anybody have experience with "spindle cut orchard"?

[Paul Wheaton]

I was asked to go to an orchard yesterday and give some advice.

Apparently, this "spindle cut orchard" approach is considered to be one of the most productive apple monocultures possible. With about 30% to 40% more productivity than central leader trees.

I thought it was scary.

The stuff I found through google said that the pruning was less and easier since everything was kept so short. My impression was that the pruning would have to be more because you would have to keep everytthing so short!

I thought I would find something that said "this is not sustainable", but after an hour of googling, I could only find stuff that said it was great stuff.

Apparently, a lot of the apple industry is moving in this direction.

Essentially, this stuff looks like apple hedges grown north/south so that the sun can get on all the leaves. The branches are kept short - 2.5 feet long in the rows, 4 feet long between the rows, but only at the bottom. The trees are prevented from getting taller than ten feet. I think they are shooting for a hedge that is has a sort of christmas tree shape. But not cones - more like the whole hedge is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, with a 12 inch gap between trees. The trees are planted about five feet apart from each other.

It sounds like they use dwarfing stock, but the orchard I saw had trunks that were five to six inches thick. These trees wanted to be 15 to 20 feet tall and were only 10 years old.

The woman didn't like any of my advice. The only thing that she might consider is to replace the grass growing between the trees with alfalfa (perennial legume with deep taproot). I think mostly because she has heard of alfalfa and she could still mow it if she wanted to.

So I got to thinking about what I would do if I owned the property. Would I kill 90% of these trees so I could introduce some diversity? Would I go with this odd hedge idea and just let them go taller than ten feet - and just plant diversity between the rows?

Maybe I'm just ignorant about this approach and should embrace it?

Anybody familiar with it?

[Maura]

The trees are pruned this way to increase production and make it easier and safer to harvest. You have to be careful not to take off too much, the limbs should be shaded by leaf cover. Five feet apart seems awfully close to me first for the growth of the trees, limbs as well as roots; and second for picking. There are orchards here with the trees pruned in this fashion, but they are planted much farther apart. Me, I'd probably take out every other tree and graze sheep.

[suburbanite]

Wow. Never heard of this before (which isn't surprising). Have you posted a link to this thread in the gardening forum? There's a couple of very knowledgeable folk there who might be all over this stuff.

[WisJim]

Do you mean "knip-boom"?
http://www.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/cl...s/Image15.html
http://www.umass.edu/fruitadvisor/cl...s/Image14.html
I think this pics may have been taken in Italy.

This is another attempt to maximize production in commercial orchards that are on land the might be worth more for development. You would need to be a knowledgable orchardist to try it and succeed, I think!

Here is a quote from another site:

Tall Spindle: Simplified Training and Pruning Plan

First Leaf

a.. At Planting: Plant highly feathered trees (10-15 feathers) at a
spacing of 3 to 4 feet by 11 to 12 feet. Adjust graft union to 6 inches
above soil level. Remove all feathers below 24 inches using a flush cut. Do
not head the leader or the feathers. Remove any feathers that are larger
than two-thirds the diameter of the leader.
b.. Three- to four-inch growth: Rub off the second and third shoots below
the new leader shoot to eliminate competitors to the leader shoot.
c.. May: Install a three- to four-wire tree support system that will allow
the tree to be supported to 3 meters. Attach the trees to the support system
with a permanent tree tie above the first tier of feathers, leaving a 2-inch
diameter loop to allow for trunk growth.
d.. Early June: Tie down each feather that is longer than 10 inches to a
pendant position below horizontal.
Second Leaf

a.. Dormant: Do not head leader or prune trees.
b.. 10 to 15 centimeter growth: Pinch the lateral shoots in the top fourth
of last year's leader growth, removing about 5 centimeters of growth (the
terminal bud and four to five young leaves).
c.. Early June: Hand-thin the crop to single fruit four inches apart (you
should target 15 to 20 fruit per tree).
d.. Mid June: Re-pinch all lateral shoots in the top fourth of last year's
growth. Tie the developing leader to the support system with a permanent
tie.
Third Leaf

a.. Dormant: Do not head the leader. Remove overly vigorous limbs that are
more than two-thirds the diameter of the leader using a bevel cut.
b.. Late May: Chemically thin according to crop load, tree strength, and
weather conditions, then follow up with hand thinning to the appropriate
levels to ensure regular annual cropping and adequate fruit size (target 50
to 60 fruit pre tree).
c.. June: Tie the developing leader to the support system with a permanent
tie.
d.. August: Lightly summer prune to encourage good light penetration and
fruit color.
Fourth Leaf

a.. Dormant: Do not head the leader. Remove overly vigorous limbs that are
more than two-thirds the diameter of the leader using a bevel cut.
b.. Late May: Chemically thin and follow up with hand thinning to the
appropriate levels to ensure regular annual cropping and adequate fruit size
(target 100 fruit per tree).
c.. June: Tie the developing leader to the support system with a permanent
tie at the top of the pole.
d.. August: Lightly summer prune to encourage good light penetration and
fruit color.
Mature Tree Pruning (Fifth to Twentieth Leaf) - Dormant: Limit the tree
height to 10 feet by cutting the leader back to a fruitful side branch.
Annually, remove at least two limbs, including the lower tier scaffolds that
are more than two-thirds the diameter of the leader using a bevel cut.
Shorten the bottom-tier scaffolds where needed back to the side branch to
facilitate movement of equipment and preserve fruit quality on the lower
limbs. Remove any limbs larger than 1 inch diameter in the upper 2 feet of
the tree.

a.. Late May: Chemically thin and follow up with hand thinning to the
appropriate levels to ensure regular annual cropping and adequate fruit size
(target 100 to 120 fruit per tree).
b.. August: Lightly summer prune to encourage light penetration and
maintain pyramidal tree shape.
(Information courtesy of New York State Agricultural Experiment Station.)

[Jenn]

Don't fully understand (or need to) but toured an orchard in UK a year or two ago. They'd torn out all their standards and gone to dwarfing stock to minimize ladder work as much as possible to decrease risk injuries (and increase speed) those picking thinning and pruning. Packing smaller and smaller trees closer and closer together- we thought the mature trees were young and 'going to get bigger' but they were a few years from being torn out and replaced.

Would think dwarfing stock better way to do this than pruning to keep small but I'm just amateur.

Anyway main issue is profit is at the bone- the place I toured brings in student and E European laborers, is unable to buy English apple trees since Dutch so much cheaper and competition doing so, and fighting to stay open.

[Wolf mom]

Went to a good nursery looking dwarf fruit trees & they told me that most of their fruit trees being sold these days have been pruned in this manner, so I dodn't have to buy a dwarf tree.

I thought it was just a sales pitch to get me to buy a tree...

Silly me - thanks all.

[Freeholder]

I've read about this pruning method, though I haven't seen it. If they are using standard rootstock with it, that has the advantage of being hardier and longer lived than dwarfing rootstock. But I agree with the poster who said take out every other tree and graze sheep! (Or poultry.)

Kathleen

[ldc]

Maybe these "spindles" are the new version of "cordons"? ldc