I would agree with Jon, but add a couple of other considerations that I'd use to fine tune your "rule".
The first would be row orientation. North / South oriented rows will receive more uniform light exposure than trees East / West, and so perhaps an extra percentage of height could be added. Second, training system results in differing depth or density of canopy, and so a system with wider row spacing may result in longer branches which may result in greater shading in the interior of the tree. Systems such as tall spindle, super spindle and maybe fruiting wall systems result in narrower canopies and so there is less depth to the canopy resulting in less distance sunlight must travel to trunk. That said, these systems may well have a more dense canopy than more open, widely spaced trees when pruned properly. The narrower canopies I believe have the advantage, and so the ratio of height to row spacing may again allow for a slightly taller tree. Thirdly, consider hours of sunlight per growing season. I've never seen a "zone chart" for this. Might be an interesting project for some statistician (Wes!), but developing some sort of sunlight zone similar to traditional hardiness zones should influence height/width ratio. Certainly the number of hours of sunlight, and, it's intensity on average, received in Pasco,WA or Hastings, NZ is appreciably higher than Northborough,MA or Acton,ME and has an influence on ideal height/row width ratio. Mo Tougas Tougas Family Farm Northborough, MA On Fri, Mar 25, 2011 at 11:50 PM, Jon Clements <[email protected]>wrote: > If you are growing hi-density apples, then tree height should be no > greater than between-row width. Slightly less (0.9) is even better. > > Jon > > 2011/3/25 Arthur Kelly <[email protected]>: > > What do you all think about required row spacing for various tree > heights? > > Should row width be 1.1, 1.3 or 1.5 X tree height? > > Art Kelly > > Kelly Orchards > > Acton, ME > > _______________________________________________ > > apple-crop mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > > > > > > > > -- > JMCEXTMAN > Jon Clements > [email protected] > aka 'Mr Liberty' > aka 'Mr Honeycrisp' > IM mrhoneycrisp > 413.478.7219 > _______________________________________________ > apple-crop mailing list > [email protected] > http://virtualorchard.net/mailman/listinfo/apple-crop > -- Maurice Tougas Tougas Family Farm Northborough,MA 01532 508-450-0844
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