2003 Orchard View

Fruit & Orchard Production in

Northern Nevada

Michael G. Janik

www.michaelsapples.com

Reference Books

Choices

• Bare root vs. potted trees

• Price and shipping considerations

• Spring or Fall planting

• My preference: bare root, plant in spring

How Fruit Trees and Berries Are

Propagated

• Rhizomes (raspberries)

• Stolons or runners (strawberries)

• Seeds (colonial times)

• Grafting (Clones of fruit trees with

desired characteristics)

• Scions, Buds and Rootstocks

Natural Graft

Rootstocks

Ready to Graft

First cut showing cambial ring

Second cut on rootstock and scion

Whip and tongue graft

Secure graft with grafting rubber

Graft Secured

Wrap with grafting tape; wax top

Planting in Nursery Rows

Sprout on graft

Bare Root Apple Whip

Sources for Trees

• Local nurseries

• Chain Discount Stores

• Mail order nurseries

• www.gardenwatchdog.com

• www.davesgarden.com

Pollination, Pollenizers (other variety), Pollinators (bees)

Selection Criteria

• What you and your clients want

• What the trees need and want

Personal (Customer)

Needs and Likes

• What type of fruit do you like?

• Continuous supply—early, late, keepers

• Needs—Tastes—Uses

– Fresh

– Baking/Cooking

– Sauce/Juice

– Preserves, Jams, Jellies

Preserves, jams, jelly, pies

Other ways to store fruits and berries

Fruit Tree Needs and Likes

• Climate—Hardy to USDA zones 2-6

• Chill Hours—hrs 32-45°F +800 hrs

• Soil—pH 6.5 n NV pH 8.5

• Water—~2.5 gal/week, young trees

• Nutrition—No need to fertilize, except

• Location—Sunshine > 8 hrs/day

Varieties for Northern Nevada

• UNR Cooperative Extension handout

• Other cold weather varieties to try

• Farm trails and fruit tastings

• My variety recommendations to date

Farm Trails—Stabile’s Hillview Farm

Watsonville, CA

Apples

• Choose an early ripening, a late, & a keeper (or 2)

• Handout varieties plus:– Granny Smith,

Jonathan, Arkansas Black

– Honeycrisp, Fuji

– Smokehouse, Newtown Pippin

• Apple Hill, Placerville, CA

Pears

• Red Bartlett

• Seckel, Bosc, d’Anjou

• Pick, store, ripen, consume

• Filoli Gardens

Stone Fruits

• Cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines

• Late blooming, early ripening!

Apricots• Why don’t they

produce here????

• Extension handout

• Tomcot, Manchurian

• Harrow series: Harogem, Hargrand, Har* Ontario

• University of Minnesota, Utah, etc

• NAFEX

Cherries • Sweet• Bing, Van,

Black Tartarian,

• Royal Ann, Utah Giant, Rainier

• Kristin

• „Sour‟ or“Pie” or“Tart”

• Montmorency

• Morello

• Northstar

Plums

• European and Japanese

• Green gage, Reine Claude

• Stanley, Italian prune, President

• Satsuma, Santa Rosa

• Hybrids and Pluotapripeacahrines

Peaches/Nectarines

• PEACHES

>1000 chill hrs

-Reliance

>850 chill hours—

-JH Hale

-Elberta

-Early Elberta

-Veteran

• NECTARINES

-Snow Queen

-White Tiger

Miniatures

Small Fruits• Blueberries

– 5.0 pH

– Elliot, Norsky, Patriot,

check northern catalogs

• Raspberries/Blackberries

– Investigate pruning

methods

– Thorns or Thornless

– Need to control vigorous

spreading roots

– Heritage (Aug through

Oct)

– Autumn Bliss

Strawberries

• Europe, North American, Chile

• Hybrids; good taste, large

• Tribute, Tristar

• Musk, Woodland, Alpine; great taste,

small

• Mara du Bois, Fragissimo

• Grapes

– Table grapes, wine grapes

– Grapes for Northern Nevada

Currants and GooseberriesRed Lake

Consort

Ben Lomond

NutsPecans (native northern)

Walnuts (Black)

Almond (Hall’s Hardy)

Getting Started

Take a Soil Sample!

Soil prep

M & MMulch and Manure (composted horse)

Bitter pit—Ca deficiency

Zinc Deficiency

Chlorosis (Fe deficiency)

Chlorosis

on

Cucumber

Causes of mineral deficiencies

• Soil deficient of particular mineral

Causes of mineral deficiencies

• Soil deficient of particular mineral

• OVERWATERING!!!!

Treatment for mineral deficiencies

• Stop Overwatering!

• Chelated iron on leaves

• Analyze soil/leaves, adjust pH

• Apply Agricultural Sulphur

• Mulch, Mulch, Mulch

BASIC TRAINING FOR FRUIT

TREES

Right tool

for the right

job

Loppers

Pruners

Saws

Clean

Sanitized

Sharp

Size control using rootstocks

• Standard—25 ft and up

• Semi-Dwarf or half-standard

– 8 to18 ft apples, pears

– 15 to 20+ ft stone fruits (cherries, plums, etc

• Genetic Dwarf/Miniatures—5-8 ft

• Varietal vigor

Standard Semi-dwarf Dwarf

~2.4 times more production per acre

Tree sizes

Standard Semi-Dwarf

Dwarf apple orchard

Dwarf Apple Tree (must be supported)

Easy access to harvest

Rootstock Chart

Planting

Planting

Natural

Target

Pruning

Proper pruning cut, before

Proper pruning cut, after

Well-sealed pruning scar

Natural Target Pruning II

• Always cut back to a bud or branch

• Always angle the cut away from the bud

• Choose growth direction

Angle cut away from bud

Select bud growth direction

Apical Dominance

• Apical dominance is a tree’s response to a pruning cut

• All pruning cuts cause the same reaction in a tree

• Proper pruning uses apical dominance to shape trees

Apical Dominance

Pruning

Forms

for

Fruit

Trees

Training A Central Leader

Tree

• Apples, Pears, plums, and cherries

• Dwarf Pyramid or Pyramid

• French Axe

• Spindle Bush

1st Year

Bare Root Tree

Training Horizontal Limb Growth

Training using Clothespins 1st year

before

2nd year, etc; after

2nd Year

2yr dwarf

pyramid

pear

3rd and Subsequent Years

Cut out vigorous growth

Vigorous growth removed

Regrowth

Next Summer

Central

leader

pear in

bloom

Semi-dwarf

Central

Leader

Summary

Training a

Central Leader

Training an Open Center Tree

• Stone fruits, esp. peaches, nectarines

• Lowest limb 12-18 inches

• 3-5 limbs at low angle form a vase

shape

• Allows sunlight needed to ripen fruit

Training an

Open Center

Tree

1yr Open Center Cherry

2yr Open Center Cherry

Open Center

oriental pear

Open center peach

Texas peach orchard

Texas peach tree

Peach tree at Monticello

Training a Horizontal Espalier

• Suitable for apples and pears

• Recommend 24-16-16-16 inches

• Opens tree to sunlight and air flow

• Easy to prune

• Easy access to spray, thin, and pick

• Easily covered with bird netting

• Aesthetically attractive

Pear espalier on south-facing

wall

Training Anything’s Possible

Apical

Dominance

Note the near

horizontal limb

angles

Training Horizontal Limbs--Before

Training horizontal limbs--after

1st Year Horizontal

Espalier

Summer

Winter

before

pruning

Winter after pruning

2nd Year Horizontal

Espalier

Water Sprouts

Water Sprouts After Pruning

Before

After

3rd Year Espalier

Apple Espaliers Third year

Mature Horizontal

Espalier

Espalier Pear Ohio

Mature Horizontal espalier

End of Row

Apple Espalier early summer

PV Orchard 2005

Informal or Fan Espalier

Candelabra

Summary

• Apical Dominance

• Cut to a branch or bud

• Choose bud/growth direction

• Training vs. Pruning

• References, Google It!

• Buy a Pruning Book and Use It!

Thank you

• Michael Janik

• Reno and Paradise Valley, NV

• www.michaelsapples.com

• Email to receive my monthly newsletter

Fall