Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
peaches, and 6 feet for sweet cherries. The height of the trees will be lim-
ited to 10 feet. Remember that these dimensions will vary from one orchard
to another, depending on crops, varieties, rootstocks, and management prac-
tices.
Windbreaks. Hybrid poplar trees are placed just inside the fence, with the
trees spaced 10 feet apart. Hybrid poplar trees grow rapidly, have straight
trunks, and can easily be trained to single trunks. The Penn State University
clone is shorter than many other hybrid poplar clones and produces a denser
canopy, which improves its ability to block wind. Further, the poplars are not
hosts for most serious fruit crop pests and diseases. No trees are planted on
the southern perimeter, so that cold air is allowed to drain out of the orchard.
Fencing. The 8-foot-tall fence, with 5 feet of 4-inch mesh and high-tensile
wires, will keep out deer and other browsers. This will work well for this orch-
ard, although there are many fence designs, some of which were developed
specifically for orchards, as we discuss in chapter 11. While electrified fences
can be used for orchards, they are not well-suited to populated areas and U-
pick farms, where visitors and customers could be hurt.
Buffer strips. The buffer strips around the orchard's perimeter serve as
roads and headlands. In this example, they are kept in permanent sod, which
helps lower dust contamination on the fruit, reduces erosion, and provides
improved access during wet weather. On the downside, the sod roads require
mowing. Twenty- or thirty-foot-wide roads between orchard blocks provide
room for equipment operations, as well as staging and transport of fruit bins
during harvest.
Access roads. A 30-foot-wide road running north-south between the blocks
facilitates harvesting by U-pick customers. In a strictly grower-pick orchard,
eliminating the central road would increase the amount of space available
for crops, but it would also make moving equipment and fruit bins through
the orchard more difficult. In this design, the grower has chosen to emphas-
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