Corey McCleaf describes his most recent experiment, high intensity planting, as daughter Hannah stands at his side.

BIGLERVILLE, PA — Growers from Pennsylvania and Maryland gathered at the McCleaf Orchard to examine a new, intensive growing system being demonstrated for the first time in Pennsylvania. Corey and Vicky McCleaf welcomed more than thirty growers to their twilight meeting. In addition to how to manage this new style of planting tree management, Drs. Jim Travis, Larry Hull, and Jim Schupp offered tips in their respective areas of specialty including recent information on weather, disease, and insect control. To begin the evening, McCleaf took visitors on a tour of his farm’s specialty crop area where he has been growing fruits and vegetables that he retails at suburban farmers markets, mostly in Maryland. McCleaf said that he is slowly transitioning his farm from relying exclusively on apple production for commercial packers, to that of a more profitable, diverse, specialty crop farming operation. His crops include various kinds of vegetables, berries, grapes, and some apples as well.

“We raise strawberries, tomatoes, leeks, and raspberries, and asparagus,” he said. “This year, we have planted eight varieties of table grapes as well. We will be installing irrigation for our retail crops in the next couple of weeks, so that dry weather will not be as much a factor as it has been in the past.” 

McCleaf said that the farm has been in his family since 1888. “Originally, it belonged to our grandfather, ‘Chub’ Rice,” said McCleaf. “He began with 15 acres of trees. Now, we farm 52 acres with about 90 percent of the apples still going to commercial processors.” 

McCleaf said that he likes to try new things when it comes to farming. He said that he was interested in working with Penn State Cooperative Extension when he learned that Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) funding was available to help with the costs of setting up the new concentrated planting system. McCleaf said that he has hopes of eventually being able to do more of his fieldwork mechanically. Currently Corey, Vicky, and one other person take care of the farming at McCleaf’s.

“This is the first planting of its kind in Pennsylvania,” he said, referring to the post and wire trellis system on an acre of land near the road. “These are 525-foot rows of Honeycrisp apple trees. We are planning to sell the apples from these trees as retail eating apples.” 

Four-wire support system 

Dr. Jim Schupp, the Penn State Cooperative Extension Specialist who worked closely with McCleaf in laying out the 4-wire support system, said that the straight wire support system is designed to take the place of individual plant staking so that the young trees can be grown more closely together. He said that this high-density planting system will accommodate approximately 700 trees per acre while conventional planting routinely has about 125 trees per acre. He noted that the “feathered” young trees were planted the last week of March, 2008.

“We specified feathered plants for this demonstration site, because they are at least one year ahead of younger plants,” he said. “Early planting is essential. If they are in the ground early, they get established sooner, and have a better root system. There is a good probability that the trees will bear fruit in their second year.” Schupp emphasized the importance of pinching the top area of the trees twice before June 20. In doing so, Schupp said that the lower branches will develop more effectively and in the directions that the grower is seeking for most efficient harvest of fruit. “We like to see the lowest branch at about knee level,” he said. “When the trees are fully grown, we would like to maintain them at about 11-12 feet in height. They could grow to about 14 feet with the rows spaced as they are here, but we prefer them somewhat shorter.” 

When asked about the return on investment, Schupp said that they anticipated that the grower could begin to realize a profit from the third harvest if the fruit is sold at the wholesale level. He said that it was certainly possible to have a profit after two seasons if the apples were sold at the retail level, as McCleaf plans to do. He said that the projected cost of this system is expected to run between $8,000 and $10,000 per acre.

Problems that affect growers 

Returning from the field tour, Dr. Jim Travis, Fruit Pathologist at Penn State, highlighted a few of the common problems facing growers at this time of year. Travis had examples of plants infected with Cedar Tree Gall and Quince Rust. He said that his staff also has been finding the evidence of Black Rot problems that occurred during the 2007 growing season. This resulted in pygmy fruit and “mummies,” especially on Crab Apple trees.

Travis said that it is his finding that herbicides kill more trees than disease or pests. He said that in many cases, growers do not call upon his laboratory and staff for their expertise in diagnosing problems until it is too late to determine the actual cause. He said that in many cases, excessive use of weed control around trees that have shallow roots, or damage to their trunk or bark at ground level, is the cause of trees dying without apparent reason.

For example, the dead Cherry tree that he presented, had roots that appeared to be alive, but the stem was dead. He said that it was his best guess that this tree was killed by herbicide that was sprayed for weed control, and the tree’s shallow roots absorbed enough of the product to kill it.

In like fashion, Travis explained that the York tree that he used as an example, had died from a small cut at the base of the trunk.

“The tree’s trunk is split under the base of the guard,” he said. “It appears that fungus got into the open wound and killed it. In either case, the plants were brought to our attention after the damage was done, rather than at a time when the plant was dying.” Travis emphasized that if he is able to have the plant while it is still in its stages of dying, that he is better able to determine the cause of the plant’s demise. In this way, Travis said that he is better able to help the grower prevent similar problems in the future.

Dr. Larry Hull concluded the evening by discussing the disease conditions for 2008 and how they might affect growers in the near future. Hull provided data sheets that reflected daily reporting of weather statistics helpful for controlling Apple Scab and Fire Blight infections. Hull likewise offered tips for controlling insects based on what his staff is finding in surrounding orchards. In addition to acknowledging the need for spraying for gypsy moth, Hull provided information that would be helpful for the control of Oriental Fruit Moth, Codling Moth, Tufted Apple Bud Moth, Obliquebanded Leafroller, Spotted Tentiform Leafminer, and Apple Maggot. He said that effective local spraying assumes no precipitation and that rain showers may give unfavorable results. 

For more information on the Conservation Innovation Planting project, contact the Adams County Extension office at www.adams.extension.psu.edu or at 717-334-6271.