Starting a Small Apple Orchard

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Starting a Small Apple Orchard
Jim True Extension Educator
Purdue University is an Equal Opportunity/Equal
Access institution.
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Decisions to make before you commit

• Motivation money, fun, connect with nature
• Family considerations labor, energy level
• How hard do you want to work
• Skills and temperament growing, selling
• Financial situation Full time or part time
• Cost already own land and equipment
• Goals self supporting, size, profit level

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Key Considerations

• Location
• Marketing
• Tree fruit options
• Planning the planting
• Maintaining your orchard
• Harvesting and marketing
• Other products
• Top 10 Common Mistakes

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Location

• Site Most important and critical choice to make
  the first decision. If the site is not good the
  best plans will not be successful.
• Key points for site
• 1) Well drained soil
• 2) Air drainage cold air moves downhill
• 3) Slope

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Location

• People You will need enough people near to
  purchase your fruit.
• 1) Near a town or city
• 2) On a major highway that has traffic
• 3) Take your fruit to the people

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Marketing

• Marketing considerations drive other decisions
• Do you have the temperament and skills?
• Many options
• 1) Road side stand self serve
• 2) Farmers market
• 3) Building devoted like store with clerk
• 4) U-pick
• 5) Festivals

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MARKETING

• The only RIGHT answer is
• DO NOT DO WHOLESALE

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Fruit Tree Options

• Apples the obvious choice
• Peaches lucrative but high risk (cooler)
• Pears not too many (fire blight risk)
• Plums only plant a few
• Cherries-not too many
• Other options blueberries, strawberries,
  blackberries, raspberries, vegetables, pumpkins
  (cooler)

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The Orchard System
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The Orchard System
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Planning the Planting

• High value/high return so plant on best soil
• Soil must be well drained, year round
• Air drainage, do not plant in valley or low area.
  FREEZE, FREEZE, FREEZE

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Planning the Apple Cultivars

• Many cultivars available for apples
• Consider time of ripening
• 1) Marketing
• 2) Harvest and labor requirements
• Apple should plant 10-30 varieties
• 6000 named apple varieties

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Planning the Apple Cultivars

• Early season 20 (mid July-August)
• Gala, Pristine, Zestar, Ginger Gold
• Mid season 30 (September)
• Honeycrisp, Jonagold, Jonathan, Crimson Crisp
• Late season 50 (October)
• Fugi, Braeburn, Golden Delicious, Suncrisp,
  Gold Rush, Granny Smith

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Planning the Other Fruit Trees

• Cherries June-July
• Peaches June-August
• Plums July-September
• Pears August-October
• Strawberries May-June
• Blackberries July-August
• Blueberries June-July

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Planning the Planting

• Rootstocks Critically important, controls tree
  size
• Dwarf rootstock B.9Bud.9
• Dwarf rootstock will require post or trellis
  system for support. Roots are too small to
  support trees.

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Planning the Planting

• Row width 15-18 feet, depending on tractor
• In row trees spacing 8-10 feet
• 250-350 trees per acre
• 2-4 bushels per tree
• 300 trees would provide 600-1200 bu

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Semi Dwarf Trees
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Establishing the Orchard

• Adjust soil to pH of 6.5-6.8 before planting
• Dont plant trees too deep, keep graft above soil
  level.

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Maintaining the Orchard

• Flowering, pollination, and thinning
• Honey bees, needed for pollination
• Pruning and tree training
• Prune in January-March, limb spacers for
  branch angles (want 90 degree angle)
• Pest and disease management
• Spray schedule is critical when, what

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Tree Growth and Fruit Buds
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Pollination Requirements of Trees

• Apple self sterile (Golden Delicious may be
  partially self fertile) need 2 varieties
• Peach self fertile mostly
• Pear self sterile
• Sweet Cherry self sterile
• Sour Cherry self fertile
• Plums variable

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Apple Fruit Cluster
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Fruit Set
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Fruit Drop
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Fruit Thinning

• Chemical thinning is risky
• If practical thin by hand
• Hand thinning after fruit drop-about ½ diameter
• Apple thin to 6-8 between fruit
• Peach thin to 8-10 between fruit

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Needed Publication

• Available from
• Great Lakes Publishing Co.
• Phone [phone]
• Email mac82nd_at_aol.com
• Cost about 10.00

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Apples are Great
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Ideal Tree Shape

• Wide bottom
• Narrow top
• Branches well spaced
• Good branch angles
• Post for tree support

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Branch Spreaders for Angles
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Types of Pruning Cuts

• Heading cuts
• Thinning cuts

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Apple Pruning Technique
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Pruning Tools Needed
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Can do Major Tree Pruning

• Can cut back top long limbs shorter
• Can cut top out of tree to a side limb branch

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Dont Get Carried Away
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Major Pruning Timeline

• 2007
• Winter Major Pruning
• Fall Fruit from buds formed in 2006
• Summer-Fall Flowers form in better light.
  New wood
• grows
• 2008
• Better fruit quality. Second year wood sets
  fruit.
• 2009
• Fruit on new wood.

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Weed control
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Pest Disease Management
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When to Harvest

• Calendar date
• Starch test
• Fruit color
• Firmness
• Fruit falls from tree
• Ethylene concentration
• Taste the apple best method

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After Harvest

• Still respiring
• Still using up energy
• Still requires oxygen
• Aim to reduce respiration, but not stop it.
• Most common method cool storage
• Sort apples before storing, remove damaged apples.

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Ethylene

• Ripening hormone
• Autocatalytic (snowball effect)
• Produced by ripening fruit
• Produced by damaged fruit
• One rotting apple will produce enough to cause
  all other apples to over ripen and rot

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Harvest Considerations

• Harvest window is limited
• Arrange harvest labor in advance
• Fruit is perishable
• Goal is to present customer with premium product
• Dont wait until harvest to plan your marketing
  local newspaper.

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Marketing School Tours

• Sell the sizzle
• Educational
• Fun
• Good form of advertising

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Marketing

• Petting zoos
• Corn mazes
• Pumpkins
• Festivals

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Marketing

• By the bag ½ peck(8), peck(4), ½ bu(2), bushel
• Price 5.50, 11, 20, 18
• Income 44, 44, 40, 36
• Can offer discounts for buying more than one
  bushel
• By the pound 1.00-1.50
• 42 pound /bu 42.00-63.00
• 600 bu/acre 25,200
• 1200 bu/acre 50,400

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Other Add on Products

• Jams, jellies, apple butter
• Apple cider
• Baked goods, apple pies
• Apple cider doughnuts
• Dried apples
• Deer apples

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Top 10 Mistakes Made by Beginning Growers

• 1) Failure to keep adequate records-spraying,
  thinning, variety production history.
• 2) Purchasing equipment before its needed
• 3) Failure to assess soil and air drainage of
  site.

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Top 10 Mistakes Made by Beginning Growers

• 4) Failure to assess market details-landscaping,
  neatness, initial visual impact, high quality
  product and impression.
• 5) Ignoring other crops eg. Blackberry, blueberry
  for u-pick. (16.00-24.00/gal)
• 6) Failure to interact with the customer-they
  want to meet the grower/information.

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Top 10 Mistakes Made by Beginning Growers

• 7) Worrying about the competitors and their
  products. Especially true at farmers markets.
  Never bad mouth your competitor or their
  products.
• 8) Planting too many commodity varieties. Be
  different than the grocery.

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Top 10 Mistakes Made by Beginning Growers

• 9) Planting too many trees before acquiring basic
  skills. Pruning too much when trees are young
  and too little when trees are mature.
• 10) Under pricing-dont compete on price.
  Compete on product quality and customer service.

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Jim True Extension Educator ANR Purdue
University 812-385-3491 jtrue_at_purdue.edu Acknowle
dgements Dr. Peter Hirst Department of
Horticulture Purdue University hirst_at_purdue.edu
Purdue University is an Equal Opportunity/Equal
Access institution.