B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 11,1981
Dwarf trellis trees can double apple yields
BIGLERVILLE - Dwarf apple
trees grown on a trellis, making a
wall of fruit, can double the yield of
standard-sized trees, as shown by
several years of experiments at
Penn State University
At eight to 12 years of age, such
fruit walls can produce average
yields of 1,000 bushels per acre,
twice that of standard trees of
similar age.
Developer of these high-yielding
School to offer wood tech class
WILLIAMSPORT - Ap
plications are now being accepted
for the first Wood Products
Technology class at The
Williamsport Area Community
College, Williamsport. The first
classes for the new two-year
associate degree program start
this August.
According to Earth Science
Division Director, Joseph Sick,
Wood Products Technology
focuses on the procurement,
manufacture and buying and
selling of various wood products.
Graduates will be prepared for
positions as lumber salespeople,
lumber buyers, log buyers,
sawmill managers, sawyers, dry
kiln operator, yard foreman,
lumber graders, equipment
salesmen, production
management personnel, forest
research technicians, production
managers and duality controllers.
The purpose If the new program
apple trees is Loien D Tukey,
scientist in fruit culture with the
College of Agriculture at Penn
State He calls the tree form a low
trelhs hedgerow and says such
hedgerows increase the volume of
the tree devoted to bearing fruit
while using fewer limbs for sup
port.
Over the past 20 years, Tukey
has experimented with several
orchards using dwarf apple trees
grown on M 9 and M 26 rootstocks
is to provide students with a
general education in business
management positions in the wood
industry.
Wood products technology
combines classroom instruction
with hands on learning ex
periences
Wood Products courses will be
taught at the Earth Science
Campus, near Allenwood. Among
the resources available to students
at the campus are sawmill, dry
kiln, and drying yard. The
program also includes a 200-hours
internship m the wood products
THINK AHEAD...
K«od Futures Markets on Page 3.
Such rootstocks help to increase
maximum plant density for
fruiting areas. The trees also
produce large crops sooner than
standard trees. Such apple tree
systems are called intensive
plantings
“In intensive plantings, the
major cost factor in establishment
is the greater number of trees
being used rather than the cost of
the support system required,”
industry, this providing students
with the opportunity of learning on
the-job.
For more information, contact
Admissions, The Williamsport
Area Community College, 1005
West Third Street, Williamsport,
Pa. 17701. Phone 717/322-0149.
SALE ON
MAX-TEN 8 200 High Tensile
Fence Wire
Reg. 70' lb.
NOW 60' per lb.
(approx IV2' per ft)
Plus charge for rewinding from 1
ton spool.
Delivery is inexpensive when truck is
traveling through your area.
Up to 25% OFF on your 2nd order from
KENCOVE FARMS
PH; 800-245-6902 800-442-6823 in Pa,
412-459-8991 717-432-5814
THE
THE
■ Poured Solid Concrete Steel
Reinforced W
■ The Wall is
as the Mater
• Manure Pit Walts
• Hog House Walts
e Chicken House Wi
• Concrete Decks
• House Foundatio
• Cistern Walls
• Barnyard Walls
• Concrete Pit Tops
• Silage Pit Walls
• Retaining Walls
Take the questions out of your new construction
Call: Balmer Bros, for quality
engineered walls.
410 Main St. • Akron, PA 17501 • (717) 859-2074 or 733-9196
Call NOW For New Springtime Building.
Tukey affirmed
Since the trellis-trained dwarf
trees are only six to eight feet tall,
smaller sized equipment can be
used than for standard trees.
Energy per unit of production is
lower than on standard trees,
Tukey noted, since yields are
earlier and higher.
The low-trellis hedgerow con
sists of a senes of posts and four
wires, each 18 inches apart, with
the top wire at six feet The trees
are tramed on these wires.
The most common tree training
system is one Tukey calls the
“oblique palmette.” This tree form
inclines limbs at a 30 to 45 degree
angle from the horizontal and
extends branches into adjacent
trees. This makes a wall for
bearing fruit.
Obviously, the low-trellis
hedgerow requires a major
"management change from han-
STRENGTH IS IN
CONSTRUCTION
All sizes available
Round or rectangular
Invest in Quality - It will last a lifetime.
CONCRETE WORK, INC.
i s
Patz
★ Bam Cleaners, Manure Pumps,
Manure Stackers, Silo Unloaders,
Bunk Feeders, Feed Conveyors
MARVIN J. HORST
DAIRY EQUIPMENT
1950 S. sth Avenue, Lebanon, Pa. 17042
Phone: 717-272-0871
dling individual trees. First, the
outer fruiting mantel or fruit
bearing area is developed. After
this, training and pruning is almost
totally devoted to caring for the
fruiting mantle and regulating
growth of trees.
Another tree form, the slender
spindle, resembles a small
Christmas tree in shape. A pole at
each tree support the central
trunk. Unlike the oblique palmette,
a row consists of a group of in
dividual trees.
“Yields of intensively grown
apple trees should reach 900 to 1200
bushels per acre annually,” he
stated.
“In our research orchard at
Rock Springs in Centre County,
apples have generally measured 2
3/4 inches in diameter or larger for
65 percent of the crop. Fruit size
has been an important factor in
achieving high yields,” he added.