Registration Is Open For 2015 International Fruit Tree Association’s Study Tour In Washington

Registration is now open for the International Fruit Tree Association’s (IFTA) 2015 Regional Study Tour. This registration includes hotel accommodations (Tuesday through Thursday nights) and several meals, including a salmon bake group dinner during the tour. Single and double occupancy options available, as well as an option for local residents. The tour will be capped at 4 buses.

Tour highlights include:

• Wednesday, July 15: Pasco/Tri-Cities area tour stops will focus on orchard establishment, trellis system design and materials, pedestrian orchards, stone fruit orchard architectures and harvest systems. Production strategies and methods including potted trees will be discussed during a commercial nursery stop.
• Thursday, July 16: Yakima Valley stops will focus on orchards using precision crop load management. Day two will finish in some of the oldest and youngest Honeycrisp blocks in the state. The learning curve has been steep and continues – hosts will share both their failures and successes.
• Friday, July 17: Netting systems for hail, shade and wind will be the highlight in the Royal Slope and Quincy areas. Visitors will see covered systems trials where different colored fabrics are being evaluated for tree growth and fruit quality response. Tree response to various pruning dates and methods will be the topic of a mechanical pruning trial during another stop. Orchard equipment will be on display at many stops, and time will be set aside to speak with manufacturers and growers.

Source: International Fruit Tree Association news release