- 4 - 



quite small and many growers depend upon apple production as a sup- 

 plement to other income. Expansion of the industry will be limited 

 because most good sites are now in production and orchards estab- 

 lished further north are likely to be damaged by periodic winter 

 freezes. 



There are about 33,000 acres of fruit trees in British Columbia, 

 with 25,000 of these being planted to apples. Apple production gen- 

 erally ranges between 9 and 10 million bushels. Approximately 401 

 of the apples are Delicious, 30% Mcintosh, 10% each of Golden Deli- 

 cious and Spartan and the remaining 101 miscellaneous varieties. 

 The acreage of Spartan is not expected to increase due to a serious 

 problem with internal breakdown in storage. There are relatively 

 few old orchards due to freezes during the past 10-12 years. This 

 has made possible the replacement of these older orchards with more 

 acceptable varieties and strains. 



Most fruit growers are planting trees on size-controlling root- 

 stocks. One of the most important factors when choosing a rootstock 

 in British Columbia is its susceptibility to collar rot. Many of the 

 commonly-planted rootstocks in Massachusetts, including M. 7 and M.106, 

 are too susceptible to collar rot to be planted extensively. However, 

 the vigorous rootstock M.4 has been used successfully because of its 

 resistance to the disease. Recently, M.26 has become popular because 

 it induces early bearing, partial dwarfing, and has resistance to 

 collar rot. Under British Columbia conditions, it produces a tree 

 similar to or slightly smaller than one on M.7. 



Orchards in British Columbia are being planted heavily to spur- 

 type Mcintosh and Delicious. It was estimated that for every non- 

 spur Mcintosh being planted there were 10 spur-type Mcintosh going 

 into the ground. 



Tree spacing in British Columbia is generally closer than that 

 presently suggested in Massachusetts. A number of growers have 

 planted spur Mcintosh 8 x 18 ft or spur Delicious 10 x 20 ft on M.4 

 roots, with the intention of removing every other tree when the 

 trees begin to crowd. However, a poor orchard often results because 

 tree removal is delayed and the lower limbs become weak. 



The fertilizer program followed in British Columbia differs 

 in many respects from that in Massachusetts. All orchards are defi- 

 cient in boron C^) . A lack of B can result in poor tree growth and 

 a light crop of misshapen fruit. It is recommended that broadcast 

 applications of B be made every third year in early August. However, 

 many growers apply B solely in the spring as a spray application. 



B deficiency appeared in many British Columbia orchards in 

 1977. In many cases, the injury was severe enough to reduce the 

 crop. This situation occurred, in most instances, in orchards where 

 no late-fdll irrigation was applied and where the grower had not 

 applied B to the soil for many years because of primary reliance 

 on a summer spray application of B. 



