The Economic Benefits of Summer Pruning 



Daniel A. Lass and Martha A. Kimball 



Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of Massachusetts 



Wesley R. Autio, Duane W. Greene, and Richard Clark 

 Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Massachusetts 



In previous Fm/fNoto articles [52(3) :7-8 and 53(2): 1] 

 Greene and Autio outlined some of the procedures and 

 benefits of summer pruning of Mcintosh trees. These 

 benefits included earlier coloring (allowing earlier harvest 

 and lower losses to drop) and a higher percentage of the 

 fruit making the U. S. Extra Fancy grade. In this article we 

 shall detail the economic benefits of summer pruning, to 

 give growers the necessary information to decide whether 

 or not to summer prune. 



In 1986 and 1987 summer pruning studies were per- 

 formed on 25-year-old Rogers Mclntosh/M.7 trees at the 

 Horticultural Research Center, Belchertown, MA. These 

 trees can be considered the standard for the industry. Two 

 harvests were made each year. Data were collected on the 

 number of bushels harvested in each picking, the number 

 which were lost to drop, and the percent of a random 

 sample made at the first picking which were U. S. Extra 

 Fancy. Additionally, the fruit were observed after storage 



and downgrading due to bruising and softening was esti- 

 mated. Most of these data are reported in the previous 2 

 articles. 



A distribution of the packout was approximated from 

 various observations for the entire yield of trees which were 

 summer pruned and those which were not (Table 1). 

 Grades were divided into 3 groups: Extra Fancy/Fancy, 

 No. 1/Utility, and Processing. Drops were counted sepa- 

 rately and assumed to be usable for processing. The per- 

 bushel fruit values used in this study were $10.50 for the 

 Extra Fancy/Fancy, $6.00 for the No. 1/Utility, and $2.00 

 for the processing. One half bushel per tree was assumed 

 to be lost during the summer pruning activity. Pruning 

 labor was assumed to cost $6.00 per hour. 



Summer pruning reduced the losses to drop and 

 downgrading due to bruising and softening, because it 

 allowed an earlier harvest of a larger percentage of the 

 crop. Summer pruning also resulted in more fruit making 



