Hort symposium


Award winners


Greg and Chris Norton of Oliver are the recipients of the 2011 Soft Fruit Award, presented at this year’s hort symposium. The Nortons farm 20 acres of cherries and six acres of peaches. They have their own packing line and operate a dried cherry business over the Internet. Avtar and Ronnie Mann, owners of Mann Orchards in Vernon, won the Golden Apple Award for 2011. Their production in 2011 was excellent, with 84 bins per acre for Ambrosia and 72 bins per acre for Gala. Rawd Potter of Summerland received the Compact Orchard Award, based on his Ambrosia block. The 2,900-tree-per-acre block yielded 68 bins per acre in 2011 with a 91 per cent XFancy and an 87 per cent large size pack-out.


All awards are sponsored by the BC Fruit Growers’ Association. In addition, Chemtura AgroSolutions sponsors the Golden Apple Award, Dow Agro Sciences the Compact Orchard Award and Arysta Life Sciences the Soft Fruit Award.


— Susan McIver


Compost proponent Evidence points


to several ways it can enhance apple quality.


By Susan McIver I


nformation presented by Bill McPhee at the 2012 Horticultural Symposium in Kelowna might have some apple growers considering the use of compost in their orchards.


Bill McPhee


The owner of Canadian Agricultural Services, McPhee is a retired research scientist with 35 years of experience in plant pathology.


He presented evidence that use of compost in fruit tree plantings improved feeder root systems and increased production and quality. Previous anecdotal evidence existed that the eating quality of apples from trees treated with compost was superior.


Also, work conducted by Peter Toivonen and colleagues at the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre found fruit quality, as measured by such parameters as sugar levels, pressures and titratable acids, is better in compost-treated blocks.


McPhee was interested primarily in explaining the relationship between the “apparent” eating quality improvement and the use of compost on the farm. He knew that the level of


photosynthesis is directly correlated to the health of the tree which in turn is directly related to the health of the roots.


In fact, responses by the root system can be detected within days whereas quantification of any changes in quality of fruit takes many months or longer.


In his work, McPhee used Big Horn Natural Compost which is


manufactured in Okanagan Falls and is listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute.


McPhee found that the compost not only stimulated the root system, but also significantly reduced die-back. Morphologies of the roots were checked and observations recorded on a scale of one to 10 with seven and above being good.


Scores varied with the condition of the tree.


“A compost is not a compost is not a compost,” he said, and cautioned growers to be careful about the type they use.


Questions growers should ask in addition to the composition of compost are the availability of sufficient material and the cost.


Regarding the level of technology required to assess root health, McPhee said, “Buy a shovel and learn how to use it. Dig down and look a the roots. They should be white and healthy.”


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“It has been known for many years that tree health could be measured using a feeder-root evaluation system and that this could be accomplished within a single growing season,” McPhee said.


Greg Norton British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Summer 2012 17


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