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