Establishment and Management of Compact Apple Trees 



William J. Lord and Joseph Costante 

 University of Massachusetts 



Parti 



Introduction 



This information has been prepared for the purpose of 

 discussing the establishment and management of compact 

 apple trees and will appear in serial form in this publication. 

 It is hoped that both the experienced and novice orchardist 

 will find some useful guidelines in the following pages. 

 Certain management aspects, such as orchard fertilization 

 and pest control, are not fully covered because the subject 

 matter is discussed in detail in othei publications. 



The inflationary spiral has forced apple growers to explore 

 every possible means of increasing production per acre and 

 per man hour. Small trees on size-control rootstocks (com- 

 pact trees) in comparison to large trees on seedling roots, can 

 be more economically pruned, sprayed, and harvested. Com- 

 pact trees, properly spaced, produce more bushels per acre 

 and reach maximum production at an earlier age than larger 

 trees. However, compact trees do not guarantee fruit grow- 

 ing success. 



Much remains to be learned about compact apple trees in 

 Massachusetts because our studies thus far have been very 

 limited. In this publication, we rely heavily on observations, 

 experience, and trials in commercial orchards. 



Economics 



The size of the orchard is not a major factor determining 

 efficiency in producing apples. Net returns per acre are of- 

 ten as high on small enterprises as on large ones. However, 

 the large operators are able to use capital in the form of air 

 blast sprayers, weed sprayers, dip tanks for scald control and 

 other specialized equipment more effectively than small 

 operators. Thus the labor efficiency may be higher and costs 

 per acre lower for operating these types of equipment on a 

 large operation than a small operation. 



Growing costs, yields and prices received are variable and 

 reflect how differently growers are managing their businesses.' 

 Cost inputs in apple orcharding should be viewed with some 

 skepticism for several reasons. These reasons have been re- 

 viewed by R.L. Christensen.2 Nevertheless, the cost figures 

 in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 7, are representative of the orchards 

 studied here and in New York State and give the reader an 

 insight of the cost factors in apple production. 



Site preparation and planting costs. The labor requirements 

 and costs of removing old apple orchards and replanting in 

 1973 are shown in Table 1. Soil preparation in the low den- 

 sity planting included tree and stump removal, liming, land 



Item 



Table 1. Man hours and cost^ per acre to remove an apple orchard and establish 

 a low, medium or high density planting in Massachusetts, 1973. 



Medium density 



(200 trees/A) 



Hrs. Cost 



Orchard removal 



Soil preparation 



Trees 



Posts 



Marking 



Planting 



Post setting and tying 



32 

 13 



12 



10 



S514 

 145 

 340 



53 

 99 



Totals 



76 



S805 



67 



S1151 



125 



$1895 



^Excludes only cost of land and interest on investment in land. 



' Formerly Regional Fruit Specialist in Massachusetts. 

 Present address: Department of Plant and Soil Science, 

 University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05041 . 



^Christensen, R.L. 1976. "Cost of Production," Fruit 

 Notes AM)): 1-3. 



