We can always learn from what some enterprising orchardists do anywhere in the world. A good example is Bental Agriculture, a large fruit growing company at Merom Golan, Golan Heights, Israel.
High-density plantings of container grown trees
Their high-density plantings of apples, pears and stone fruit are not only trellised and netted, they use container-grown trees planted in mid-summer instead of planting bare-rooted trees in winter.
The problems with planting fruit trees in winter were recognized four years ago by Israeli fruit growers. They noticed that container-grown trees not only perform better because their roots are not disturbed, they found that storage of trees and time of planting make the job less stressful.
Planting trees in warm soil will accelerate their establishment, as shown by the new growth in the subsequent season.
Evolution of tree training systems
Like fruit growers everywhere, Israeli growers are going through an evolution of tree training systems.
The 2D upright fruiting wall and Open Tatura are preferred systems at the Bental Agriculture orchards. The branchless multi-leader tree concept is being adopted for both systems.
Experiments with a mechanical apple harvester in the 2D system are in progress.
All trellis materials are made from galvanized steel posts and cross bars. Hamashbir Agriculture, an engineering company in Israel, has developed a do-it-yourself trellis for an Open Tatura system.
Once established, the canopies can be reached almost entirely from the ground and would suit the Open-Tatura Ground-Level Production System*.
*An orchard manual describing this system in detail will be available soon from Fruit Tree Media.
See this article in Tree Fruit Jan 2023
