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PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE 

 William J. Bramlage, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences 



During the winter of 1979, the East Mailing Research Station, Kent, 

 England initiated an unusual project: development of a demonstration apple 

 orchard that incorporates the practices believed by the East Mailing 

 research staff to be most desirable for successful establishment and deve- 

 lopment of an orchard of 'Cox Orange Pippin', England's most important 

 dessert apple. A detailed examination of the development of this orchard 

 provides a unique view of the current thinking of England's leading pomolo- 

 gists. 



The site for this orchard is on deep, well-drained, fine sandy loam and 

 is surrounded by windbreaks of alder and sweet chestnut trees. In July, 

 1979, the site was subsoiled to a depth of 20 inches, plowed with a chisel 

 plow, and leveled. The rows were laid out and the strips in which the trees 

 were to be planted were fumigated by injecting Chloropicrin at 25 gallons 

 per acre under 41/?-foot wide strips of clear polyethylene. The fumiga- 

 tion was done because this was fornier apple orchard land with a known 

 replant problem caused by a buildup of soil organisms harmful to apple 

 roots. The polyethylene sheets were kept in place until planting to protect 

 soil structure. 



In December, 1979, two ll/4-acre blocks were planted, one on M9 and 

 one on MM106 rootstock. Trees had been budded at \?. inches, and developing 

 branches ("feathers") were removed from the bottom ?7 inches of stem; above 

 this point they were pinched at U/;? inches of length and then allowed to 

 develop. 



'Cox' on M9 were planted at 11 1/? x 8 feet, 481 trees per acre, and 

 ones on MMlOfi were planted at 11.5 x 17 feet, 220 trees per acre. 'Discovery' 

 and 'Spartan' were planted as pollenizers, alternating at every sixth tree 

 in a row and being staggered in adjacent rows to produce diagonal rows of 

 identical cultivars. Holes were dug with a tractor-mounted auger, each tree 

 was immediately staked with B-foot spindle stakes, and trees were carefully 

 tied to stakes with plastic tubing. 



In late February the central leaders were headed to a vegetative bud 

 about 4 inches above the uppermost "feather". M9 trees produced some bloom 

 and were defruited shortly afterward. In June, the second, competing shoot 

 was removed from all trees. The following February, the central leader of 

 each MMin9 tree was tipped, and all competing leaders were removed. The 

 central leader of each M9 tree was tipped, as were 4 other leaders. In July 

 of this second year the more vigorous branches were tied down to encourage 

 fruiting, and the following winter all remaining branches were tied down. 

 To further suppress vegetative growth, by stimulating flower bud formation, 

 daminozide was applied in July, 1980 at 18 lbs. per acre, and in July, 1981 

 at 13 lbs. per acre. 



Assistance of Mr. G.C. White of the East MalTTng Research Station in 

 the preparation of this article is gratefully acknowledged. 



