03/08/06 Orchard operations of the future, Finale

If the Northwest fruit grower hasn't realized it yet, the orchard, like most other aspects of fruit production, is becoming more and more market driven. Cherry grower Lee Gale is among those who see that trend being an influence in how cherry orchard operations of the future will be dictated. GALE: The quality standards are going to be redefined by the marketplace as our production increases. The horticultural practices we use in the cherry industry & they're going to change. We're probably going to follow a lot of the lead that apple has already done for us. Whether we have to go to the extent that apples have gone to, maybe not. In fact, the new cherry orchards planted in just the last decade will bear the majority of fruit in future harvests. GALE: Production off the new blocks that are going in is going to continue to go up at a very rapid pace. I forsee the next couple of years that we will blow away whatever records we've already set the last couple of years not by five or ten per cent but by thirty to fifty per cent. And that means more specialized areas of orchard management for cherries, ranging from rootstock selection to pruning. GALE: The new rootstocks that we are going to be using are going to be dwarfing and they are going to be much more precocious than the Mazzard that's been the staple forever.Not only are we gong to move away from probably solely dormant pruning. Dormant pruning is invigorating. We'll probably move to a lot more summer pruning to kind of take some vigor out of the tree to keep the size where you want it.