APPLE ORCHARD MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING

In 1982 an experiment was initiated at the Horticultural Research Institute to compare eight methods of training apple trees.
Five of these methods (systems) involved the erection of trellis – ‘Tatura Trellis’, Lincoln Canopy, Ebro espalier, MIA and Palmette whilst three were free standing, central leaders, free standing palmettes and minimal pruning.

So far it has been found that the trellised trees outyield the free standing trees by up to 30% but that this difference has not been enough to offset the higher capital incurred by trellising costs in initial planting.
Labour and other fruit qualitative characters are compared.
Labour inputs are higher with trellis but we have found fruit quality to be similar for all methods.

Australian Temperate Fruits Review Conference

K.A. Clayton-Greene

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1989.240.20