IFTA post-conference tour: Day 1

A busload of people traveled north from Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Feb. 11, to get a feel for the fruit industry in the northwest corner of the state’s Lower Peninsula. The tour was part of the International Fruit Tree Association’s (IFTA) 59^th annual conference.

The first stop was Smeltzer Orchard Co., a processing facility in Frankfort. The Smeltzer family has been producing fruit products for more than six generations, since William Smeltzer planted one of the first orchards in the state in 1872. The company started processing its own fruit harvests, along with those of other local growers, in 1946. Among other things, the IFTA tour got a look at frozen apple slices and dried cherries.

The second stop was Lutz Farms in Bear Lake, where the tour got a look at high-density tart cherries: Montmorency planted on Mahaleb rootstock.

High-density systems are not common in tart cherries. When pruned, the trees are top and side hedged in summer with Christmas tree machetes. Tree middles are cut out in summer to allow light into the canopy. Trees cut with machetes within the row and within the trees have more fruit buds than the trees that were only cut within the row.

The final educational stop of the day was Bill Lentz Farm in Beulah. Lentz displayed a 26-acre, high-density planting of SweeTango, mostly on Bud.9 but also on Nic.29, M.26 and V.1. He’s been moving his trees closer and closer together since the 1970s.

Lentz and other speakers discussed the best way to prune his SweeTango trees, as well as his nutrient program and horticultural practices. He uses RamLine drip irrigation, and said scheduling and duration of run times is determined by “the seat of your pants method” – keeping an eye on rainfall amounts, temperature and indicator plants.

His soil quality varies. The entire western half of the farm was reshaped in the past, and the Bud.9 trees have not reached the top wire.

– Matt Milkovich