Good times led to complacency, says Craig Hornblow. In the last few years, New Zealand apple growers have been planting trees on the dwarfing Malling 9 rootstock in an effort to improve the efficiency of their orchards. Traditionally, New Zealand orchardists have used the larger Malling 106 or M.793 rootstocks, which are resistant to woolly apple aphid. A typical Braeburn planting in the past had trees spaced 3 meters (10 feet) apart with 5 meters (16-1/2 feet) between rows. Craig Hornblow, a consultant with AgFirst in Nelson, New Zealand, said that about 90 percent of recent plantings in the Nelson […]