Articles
PERFORMANCE OF A HIGH DENSITY PEACH ORCHARD PLANTED WITH GENETIC DWARF CULTIVARS
The scions were 1 year old from dormant budding, grafted on peach x almond GF 677 rootstock and were spaced 1 × 3 meters.
The trees were irrigated by drip irrigation (pipe 16 mm in diameter, drippers of 4 liters per hour each meter), the soil was clean cultivated.
The aim of the trial was mainly to verify the potential yield of genetic dwarf cultivars and the commercial quality of cultivars released in California.
According to Hansche et al. (1979), the productivity of the genetic dwarf cultivars high density planted (3333 trees per ha) in the first 4 years is much higher (up to 2.5 times) than that of standard cultivars trained as central axis and spaced 2 × 4.5 meters equal to 1111 trees per ha.
In the second year after planting, according to varieties, it’s possible to harvest a commercial crop (up to a maximum of 18 tons/ha) and in the third year the maximum yield is achieved (up to about 50 tons/ha). A comparison between pruning and not pruning showed that winter pruning and fruit thinning was from 50 to 60% less than for standard trees.
Tree height was not substantially influenced by pruning, on the contrary, the hedgerow of the pruned trees was 8% less thick.