- 9 



Northern Spy (20?o dwarfing) is the major dwarfing rootstock used. In 

 Victoria, 70-80/i of the trees were budded on this rootstock. On poor sites 

 it was necessary to grow trees on seedling roots to insure adequate growth. 

 Rootstocks less vigorous than Mailing 7 have been unsuccessful because of 

 conditions that do not favor vegetative growth. 



Many trees in Australia are trained to a vase shape. This method is 

 characterized by many limbs coming from a point. In order to develop this 

 tree, extensive and severe pruning is required for 8-10 years. Because 

 flowering is considerably delayed, limb propping is necessary, and pruning 

 costs are high. Growers <ire moving away from this system. In the future, 

 people using this system will not be able to stay in business. The for- 

 mality or the effort invested to establish a central leader tree varies 

 considerably from grower to grower. Training aids such as limb spreaders, 

 clothes pins, and hop clips are used, but not as extensively as we use them. 



The South Pacific is the birthplace of several innovative trellis 

 systems, including the Tatura trellis, the MIA trellis, the Lincoln Canopy, 

 and the fibro trellis. The Tatura trellis was developed for and is working 

 well with peaches. The MIA system is new, and is more or less an inverse 

 adaptation of the Tatura trellis. The Lincoln Canopy is essentially a 

 trellis where all fruit is grown on one plane, 5-6 feet off the ground. It 

 was developed specifically for the mechanical harvesting of fruit. The Ebro 

 system is a patented trellis. It has several layers and uses an incredible 

 amount of wire per acre. 



In total there are no more than 1000 acres of trees in Australia and 

 Mew Zealand on these systems, although there are many proponents of them. 

 After seeing all of these systems, I see no reason to encourage anyone here 

 to use any of them. I think that we have the rootstocks, scions and horti- 

 cultural ability right now to grow as many fruit of comparable quality 

 without a major investment in posts, wire, and many hours of labor. 



Varieties 



The leading varieties grown in Australia, listed in order of impor- 

 tance, are Granny Smith, Jonathan, Delicious, and Golden Delicious, 

 However, if one looks at the new trees going into the ground, Delicious 

 would be the most important variety, and Granny Smith would drop to third 

 position. The major reason for this is the relatively high price growers 

 receive for Delicious and the declining price received for Granny Smith. 



Australia is lagging sadly behind in the introduction of new varieties 

 and striins. Because of special-interest groups, it has been difficult for 

 Australian fruit growers to introduce new materials. The important 

 varieties and strains are in quarantine now. All growers want spur-type 

 strains of Delicious, since this is the cultivar most heavily planted, and 

 the only spur they have is Starkrimson. 



They are also looking at new varieties. They are interested in Mutsu, 

 Fuji, Akane, Gala, Lady Williams, and Bonza. 



