Tree Fruit Production

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Tree Fruit Production

• Teryl R. Roper
• Dept. of Horticulture
• University of Wisconsin-Madison

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General Considerations

• Do you have
• Time
• Space
• Expertise
• Realistic expectations

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Site considerations

• Appropriate Soils
• Air and water drainage
• Wind protection
• Water
• Sunlight
• Previous crop

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Soils for Tree Fruits

• Well drained loamy soils
• High organic matter
• Amend with compost, etc.
• pH between 6.0 and 7.0

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Air drainage
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Soil Drainage is important
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Site Preparation

• The most common mistake gardeners make is to not
  begin soon enough to prepare the site adequately
  for planting fruit trees.

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Site preparation

• Begin the year before planting
• Soil test add P, K fertilizer if needed
• Adjust pH (if needed possible)
• Control perennial weeds
• Cultivation
• Non-residual herbicides
• Add organic matter
• Manure, green manures, compost

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Choosing a Crop

• Hardiness
• Productivity
• Taste, appearance, texture, season
• Intended use
• Ease of culture
• Pollination requirements

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Tree Fruit Crops

• Apples
• Pears
• Quince

• Cherries
• Apricots
• Plums
• Peach??

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Rootstocks

• Tree fruit rootstockscontrol tree size

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Rootstock Selection

• Hardiness
• Size Control
• Precocity
• Anchorage root strength
• Disease or insect resistance

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Rootstocks

• Clonal
• Super dwarf
• Dwarf
• Semi-dwarf
• Semi-standard
• Seedling

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Apple Rootstock Size
Seedling
MM.111
M.7
M.26
M.9
M.27
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MM.111
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Recommended rootstocks

• Apples
• DwarfM.9, Bud.9, M.26
• Semi-dwarfG.30, M.7
• StandardNot recommended
• Pears
• Domestic seedling
• OH x F 57 or 333

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Recommended rootstocks

• Tart Cherry
• Mahaleb
• Plums
• Myrobolan seedling
• Apricot
• Manchurian seedling
• Peach
• Bailey or ??

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Propagation

• Dont come true from seed
• Must be propagated asexually
• Stool layering (rootstocks)
• Grafting budding

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Stool Layering
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Chip Budding Peaches
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Chip Budding Peaches
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Propagation timeline

• Liner produced in stoolbed
• Dug and stored
• Liner set and budded
• Tree grown in field
• Dug, stored, shipped

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GraftUnion
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All fruit plants are perennial

• Buds produced one year
• Fruit produced the following year
• Plant and buds must overwinter

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Tree Fruit Botany

• Pome Fruits
• Inferior ovary
• Fruit from accessory tissue

• Stone Fruits
• Superior ovary
• Fruit from ovarian tissue

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Fruit set requires

• Flowers
• Pollination with compatible pollen
• Double fertilization
• Egg
• Central cell (endosperm)

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Pollination issues

• Triploids (3n)
• Jonagold
• Gravenstein
• Season of bloom
• Early
• Late

• Sports
• Delicious
• McIntosh
• Cortland

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Fruit No. vs. Fruit size
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Thinning apples

• Hand
• Chemical
• Sevin
• Florel
• Within 3 weeks of petal fall to get fruit size
  return bloom response.

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2002
Weeks after full bloom
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Seeds release hormones that cause cells to divide
and expand. When seeds are only on one side
lopsided fruit results.
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Pollination Requirements
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Pollination Requirements
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Cultural Practices
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Steps in tree planting

• Wide shallow hole
• Prune off long or damaged roots
• The roots should be spread, not circling
• Backfill with the original soil
• Graft union 2-3 above soil
• Water immediately

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Water Immediately!
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Scion Rooting
If scions are allowed to root, the dwarfing
influence of the rootstock is lost.
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Nutrition Principles

• All nutrients dont come from the soil each year
• Perennial plant parts hold nutrients
• Soil test preplant
• Add required P K preplant
• Tissue test

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Mineral Nutrition

• 1 oz actual N per year of tree growth
• More for stone fruits
• lt ½ lb actual N per tree per year
• 15-20 inches of new growth on young trees
• 8-12 inches on bearing trees

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Mineral Nutrition

• If the site was properly prepared you should only
  need to add nitrogen
• Generally tree fruits dont need micronutrients
  or other expensive nutrient materials
• Foliar applications alone usually are not
  sufficient to meet the needs of the trees

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Tissue Testing

• Sample tree fruits midsummer
• Fully expanded leaves from the middle of current
  season growth
• Sample throughout the planting
• Submit promptly to a lab

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Weed Management

• What is a weed to a tree?
• Annual broadleaf weeds
• Woody perennials
• Grasses

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Tractorus blightii
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Rodent Injury
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Lets take a break!
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TRAINING

• To cause to grow in a desired form or fashion

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PRUNING

• Removing unwanted wood

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The challenge is to
Successfully channel light into large crops of
high quality fruit. This is accomplished by
regulating the crop.
Pruning Fruit thinning Early tree
training Nutrition and water Management Rootstocks
Cultivars
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Balance Growth and Fruiting

• Small yield - larger fruit
• Poor quality - color
• Unmanageable growth

• Large yields
• Small apples
• Weak trees

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Pruning is reallylight management
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Shading by a single leaf

• Lowers light intensity to just 10 of leaves in
  full sunlight
• Reduces photosynthesis to 28 of leaves in full
  sunlight
• Limits the export of carbohydrates to fruits and
  spurs

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Maintaining adequate light levels
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The Shade a Tree Casts on Itself is its own Worst
Enemy
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60 to 100 Full Sun 33 leaf area
30 to 60 Full Sun 38 leaf area
0 to 30 Full Sun 29 leaf area
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Tree Shape Influence
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Smaller Trees - Better Light
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Fruit Size and Canopy Position
Adapted from Barritt, B.H., C.R. Rom, K.R.
Guelich, S.R. Drake, and M.A. Dilley. 1987.
Canopy Position and light effects on spur, leaf,
and fruit characteristics of Delicious apple.
HortScience 22402-405.
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Training and Pruning

• Pruning is a part of the training program, with
  some required to
• 1) Eliminate potential structural problems.
• 2) Remove superfluous branches.
• 3) Direct the growth of selected structural units.

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Tree Growth and Bearing Habits

• Vigor and fruiting balance
• Leader dominance
• Biennial habit
• Spur density and extinction

Basitonic
Acrotonic
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Vertical Growth

• Very vegetatively vigorous
• Not fruitful

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Horizontal growth

• Not vegetatively vigorous
• Very fruitful

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Response to Branch Angle

• Vertical
• Vigorous terminal growth.
• Minimal flower production.

• Horizontal
• Less growth.
• Near base.
• Greatest flower production.

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Bending Influence

• Horizontal - Growth on upper side, greatest near
  trunk.

• Downward - Growth occurs at high point.

• Arched - Vigorous growth at high point.

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Pruning is Dwarfing

• Root to Shoot Balance

Reduced water and nutrients less shoot growth
Less leaf area produces fewer sugars
Fewer sugars are available for storage
Less uptake of water and nutrients
Root growth reduced
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Pruning Invigorating
Disproportional amount of energy and growth
stimulating hormones to remaining buds
Growing points removed
Sugars
Cytokinins
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Training Techniques

• Spreading
• Bending
• Trellising
• Tying
• All position limbs

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Wrongweak crotch
Rightstrong crotch
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Toothpicks
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Clothes pin response
Clothes pin growth 3-4
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Types of wood removed during pruning

• Suckersarise from roots
• Water sprouts strong upright growth in tree
  interior
• Spur short lateral branch
• Leader the primary vertical axis of tree
• Scaffold major lateral branch

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Suckers
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Water sprout
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Spur
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Types of pruning cuts

• Heading cut
• Thinning cut
• Stubbing cut
• Dutch cut
• Bench cut
• Chain saw cut

Kindest cut of all
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Types of Pruning Cuts

• Heading

• Thinning

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Heading Cut
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Removal of Apical Dominance

• Heading removes the growing point or terminal
  bud.
• This results in severe changes in the hormonal
  balance of the shoot.

Downward flow of inhibitors
Growing points are released
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Heading in Early Training

• Head at planting.
• Spread and pinch.

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Severity of Heading
The more severe the cut the greater the re-growth.
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Unpruned
Heading cut
Dormant
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Thinning cut
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Growth Response to Thinning
Little change in ratio of terminal to lateral
buds. Not as invigorating as heading.
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Dutch Cut
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Bench Cut
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Pruning Tools

• Use tools made for pruning
• Keep them clean and sharp
• Use only for pruning

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When to prune?

• Dormant season
• Late February to late April
• Not before January

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Pruning Procedure

• Remove water sprouts and suckers
• Remove broken and damaged branches
• Remove pendant branches
• Remove weaker of crossing branches
• Remove old complex spurs
• Evaluate often (step back)

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Evaluation

• Can you see through the tree?
• Are there dense masses of limbs?
• Are there windows for light?
• Use the sky test

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Sky Test

• Lay on your back with your head near the trunk
• Look up through the tree
• Can you see the sky clearly?
• If not, keep pruning ?

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Open Center Training

• Produces a shallow canopy
• Allows good light distribution
• Used most often for stone fruits, especially
  peaches
• May produce weak branches

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Modified Leader

• Hybrid between open center and central leader
• Creates a bowl with a leader continuing in the
  center

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Staking

• Prevents wind whipping
• Supports graft union
• Helps maintain central leader
• Critical for dwarf trees
• Place the stake about 2 from the tree, fasten
  the tree to the stake, use non-metallic fasteners

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Tree Support Influences Growth and Fruiting

• Reduced movement
• Less secondary trunk thickening.
• Fewer carbohydrates used in wood development.
• More available for fruit production.

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Staking Modifies Tree Growth

• Un-staked trees require more pruning.
• Shoot Growth - Fruiting

• Movement causes minute damage to cells and trunk
  tissue.
• Stress Ethylene Lateral
  Cell Growth

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Stakes

• 3/4 inch electrical conduit
• 2 x 2 pressure treated lumber
• 3 inch round pressure treated posts

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Y-Trellis
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Summary

• Choose appropriate plant materials
• Plant it correctly in an appropriate spot
• Control pests
• Train and prune to manage light and for limb
  position

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Lets take a break!
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Harvest postharvest handling
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How to tell when fruit is mature?

• Apples
• Starch
• Pressure
• Colorskin ground color
• Flavor texture

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Starch Iodine test
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Skin color
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Ground color
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Firmness
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Seed ColorNot very reliable
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How to tell when pears are mature?

• Wont ripen on the tree
• Harvest when skin color turns a lighter green
• Must have cold storage
• Afterripening of 2-4 days at room temperature

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How to tell when fruit is mature?

• Stone fruit
• Skin color
• Flavor
• Firmness

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• Climacteric fruit
• Apple
• Apricot
• Avocado
• Banana
• Blueberry
• Muskmelon
• Peach/nectarine
• Pear
• Tomato

• Non-climacteric
• Blackberry
• Cherry
• Cucumber
• Grape
• Citrus
• Pineapple
• Raspberry
• Strawberry
• Watermelon

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Harvest properly

• Dont use fingertips
• Grasp in palm and roll fruit from limb or spur
• Place gently in bag, bucket or box
• Dont let fruit drop

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Storing fruit

• Store only sound fruit
• Store in vented plastic bags
• Store with high humidity to prevent shriveling
• Store at proper temperature

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Proper storage temperatures

• Apples 34-40F
• Pears 34-40F
• Stone fruits 40F (keep only days)

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Summary

• Choose prepare site
• Choose an appropriate tree species
• Rootstocks control tree size
• Flower buds?Flowers?Pollination? Fertilization ?
  Fruit
• Control weeds
• Train Prune to manage light
• Harvest carefully store correctly