Articles
INTENSIVE APPLE ORCHARDS WITH SLENDER SPINDLES
This can be achieved either by an increase in turnover from a given quantity of the production factors: soil, labour and capital, or by a reduction in costs.
There is little possibility of the latter nowadays, so that turnover increase must be attempted.
A rise in turnover can be achieved by growing more or by increasing the price.
More can be produced either by enlargement or by intensification of the fruit holding.
The former is not always feasible, because of lack of suitable or available land or of spare labour.
In such cases intensification has possibilities.
Intensification means producing higher or better yields per unit of surface.
In existing orchards this can only be achieved by optimal care.
However, with a given planting system there is a certain limit in this respect, because the amount of fruiting wood per ha is more or less fixed.
Therefore, radical production increases can only be expected from new plantings, that will give the highest possible amount of fruiting wood in the shortest possible time.
In reaching this factors such as quality of planting material, cultivar, the planting and pruning method are involved, but the planting system is the most decisive factor.
From the data of Goedegebure (p.23) it appears that it is the tree number per ha that turns the scale for the level of production (at least within a certain range). So, it is necessary to plant large tree numbers.
For reasons of good and uniform fruit quality and cheap management these trees should be small.
The slender spindle (p.173) is an example of such a small tree.
The question arises how to arrange large numbers of tiny trees.