April 2021 - 1

Pear rootstocks for
replant in presence of
armillaria
Technology highlights
at IFTA show
commercial potential
12
20
28
Hybrid use puts Regev
in 'game-changer'
mode
April 2021 | Volume 60 |
Issue 4
Gabe Spurgeon, manager of South Baldwin Farms near Baldwin City, Kansas, with his wife Katelyn; sons Grayson, 8, and Thomas, 6; along with 2-year-old daughter Olivia. The
operation has 35 acres of tree fruit in production, including apple, peaches and some nectarine. Photos: South Baldwin Farms.
Engineering a new approach
Kansas peach grower puts focus on high-density output
By Gary Pullano
Editor
A trained engineer has a head start
in any profession in which ingenuity
and mechanical aptitude breeds
success. Gabe Spurgeon, manager of
South Baldwin Farms near Baldwin
City, Kansas, is a prime example of
how that type of pedigree can pay
dividends.
As was profiled in an article by
Ron Wilson, director of the Huck
Boyd National Institute for Rural
Development at Kansas State
University, Spurgeon, a Missourian,
met his wife, Katelyn, in honors college
while they were attending Pittsburg
State in Kansas. He earned degrees
in math and physics and worked for
engineering firms in Joplin, Missouri,
and Pittsburg, before they moved to
Baldwin City to be closer to her family.
As a youngster, Spurgeon worked
in peach orchards during the
summertime. After graduating from
college, he found he didn't enjoy
working inside at a desk.
" I began in a Missouri peach orchard
at age 13, and later became a restless
See PEACH, page 6
Tree fruit rootstocks evolve over decades
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
This is the latest installment in a series
of stories marking the 60th anniversary of
Fruit Growers News.
From the heyday of Red Delicious
and harvesting from ladders to today's
Honeycrisp hybrids and platform
pickers, the pome fruit industry has seen
a lot of change.
Rootstocks have had to evolve as the
industry's goals for tree fruit have changed,
and growers of all stripes have played a
role through their participation in trade
groups such as the International Fruit Tree
Association (IFTA), patronage of private
businesses and assessments that support
researchers at land-grant institutions.
The late Wallace Heuser, who died in
February 2019, played an important role
in the introduction of dwarfing rootstocks
to the U.S.
He started bringing over Malling apple
rootstocks from England starting in the
early 1950s, and Gisela cherry rootstocks
in the 1960s, said daughter Wanda
Heuser Gale. The rootstocks had been
used in the U.S. before but weren't widely
accepted, and he experimented with
them on the family farm and nursery in
Hartford, Michigan.
" I remember looking at a Lodi (apple
cultivar) on Malling 9, when I was really
little, and Dad was saying, 'Yeah, I don't
know if I'll ever do anything with this. It
just won't stand up' - because it was just
like a little ground cover, crawling along
the ground, poor thing, (with) no stake, "
Heuser Gale said. " But the more he looked
at these, the more he thought they had
potential. "
But later on,
he worked with
other growers
and researchers
including H.B.
Tukey, and was a
founder and the
first president
of the IFTA.
A pivotal first
meeting in Van
Buren County, Michigan attracted more
WALLACE
HEUSER
attendees than expected.
" Everybody was interested in rootstocks,
because they had been struggling with
See ROOTSTOCKS, page 10

April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2021