Fruit Growers walk orchards

As the days shorten and autumn arrives across the country, the growing season is drawing to a close.  But for the apple growers of County Armagh, October marks one of their busiest periods with the annual harvest.  The 2006 crop looks very promising and the market for Irish apples has been given a welcome boost, given a considerable increase in the consumption of premium brand ciders.  

The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Greenmount Campus, organised an orchard workshop recently at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI), Loughgall.  More than fifty industry members attended, which is a reflection in part of the renewed optimism in the sector, but also reflects the growers’ interest in assessing options for new planting systems of ‘Bramley’s Seedling’ orchards.  

Traditional plantings are on vigorous rootstocks at relatively low densities of less than 300 trees/hectare (120 trees/acre).  These orchards crop well once established, but they can take several years to begin bearing and the mature trees are difficult to harvest, prune and manage.  

Graeme Cross, Top Fruit Development Adviser, explained to growers how modern orchard systems such as those demonstrated at AFBI exploit the characteristics of dwarfing rootstocks, namely M9 and M27, to curb the trees’ growth and to encourage earlier apple cropping in the life of the orchard.  Since the planting densities are significantly higher (at values between 672 and 1956 trees/hectare) planting and establishment costs are considerable.  However, with these dwarfing rootstocks regular cropping is achieved from the third year after planting and for some of the plantings, their yields per hectare by year 5 are favourable to mature, traditional orchards.  The regular maintenance costs for these new, ‘high-density’ orchards are lower due to reduced tree canopy area, as well as quicker and more convenient pruning and harvest operations.

Kieran Lavelle, Senior Horticulture Development Adviser, emphasised the importance of timely decisions by growers towards the success of such plantings. “These trees depend on good management in the early years to ensure profitable returns.  Growth control, pruning, nutrition and pollination are all key factors in putting fruit on the trees and in gaining consistent crops from year to year.”

On the financial aspect, capital costs, annual inputs and yields have been determined for the various planting densities and the projected financial returns are now available as a benchmark for growers who are considering new orchard plantings.  “Further analyses will be necessary to determine future relative profitability across the orchards” Graeme Cross explained, “but already we have some very interesting findings from this investigation.”

As part of the event, Dr Seán Mac an tSaoir from AFBI and Simon Townsend of BASF presented updates on fungicide trials evaluating the newly approved formulation of ‘Dithianon’ compared to other apple scab control chemicals.  In conclusion, Dr Alistair McCracken gave an overview of current work on treatments against apple canker disease, which can be a serious problem in all apple varieties grown locally.

Top Fruit growers viewing Greenmount High Density Orchard Project

Top Fruit growers listening to presentations during orchard walk