22 BUILD it and they will come
York and Pennsylvania, and they came home with ideas. “We thought, ‘Well, we
haven’t got the population and that could be a drawback, but we made a stab at developing the retail side of the business and it has kind of gone from there,” he says. It was a case of build it and they will come. Davison estimates the farm now sees 300,000 visitors between May and October. “My wife Tamara runs the
retail side and the marketing. That’s her gift,” says Tom. “She can kill a house plant in minutes, but she gets marketing. She has done a fabulous job of getting people to our farm and now everything is really about retail.”
Lance is the production manager. “Basically, we grow
LANDMARK. Davison Orchards Country Village has become a popular destination for Vernon residents and tourists. SUBMITTED PHOTO
anything my mom can think of to sell,” says Lance. “Over half of our 120 acres is in apples, and we have strawberries, asparagus, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelons, pumpkins like crazy, and 12 to 15 acres of sweet corn.” Pears, plums and peaches round out the list. Apple selection includes traditional varieties like Transparent early in the season and a number of Summerland varieties such as Sunrise, Silken and Spartan. Tom explains they have developed their own version of the
commercial stalwart Gala, the Davison Gala. “It’s a strain we found over 10 years
ago,” he says. “There was a portion of the tree that had reverted to a high- coloured strain. We have been able to propagate that and have it virus indexed. We have planted it extensively.” The Davison Gala won first place at
this year’s Royal Winter Fair in the commercial apple division and their Aurora Golden Gala (another Summerland variety) was awarded
RUBIN 9 FAST INTENSE CULTIVATION
Reserve Champion New Varieties. “Aurora has done well for us although you don’t see it grown a lot,” says Tom. “We tell people that it is Grandpa Bob’s favourite apple and they like that!” It’s an excellent eating apple, Tom
says, but it has a thin skin that doesn’t stand up well on commercial packing lines. It receives extra care when the Davisons pack it for their customers. The star apple in the Davison
orchard, however, is Honeycrisp. “It’s a difficult apple to grow,” admits
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • MARCH 2019 nfrom page 21
Tom. “It’s not a very strong cultivar and we have experimented with a variety of rootstocks to get it to perform. But it does well on our site; the sugars really develop and our customers love it.” Improving their
Honeycrisp techniques has led the Davisons into a new trial with hail netting. They recently received $128,000 through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership for a project to compare the effectiveness of hail netting in protecting apples. “I’ve seen it being used
in France, New Zealand and Washington,” says Tom. “It’s useful for hail protection but it also improves the growing conditions for the apples.”
Summerland-based
FarmSolutions.net will supply the polyethylene
fabric covers. The covers will be placed over 20 acres of Honeycrisp, Galas and Ambrosia, while an adjacent block of five acres will serve as a control. Honeycrisp get stressed in really high heat, Tom explains, and the hail nets will give them some shade. “It will also help protect them from sunburn and help reduce water use,” he adds. “We are really trying to be as leading-edge as we can in trying to figure the best way to grow these apples.”
The Rubin 9 is an excellent choice for any shallow stubble cultivation needs in all conditions. Even at high working speeds it provides intensive, homogeneous mixing of organic matter and soil in only one pass.
Individual 24‘‘ notched blades with preset spring protection Aggressive dual cutting angle for unrivaled mixing intensity
Outstanding economy, as full-surface cultivation is achieved from only 3’’ Two integrated rebound harrows for excellent crumbling and leveling
(604) 864-2273
caliberequipment.ca
(250) 938-0076
agrigem.com
@strategictill |
lemken.ca
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