01/05/07 Competitive Pears continued.

We've been taking a look at how pear growers can remain competitive while planning for the future. Don Weippert of Weippert Orchards believes that getting a pear block to pay for itself by the third or fourth leaf is very important but he also realizes there are downsides that have to be managed. WEIPPERT: An important component to establishing and maintaining good production in a pear block is to have something that can tolerate blight and if you are going to tolerate blight you're going to have to have lots of vertical leaders per acre in that block. By establishing vertical leaders, Weippert says it doesn't take a lot to fill it back in. WEIPPERT: If I get blight I one of those vertical leaders, I can refill that space in one year. If I cut half of it off I can easily refill it in one year. If I cut that entire leader off I can fill it in two years. If I lose the entire tree, I can refill it in three years. Weippert also says the amount of labor is extremely important. WEIPPERT: I think in order to remain competitive we're going to have to focus on the amount of pruning, or the amount of labor that we put into these blocks and in this block I did very little pruning. I've done very little pruning in the life of these trees and also very little training. Each of those three leaders are tied to each of three wires so I have 9 ties per tree. Finally Weippert suggests planting 900 trees per acre. Above that and he believes it's overkill. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.