ROOT RESTRICTION OF APPLE AND PEACH WITH IN-GROUND FABRIC CONTAINERS

Unfeathered trees of ‘Golden Delicious’/MMIII apple and ‘Winblo’/Lovell peach were planted conventionally (control) or in in-ground fabric containers of 0.02, 0.043 or 0.1 m³ volume. Apple trees were trained to a central leader with minimal pruning. Peach trees were unpruned and developed natural crown. Peach and apple trees in all treatments were developed as nonsupported, free-standing trees. All trees were allowed to crop naturally and remained unthinned.

Root restriction reduced canopy volume in apple and peach; and within container treatments, growth control increased linearly with decreasing container volume. During the third growing season, there was no treatment difference in fruit number per tree, total fruit weight per tree, or mean fruit size in peach. An average 44% reduction in tree size resulted in an increase in yield efficiency in root-restricted peach trees. Fruit-maturity period was concentrated and advanced in peach trees grown in fabric containers.

In the third season of growth, apple trees grown in fabric containers had a higher flower cluster number and percent fruit set than control trees. Within container treatments, flower cluster and fruit number per limb increased linearly with decreasing container volume.