02/15/06 Orchard operations of the future, Pt.1

Recently, a panel of fruit growers, packers, and shippers gathered to answer the question, "what will your orchard and fruit operation look like in the future?" Dan Platt of Washington Fruit in Yakima believes trends towards greater density of the orchard, and accelerated production through drip irrigation and fertilizers, will continue. PLATT: If you can develop your orchard with having to make a heading cut at thirty inches to get branches, you're going to greatly increase the precociousness of the block. Leaf pinching is the best method that's I've seen to get the branches, although there are chemicals I know that work very well too. Platt likes the promise of growth inhibitors to improve canopy and vigor management. As for rootstock, top on the future wish list is disease resistance. PLATT: And extremely precocious rootstock marked by a reduction in vigor once the tree is cropped, would be an ideal rootstock in a future orchard. Platt is also excited about the potential of irrigation systems in the future. PLATT: The system needs to be designed to frost protect and cool. We're going to see more automated irrigation systems. For example, a fruit surface temperature gage triggers the opening of an automatic valve, and your overhead cooling system lights up your orchard. You've reduced the labor and are more accurately timing your orchards' cooling needs. More views of orchard operations of the future will be shared by various fruit industry types in future programs.