SPACING AND ROOTSTOCK STUDIES WITH CENTRAL LEADER APPLE CANOPIES IN A HIGH VIGOUR ENVIRONMENT.

Results from two studies in the Hawkes Bay region using medium vigour and dwarf rootstocks at tree densities from 548 to 1250 trees per hectare are presented. Using MM.106 rootstock with trees trained as slender pyramid central leaders, planting densities from 548 to 1110 per hectare were compared. Trees reached maximum canopy size within five years. Greatest yields were related to highest tree densities. Marketable yield and fruit quality were increasingly unrelated to total yield with successive crops. In a second study dwarf trees on Mark and M.26 rootstocks gave better fruit quality from young trees, compared with MM.106 rootstock. Early yields were related to interactions between rootstock and tree spacing, which varied between 667 and 1250 trees per hectare. The first yields taken in the third year ranged between 29.7 and 47.0 tonnes per hectare for the cultivar 'Fuji'.