- 4 



15 feet tree-spread regarding e-Fficiency . It would appear, there- 

 fore , that our current recommendations of 15' x 25' spacing for 

 Mcintosh on a good orchard soil is reasonable from the standpoint 

 of maximum efficiency and a high lifetime production of the orchard 

 (Dr. Cain is suggesting 13 feet for Mcintosh on EM VII, plus or 

 minus 2 feet depending on soil capability.) With the 15' x 25' 

 spacing, a 10-foot alley was considered necessary for bulk boxes 

 and space to drive past the boxes. As previously mentioned, how- 

 ever, grower opinion regarding travel space needed appears to vary 

 between 7 and 10 feet. 



18' 



the 



Growers who have established close spacings--6' x 14', 10' x 

 and so forth--have in mind the development of tree walls and 

 possible use of a harvesting aid. Restricting tree size and 



maintaining productivity at these 

 ticultural ability of the grower, 

 the planting distance, height and 

 it would appear based on the data 

 more conservative spacings of 15' 

 the grower to 

 problems that 



spacings will challenge the hor- 

 Since the ultimate answer as to 

 spread of our trees is not known 

 presented by Dr. Cain, that the 

 X 22' to 15' X 25' should enable 



obtain high lifetime yields without encountering 



may arise with closer tree spacings. 



SUMMARY 



The inflationary spiral must be counteracted by similar in- 

 creases in orcharding efficiency for the industry to remain profit- 

 able in the future. Fortunately, significant increases in life- 

 time yields per acre are possible through better utilization of 

 land. Spacings of 40' x 40' or greater are no longer needed for 

 trees on seedling roots. New production techni ques--herbi ci des , 

 restrictive pruning with hand tools, air blast sprayers, and mech- 

 anical pruning have eliminated the need for the cross-alley and 

 filler tree removal in many instances. The alley for the movement 

 of orchard equipment can be kept to the absolute minimum to reduce 

 tree spacing between rows. 



Small trees on size-controlled rootstock, properly spaced, 

 produce more bushels per acre and reach maximum production at an 

 earlier age than larger trees. Hopefully, within a few years we 

 will be able to predict, with reasonable accuracy, the size at 

 which we can hold the tree with a minimum cost of pruning and a 

 size at which high yields per square foot of tree spread can be 

 maintained for the lifetime of the tree. 



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