Nursery Report: Regional Considerations

It’s fairly easy for nurseries to recognize and serve the needs of their local fruit grower customers. After all, they know more about the regional climate, soils, and even competitive issues.

But most nurseries market themselves nationally, which means they must have a keen awareness of the needs of their customers across the country. We asked a number of nurseries how regional conditions affect variety selection, among other things.

Q: How often are grower variety needs based on the region they are growing?

Todd Snyder, C&O Nursery, Wenatchee, WA: Varietal choices are always based on customer interest, what’s being planted, being talked about, showing promise in the industry, etc.

Phil Baugher, Adams County Nursery, Aspers, PA: Grower decisions regarding what varieties to plant are typically based first on the target market. In the eastern U.S., many growers are transitioning to direct market outlets. This requires a diversified variety mix from early season to late season. The region and climate have an impact on what they should or should not plant, but these decisions are driven primarily on their marketing plan.

Paul Tvergyak, Cameron Nursery, Eltopia, WA: Almost entirely. The exception is when there are reports of really high returns per bin. The best current example is Honeycrisp where a lot of Honeycrisp were planted by sites that are too warm.

Tom Burchell, Burchell Nursery, Oakdale, CA: We have our own breeding program in Fresno where 90% of the fresh market stone fruit is grown. Growers know there will be very little, if any, differences between the fruit in our breeding program and the fruit they will grow in their orchard because we are in the same region. We have also planted test orchards on different rootstocks and different pruning techniques to demonstrate how to get the best production out of the varieties they are planting.

Pete Van Well, Van Well Nursery, Wenatchee, WA: While there are some varieties, such as Gala, that appeal throughout North America, regional differences are quite important. Almost all Montmorency trees go to Michigan and the upper Midwest. Likewise, there are relatively few sales of Bing cherry outside the Pacific Northwest. It also depends on the market. Varieties such as Rome sell in areas where growers depend on processors. Red Delicious sales are strongest in Washington State, which dominates that market.

Neal Manly, Willow Drive Nursery, Ephrata, WA: The region in which the grower lives can play a significant role in deciding which variety/sport to plant. For example, certain sports of Gala color too much in northern climates such as British Columbia while that same sport will be widely accepted in the hotter districts of southern Washington. The same can be said for climatic differences of upstate New York vs. Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Q: What do you do as a nursery to make sure you know enough about growing conditions in a region outside your own?

Manly: It helps to visit the sites that we sell product to, but we also rely on our local sales representatives to have more detailed knowledge of what will work in that region. However, we are only one source of information the grower should consider when deciding which varieties/sports they should plant. We recommend that the customer visit with neighbors that may already have the varieties in question (or something similar) and to contact their Extension agent for additional information. We also attend local meetings and recommend the growers do the same, where much can be learned about a specific region. Likewise, attending events such as International Fruit Tree Association Study Tours can be instrumental in learning more about a given region and which varieties/sports work best in that area.

Tvergyak: We rely on 40 years of experience and that of colleagues.

Van Well: We travel to various fruit meetings in the winter and summer and we employ a network of regional agents who know what is going on in their part of the country.

Baugher: I think we depend on experience the most. Our staff works with growers all over the East Coast and we learn over time and through experience what works best
in the many regions.

Burchell: For out of state customers we set up test orchards and observe the fruit in that particular region. We have done this in Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. The growers can see these test orchards and make decisions on their own. From the information we gain, we can select other varieties from our breeding program that have the same characteristics.

We go through extensive testing of our varieties before they are released to know that they will work for the grower. We want to see several harvests, in different areas and on different soils before we recommend it to a grower. My father use to say, “It takes 10 years to prove a variety and 20 years to prove a rootstock” and I believe it.

Snyder: We use the size of the growing region to help determine interest level and quantity of the variety to grow. In many instances there are similar growing regions around the country based on climate, soil type, and conditions, so we can use some of our knowledge of our immediate growing region, for example, to have a pretty good idea how things should react in another (similar) growing region, though it may not be anywhere physically close to us.

Q: How does your relationship with university breeding programs help you address the needs of your customers?

Snyder: We have close, working relationships with many industry businesses, associations, and universities — all giving us needed insight in the recent trends, interest level in certain varieties, problems/challenges that are being addressed in their specific area, or need addressing, etc. Without good communication, fair sharing of information, research into other areas in the country (and/or the world), the success of agriculture would be difficult.

Tvergyak: Washington nurseries have a very close tie with university and other breeding programs. Although we don’t always agree horticulturally we give our input routinely.

Van Well: We try to stay on good terms with not only researchers and breeders throughout the country, but with our competition. Many times, nurseries will work together to test new varieties, especially if it is a nursery in a different part of the country with different growing conditions.

Manly: Most nurseries have relationships with the land grant university in their area and the associated Extension service provided. As for university breeding programs, we stay closely involved with these programs for our own knowledge and to be of greater service to our customers.

Baugher: We have numerous relationships with university breeding programs as well as private breeding programs. We have extensive variety trials here at the nursery in an effort to gain first hand knowledge of new selections. We also have grower cooperators that agree to trial new varieties on their particular sites. The feedback from grower evaluators provides a second level of knowledge about new varieties and helps us provide good recommendations on variety selection to our customers.