October 2023 - 9

FEATURE
Robbi VanTimmeren, who works with growers to
provide crews and train farm staff, demonstrated the
proper technique for using a side graft approach on
apple trees.
Ridgeview's Ambrosia plantings are on G-41, which
he said was too big of a rootstock. " It wouldn't have
been like this if it was 327s, which is what I wish we
would have used, " Dietrich said. " We had a hard time
getting the trees to calm down. They finally cropped
really nicely last year. We somewhat over-thinned
this year. Our biggest struggle was just to get them
to spur up. "
Ambrosia has a lot of vertically-grown limbs, and
color is a very big struggle. " After we finally got it to
the top wire, and we finally started cropping, we're
going to be able to actually come through and do
the correct kind of summer and winter pruning, and
hopefully get better color, " Dietrich said.
Brent Klein, operator of B&L Orchards, shared
challenges he's faced with phytophthora aerial blight
in his nursery production, including plantings of
several apple varieties.
" The nursery we planted in spring 2023 was on
bench-grafted Bud 10, " Klein said. " We Lost 30% of
them completely. Another 30%-40% we were able to
chip bud. "
In the 2015 and 2016 plantings, B&L started
seeing a lot of leaves with a lime-green tint to them,
along with a lot of bronzing. Last summer, the 2018
planting started to show phytophthora aerial blight,
he said.
" We started digging deeper and found we have
some severe compaction issues, " Klein said. " There's
a pretty good hard pan from four to six inches down.
We dug a hole and took soil samples and they showed
the pH is considerably low. Even if the nutrients are
getting there, the tree can't pull it up. "
Using a two-row ripper built by Phil Brown
Welding, B&L Orchards tried to open up the soil to
get the high sodium content to wash down in the
drain tile to try to get the pH up.
" We put two tons of lime on and several hundred
pounds of potash and gypsum trying to break the soil
loose. We did a couple of other things through the
drip to loosen the soil up as much as I can based on
what the budget allows.
" In the 2018 planting, we made pretty good
strides, " he said. " It's definitely not a two- or threeyear
fix. I think it's more like five or 10. "
FRUITGROWERSNEWS.COM | 9

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October 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of October 2023

Editor's Letter
Feature: Answering the Call
Cover Story: Deterring Wildlife
Business: Effective succession planning
Great Lakes EXPO News: Advancing crop management
AgTech: Drone prep
Plant & Soil Health: Biotic vs. abiotic
Farm Market & Agritourism: Know your customers
Ag Labor Review: California court gets it right
Classifieds
Advertiser Index
October 2023 - 1
October 2023 - 2
October 2023 - 3
October 2023 - Editor's Letter
October 2023 - 5
October 2023 - Feature: Answering the Call
October 2023 - 7
October 2023 - 8
October 2023 - 9
October 2023 - Cover Story: Deterring Wildlife
October 2023 - 11
October 2023 - 12
October 2023 - 13
October 2023 - 14
October 2023 - 15
October 2023 - Business: Effective succession planning
October 2023 - 17
October 2023 - 18
October 2023 - 19
October 2023 - Great Lakes EXPO News: Advancing crop management
October 2023 - 21
October 2023 - AgTech: Drone prep
October 2023 - 23
October 2023 - 24
October 2023 - 25
October 2023 - Plant & Soil Health: Biotic vs. abiotic
October 2023 - 27
October 2023 - 28
October 2023 - 29
October 2023 - Farm Market & Agritourism: Know your customers
October 2023 - 31
October 2023 - Ag Labor Review: California court gets it right
October 2023 - 33
October 2023 - Classifieds
October 2023 - Advertiser Index
October 2023 - 36
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