Planning ahead has been something preached by nurseries and researchers alike when it comes to tree fruit production.
But, as the demand for newer rootstocks continues and growers are opting for higher and higher density orchards, many are finding out it’s not just one or two years ahead they need to plan for. In some cases growers are looking at 2019 or 2020 to secure specific rootstocks.
As the push for growers to get their hands on these new cutting-edge rootstocks grows, nurseries are trying to balance this growth with the ebbs and flows of tree fruit demand.
It Hasn’t Always Been This Way
Not too long ago, nurseries were burning trees and begging growers to plant. This was, in part, due to some low apple commodity prices and an industry suffering.
“Twenty years ago the nurseries were beating the bushes to pick up new business,” Phil Baugher, president of Adams County Nursery in Aspers, PA, says.
Growers were hesitant to replant for many reasons says Jim Schupp, Professor of Pomology at Penn State University.
“When I first came into tree fruit research and Extension, it was pretty tough times, prices were depressed, fruit quality was suffering a little bit, and then we had the Alar scare. Things were tough, initially,” he says.
This growth in plantings, most nursery insiders would say, was a holdover from tough times.
“This cycle started as a planting/replanting on Honeycrisp, and now it’s putting everything on to Geneva rootstocks,” says Wanda Heuser Gale, Vice President of Marketing for International Plant Management in Lawrence, MI.
Baugher says 15 years ago most of the trees in his nursery — about 80%, were grown on speculation, and only 20% were contracted.
“Now 80% are contracted before they are budded,” he says.
Production Limitations
“We’re in a high planting cycle right now like I’ve never seen, and my dad, who’s seen everything, has never seen a planting cycle that lasted this long,” says Heuser.
It’s no secret the demand fanning the flames of rootstock needs is anything in the Geneva family. Growers want what’s hot – disease resistance and size-controlling rootstocks.
But, rootstock availability isn’t just affecting apples. Pear, peach, and cherry rootstocks are also highly sought after, say nursery insiders. Fueling demand are high pear prices and several years of harsh winters, causing growers to replant peaches, and little cherry virus is also forcing growers to replant blocks.
“We’re having some issues sourcing enough viable pear roots,” says Pete Van Well II, president and general manager of Van Well Nursery in Wenatchee, WA. “There is a big demand for pears; pear prices are high. The returns have been good. Especially after the Goldens’ price (nose-dived). A lot of guys were looking to pull out Goldens and put in pears.”
Todd Strampher, fruit tree consultant for C&O Nursery in Wenatchee, WA, also says some dwarfing pear rootstocks are particularly difficult to propagate, which causes a kink in the supply chain.
There are also basic issues of cold storage availability — nurseries can only dig up and store so many trees.
“Tree storage is a specific type of storage, and when they’ve crammed that storage full, pretty much, they’re done with production,” Heuser Gale says.
Weather events impact production as well — as growers can relate, nurseries too have to contend with Mother Nature. Losses of trees can be very costly, as well as exacerbate the shortage of available rootstocks.
“Just about every year there’s some kind of weather event; this year it was straight-line winds in Washington and nurseries lost hundreds of thousands of young trees on Geneva 41,” says Katie
Schuld, co-owner of Summit Tree Sales in Lawrence, MI. One of the challenges in dealing with this increased demand is the simple limitations of rootstock production such as equipment and staff that can also contribute to a nursery’s ability to ramp up production. Also, it’s a long process – about five years — to produce a one-year tree from producing the rootstock, to budding, to delivery.
“We only have so much that we produce every year; in order for us to start more stool beds, we have to start them from tissue culture plants,” says Richard Adams, vice president of rootstock production for Willow Drive Nursery in Ephrata, WA. “It’s been incredibly hard for us to get tissue culture plants.”
Production issues with some of the newer rootstocks have occurred, whether it’s breakage or a genetic material mix-up, availability is compromised. Industry insiders say G.41 has had some graft union breakage, and some say the losses were localized.
“It’s more cultural with nurseries than solely the genetic trait of the rootstock,” says Tom Auvil of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. “Because the small caliper stuff does not seem to have nearly the breakage as the large caliper trees do.”
Industry insiders say there has been trouble with new rootstock material being released and as nurseries and tissue culture companies were ramping up production, it was discovered the rootstock was not true-to-type.
Land for nursery production is also difficult to come by, Auvil says.