The usual fusiform shape will eventually give way to fruit trees with several stems, experts say. Producers must innovate for sustainable fruit growing. New forms of trees and decision support for plant protection were the focus of Swiss Fruit Day, which took place in early March, writes Michael Goetz in an article published in www.lid.ch.

"By simply changing the shape of fruit trees, you can significantly reduce labor costs, pesticide costs and improve fruit quality," emphasizes Jürg Hess, president of the Swiss Fruit Association (SOV). Educating producers about promising practices benefits everyone from producers to consumers.

The new tree shape brings a number of benefits, experts say. Modern intensive horticulture is characterized by low trees (dwarfs or semi-dwarfs) in which the branches grow more or less horizontally in the trunk. Josef Oesterreicher and Jürgen Christanell of the South Tyrol Fruit and Viticulture Advisory Council have supported the cultivation of fruit trees of various axes for six years. In this system, one or two main rods at the same base are folded to the sides, of these rods grow branches, called axes. Proper pruning is the basis for the success of a new tree shape.

This method began as a "bibaum" system, where two toras come out of the same base. Multi-axis trees look like fruit trees of truss with branches growing upwards on a wire frame to allow the sun to reach the fruit for a rich coloring. This is especially important for bicolor fruits such as the Fuji variety.

Multi-axis trees greatly simplify spraying, thinning and fruit harvesting and are best suited for mechanization. However, the new method has not yet received wide distribution. Thus, in south Tyrol, 97% of short-stem fruit trees are still fusiform and only 0.6% are new multi-axis trees.

Source: Agrolink