Satisfied With

Satisfied With

Your Apple Crop?

Blacksburg—Were you satisfied with your 1970 apple crop? Was there a large percentage of fancy grade apples? Waf the fruit of good size, appealing color, uniform and without blemishes?

“The ore hard ists who can say ‘yes’ to each of those questions would have no selling problems,’’ said F. R. Dreiling, extension pome fruit specialist with Virginia Tech. “Buyers will come back to quality again and again to willingly pay premium prices for the product,” he said.

Growers whose fruit failed to attract the discriminate buyers can start planning now to lure him next year. According to Dreiling, adequate pruning is the place to start.

Pruning has a marked effect on the quality of the fruit. High color, the eye-appeal to Mrs. Consumer, depends upon proper pruning to let sunlight reach all parts of the tree. Uniform size and shape, also attractive to buyers, are possible on well-fed trees but only when proper pruning permits thorough and complete spraying for Insect and disease control.

Said Dreiling, “In pruning bearing trees, the orchardist should emphasize the elimination of weak wood, allow even light penetration throughout the tree, regulate the tree size and shape and provide limb spacing for good spray coverage.

In apple tree pruning the ideal branch arrangement is that which allows each fruit spur partial exposure to sunlight. The downward growing parts of each branch are poorly located to obtain sunlight. They will produce poorly colored and smaller sized apples as compared to those borne on outward and upward growing branches.

This is especially true if the branch is in dense shade. The leaves from which the apples obtain their carbohydrates have poor light exposure and are inefficient. ,

About fruit spurs, Dreiling explained, “They generally bear a good apple each year for eight or \ ten years. But, their usefulness is outlived when their branches become over-topped by younger branches with younger spurs. Good pruning often removes many of the older branches entirely -instead of bothering wBh individual spur removal.”

Dreiling described an efficient pruner as one who believes his first impression as to what cuts are needed, decides on what limbs to eliminate and removes them. Once the cuts are made, he does not spend time trying to find more cuts to make, but moves on to the next tree.

“Good pruning also controls the height of fruit trees. Too tall trees cannot be properly sprayed, nor can the fruit be easily picked. Standard trees should be held to about 20 feet, by cutting to a strong lateral branch,” Dreiling concluded.