ny regrowth; 6) In post-hrvest, while leves re still green nd ctive, to reduce regrowth for the following yer. Window pruning mchine WPM WPM ws recently developed to overcome TMP limits. TMP opertes superficilly on 2 dimensions (height nd length) nd does not enter the cnopy, shping fruit wll tht still needs out 4-7 hours/h of winter pruning to get rid of excessive wood inside the tree. TMP is of little help in orchrds whose lleywys re lrger thn 3.5 m (12 ft). Beside the outside hedging WPM, 211 ptent of F.E.M., opens 1-4 windows inside the cnopy, ner the trunk, thnk to second lyer of cutting units, ech 36 cm long. The result is 3D pruning, suitle for oth thin nd reltively lrge trees, with lleywys from 3 to 4.5 meters prt (9.8 to 14.5 ft). WPM gol is to mimic hnd pruning in just 2-4 hours/h nd trigger cycle of shoots. The resulting shpe looks more similr to hndpruned spindle tree thn to fruiting wll. WMP offers greter flexiility thn TMP. For instnce it is possile to chnge over the yers the height of the windows nd therefore induce cycle of new shoots. The numer of cutting units cn rnge from 1 or 2 (pre-pruning) to 3 or 4 (lmost full pruning). The distnce from the trunk of ech cutting unit cn rnge from 1 to out 7 cm. In fct the proper setting for ech orchrd cn e reched y vrying the ngles of the outside nd inside cutting rs. WPM cn effectively operte lso in post-hrvest, thinning out rnches efore lef fll nd llowing the remining spurs to get sunlight nd nourishment. In generl WPM works t est in well trined orchrds with verticlly tied trees nd thus requires n dequte investment in trellis system, not different from stndrd modern orchrd on M9. Hnd pruning time sved y WPM rnges from 2 to 6 hours/h depending on mchine setting, tree spcing nd vigour. By removing the inside cutting units WPM ecomes trditionl PM for summer pruning. In the first trils crried out in 212 nd 213 on Golden, Gl nd Fuji, the response of the tree in the following yer ws generlly good with similr yields nd qulity (Fig. 6) nd most of the cut rnches regrowing in shoots of less thn 2 cm, lmost flt nd ending with flower ud in 55-75% of the cses (Fig. 7). Two yers fter the cut the first flower uds strt to pper long the new shoots (Fig. 8). Conclusions M.P. is much more thn just lour-sving technique. It is n essentil tool to chieve the fruit wll system nd to shpe tree rchitecture. TMP nd its development, WPM, re powerful instruments to reset rnches nd trigger centripetl fruiting. Performed t proper time these techniques chieve dwrfing effect greter thn ny other chemicls. In the end, eside improving ny forms of mechniztion known tody, we cn only speculte out the doors tht re likely to e opened y mechniclly pruned fruiting wlls in ner scenrio, in which reduction of ll kind of input nd sfety will ecome primry issues.

4 References Dorigoni A., Lezzer P., Micheli F., Psqulini J., Guerr A. Prete fruttifer strett per mele redditizie e sosteniili. Informtore Agrrio, 48/29, Dorigoni et l. Nuovo oiettivo in frutteto: sosteniilità 36 grdi, Informtore Agrrio, 34/212, 2-5 Luri P. E., Willume M., Lrrive G., Lespinsse J.M. (24): The concept of centrifugl trining in pple imed t optimizing the reltionship etween growth nd fruiting. Act Horticulture, 636: Lespinsse J.M L conduite du pommier. Types de fructifiction. Incidence sur l conduite de l rre. I.N.V.U.F.L.E.C., Pris. Lorette L. (1925): The Lorette system of pruning. London: Mrtin Hopkinson & Compny LTD Msseron A. (22) Pommier, Le mur fruitier. Ctifl. 112 pges - Formt: 15 X 24 ISBN: Snsvini S. e Giunchi L. (198): Ricerche sull pottur meccnic estiv ed invernle del pero. Riv. Ortoflorofrutticoltur It. 64, Strimmer M., Kelderer M Neue Auduennungsmethoden im iologischen Apfelu. Erwers Ostu, 39: Tustin D.S., Hirst P.M., Wrrington I.J Influence of orienttion nd position of fruiting lterls on cnopy light penetrtion, yield nd fruit qulity of Grnny Smith pple. Journl of the Americn Society for Horticulturl Science 113: Vigl J. Suedtiroler Lndwirtschft, 4 (211), Innovtiver Bumschnitt1-3.

Fig. 1: Fruiting wlls re sed on mechnicl pruning nd high density mechnicl thinning low-drift spryers tunnel spryers multi-purpose nets mechnicl weed control mech. hrvest ids Fig.

5 Fig. 1: Fruiting wlls re sed on mechnicl pruning nd high density mechnicl thinning low-drift spryers tunnel spryers multi-purpose nets mechnicl weed control mech. hrvest ids Fig. 2: At the end of Summer, 3-4 months fter the Lorette pruning, the terminl stipulry eyes t the se of the lef on 1-yer old wood produce new spurs ner the cut. Crown of 4 new leves FRUITING WALL MECHANICAL PRUNING H.D. or MULTI- LEADER trining Stlk of the old lef Mechnicl pruning Lorette Fig. 3: Yield / h under different trining systems (V. Adige) Fig. 4: Fruit weight under different trining systems (V. Adige) Tons / h fruit weight (g) Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Golden Fuji Gl Pink Ldy Golden Fuji Gl Pink Ldy 1

6 6 Fig. 5: Fruit overcolour under different trining systems (V. Adige) Fig. 6: 2 Yield of Gl under different pruning techniques (Vl d'adige, 212) fruit overcolour % ns Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Fruit wll Spindle Fuji Gl Pink Ldy N. Fruits/tree Yield/tree (kg) Fruit weight (g) Fruit size (mm) Overcolour (%) Hnd pruning 16 19, ,8 82,5 Window mech. Pruning in winter , ,7 82,3 Fig. 7: Effects of Window Pruning on vegettion of three cultivrs (212) Fig. 8: Regrowth 2 yers fter WPM of Gl rnch 25 2 Gl Golden Fuji 15 1 Flower uds 5 REGROWTH n. of cut rnches /tree dim rnches (mm) length of rnches (cm) n. of regrowths / cut length of regrowth (cm) incl. Regrowth (degrees) Terminl uds*1 / tot uds CUTS 2

Shoot Growth Characteristics Following Mechanical Hedging and High Limb Pruning in Tulare Walnuts on Two Rootstocks at Two Spacings

Shoot Growth Characteristics Following Mechanical Hedging and High Limb Pruning in Tulare Walnuts on Two Rootstocks at Two Spacings Shoot Growth Chrcteristics Following Mechnicl Hedging nd High Lim Pruning in Tulre Wlnuts on Two Rootstocks t Two Spcings B.D. Lmpinen, S.G. Metclf, V. Gmle, K. Moore nd W. Reil University of Cliforni