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Article: Dwarf in size, giant in productivity. (apple trees)
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- May 1, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Dwarf in Size, Giant in Productivity
When is bigger not better? When more size takes up too much space, time, energy, and costs extra money. This is certainly the case with standard apple trees, says Miklos Faust, head of ARS' Fruit Laboratory, as he goes on to describe some of the advantages of dwarf trees that flourish at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.
Being smaller, they are easier to prune, easier to spray, and easier to harvest. They also bear fruit earlier than large trees. Fruit from a dwarf tree is just as large as an apple grown on a full-size tree and cannot be distinguished in other respects.
In the early 1900's, growers ...